Change in the seasons?

For the third time this week, when Winny and I went on our morning walk I put on my running pants (ok, not like I actually ran or anything) and a sweatshirt over my t-shirt. It is quite brisk lately! We are enjoying 40-50 degree temperature swings in the day, love that!

So we went on our walk this morning and Win took off into the field to run. I was looking and as she was flying through the field (I am above her on a small hill), I see movement in the field. One coyote, not a big deal. Then I see a second trotting towards her. (Ick, I start to get nervous. But she has dealt with two before...) Then I see a third. Ok that's it, I "run" off into the field (so I did run a little...).

I am calling her and I hear the howling start. Not her, but the coyotes working hard to entice her over. I got to the bottom of the field and here she comes running back to join me. I have always said that the minute she didn't come back when I called, her field running was done. I have added a second clause to that, being that it is done now since the number of coyotes appears to have increased. Yes, she is a shepherd and bred to ward off animals like coyotes from livestock. She is significantly larger than the coyotes. But she is domesticated. She is not a farm dog used to dealing with this. Plus the fact that she is over 6 years old now. She isn't a young dog anymore. And well, I also don't need to be yelled at by scared little old ladies who hear the coyotes barking and see my dog in the field. Yes, I do know that there are coyotes out there, I am not deaf.

Today is Friday. Yay. Aside from the usual weekend chores and a much needed (now that we have $$ after a difficult week transitioning to the new school with deposits and payments to two places) Costco trip, I would like to do some crafts. I know Leif is little still, but I want to do some fun things with him.

He fingerpainted at daycare yesterday. Apparently he not only fingerpainted, but WAS fingerpainted. (His back of his outfit was covered with paint.) We will see what fun stuff we find.

Not a whole lot of news on the work front. I have had a nice day with a couple pleasant meeting. One was a project meeting that went well. The other was a meeting with a statistician who is doing a little work for me on a project. She has a 4 month old and so we had to compare notes. No word on the proposal status yet. Patent is being filed on Monday. I did lots of stupid training this morning. Now I have put into my time card that I will spend 2 hours working in the lab on one of the painful projects I have. So to keep true to my timecard, I will head over and put in my time. (Grumble, grumble...)

Oh yeah, Sears finally got their act together and posted our pictures on the website, only a week late. They are ok. I like the family pictures. Leif was fussy and so the others aren't great. But we got a family picture to update our library picture with. Amazingly I like the one of us all on the floor, despite the fact of my big old hip sticking up and my boob protruding forth. But you know, we all are smiling and don't have doofy looks on our faces (a major accomplishment for me). The photographer kept commenting on Leif being so "photogenic". He is, really. Note that she did not comment on Hans and I being photogenic!