(no subject)

Brad's unit's FUN (family unit network) social event this month is a river tubing ride. It is this Saturday. I used to love going tubing when I was a kid in Florida. I have very distinct memories of floating along in those black inner tubes that got really hot in the sun, tied to my mother's tube and her tube tied to all the other tubes of the people in my parent's Sunday School class. The water on the Rainbow River where we tubed was crystal clear, spring fed water, and you could see every detail of the river bed below you. Which was very cool sometimes and very spooky at other times, as I remember floating right over the top of small alligators that my father was always sure to point out. Then he would come up underneath my tube and pinch me and make me scream hysterically thinking an alligator was eating my butt. But mostly I just remember how peaceful those rides were. How nice it was to see my mother so relaxed, holding my youngest sister, Michelle on her stomach as she lay on top of her tube, laughing with other woman. How fun it was to slip off my tube to cool off and swim with the other kids and then the frantic scramble to climb back on the tube (dad would frequently offer a "hurry up, I see an alligator coming up behind you!" instead of a helping hand, it was very motivating).

I would really love to go on this trip and introduce the girls to tubing, but I'm seriously questioning the wisdom of taking three small children on something like this. Mari and Zoe would love it and have no problem swimming in and wearing their life jackets the whole time (the ride will be about 1.5 hours long). Luci, though, hates her life jacket and doesn't really love being in the water at this point in her life. While we were in Kansas she developed a mortal dread of getting water in her eyes, which is entirely my fault. She used to love showers, but one day at my mom's house, I took her in the shower and got real soap in her eyes. Bad mommy. We went to Sea World last Saturday, as I wrote of before, and rode their tube ride, and Luci whined the entire 20 minutes until I gave up and got out with her. The other girls were having a glorious time floating along with daddy. It doesn't seem to matter what kind of life jacket she is wearing. I thought, while we were at the lake, that she just hated the water because she had to wear one of those infant jackets that has the padding behind the head so they will float on their backs. It really restricts her movement and makes it impossible to swim. But at Sea World she wears the regular vest kind that they provide and she still hates it. Back in the day, when I was a kid tubing, we just wore arm floaties. But I would never do that now. So, I don't know if I should go or not. Or if Brad should just go with Mari and Zoe. Or if none of us should go. I *want* to go!

We are having an issue with Jesse, our beloved dog. While we were in Kansas and Brad was here, he tried to come home at lunchtime and let her out, as she is used to going out all day long when we are all here with her all day. But he missed a few days and she had accidents on the floor, something she hasn't done since she was a puppy (for reference sake, she is nine years oldish). He did not tell me this. Yesterday morning, I awoke and came downstairs to an extremely foul odor. I walked into the living room and found a gigantic pile of dog poop on the floor. I almost had a heart attack, thinking Jesse was becoming incontinent or something and the end was near (she is on meds for seizures and hypoglycemia already). I cleaned it up with tears in my eyes. I called Brad and told him what happened and he sounded very sheepish as he explained that it had happened a few times during the day when he hadn't made it home in time for her. So, apparently, now she thinks it is okay to do this in the middle of the night instead of whining for me to let her out, like she used to do, because she did it again last night. In the middle of the girls' playroom! So incredible gross! I know she is not incontinent because she whines to be let out all day long and goes outside all day without a problem. Now I'm mad. How do I train her out of this? All I can think of to do is make sure I pick up her food by mid afternoon, so she can't eat anything in the evening and shut her in our bedroom at night and take her out in the middle of the night if I wake up. We already take her out right before bed. She gets plenty of opportunity to go out during the day, like anytime she wants! I've gotten up in the middle of the night to let her out if she was whining before, so I just don't get this. We are pretty sure the huge seizure she had about a year ago caused some brain damage as her personality changed quite a bit after that and the meds have made her weird too, so I don't even know how to go about training her. Blech. I don't need to deal with any more poop!