Homeschool Moment

I went to my second visit with the chiropractor today, and I drove myself.  That's a big step up from where I was yesterday.  I had to take Baylee, since the boys are gone and Mike wasn't home from work yet.  While we were biding our time in the waiting room, the receptionist decided to strike up a conversation with Baylee.  It went like this:

"Did you learn anything interesting in school today?"

"Yes."

"What was the most interesting thing you learned?"

"I learned about the Holocaust in history."

"Oh...okay.  Tell me three things about the Holocaust."

"Well, the Jews were persecuted."

"Yes."

"They were put in showers and poisoned with deadly gas."

"...right."

"They died."

After that the woman wondered aloud what grade Baylee is in, and what school could be teaching that type of thing at such a young age.  Sigh.  That's when I finally had to admit that we homeschool.  It was kind of an embarrassing moment, but, really, it shouldn't have been.  I've been so impressed with the way the Bob Jones curriculum handles the subject, and I love how Mrs. Walker is teaching it.  For as bad as Baylee made it sound, it's actually delivered in a gentle, compassionate way.  In fact, Baylee said Mrs. Walker teared up as she talked at one point, and she told the kids they were too young to see any pictures.

One kind of neat thing is that Baylee came to me last night and said that she finally understands the real story in The Sound of Music, including why they felt they needed to escape, and why they chose Switzerland.  She asked a couple interesting questions, too, like why people ever followed Hitler in the first place, and why Rolff (from the movie) was so anxious to join the Nazi party.  It led to a good talk about human nature.

My Life Coach

I finally broke down and went to the chiropractor today.  Actually, Mike made the appointment for me and forced the issue.  Could it be that he's getting sick of waiting on me hand and foot when he's here?  Hmm.  I'm starting to think I shouldn't have mentioned wanting a little bell, after all.  Anyway, I was amused to read that this particular doctor is a chiropractor/life coach.  LOL  Seriously.  Only in Seattle.  That said, I have to admit that my back feels a TON better.  (I almost feel like I should add something like "...and he showed me I need to assert myself and wear bright colors more often."  But that didn't actually happen.)

Zach and Drew are in Leavenworth with their friend Kian and his family for the next couple days.  The really nice thing is that Kian's mom homeschools, too, and so all I had to do was pack the boys' school books and some instructions, and she'll make sure it happens during their family's normal homeschooling time.  Woo hoo!  That's like having my cake and eating it, too!

And here's a robin.  Suddenly our yard has a bunch of these guys hopping around in it during the day.  They're huge.  You can't really tell from the picture, but this is the fattest robin I've ever seen in my life.  Now that I look at the pictures, though, I think it's because its feathers are fluffed out.

I've started watching a new show on Netflix called Bones.  It's good!  I recommend it.

Well, I spent the weekend in bed, and now I feel like I might possibly be getting better.  Either that or Aleve is the best drug ever.

You know, being in bed, being waited on hand and foot, is nice.  It would've been better if I wasn't in a excruciating pain, but you can't have everything.  Mike and Zach kept the place pretty clean, and Drew and Baylee gave me a little concert.  They sang six songs, which they practiced beforehand.  It was pretty darn cute.

Today I decided enough is enough, and I made school happen.  Luckily the kids don't need a ton of supervision (usually), so it worked just fine.

That's all I've got.  Oh, one more thing.  While I was laid up in bed I read two books cover-to-cover and watched a lot of TV on the computer.  Besides finishing off the Merlin television series (Love it!), I watched the first two episodes of this season's Amazing Race.  Has anyone seen that?  I couldn't believe how much trouble grown adults had with the cattle/math challenge.  Seriously, holy cow.  (*grin*)  In case you didn't see it, here's what happened:

They were at an auction.  In front of them was a pen (actually, in front and below.  They were up on a balcony.) with around 20 cattle or so in it.  The auctioneer told them how much all the cows put together weighed, and their job was to figure out how much, on average, each cow weighed.  I mean, duh.  Count the cows and divide.  A bunch of them couldn't figure out how to do it, though!  And the ones who did were like, "Well, I AM really good at math, so..."  LOL  That's 4th grade stuff, people.

Ouch

I've been struggling the past few days with a sore lower back.  It's so annoying that I try to ignore it and continue on with my usual routine, but the stupid thing keeps getting worse instead of better.  Now it's pretty painful, and it's shooting down into one of my legs, too.  I could just about cry, not from pain, but from the bother of it.

Anyway, blah.  I think I'll find a good movie on Netflix and watch it in bed.

Drop Everything

"No, really, everybody.  Feel free to just come on in and drop everything right at the door."

Sigh.  I might actually work up some righteous indignation about this, except I see my shoes, coat, and purse in that mess, too.

Bunch 'o Not Much

I made a chocolate chip loaf for the kids today as a sort of peace offering.  The boys are mad at me, because I put my foot down about the dawdling in the morning. Today I woke the kids up in plenty of time, told all of them that school starts at 9:30 on the dot, and whoever wasn't completely ready at that time would be in trouble.  I warned them once again about a half hour later, then completely left it alone.  Only Baylee made the cutoff.  When I told the boys the consequence (a lost privilege), they were incredulous, especially Zach.  "But I was only four minutes late!"  I explained that he would never be allowed to be four minutes late in a public school or at a job.  Anyway, so I made the bread.  I didn't tell them it was because I felt sorry for them, though.

I really like everything about this picture except Drew's face.  LOL  I hate when everything comes together except one little detail like that.  (Like the time I was taking Easter pictures and realized later that one of the kids had a piece of gum hanging out of his mouth.)

 Here's another one, though, so you can see he's actually quite cute:

And here's a tiny snippet of something he learned not long ago.  He and his teacher got a bug to buckle down on music reading, so they sort of abandoned "Here Comes the Sun."  I love listening to him just mess with it, though.  It's such a pretty little song.

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Friends

You know...even if church is sometimes irritating because people (including me) are sinners and we're all muddling along trying to minister and do the right thing and sometimes we just mess it up...I still love it because I love those people.  Tonight I got together with a handful of my church girlfriends and we talked and laughed far into the night.  That's the best time I've had in ages.  It was so much fun.

And on a completely unrelated note, I came home to find that Baylee had made a bed on the floor for her beloved dolls and stuffed animals before she fell asleep.  lol  She's growing up, but luckily not too fast.

 

Argh

I got on the scale this morning, after doing well this week, and found out I GAINED weight.  My body betrayed me!  Denial hit first, which is why I picked up the scale, moved it to a different part of the bathroom, and tried my weight over there.  (It didn't change the results.)  Then came sadness, and now I'm mad.

Despite the scale drama, I started the couch-to-5k running plan after church.  The good news:  So far my knees don't hurt.  The bad news:  Everything else kinda does.  Isn't it weird how you can be in semi-alright shape in one sport (biking), but completely suck at another?  Oh well.  Rome wasn't built in a day.  And now that I think about it, when I first started biking just going 8 miles almost killed me.

A cute pic of Drew and the kid he had over this weekend, Ethan:

Weekend So Far

I've been looking forward to riding my bike today all week.  I even have my route all planned out:  I want to start at Log Boom Park and ride to Gas Works Park, and then back.  That's (I think) about 24 miles, round trip.  Unfortunately, the weather today is horrible.  At what point does it cross over into stupidity to try to make this work?  At the point where I realize it's pretty cold out?  No.  At the point where I see it's also raining?  No.  At the point where I notice how windy it is?  Okay, maybe.  I hate wind, and right now it's so windy that it's actually whistling outside.  Dang it.  (I still might go, though.)

Last night Baylee went to a birthday sleepover at her friend Molly's house, and Drew had Molly's brother Ethan over here.  Ethan is a type 1 diabetic, and, I swear, he waits to have his worst low blood sugar moments until he's at our place.  After being here all of fifteen minutes yesterday he came to me with, "I need juice right now.  This is the lowest my blood sugar has been in all of 2012."  We got it taken care of, but that kid is gonna give me a heart attack one of these days.

Often Baylee can be found sitting in a laundry basket in the laundry room, reading.  That's not weird, right?  lol  I think it's because it's warm and quiet in there.

Okay, fine.

I might have a tiny little hoarding problem.  Luckily, it's only in one area of my life:

instant mashed potatoes.  Just so you know, it's not because we eat tons of them.  It's just that when I make shepherd's pie, which I only do once in a blue moon and usually only because Baylee begged for it (it's her favorite meal), I cheat.  I don't use real potatoes.  And since I never remember that we already own a box (or 7), I always buy another one.

Mike has teased me about this issue a few times, but my response is, "Does this mean you'd like to take over the grocery shopping?"  Today, though, Drew was reaching for something and a box of potatoes fell out of the cupboard and made a huge mess, which led me to think that perhaps I should do something about this, after all.

Who wants to come over for a big bowl of fake potatoes?!

Thursday

We're still sick around here.  Blah.  It's getting old.  On the bright side, Drew and Baylee are better, and I'm getting there.  Zach and Mike are at the gross stage.

I mentioned before that Baylee has a 7 year old admirer at church named Jojo.  He made a Valentine's Day card for her out of a piece of red construction paper, and he gave it to her last night.  On the inside, in his scrawly 2nd grade handwriting, it says, "Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?"  Haha!  So cute!  Although Baylee isn't nearly as amused as I am. 

The cat and the dog had their annual check-ups recently.  They're both doing well, but one thing the vet did say was that we should start feeding Cooper "old cat" food.  You know what I mean.  That cat food meant for aging cats.  That makes me sad.

 

Baylee is still playing Minecraft, and things continue to go wrong with her construction attempts.  A couple days ago her log cabin burned to the ground.  She said, "I have no idea what happened!  I didn't even have the fireplace going!"  When Zach told her there had to be some source of fire or it wouldn't have happened, the lightbulb went on.  "Oh.  Well, I did make my floor out of lava covered with glass.  Maybe that's what did it."

Pho is the best comfort food ever when you have a cold.

Wednesday

I got up this morning to ride my bike, and it looked like this:

Doesn't that look like something you can't say "no" to?  I set it up the night before, so it was organized and ready to go.  The tires just needed a few quick pumps (because it's always a good idea to pump your tires before every ride.  I don't know why.  I just do what I'm told.).  The water bottle needed to be filled.  The license, house keys, and phone needed to be stuffed in my bike bag.  Then I was supposed to be off!

Except I didn't go.  I woke up and realized my throat is still yucky and sore and scratchy.  Sigh.  I really need to get over this cold.

Happy Valentine's Day

I've been a bit MIA the last couple days.  Sorry about that.  The kids had bad colds and now I've got one.  Mike said I snored last night.  In my defense it was because of a sore throat!

Mike surprised me last night with a trip to REI to buy my Valentine's Day present:  running shoes!  I really want to take up running, but the first step (haha) is getting the right shoes.  I decided after some research to try the minimalist approach.  It's a newish theory in running that says the more like being barefoot you are, the less likely you are to suffer from foot and knee problems.  I have a bad knee, so this is either going to be the best idea ever or the worst.  I bought a pair of Merrell "barefoot" shoes.

 They're as light as a feather, and almost feel more like wearing slippers than shoes.  The great news is that REI has an awesome return policy.  If these don't work, I can take them back and try a different pair with more support or just get my money back.

Gibbs in a rare moment of dignity.

Today we did an experiment on how the pancreas helps in the digestion process.  The ending makes me smile.  I love that kid.  He's so 13.

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Today's Ride

• I went 27.6 miles.  I meant to go 20, but miscalculated how far away my destination was.  Of course, I could've turned around at any point, but for some reason getting to that particular park became the hill I was willing to die on.  Around mile 25 I really, really regretted being that obstinate.
• It was cold.
• It was a bit rainy.
• I saw a yarn-bombed tree!

She Did End Up Laughing at Herself

Earlier today I was irritated at Baylee for doing the bookwork part of one of her classes during the teacher's lecture.  When I got after her about it she said, "Why?  Mrs. Walker didn't mind."

"Of course she didn't mind!  She's a video!  I mind!"

I think when a child watches these classes it can be easy to forget they're not actually happening in that moment.  I once read about a family who used the Abeka Academy videos.  Those are a bit different than what we're using, in that they were filmed in real classrooms with actual students.  Anyway, this family's little boy, who was in about 1st or 2nd grade at the time,  was all hunched over his work, guarding it.  When his mom asked him why he was doing that he pointed at the TV and said, "That boy is trying to cheat off me!"

-------------------------------------

The powers that be let several of us leaders go home after the girls were settled down for the night at the PG sleepover.  I have to be back bright and early, though, to help with the big breakfast, craft time, and clean-up.   That means bedtime for me, right now.

Late Night Talk

Mike worked late last night, so I watched documentaries in bed with the laptop.  It's my latest thing and I can't seem to get enough of it.  It almost doesn't matter what the topic is, either.  So far I've watched documentaries on:  Russian ballet, the Appalachian Trail, some crazy men who ran across the Sahara, and one on a one-room schoolhouse in France.  That last one even had subtitles.

Anyway!  At some point in there Baylee crawled into bed with me, so I shut the computer and we talked.  She told me all about school and friends and this and that, and eventually she talked about her height.  She said she thought she might be too tall, because one her friends calls us "the bean family."  I told her how being "too tall" bothered me when I was a kid, too, but really it's nothing to feel bad about.  "It's a good body type to have," I added, "because when you're tall it's hard to get fat.  You have to really work at it, like I do."  We dissolved into giggles, and that was the end of that.

Tonight is the Pioneer Girl overnight.  I have a feeling it's gonna be long...but fun!

Rainy

Today was a good day!  Drew was (is) sick with a cold (That part wasn't good.), so I only had to teach two of the kids.  Something about that makes everything so much easier, and it doesn't matter which kid is taken out of the equation.  Everyone was done with their schoolwork early, Baylee got picked up for the "kid exchange" (Yep, we're still doing that.  I think this is our 4th year.  In fact, we now do it twice a week, with two different families.) which meant I got an earlier than expected start on my bike ride.  I loved that!  The only problem was this:

The weather was gross.  By the time I got back home after 14 miles I was a mix of cold and wet, and sweaty and clammy.  Oh, and dirty.  Oh well.  It was fun, as usual.  My goal right now is to build back up to 30 miles.

Mother...Superior?

Today involved:

• Finding out that the one who "had to go the bathroom" was actually hiding out in there playing a handheld video game.  That was easy enough to handle.  The game now lives on top of a very high bookcase, and will for quite awhile.
• Realizing that someone thought it would be okay to sit at the computer and daydream, instead of learning to type.  I watch him more closely now.
• Giving a student with a lazy attitude the job of vacuuming all the ceiling vents in the entire house during his break.  He happily went back to schoolwork after that.

Homeschooling books often paint a "everything is cuddles and fresh baked muffins" picture, and sometimes it is.  Other times homeschooling looks more like an old-fashioned nun with a scowl and a ruler.

Just call me Sister.


PS:  Nothing against nuns, of course.  The Sound of Music is one of my favorite movies.

Curmudgeon

I'm not sure, but I think I might be becoming a curmudgeon.  I've got two more things that bug me to share with you today.  (Aren't you lucky?!)

1.  A status like this on Facebook:

Never regret anything that has happened in your life.  It cannot be undone, changed, or forgotten.  Remember, it's a lesson learned and move on.

I mean, I get it, but why do people always downplay negative feelings?  Why is it automatically bad to feel regret or, for that matter, any of the other uncomfortable emotions, like sadness or loss or shame?  Don't those feelings have value in their way, precisely because they often can be undone or changed?  For instance, I sure regret gaining weight, but I want to use that regret to fuel my desire to get rid of my big butt.  Sometimes I regret saying unkind words, but that bad feeling makes me want to apologize and ask for forgiveness.  What would this world be like if nobody ever regretted anything, or felt embarrassed or ashamed or guilty?  I think it would look like a bunch of sociopaths running around.

2.  People in leadership positions who handle problems like this:  "Hey, so-and-so, I want to talk to you about such-and-such.  Some people are saying..."

Look.  I don't care how many people said it. (Although usually it's just one.)  The very second you present an issue in this way, you've lost everything you hoped to gain from the conversation.  Now the person you're talking to is thinking, "Who said it?  Why are they talking about me behind my back?  Why couldn't they come to me?"  What they're not doing anymore is truly listening to you or giving any credence to the situation.  I've seen this over and over again.  If you're the one in charge, and you think something is worth mentioning to someone, then own it.

So, yeah, I'm a curmudgeon, as you can see.  Either that or I've got PMS.

That Makes 3 Sunny Days in a Row!

That has to be some kind of record.

I called it "sewing" and was corrected by Baylee.  It's "embroidery."  I have no idea what the difference is, but I'm glad she does.

And tree climbing.

I know I've been sort of lame on here lately.  I've been busy, but with things that aren't all that exciting.  Is it better to write every day, even if it's not much, or is it better to write every few (or several) days, when I have something of substance to say?  What do you think?  I'm honestly curious.

I could talk about things that bug me.  I've got one brewing right now:  The friend on Facebook who walked out on his (or her...I'm not saying) family and kids quite a few years ago, moved to the other side of the country, and is now lamenting not being able to see the kids more often.  He (or she) says that he (or she) knows God has a reason for keeping them apart.  Umm...I don't think God does, friend.  I think God had a plan to keep you all together in the first place, and you wrecked it.  Argh.  Oh well.  NMB, I guess.

Oh, I do have one neat thing.  We got Zach's official report card for the first semester of this school year.  He made merit roll!    That's one level down from honor roll, but we'll very happily take it.  It means that he got a certain amount of work done and averaged an overall grade of at least 90%.  I think I remember reading in the student handbook that honor roll is at least 94%.  Anyway, we're very proud of Zach.  He worked hard for those grades.

PS:  I've been playing with the "vivid color" setting on the camera lately, which accounts for the somewhat weird pictures.  I think it's kinda cool.

Sunshine-Filled Weekend

Heartburn Experiment

Drew finished the module on energy, and now he's on the digestion module.  Yesterday he did an experiment which shows how Tums works to get rid of heartburn.

First we made our usual acid/base indicator out of red cabbage.  As you can see, it turns the water purple.

Then we poured that indicator into a glass with a little bit of toilet bowl cleaner in the bottom of it.

 The toilet bowl cleaner contains hydrochloric acid, which is the same kind of acid your stomach makes.  (When you have heartburn it means you've got too much acid, and it's backing up into your esophagus and irritating its delicate lining.)   Immediately the liquid turned pink, indicating the acid.

Then we put in Tums tablets, which are a base, one at a time.  It took four of them to turn the liquid back to a purplish color, indicating neutralization.

 

Go Tums!  I still like Mylanta better, though.  Nothing worked faster when I had pregnancy heartburn.

I'm Usually Not This Scatterbrained

So remember how I said that our car's battery was dead yesterday, and I thought it was because one of the kids left an interior light on after church on Wednesday night?  (Wait...I think I said that on Facebook.  Anyway, now you know.)  So let me break it all down like a timeline:

1.  I'm not sure if I also mentioned that wasn't the first car problem I had on Wednesday evening.  The first thing that actually went wrong was when I got to church that evening I locked the keys in the car.   I rarely do that, so it's kind of funny/weird that it should happen on the same night as everything else.  Mike had to drive to church and bring another set of keys.

2.  I didn't really need to go anywhere important yesterday, and Mike worked late, so the car was never jump started until today.

3.  But not until after Mike had left for work.  He forgot all about dealing with the car and had to come back home to start it for me, because I needed to go to the store to get a couple things for a science experiment.  Mike was still smiling at this point.

4.  By the way, this is also when it was discovered that the kid's hadn't left a light on, after all.  In fact, I had left the headlights on.  So, to recap, I both locked the keys in the car and left the headlines on, draining the battery, all in one night.  Doh.

5.  Mike told me to let the car run for 5 minutes in the driveway, which I did.  Then I went to the store, got what I needed, went back out to the parking lot, got in the car, and it wouldn't start again.  Something about it not charging enough?

6.  Mike, who had driven to work again, had to come all the way back again to rescue us in the parking lot.  Here's what he looked like at that point. 

7.  But he still loves me.

Friday!

Morning Conversation:

Drew:  "Baylee, go take a shower in the other bathroom."

Baylee:  "I can't.  The water's cold in that one."

Drew:  "It's the same water in both bathrooms."

Baylee:  "...oh."

Last night Drew started doing some research for a one-page paper on anything having to do with the Middle Ages.  He chose the Black Death.

A website I follow (and link on my sidebar) is doing a "Homeschool Day in the Life" series right now.  First they had their own writers contribute to it, and now they've opened it up to readers.  I'm thinking about submitting one of our days.  We'll see.  I just know I love reading how other people do things.  You know what's interesting about it, though?  Most of the moms who have talked about their days are fairly new homeschoolers.  They have very young, early elementary kids.  Sometimes their kids really young, like preschool age.  LOL  Only a couple entries so far have junior or senior highers.  I think that's because when you first start out you're totally on fire, but after you've been doing this for a kabillion several years you're more like, "What?  Why would I write about my whole day?  That sounds like more work!"  You're in survival mode.    

Just Thinking Aloud

The other day Mike wondered if anyone had fed the dog yet, but he didn't want to say it out loud, because the dog would understand "dog" and "eat" and think it was time for supper, possibly for the second time.  So Mike decided to spell it out.  "Did the d-o-g-e-a-t?" he asked.

The good news:  The dog didn't understand him.

The bad news:  I almost didn't, either.  There was a 5 second delay before I answered with a "yes." And then Mike smiled, and I knew he was amused by my lack of spelling skills.  (Plus I asked him, "Are you laughing at me for not knowing what you meant right away?!" and he laughed outright and admitted it.)

But what can I say?  My brain just doesn't work like that.  I can't "see" words that way.  In fact, I was a terrible speller all the way until I got to college, then I became quite a bit better at it, just because of the staggering amount of papers they made us write.  Like I said, though, before that I really sucked.  In 6th grade I resorted to writing the spelling words on the bottom of my tennis shoe, then crossing my leg over my knee during the test.  (Horrible, I know.)  In 8th grade my English teacher had a great policy in theory:  He'd give a pretest, and whichever words you missed would become your own personal spelling list.  Since it was an honors class, most of the kids had no spelling words to study, or maybe they had one or two.  I usually had about fifteen.

I'm not going anywhere with this; it's just on my mind.  I think it's fascinating how differently we all learn and process information.

Love This Guy

Yesterday he fixed Baylee's doorknob after she accidentally locked herself out of her room.  It took awhile because something was broken inside the knob.

Recently we figured out that he works much better and stays much more focused with music playing.

And this week we found out he's officially (according to his recent check-up) taller than me now.

Fun in the Kitchen

Today Baylee got to do a booklink food project for a new book called Derwood, Inc.  So far she really seems to enjoy this story.  I can tell, because I often hear her laughing to herself as she reads.  This morning she read a chapter about a bully who tries to make the main characters eat worms, so part of the lesson was to make "dirt" pudding, complete with worms.

mixing the chocolate pudding...

folding in cool whip...

crushing the dirt Oreos...

putting on the worms  (I just noticed Gibbs' nose in the lower corner of the picture.  haha!)...

voila!

5th Grade "Personal Narrative" English Assignment, by Baylee

         Excitement!

It was right after I had finished school that my mom received a phone call. “Hello?” she said. Soon after that I heard, “Mike, we’re not getting a dog.” As soon as I heard those words I could feel my excitement growing! I ran as fast as lightning into the room and listened to my mom’s side of the conversation. My mom sighed heavily. “Fine. But I want to feel like you’re actually training him.”

I jumped up and down and ran to my brothers and yelled, “We’re getting a dog!”

Of course, my brother Zach was being very negative. “ No, we’re not,” he said.

“Yes, we are!” I said, getting angry.

Zach ran to my mom. “Are we getting a dog?”

Yes, we are.” Mom answered.  Zach looked confused and left the room.

I was so excited!  “Is Daddy picking him up right now?” I asked.

No, he’s coming home first.”

I was even more excited.  “Yay!” I said. “That means I can go with! When is he coming home?”

“Right now.”

I sat on the couch until my dad got home. Finally I heard a key in the lock. My dad came in, went in his room and got dressed, and then my brother Drew, my dad, and I were all on the road. It was a long, silent ride. The Christmas lights were beautiful, glistening in the night. After two hours we got there. My dad went inside to get the dog. He was a beautiful shade of brown and blonde, which made him look gold.  We put him in the car and drove home.

When we got home the dog was very scared. He didn’t know where he was or what the heck he was doing there. About two days later he got familiar with all of us.

I loved him, but the cat didn’t. Whenever the dog would go by Cooper, the cat, Cooper would run away and the dog would chase him. The cat would run out the door when anyone opened it, and so would the dog! Of course, it was hard to get him back, but we always eventually did. Also, the dog would eat soap, erasers, and any food on the floor. I was annoyed when he would jump up on the table during breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but I loved him.

Now he is fine, because he doesn’t eat soap or erasers, and he doesn’t chase the cat, and he rarely goes outside. And when he does, we take some dog food and call him and he comes back in, usually in about ten minutes, max.  He still steals food from the table, just not as much. I mean he still does it a lot, just once or twice a day, instead of five.

He’s a great dog. I love him. I hope he doesn’t die for a long time.