STAYIN' ALIVE

I have been so busy, blogging has been put on the back burner. I don't know whether to try to catch everyone up on what has transpired over the last 4 months (which would be overwhelming), or just bag it and start from the here and now. Suffice it to say that life is good at the Escoto household.

We are all looking forward to the end of the school year- 5 weeks to go! I am also counting down the days left of seminary (14 to be exact). I love teaching seminary, but by this time of year I am starting to get burned out. Unfortunately just when seminary and the early morning hours really start to wear on me is just the time when I need to spend 3 weeks teaching Isaiah. It is a miracle that I survived it. Isaiah is hard to understand, and harder still to teach to 14 year olds, and hardest of all to keep their attention at 6am. One really has to come up with a dog and pony show every morning to keep the kids engaged, a regular sunday school type lesson just won't cut it with Isaiah. But now I am over the hump and on to the rest of the prophets (I taught Daniel this week) so I am getting my second wind.

My dog walking business has grown like crazy- I am averaging 10 dogs a day. The income is good and I have been able to purchase a computer and a van that holds a lot more dogs than my truck could. My next investment in my business will be to get a new fence for the side yard that will be more secure when I am boarding dogs. The existing fence was intended for a large, very lazy dog that neither jumped nor could ever dig a hole large enough to get his massive butt through. My clients don't all have those same characteristics unfortunately, and so some improvements are called for.

My entire business arose out of the fact that I was taking my own dog to the dog park daily, so I might as well bring along some doggy friends and get paid for the trip. Unfortunately Kobe blew out the ligament in his knee a month ago and as such his dog park days are over. He is taking it all very stoically, and doesn't even ask to go when I head out the door to do my dog route.

The dog business has been pretty hard on my body as well. So far I have sprained both of my thumbs, gotten tendonitis in my right elbow from throwing a million tennis balls a day, and have a piece of loose cartilage floating around in my knee from the dogs constantly running into my knees while they are wrestling with each other- I definitely see arthroscopy in my future!!

In spite of all the above, this is still the most fun thing I have ever done and look forward to going to work every day to see all my 4-legged friends. The off-leash dog park is like Disneyland for dogs- "the happiest place on earth" I am so blessed to get to share in their joy every day. I am constantly entertained and amused by their antics, and I spend my days with a big grin on my face.