And I wonder what I'm doing here....

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Ok... this is part of a post I din't post... cause I didn't know where I was going with it..... I guess I still don't... but AnyWayz....

Ok.  A picture of the 'new' dog.... who is at least a year and a half old.  And it is really not my dog... in the classic sense. I never owned the last one, either, to be honest.  'Mommy' bought that one for the kids as a 'separation'-guilt present... "see, what a nice white fluffy dog Momma got you."  But that ain't no never mind, see, cause it was a really great dog... and for a few years it was at my house more that hers, but that is no never mind, too.  The real deal is that I trained the first one, and now I am training this one, Oliver. (please sir, can I have some more!) Now, I am not like that guy on TV.... whatz his name?>>> Ceasear Romero, Sid Cesaear, Ceasar Salad..... ya know, that guy.  First off, I am not Hispanic... second off.... I really don't know how to train dogs....  but I did a great job with the first one.... I could take it for walks without a leash ( which the ex could never do)   I just used a lotta common sense.... kept it simple.... and gave it a little beer at bed time.  It really became a shared dog... whether I liked it or not.  And all in all, I did. So, with the old dog gone.... rest in peace and stuff.... and Wonder Girl moving out of Mom's.... the Ex decides she would like..... get this... another dog.  Oliver.  She got him from the shelter.  I guess the previous owner did not take care of it and it ran loose too many times.  It's some kind of schnauzer-poodle-something-something mix.... with a lot of energy.  More than the Ex can handle... and the next thing you know.... I am training a dog.... again. Now, the first thing I noticed about Oliver is that he has a GREAT vertical leap.... kinda like Tigger in the cartoons... but virtually no horizontal propulsion.  Getting up into a chair is a challenge,  but it can leap four feet straight up into the air, land on the counter, make itself a baloney sandwich, drink my coffee and then carry the loaf of bread off into the living room and bury it in the sofa.  Took me a long time to find that bread.  Oliver will eat anything and I figured it was just stashing for later.

Well.... that is as far as I gotz... and that ain't no never mind.... see cause where I was going...was about the Ex.. and this will be short.

We split a long time ago.... no problems with sex or drugs or alcohol.... things just weren't working out enough.  But we had two kids... and after a bit...decided we could really raise them together.... apart.

It has worked pretty well. And... it still is.

So... again, about the Ex... she has a bit of OCD... and the way it worked is she can't stop taking classes.... She now has a BA ,a BS, a Masters Degree and more goddam certifications than you can shake a stick at.  Seriously.  Currently teaches in a program for emotionally fucked up kids. Majorly fucked up. The students are all court mandated to be there.  Cheaper than juvenile facilities and the idea is.... see if you can stop them from getting more fucked up.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't .  Two former students murdered someone in a drug deal over a year ago.  Failures are much more apparent than success in her line of work....

Well, Anyways.... she asks me for a small favor the other day.  Can I help her haul a bed over to a student's apartment.  Mom & Dad are out of prison.... inter-racial marriage... lotta problems... and now the family is back together and they are working on stuff.... but the kid doesn't have a bed.  The Ex's Dad, Grandpa, had one.  We hauled it over there.  The kid is seventeen, had been sleeping on the couch.... and never had a bed... ever.

The apartment was small, cluttered, but clean.  There was a small room to set it up in, the kid was happier than all get out.  " I have never had my own room," she said, "or my own bed."  My heart bled a little.

So, the next day I asked the Ex for a favor.... I needed a new State of Wisconsin ID.  My eyes are getting worse... I can't drive... and I wanted to make goddam sure I could vote ... to get rid of the fucking Republicans who are trying to cut teaching jobs like hers.  And I am not going to go on about shit, state employees or politics or goddam entitlements or stuff.... but she is the kind of teacher that puts in 60 to 70 hours a week, and gives kids beds.

Well, it is what it is and again, it ain't no never mind...... 

I was at the Ex's having tea after we got my ID.  Wonder Girl stopped by.  She saves all her compostible kitchen shit from her apartment and brings it back over to her Mom's bin.

Life has not turned out exactly the way I wanted.  But that ain't no deal, either.

Things can be ok, if you want them to.  And walking the dog is fun.