2001-07-16 - 5:30 p.m.

I had a nice weekend - my original plan was to go to my parents for dinner on Friday, stay over, and then meet the boyfriend upstate on Saturday morning with the dog - but I decided to cut the crap and suggest that he come with me for dinner, and then we'd go up together. And he was all for it, so that's what we did. Nice to have that extra night together. We ended up spending the whole weekend at the house, with the exception of a hike to some really amazing natural waterfalls. He spent hours gardening, and I spent hours sitting my ass on the deck reading and visiting with Jane, who came for the day.

The freakshow had a great time - she spent the entire time outside, laying beside the garden while the boyfriend worked, occasionally going in through the gate to sniff him, then taking her place outside the garden on the grass. The only problem - she's getting fat as a pig. The dog is living with my parents now - she does not have the temperament for city living, it's too much stimulation. And we'd lived with my parents for a while after I first got divorced, and she loves them. This is all extremely convenient and wonderful for me, and for the dog, and I think for my parents too. But y'all. They feed that dog like she's a growing child, rather than the 10 year old mutt she actually is. So when I brought her home last night, I broached the subject. And I can tell, it didn't do a bit of good. Fine, if you want to mix a little meat with her dog food or something. But they give her steaks. Whole steaks. And dessert, and my grandmothers zucchini and sausage sauce. I mean, really.

She hurt her leg this weekend, chasing a stick, and was having trouble hauling her giant ass up on only one leg. We left to go back to the city, and the boyfriend said, "I don't think your parents are down for the dog diet. I'm sure right now they're saying 'Oh, look, poor thing, her leg hurts. Give her a doughnut.'" He's too right, I'm afraid. I'll have to have a serious talk with them when I'm home this week.

I know this is a lame entry, but I've been reading other journals all day, and my head is full of everyone else's words. And on that note, one of my favorite journalists signed my guestbook today, Jen from Jenworld. I love that journal, I'm so glad she's back to updating. And I'd love to link to it, but let's face it, folks, I'm obviously not going to be working on my HTML any time soon. Dammit.

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