It's A Dog's World

 

Beth And Tin Tin

It's 8:00, and Beth is off to school, leaving Rami and me — and the dogs, Kaia and Tin Tin — as the only ones up. The sky is partly cloudy on a 55° morning here in Dallas.

Tuesday was a preview of the days to come. Beth was up early and off to school, leaving the rest of us behind. None of us are morning people — we prefer sleeping in, then easing into a relaxed coffee hour before thinking about doing anything productive. By 10:00, though, we were all up and ready to go. Mitch got on his computer, signed into his Arup account, and worked most of the day. Rami had an early conference call and migrated back and forth between his office and the couch. Evie cleaned the kitchen and got herself organized while I drove to Trader Joe's to pick up some wine and goodies for the week.

Dallas Through The Trees

When I returned around 11:30, the lawn crew had arrived, along with a couple of guys fixing the gate to the backyard. I decided to take Kaia for a walk, strapped on his harness, and headed down to the lake — an easy ten-to-fifteen-minute walk, depending on how many times he stops to sniff the grass. It was a lovely late morning, and plenty of people were out walking or biking the nine miles around the lake. When I got back, Evie pulled out the leftover Thai food, and we had it for lunch. I think I'm still recovering from the long drive, because shopping and a short walk had me genuinely tired, so I took a nap — as did Rami.

Walking Kaia And Tin Tin

Cormorant

I was up at 2:30. Mitch was deep in work, headphones on, eyes on his screen. Rami was still asleep, so Evie and I sat outside for a bit, letting the dogs run around while the workers finally finished the gate and showed me how it operated. Around 3:00, Rami worked on syncing his car with the new swinging gate and garage door, and I took both dogs down to the lake. When I returned, Beth was home and Evie was already prepping dinner — Wiener schnitzel, baked potatoes, and broccoli. We enjoyed a glass or two of sauvignon blanc, courtesy of Trader Joe's box wine, until dinner was ready at 6:45.

We watched an episode of Top Chef, and then Rami, Mitchell, and I got busy in the garage for about forty-five minutes — bringing in pictures for hanging and organizing things so we could actually get to what we needed. Beth, Rami, and Evie were in bed by 9:00, leaving me to watch some TV and Mitch to keep working in the garage. I went to bed at 10:00, feeling a little guilty about leaving him out there. When I checked the garage this morning, though, Mitch had made remarkable progress. What a good son — and lazy father-in-law.