And so today my dad turned 78. Will he make it to the 80s? Yeah, I think he will.

And also today, I woke up at 128 pounds, so that’s now a total of 19 pounds I’ve lost. At the rate I’ve been going, which is in slow motion at an average of one pound per month, I probably won’t hit my goal of 110 till the end of next year.

Today was dead quiet. I mean absolutely dead quiet. Do I think it was a coincidence? Yeah, probably. But tomorrow will tell for sure, assuming Jesse’s working. Because it was so quiet I went ahead with the first lesson in Unit 4’s Italian 102. So I’m 7% through that course with a 98% accuracy. I learned the months today!

Anyway, we’ll both be sleeping when the barking is usually at its worst, but they still bark enough in the afternoons to tell us if he gave enough of a shit enough to do something about them, not by how often or how long they bark, but by where it’s coming from.

I thought he was out with them in the truck all day since he didn’t come down to weed. Yet he must be there cuz I swear I saw movement along the deck up there around 5:00. Like one of the dogs scurrying by or something. It’s strange that he didn’t take off anywhere on the motorcycle, though he could’ve come and gone in the truck with the dogs.

Although Tom would certainly never say this, it’s almost like he’s trying to make me feel guilty for complaining. He’s just been so quiet ever since I called Jesse yesterday. Either way, I’m not at all feeling guilty. One can only put themselves out so much because one may be paranoid or another one may be sensitive. We did it his way and it didn’t do any good. Asking not to have to hear 6-12 hours of barking most days is not much to ask for. I feel my complaint was perfectly reasonable. I can’t make Jesse do anything about it, but I now know that I at least tried. I’m sorry I’m not like Tom who doesn’t mind all the barking since it’s what he grew up with being from the West and all that, but it was tremendously annoying and distracting for me as I’m sure most would agree. Yet it bothers me that he makes me feel, even if it’s not intentional, that Jesse’s feelings are more important than my own, but like I said, we all have our limits and the excessive barking was just way too much for me to continue to just sit back and take it. I had to try something. Chances are the barking will be back soon enough if it doesn’t start all over again tomorrow, but like I said, now we can know we did all we could do, short of getting the automatic debarker. Then the next step will be to decide whether or not to move, if and when we have the money.

I just wish someone else would help me out here and complain as well. Then maybe he’ll either get rid of them, find some other place to keep them when he’s out, or do something.

Tom’s feet are swollen again and hurting. My teeth still hurt too, but not as bad now that I’ve begun killing the gingivitis. My ear has been doing better overall which is nice, but I sure wish we could get out of this rut we’ve been stuck in since November. I just wish something would happen. A job, his program finally working out, a big enough win – anything!