Taking the Dog for a Drag...

...and watching from the sidelines.

Sage and I tried to stay out of the fray as Grace dragged Spike up and down the hall. When he gave up and let go, she ran round the kitchen island (not the first child to do so) and Spike chased her until he figured out that if he just sat still she would meet him coming round the other side and he didn't have to do anything. Spike will be tired tonight, but I doubt if Grace will. Despite expending a lot of energy, she never sems to run out of it.

The pest control people called to ask if they could come a week earlier than scheduled. We didn't object as the sooner as the rats are cleared out of here the better. Eight o'clock on a Saturday morning is a stretch, but we're up to it. 

John had to take the car in early this morning for a two hour check-up. He waited with a coffee in Trail House while I made coffee and scrambled eggs at home. Fueling the perpetual motion machine is a challenge. When John came home with the car, Grace and I went to the bookstore where she chose a book and a diary (with a lock on it) for her Christmas present. I also remembered that they have a good selection of notecards and calendars. Grace, examining a rack of little stuffed animal puppets said, 'How come bookstores always have a bunch of things that aren't books?' That gave me pause....Independent bookstores like this one have quite a hard time competing with Amazon but that wasn't a discussion I wanted to get into with a seven year old...even a very precocious one.

Grace is in the bathtub now singing Christmas carols in a beautiful, mature sounding voice...Ever since I insisted on having that bathtub put in, I haven't trusted my knee to allow me to get myself out, so I'm glad so see hear somebody getting such good use out of it. We did have to remove several spiders from the tub before she would get in...

Sage has been a bit cranky today but lights up as soon as she sees Grace.