I know it seems like I’ve dropped off the face of the earth for the last couple of weeks, but I have a good reason.  I’ve been working.  The last two weeks, H&R Block has been in peak season.  I have been working four-day weeks, but in calculating my hours for the pay period yesterday, I discovered I had worked a little over 99 hours!  

I would get up early in the morning to try to be there by 7:30 (although until I got a key of my own, I had to wait for the first tax pro to let me in, usually by 7:45 or 7:50), and get ready to open at 8:00.  I would squeeze lunch in wherever there was an opening of at least twenty minutes.  Around 5:30, Mark would bring dinner and we’d eat together in the break room.  Then he’d come back a little before 9:00 pm to pick me up and as soon as I got home, I’d head straight for bed.

We have one more week of peak, but this coming week isn’t going to be so bad because my boss hired another receptionist that I helped train a few days ago.  As I understand it, she will be doing the evening shift, so hopefully there will be no more thirteen hour days for me.

The first day of this pay period, I rode my bicycle to work, but I had to wait for 7:00 when the sun rose to head out.  Wanting to be to work by 7:30, I have opted out of bike riding until our office hours go back to 9:00-9:00.  Then I won’t be needing to be to work until 8:30 and the sun will definitely be up.  Thursday and Friday of this week, Mark had to scrape ice off the windshield, so that was another good reason not to ride my bike.

In the meantime, last Saturday, I went to the house of a friend from church to sew while she crocheted.  We spent several hours chatting and getting to know each other.  When Mark came back to pick me up and we were heading down her street, four coyotes crossed the road in front of us!

My friend, Pam, is a dog rescue coordinator for Tucson.  Right now, she has a little bull terrier that was found out in the desert.  Penelope had been used as a “bait dog”.  Men trying to teach their dogs to fight had let them attack her for training and then they left her in the desert.  One of her eyes was deeply scratched and there was a large gash on her chest.  Her ears had been bitten.  She was nothing but skin and bones when I first saw her.  She had just had surgery and was still sleeping off the anesthesia when Pam invited us over for dinner a couple weeks ago.  Pam was afraid she wasn’t going to make it.

The dog I saw last Saturday was a completely different dog.  She’s in a little playpen and when I came in, she jumped up and licked my hand with her tail wagging. Pam is still giving her eye drops and ointment every two hours to try to save her eye.  At that time, she had put on nearly two pounds.  You could still see her ribs, but they were starting to have a little meat on them.  Once Pam gets her healed as much as she can, she will move her to a foster home.  From that point on, Pam will be looking for a good adoptive home for Penelope.

Most of the dogs Pam rescues aren’t in such bad shape and they go to a foster home right away, but Penelope was in critical condition so Pam has been caring for her with the help of a veterinarian who deeply discounts his services for the dog rescue team.  Penelope has a chance at a much brighter future thanks to the dog rescuers of Tucson!