I don’t like confrontation, but then who does?  I had to confront the Sears folks yesterday afternoon. When they failed to show up or call about the duct cleaning, I called to discover they had cancelled my order. Seems they transposed the phone numbers and whoever they called told them NO THEY DID NOT WANT THEIR DUCTS CLEANED.  After I raised cane and threatened them with Angie’s List, because they said they could not get a truck out here Thursday, they promised to have one come on Friday. They said they would drop the $15 fee for “waste removal and gas” and Friday promised to be gorgeous.

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I am exchanging information with a woman in one of my bird groups who has a new litter of Pug puppies. My first dog was a Pug named Boots or Patsy. I can’t remember which exactly. I think Boots was Dad’s dog. Patsy may have been her puppy.

In the photo left, I am with my puppy in East Texas when I was about two years old.  I don’t know what happened to her. I can only remember Fiesti my hound dog from age 5 or so.  Pugs are swell dogs, with a lot less fur than Poms.  Given the furriness of my Poms, I thought it would be great to have a dog who was relatively furless but have not yet broached the subject with David.  Poms have fur and hair, which makes them very furry indeed. I don’t know what other dogs have but Poms are in the Spitz family which also includes “sled dogs” or huskies.  Hence they need more fur or hair.  I think fur is the additional covering, but don’t quote me.  I get them confused.

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Thursday, I got back to Passage of Power, my book on LBJ by Robert Caro.  I have been reading both the LBJ book and Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin.  I must be nuts, I read George Wills review of  Coolidge and promptly ordered the book.  Got to get all perspectives and learn more about American presidents I think.

Meanwhile, I sneak in the odd essay by Katie Roiphe (In Praise of Messy Lives). Today’s essay was about Arnold Schwarzenegger.  I have to confess, the essays in this book are light reading compared to those in the Lincoln book. 

Thank goodness all my ancestors were Yankees or still in Europe when slavery reigned. As far as I can tell, no one in my family ever owned a slave (good reasons to be descended from peasants).  Two great grandmothers had children out of wedlock…I think they may have been turning tricks with French soldiers. I am just grateful they found a way to care for their children who migrated to the US and found better lives.  

David is a Southerner and may have had a slave or two in his family…way back, but his grandfathers on his Dad’s side hid out in caves in Tennessee rather than get involved in the Civil War on either side. Interestingly, David’s paternal grandfather who was also a lawyer, shot and killed a man in New York City…over a poker game. We don’t know what happened after that because David’s son stopped doing research. Looking back at your ancestors can be distressing. Most of them had such messy lives.