Yep, it's a fractured ankle all right

Doctor says it's a hairline fracture, so I'm wearing a black leather brace with 2 stabilizers, one on each side of my foot. I'll only be able to wear sneakers for the month I'll need the brace. How charming!

Not only that, I'll have to have a bone density on the 10th, to see if it might be osteoporosis that caused this fracture, since I don't recall any kind of injury, fall, twisted ankle, etc. Wonderful. I don't smoke, am not thin & fragile, take my Vitamin D, lived in CA for 22 years (so had plenty of sun) and while living in northern Maine, made sure I got outdoors with my face in the sun for 10 mins a day. When there WAS sun.

Hey, I like that idea! Instead of Come, to call out: cookie! But I guess you have to have a cookie in your hand, right?

Am posting while waiting for doctor to call; it's possible that I have a hairline stress fracture in my right ankle. Been thinking it was good old Arthur, but it kept getting worse, and is only in one ankle. So I got it X-rayed today.

Sadie Mae didn't do this! In fact, it was not an injury, just something painful. Doctor promised to call me this evening once he checks the X-ray.

I was able to drive myself to & from the doctor's office, so I feel like it may be tendonitis or something like that. Came home to find that Sadie Mae had gone digging in my big potted palm out on the sunporch, scattering potting soil here & there. Little imp that she is, she finds something to keep herself busy whenever we are away. She HAS her own toybox/basket and digs through that when we are home, watching. I'm trying now to teach her the names of her various toys. She has a brightly colored plush duck that she loves, 'cause she can grab it by beak or wing or tail and race around the house with it.

Did I already mention that Oprah had a show on dog training, with a woman from Israel as her guest who has a new book out, called (I think) The Loved Dog. Her training methods are very loving and friendly. I especially liked this one, which I plan to try: She trained this bitty little dog to reach up with her paw or nose & ring a bell she held on a string. Then she would hang the bell on the inside doorknob, and the dog would ring the bell to go outside!

Instead of scratching on the inside of the door....or (as in Sadie's case) barking frantically when she needs to go out, this would be a good trick for Sadie Mae to learn. We'll see...she's a smart little dog, but she does like to have her own way.

Training time for Sadie Mae

Becky - I figured out how to use my new scanner, but not how to move a picture from the scanner to anywhere else. Still technically challenged. I'm working on it.

Gorgeous weather we are having. So I decided to step up the training of Sadie Mae. She knows Sit, Stay, and NO!!! But she still runs off, looking back at me over her shoulder with those huge black eyes..."catch me if you can!" And there is no way to catch an energizer terrier until she flops onto the ground, pink tongue hanging out.

So I reviewed my book(s) and got Dick to help me, using a long lead and little bits of hotdog, her fave treat in the world. Dick says instead of using the command Come, I should just say: Hotdog!

Frankly, just shaking the ziplok bag gets her attention.

We'll see. Have to repeat and repeat this training. I tried this awhile back, but she soon decided she'd rather run than come to the house. Hopefully she'll change her mind. With coyotes in the woods and traffic half a mile away, I want her to whirl around and FLY to me, like she does with Dick, the Alpha Dog/Pack Leader.

Yes, Becky, I need to take her picture as she has changed so much...she looks more like a wooley white lamb now as most of the black and caramel coloring have disappeared. But oh boy, is she ever a Yorkie!

We mourn for those bright young souls lost at Virginia Tech

Reading and re-reading Nikki Giovanni's poem from VT's Convocation, I am so sad for those 33 families...yes, I include that very disturbed shooter's family. How must they feel? They apparently came to the US seeking a better life for their children. Working at a dry cleaner's, they managed somehow to send their daughter through Princeton, and were putting their anguished son through Virginia Tech. Now, their dream is over, ending in a shattering chaotic scene of blood and horrific loss.

We are all touched by this tragedy, every single one of us. Four students from our church's congregation were on campus and fortunately were spared, but their friends were not. Our former church secretary just took a position on campus only two weeks before this last Monday; her office is in a building next to Norris Hall, so she heard the gunshots and screams and loudspeakers. Her daughter graduated from VT.

So many lives changed by this demented young man, who thought of himself as Jesus on the cross, who envied the Columbine killers, who long ago apparently needed institutionalization.
He had problems in middle school, in high school. He felt persecuted, harrassed, despised.

So he turned on those he felt were more privileged than he.

I was finally able to turn off the TV news by Wednesday night, when our church held a community service. That evening, those mind-chilling tapes turned up on TV, and we saw what those students saw as they left this world.

The world changed for us on 9/11; now it has changed yet again. Time to read Nikki Giovanni's words. She faced him down in the classroom, when he tried to intimidate her. She may well have been one of his targets. Her words are in today's edition of the Roanoke Times, and appear on VT's Website as well.

Today, Friday the 20th, everyone is wearing VT's colors. Somehow, we have all become Hokies.