Old El Paso

While I was waiting for my immigration tribulations to be resolved, I had the opportunity to spend an extra week and a half in El Paso. My family was very happy to hear that I would be with them while my second visa application was reviewed!

Besides maintaining my normal work schedule and submitting my second visa application, I had two objectives in El Paso: 1) teach Elizabeth how to drive 2) put Otis on a diet

Teaching Elizabeth How to Drive

Elizabeth, my youngest sister, is learning to drive this summer. She recently finished the classroom part of driver’s-ed and is now out on the road with her permit. A few months ago while we were in South Carolina for Emily’s graduation, Elizabeth mentioned that she was taking driver’s-ed and I said, “You? Driving? Scary!” She said back to me, “I know!” That was not a good sign…

The first time David and I took her driving, we drove around our quiet neighborhood for about 15 minutes. Then I decided she should try something a little riskier. Bad idea. I wanted her to take a right out onto a busier street, change into the left lane, and then take a left at the intersection in front of my old high school. Well, Elizabeth got a little flustered changing lanes on a busier street. She was trying to concentrate on putting on her signal, checking her blind spot, and getting over at least 100 feet before the intersection. It didn’t work out quite that smoothly so she ended up changing lanes in the middle of the intersection. Oops! Then when she was taking a left at the second intersection in front of the high school, she became frozen with fear. Her hands were gripped the steering wheel so tightly that her wrists were resting on the horn. Honking her way through the entire turn, she made it but she freaked out even more thinking that the people around her were honking at her! Only after she had made the turn did I tell her it was HER that was honking! After that experience, David and I agreed that we are definitely not ready for kids yet. Babies are cute, but then they grow up and become teenagers, and teenagers are scary and stressful.  

Putting Otis on a Diet

Meanwhile, Kirby has been enjoying my parent’s backyard pool. He LOVES his new home, except for the rocks. In El Paso, water is hard to come by so most yards are grass-free. His poor little paws were pretty raw from running around the rocky yard after those first few days, but they have toughened up now. My dad works remotely for Coca-Cola, so he wakes up pretty early every morning to get on calls with the Atlanta IT team. Kirby has become very spoiled. Every morning he pops up around 6:30, ready for his walk with Dad, followed by his breakfast. In the evenings, once the sun has gone down and the temperature has dropped to a tolerable 85, we take him for his long walk with Otis.

Even with two walks and only a cup of dog food every day, Otis has still managed to pack on the pounds. That first evening in El Paso, David and I quickly discovered the culprit – MOM!

Mom is a total sucker when it comes to Otis. He has her wrapped around his little dewclaw. She feeds him scraps from the table and then puts leftovers in his dog bowl. As a result, Otis will not eat his dog food unless there is people food mixed in! Mom also caves in with the treats. That first evening, we found out that Otis learned how to open the cabinet door in the kitchen where his treats are kept. He’ll open the door, and then sit there staring at Mom. She claims he’s “staring into her soul” and she gives in!

So we began training Mom. It was hard at first. A few times she actually had to leave the kitchen to avoid Otis’s lovable gaze. About a week into the training program, we were questioning why Otis was so readily eating his dog-food dinner. Mom SWORE that she did not put any scraps in his dog bowl. “I don’t do that anymore!” she claimed. Elizabeth investigated, and sure enough she found some people food in Otis’s dog bowl. Mom finally confessed, arguing that it’s not fair Kirby gets scraps and Otis doesn’t. But Kirby burns off the calories by running around all day playing fetch and swimming in the pool. Otis wakes up, goes for his walk, eats his breakfast, and sleeps until 8 in the evening when it’s time for his dinner and second walk.

Otis doing what he does best - sleeping 

Today I leave El Paso and it is Day 17 of Otis’s diet. There is no noticeable change in his appearance, yet, but I am proud to say that Mom has indeed stopped giving him scraps and treats. Now if Mom could just train Dad….