December 10, 2012

White Dog lifted her head from where it was buried deep in the comforter next to me. "Good luck," she murmured to Steve as he rose into the early, cold, barely light day. I heard YoYoMa stir and stretch and follow Steve out into the hall. "It is too early and cold," Steve told his running partner. "We will go when I take my first break." I do not think my big white floofy boy was too heartbroken as we noticed that the temperature was 16 degrees.

I heard Puff leave the side of the bed and Quinn's tags rattle as they followed their heart and shifted to the office where Steve was firing up his computer. Nuka was already asleep in the crate and Oso in the closet "suite" there.

Today was the start of the new quarter which meant it was Steve's first day of school as a student. His team was assembling to show support and to be there in case he needed help or advice in his first class on business reporting.

He worked for a couple of hours before softly calling Yet Another White Dog for walk time and when he returned we all had a bit of breakfast. The White Dog Army discovered the delicious wonder of warm bread pudding with cream on a winter day. Then indulgence was set aside.

The WDA shepherded the student back to his workstation with a reminder that he still had three more hours to put in. They were not about to let him fall behind on the first day. As has become the pattern he was allowed potty breaks, but those were chaperoned by the entire Army and he was immediately led back to his reading and note taking.

After nearly four hours of class time, I heard Steve tell his task masters, "Enough for today. We made a good start on this week's work and if we keep this up everyday I will be done before the weekend." Class was dismissed on the reminder that it was lunchtime aka duck jerky treat time. "Same time tomorrow?" Steve's joke was met with six serious nods.