Genes and Stuff

Toby will be home on the 21st. He will be here for a couple of weeks and then has to go back to Scotland on Jan. 6th until Feb 1st. This time, I am invited to go with him. I think he has been lonely without me (I nod sagely with an I-told-you-so look on my face). He has told me that I will be on my own much of the time if I come back to Scotland with him (not a problem - I‘m on my own here at home). He has also told me that the food is terrible there. Then he told me that if I come, I will need to bring lots of books and diet, because it is too expensive for me to eat. I asked him if I was suppose to eat the books or read them. I told him that all I needed was a laptop and internet. He replied, “Laptop, huh.” I might need a few new art supplies too (eyebrows wiggle up and down).

Last night Jesse got out the left over tuna casserole (something we love, but Toby hates) and finished all but a small portion. I noticed the food on the table, but forgot about it when we went to church. When we came home, Ranger, the rat terrier, slunk out the door as if he were in trouble. Sure enough, he had pushed back a chair, climbed up on the table, and finished off the tuna casserole. He does not ever get on the table, so this was new, but it had to have been him, because the cat was not in the house. Jesse thought he needed some doggie discipline, but then, who left out the tuna in the first place? Later when I went to bed, Ranger snuggled up close to me as if to make everything okay. This morning I could not find him; he was buried under the covers with his head on Toby’s pillow. Yes, he is a rat, but I love him. It brings to mind something my dad used to say: When I die I want to come back as one of Lou’s animals.

Bragging rights:
Jesse and Lindsay decided to do something different with their lives last summer and take some fall classes at Cameron U. Although both girls have good jobs (Jesse as a drafter and Lindsay as a computer tech), they thought they needed more. With all the busy-ness in their lives, I thought they were rather silly, but hey, education is good. In the meantime, a man came into Lindsay’s life, she droped her math class, and was still having trouble juggling her time. Jesse was also struggling (possibly with jealousy- over the dropped class, of course). She suddenly had to share Lindsay, she had no man in her life, and calculus was eating her lunch. She wanted to drop the calc class, but her dad talked her into sticking it out. A funny thing about home schooled kids - they have no sense of themselves compared to other students. Anyway, Jesse made an A in calc. Tonight is her final in Spanish which she has an A in also (she said it was ridiculously easy, yet others were failing the class). My son, Bo, was taking a couple of accounting classes - he made A’s also. I’m sure it was the Baggett genes that helped them pass their math classes. It was the Barker genes that made them look so good while being so smart.