A New Year and New Lessons

I hope everybody had a great holiday season and will have a very Happy New Year.  My human was very busy for the last few weeks, so Shasta and I haven’t been able to do very much.  But things are going to be ok.  We’re finally getting back to our routine and my human has already started back with my history and civic lessons.

Today we are watching the new Congress taking their oath of office and a vote is going to be made for their new speaker person.  My human says that this is important for a couple of reasons.

First, we get a new representative in that House place up there.  She explained that the House has 435 people who are supposed to represent the people in their states.  Each one of the 435 people represents a certain number of citizens and that is how each state knows how many people to send up there.  She said that those census people count the number of people in the United States every ten years and that is when states either lose or gain a person in the House.

Georgia got a new person because of the census in 2010.  Because of that, Georgia had to do this thing called “redistricting”.  When that happened our area became part of what would be (I hope I get this right), the 14^th Congressional District of GA.  Now, at 12:00 today, the man who did represent us will not anymore and we get a new person.

The second reason this is important is because my human says that this last congress did some pretty silly things in the last two years.  I’m not sure what it was, but yesterday she was really upset about something she said they passed.  She said that what they passed was, “nothing more than cake with crap icing on top and they were calling it a cupcake” (my uncle Matthew gave her that quote but he actually used a bad word that I get put in timeout for using).

Anyway, so we’re watching what is going on up there today and my lessons are resuming.  I hope all my friends will keep learning with me this year and that these new people going up to that D.C. place won’t upset my human so much.  Besides, I really don’t like them getting put in timeout when I am, they smell funny and won’t let me chew their shoes!

My Holidday Lesson #1

I saw a new “tug rope” that I want in what my human calls a sales flyer today.  I asked her if I could get one for Christmas.  That was a mistake!  I got a lesson in what the holidays are all about and Shasta even said a few things too.

 “Patton,” my human started, “the holidays aren’t about what you get for Christmas, they are about spending time together and being thankful for the many blessings you already have.”

Then Shasta said, “Our human does other stuff with us that are way cooler than the Christmas presents we get.  AND, she makes really cool treats for us to eat!”

I really want that new rope, so I began to whine a little.  That was a HUGE mistake.  I then got put in timeout and was told to think about what was most important to me.  Having each other, OR having toys.  I was also reminded that I could be one of those unfortunate pups up in the North that don’t have a human to take care of them now because of that hurricane.  It was a lot to think about.

I decided I’d rather have “play time” with my human and big sister rather than toys and nobody to play with.  I think I understand what they were trying to say.  So this Thanksgiving week I want to say that I’m thankful I have such a cool human.  I’m thankful for my lessons she gives me because I know she wouldn’t go through all the trouble if she didn’t love me.  I’m a blessed puppy because I have a human who would never leave me behind and takes such good care of me.

I am going to do better about appreciating what I have rather than being jealous another dog got something I didn’t.  My human said she was proud of me and that as a special treat for learning such a valuable lesson, she’d take me on a walk without Shasta!  Now, if I could just convince her I’d rather have a pair of her shoes to chew on rather than a walk without Shasta.