Scrub and recall

I finally shampooed the living room rug today, a bit overdue, and was reminded of the day Brix almost burned the house down. A black labrador/golden retriever mix, he was about six months old. I was a few rooms away and heard a sudden scrambling which sent me running -- running toward the living room which was filling with smoke.

Unfortunately, dogs can't talk. I pieced it together and this is what seems to have happened. He found a cell phone and snagged it for a chew toy. During the munching he cracked open the casing which exposed a hot battery. He dropped it, it burned a spot on the carpet, tried again and dropped it again, another hole was burned and the entanglement got repeated. At least I know there were three small burned areas and lots of smoke. It could have been a disaster, of course, but I grew up with the adage, "A miss is as good as a mile," so haven't dwelt on the could-have-beens. But every time I shampoo the carpet I'm reminded......

The staff at Juvenile Hall decided that the new ART You Ready for Dinner? program that begins next week will be best suited for Housing Unit Two. These are boys with mental health issues which usually only means they are immature and have ADD. I've worked on that unit for years and know exactly what I'm getting into. In keeping with the menu format I added a "Today's Special" to the poster and suggested ink-splot monster drawings with "your choice of watercolor filling." Drawing skills aren't necessary for that one -- or for most of the projects -- so even reluctant players should have fun. I'm anticipating that the first session may be a bit of a dud since it's likely that few kids will volunteer to give up a free television hour, but the following week will be closer to the future norm once the word gets out that I didn't scold, bite or subtract points -- and they got to keep their contraband (real sketchbooks) and the reward of all rewards, there was dessert!