School Board Budgets and Dog Pajamas

Two things on my mind this morning:

The Coquitlam School Board is receiving community presentations about its 2005-6 operating budget. Consortium43 has prepared a presentation. Tonight my friends Jennie, Gwenda and I will go to the School Board meeting to make our presentation. Info about C43 is available via our email: consortium43@yahoo.ca Our presentation discusses the need for restoring services that have been lost over the past few years due to declining provincial funding. We know that our trustees have to work with what they get, but we go on record each year to say that the funding is inadequate. We will also question the rightness of relying on international students and overseas education as a funding source (our district is currently pulling in about $13 million a year from this). We'll ask for facts about the actual cost of completing seismic upgrades to all our schools (that's a capital cost, but it's on our minds) and we'll challenge the increasing reliance on parent fundraising for education essentials like textbooks and computers, and the inequities that result. Our presentation is written and has been sent to the Board already. We just have to show up, read it and answer any questions. A number of the trustees have read it already because they are members of C43.

The other thing on my mind is our dog and her "hot spot." She's at it again, denuding a growing patch on her rump. It must be itchy or just interesting. She keeps gnawing at it and taking off the fur. The medicine the vet gave us is used up, and there's no sign of any lingering infection. But we need her to stop chewing. So while I was walking her this morning I thought about the problem of keeping her away from her itchy butt. We tried a t shirt tied around her rump, but she figured out how to get it off very quickly. What we need is something more firmly attached to her body. So I have this vision that I'm going to try tonight, after I get home from the School Board meeting. I'm going to get two old tshirts, fit them to her and sew them together in the middle to make dog pajamas. Her front legs will go through the sleeves of one shirt, her rear legs through the arms of the other. Her tail will come out one neck hole, her head out the other. I'll leave the tummy part open so we can get it on and off, but I'll arrange some kind of ties so we can snug it up on her tummy. I think this will work. If we take her back to the vet he'll probably suggest allergy tests or some other expensive and potentially inconclusive approach. We'll try pajamas first.

Question: what else do I have to do in my spare time?

mompoet - vocal citizen and dog couturier