I talked to Leah!, originally uploaded by tara.aukerman.

I finally got to talk to Leah! I spend so much time thinking and saying, “I wish Leah were here” or “Leah would SO get a kick out of this” that I almost feel like I talk to her often. Almost. Tonight I really got to talk to her.

I love Skype.

Those of you who know Leah know that she gets less and less eloquent the later she stays up. By the time we “hung up” at 3am her time, she was really starting to sound silly. A few gems:

• “and they have shapely lower halves”
  – Telling us about how much she likes to watch rugby, a new sport to her. She was trying to explain that the guys are really strong on the bottom halves because anything above the waist is considered a foul. Ended up sounding more like she watched the sports for … all the wrong reasons.  =)
• “muscular women – it makes me happy”
  – Telling us how women play rugby, too, but that they have to be very strong.
• “here is the amazingness of my life today.” [long pause]  ”I forgot what I was going to say.”
  – Getting ready to tell us about something exciting that happened today.
• “I can always remember everything ever about all the rooms of my life I stay in.”
  – The response to my suggestion that she take pictures of the house she’s living in so that later she’ll be able to remember all the details.
• “roll out, do some makeups and go to the food”
  – Her plan for tomorrow morning. =)
• “probably some days in the night”
  – The next time we get to talk to her online.

She’s so much fun!

Now, my life will be complete if I get to talk to Melissa. (Hear that, sister? When can we talk?!)

Remember the Hamilton Street murders that happened literally in our backyard? The trial for Desmond Turner, the suspected killer, is about to get underway.

No death penalty in ‘06 mass slayings | The Indianapolis Star

We got both Jake and Lindy through the Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue. For a long time now, I’ve wanted to get more involved with this organization – after all, two of our family members came to us because other people volunteered their time and lives.

A couple of weeks ago, we heard about two dogs who were purchased at an auction. They were puppy mill dogs – dogs that came from a place where they were caged, mated, and bred to sell. One, Mac, an adult male, had been so neglected that he was covered in ticks. Thousands of ticks. The organization picked him and a puppy, Buck, up in Missouri. They medicated Mac, who was so miserable that he wasn’t active and wouldn’t eat.

RRR got foster homes set up in New England, but needed to get the dogs there. A bunch of folks started planning the transport, and asked for volunteers to take legs and keep the dogs overnight as needed. They coordinated a crazy caravan of folks.

David and I just drove a short piece of the trip – Indianapolis to Columbus – but it was a neat experience. For one, we got to meet some of the folks we’ve been talking to over the past couple of years. There’s another woman in Indianapolis whose home is a foster home for local rescue dogs – we met her and her husband (they kept the dogs overnight before we took them).

We also met Carol, a wonderful woman who lives in Ohio – she’s the one who arranged both of our adoptions. We left Mac and Buck with her. She was a delight to meet, and just the kind of person you’d think would open her home to hopeless dogs.

Being involved in this transport has made me realize that I enjoy doing things that matter. Getting involved, even in small ways, with things and groups that make a difference. I hope we get a chance to help out again – some day, I think I’d like to foster dogs – but Dave’s still getting used to our two. =)

A couple of (bad) pictures:

I’m late telling you all about this, but I wanted to see what this reporter was going to do and say before I shared the link.

I live in the Indianapolis inner city, and get asked often what it’s like. Want to know what our schools are like? Matthew Tully, a reporter for our Indy newspaper, is embedded at one of our public schools.  He’s writing a daily blog and weekly articles about the school and the kids.

Read the kickoff article.

Read his school-daily blog.

Read this article about how Manual accepted the President’s speech. My favorite bit:

Across the country, parents have flooded school districts with angry calls, demanding their children not spend 20 minutes hearing from the president. But at Manual, Principal Richard Grismore received more calls about the matter from the media than from parents.

Actually, Grismore received only one call offering an opinion about the speech. It came from the concerned grandmother of a student who has been skipping class and breaking school rules of late.

“She told me she just wanted to make sure he was going to hear the speech,” Grismore said. “She said he needed to hear that message.”

Update your feed readers, kids. I’ve moved from tara.elmadera.com to tara.aukerman.org.

A huge and MAJOR thanks to Steve E. for hosting me and David these past years – and for continuing to let us mooch some space. You’re the best!