Possible Promotion and Another Surgery

We have been waiting to hear how Ben did on his ladder driver test. Today we got the news we hoped for. He was called in for an interview. Ben thought you had to pass the test to even get to interview. His captain said that you do not have to pass the test to get an interview because they realize that not everyone is a good test taker and likewise not everyone is a good interviewer. So Ben then got discouraged and thought he didn't pass his test but his captain saw his frustration and told him that he passed his test with at least a 70. This is all Ben had hoped for knowing he hadn't been to the academy. So he went into the interview and answered the best that he could. There were two lieutenants (one of them being training officer) and the assistant chief. Ben felt that he answered their questions to the best of his ability while trying to look humble, teachable, confident but not cocky. The assistant chief's questions can sometimes be a loose cannon. Ben thinks your answers are never right for him and feels that chief does this to try to frustrate you. So Ben feels that overall it really was a decent interview. He talked to the other two guys on his shift who interviewed and they also felt that chief railed them. We hope to know by next week if Ben got the promotion. I think he has a decent chance. He still thinks its a long shot.

Two weeks ago we noticed Pepper trip going upstairs. She looked like she had injured her leg. We knew when she had surgery a year ago that there was a 50% chance that she would injure her other leg within the next year or two....so exactly 1 year to the month, Pepper was confirmed as having injured her other leg. We knew what we had to do and today she came home from surgery. She is now our bionic dog! She also has gained 10 lbs. Pepper is on a strict food diet to lose 20 lbs. Otherwise, we will be looking at years off her life because of poor health. We want her as healthy as possible to be our pet, friend, family member for as long as possible. She is such a loving and loyal dog. Dr said she did very well in surgery. Her knee had already shown signs of chronic problems...meaning she had already developed arthritis. So she's probably been partially torn for a while and we just didn't notice the slight limp. So she has some arthritis but the surgery will keep her from getting worse. She'll be as good as possible from here on out as long as we keep that dern weight off. She looks so pitiful with her shaved leg! So we have a long 10 weeks of recovery ahead of us. So for 10 weeks she is confined again to the kitchen. We are praying that her leg heals as it did last time without rejecting the plate and needing another surgery to take it out!