duck-shaped pain

I am female, in my mid-20s, and I live in a medium-sized town in Colorado. I grew up here, moved away for about six years, and returned (not for good) last year, due to necessity rather than any desire to be back. I work, when I am working, as an editor/proofreader for a geological consulting firm. I just happened to fall into that job -- it's not really my life-long dream to read and correct science writing.

I have a dog. His name is Hoover, and he's a collie/Australian shepherd mix. He likes cheese, loves to try and eat bees when they fly by, and is a very aloof dog. I used to have two dogs, but one of them died late last year. His name was Gopher, and he was the finest dog that ever lived. He was a golden Labrador/German Shepherd mix, and I got him as a present for my birthday, 17 years ago. He was a very, very old dog when he died. he wasn't a very bright dog, but he made up for it begin extremely mellow and loving. He was the archetypical attention slut kind of dog. I was very upset when he died, even though I knew it was inevitable. He also loved to eat bees -- how I ended up getting two bee-lovin' dogs in a row is a mystery.

Right now, I live with my dad. This isn't the most ideal situation, but it's going about as well as living with one of your parents at my age can. when I moved back, I was only planning on staying a few months, so I didn't want to get an apartment. My dad offered to let me live in part of his house (my mom moved out last year, and they just got divorced) for as long as I wanted to stay. Right when I was planning on moving away, I broke my leg in a very serious and painful way. I more or less could not take care of myself for awhile (I couldn't move much, let alone shop for and prepare food, do laundry, drive or go to work), so it was nice to be living here during the few months I needed help. Now, I'm a lot better, and I'm looking forward to going back to work and earing money so I can get out of here.