Just after Christmas we decided to put in a fence. This is a totally uncompensated plug for Orme Fence Company and Wayne Orme who did an amazing job installing a beautiful fence at a great price and with excellent quality. Wayne’s a hell of a nice guy, too and his team was quick – I left one morning on a business trip and returned around midnight the following night and lo and behold, had a fence. I couldn’t be happier. It’s been great for the dogs and was the final key step in getting our puppy housebroken.
Clover was plenty annoyed, never having been fenced in before. In fact, on the first night of the fence, Mark caught him wearing a hat with a light on it and investigating the perimeter for escape routes.
I’m also happy to report, not only are our dogs penned in for good, making them safer and less of a hassle to chase down or stand outside with, refusing to pee on the end of a leash, they now seem to be genuinely getting along better.
I attribute this to the Couples’ Retreat we sent them on over the holidays while we undertook the Great Midwestern Road Trip. They returned on better terms and are often seen spooning.
Not that Clover isn’t completely mortified any time we see him appearing to enjoy Starbuck’s presence.
We’ve had Starbuck for a week.
Today, when my husband came home, I said, “Welcome to la maison de la merde.” So goes the puppy training. It’s not that I’m really losing it, but I guess I’m a bit impatient. It has been eight years since I’ve trained a puppy, and of course, since I work from home, the training, and the accident cleanup, largely falls on my shoulders. And after about the fifth time of taking her out and then having her pee on the carpet within a minute of being back in the house, I get a little annoyed. Like I said, it’s a good thing puppies are cute.
Clover is tolerating Starbuck a bit more every day. He’ll let her get within a few feet of him without growling her off or running into the next room. She still enjoys chasing him around the house, though. We were all surprised when she climbed the entire flight of stairs by herself. It was, of course, to get to Clover.
Starbuck is pretty smart, despite the potty training issues. Here she is helping the girl with her Algebra. She hasn’t mastered differential equations yet, but give her time. She’s only three months old.
Tonight she discovered that, yikes, there’s a dog outside the sunroom when it’s dark out and (Woof!) she looks just like her! That was pretty entertaining.
The boy is completely nonplussed by the puppy. Wait. Who am I kidding? The boy is nonplussed by darn near everything. This dog, included. He has referred to her alternately as “dog number two” and “Satan.” He ought to be grateful for one thing; at least the new puppy smell has distracted me from the odor emanating from his room.
I feel as if I’m adopting a child. Next week, this adorable little girl will join our family. She’ll be a little sister to Clover, our Wheaten Terrier. She’s a Whoodle, which, if you don’t know, is a Wheaten/Poodle mix.
Everyone seems so surprised we’re getting another dog. Everyone but dog people, that is, who understand that it’s good for dogs to have dog companionship. We’ve had some pretty strong reactions, from my father who claims he’ll never visit again (Ah ha! I said, our plan worked!) to another unnamed relative who proclaimed that it was the biggest mistake, ever. One friend issued a chilly, “I see.”
Our son gave me the speech: “Having a puppy is a big responsibility,” he said, and I laughed because the shoe was on the other foot.
Sure it will be stressful. Sure it will be a year or so of being a pain in the neck. But you dog people get this, right? And you gotta admit, she’s darn cute.
For breakfast, we had eggs, bacon, hash browns and cinnamon rolls. We drank fauxmosas (tropical blend juice and sparkling cider) from champagne flutes.
Yeah, I fell off the vegan wagon after about two weeks. I did it in style, though, with a cheeseburger and a bowl of ice cream.
For dinner, we sidestepped the traditional ham, and opted for salmon with grilled tomatoes, asparagus and popovers.
We stuck with one new tradition and made the chocolate roll cake again. This is last year’s “pile of poo.” It turned out better this year.
From now until the big vacation/honeymoon/anniversary trip, I will watch what I eat, but I will not be trying any goofy diets.
Neither will Clover.
We have some trees in our yard and therefore, leaves.
There’s some grass under there, I’m sure of it.
It had gotten to the point where we had to do something to at least get ahead of it, although the leaves were falling as fast as my husband could blow them into a pile.
Admit it; there’s something hunky about a guy wielding a power tool.
Can you tell I got my camera back from the shop?
My hunky power tool wielding husband spent the better part of Saturday blowing leaves.
I documented the leaf-blowing. I don’t do outdoor work; I limit my work to the indoors and believe me, that’s enough.
Clover Takes Five
Clover enjoyed hanging out in the just-cleared spots, watching the activity and staying out of the way.
Clover
Clover graciously posed for this photo so you could see how the leaf pile was growing nearly as tall as he is in spots.
Don’t you just love watching a guy do work around the house? I know I do.
There’s more leaf-blowing in our future, too.
Side note:
My L11 camera (that I love, especially for travel) broke while I was in London, before I even GOT to India. It cost me a bundle to get fixed. Since
you sent Bossy a camera to try, think you might let STLWorkingMom try one out, too? I promise to post even more fabulous pictures than these.
Hugs,
STLWorkingMom
