How to go from zero to two dogs in 2 weeks

No, we didn’t get another dog. Max has been a great addition to our family but one dog is enough, for now.

Except not exactly. We are babysitting Casper, a lab/weimaraner mix who belongs to some friends of ours. For about 27 days (but who’s counting?) while they fly to Russia to bring home an adopted child. Their new daughter is 16 years old and about to outgrow the orphanage. If you know anything about the orphanage system there, you know she has a grim (and most likely short) future once she is out.

My sister finds it quite amusing that I, who have never really liked any dogs, now have two dogs underfoot.

Casper is a nice dog, but a little big for my taste. I don’t like the fact that he can look right over the kitchen table at the food we are trying to eat. He has quite the glare, too.

Prayers for Cheryl and Charlie, their 4 children (1 of whom was adopted from Russia as an infant) and their new daughter would be appreciated!

Our moss-filled lungs…

don’t seem to like the dry winter here. The kids and I can’t get rid of our coughs. Maybe by next winter we will be acclimated.

Cris’s vacation isn’t really. His two winter term classes – a two-week term – had assignments due after the term was over. So he is working on those assignments, and getting ready for a test the first day of Greek!

Still, we are enjoying our new doggy, beautiful sunny (though cold) days, and our afternoon teatimes with books.  (Reading aloud doesn’t stop, even with cough breaks)!   Life is good.

Man, it’s cold!

It’s 14 degrees out now; forecasted low is 10.  Yowza!  That’s cold for me!

However, it is not too cold for Maxwell Dog.   He was whining to get outside at 7 this morning.  Silly puppy, doesn’t he know we can sleep till 8 on Sunday?   As is our practice, we went for a long walk before breakfast.  (It’s amazing how quickly we fell into this routine.  I do the morning walk; Cris does the just-before-bedtime outside duty.)  We took another walk around 3 this afternoon. Our cold weather gear is getting a lot of good use.

Still, there’s no snow.  The little we had from last week is long gone, except for the packed remains of a few snowmen in the neighborhood.

We are really enjoying Max and wondering what took us so long to get a dog.  Well, there was that fence problem in Beaverton.   I never had dogs as a kid, and never thought of myself as a dog person.  But I am not sure I will want to be without one in my life again.

Finally, some snow!

Today we had a lovely little snowfall. Maxwell the puppy was fascinated with the huge flakes coming down. When the ground was mostly covered, we went outside and ran around. Everyone loved it. The snow is mostly gone now, from our running and sliding. I fear our backyard will be nothing but mud come spring. But we had a good time.

While we were reading afterwards, we learned that on this day in 1885, “Snowflake” Bentley “developed the world’s first photo-micrograph of a snow crystal (from Winter World by Bernd Heinrich).” Eleanor in particular was thrilled with that bit of information. Any reason to celebrate!

Max is a great dog, by the way. Someone, somewhere, taught him indoor manners. Outside he just runs and runs; inside he is very calm and respectful. Only a few tentative attempts to get on the furniture. (Yes, we are one of those families who do not let the pets on the couch.) Not a chewer. He’s good with the big pleading eyes at the dinner table, though. (Yep, we don’t feed him from the table, either. Mean dog parents!) He’s already sleeping outside the crate, on the kitchen floor on a soft doggie pillow from Petsmart and James’s old crib comforter (not an heirloom). We figure he’ll be sleeping in James’s room soon.

I tried again to get the kids to change his name; I thought Calvin would be good.  No go.  Max he will be.

James has a dog!

OK, we all have a dog!  We had been talking about a dog for a long, long time.  It was one of the things we told James would be good about moving – we have a fenced yard here.   It took a long time, but today we brought home Max, a Shepherd/Hound mix (those are guesses) from a local rescue.  Max appears to be healthy; his coat is shiny and he has a lot of energy.  Oh yes, he will be a good running dog for James.   Eleanor was a little hesitant at first because he was a little too fast for her, but she is already saying “I love you Maxie” and brushing him whenever she can.   James is on cloud 9, of course.  Max already seems to fit into the family.

Max was the name the shelter gave him; I wouldn’t have chosen that but I guess it will stay.  If we had gotten a female dog I was hoping to name her Nancy Blackett (read Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome) ; maybe next time.

Tomorrow will be another spring-like day, a good one for running around outside and learning how to walk OUR new dog!

Spring in January

We had afternoon tea outside today.  It hit 60!  The sky is blue, just a gorgeous day.  Our homeschool group had an impromptu park day yesterday because the weather was so nice.  The moms thanked me for buying Eleanor new snow boots and pants as that surely caused this heat wave.

We are hoping for more cold days and some snow!  We’ve only used our new wood stove once this winter.

I forgot to note that Eleanor turned 9 on Monday.  She decided not to have a birthday party but host a valentine-making party later this month instead.   I’m glad.  Planning a party right after Christmas is not my idea of a good time.  Cris and James have a Cub Scout event on an upcoming Saturday, so we’ll fill the house with girls!

The sound of giggling girls

Today Eleanor finally has a friend from the neighborhood over.  She lives several doors down, but during the summer we never saw her. The girls met while I was at her house, working with a group of neighborhood women on a project just before Christmas. Today was the first day things seemed normal around here since we got back from our trip.  James is around the corner at his friend’s house.

She has not been friendless; in fact tomorrow she is going to her 4th birthday party since we moved here!  But she doesn’t get to see those girls all that often.  And since James has a pal around the corner, it’s been hard for her not to have one too.

It’s nice, to hear those girls giggling together.

Christmas Travels

Our Christmas trip: Maggie Valley, North Carolina; Athens, Georgia; Manassas, Virginia.   1500 miles!  The Suburban hit 100k and is still going strong.

The first leg:  Oreland to Maggie Valley, NC to see Cris’s parents and sister.  They have a house in the Blue Ridge Mountains and it was beautiful.  No real snow, but beautiful mountain views.  We hadn’t seen Huldah since Eleanor was a baby, so that was exciting.   Google maps said that trip should be about 10 hours; it took us 13.  We need a lot of rest stops, I guess!

Next, we drove to Athens, GA to visit my sister, 3 of her 4 kids, and her 2 grandkids.  We had never met the grandbabies so that was exciting too!  It had been a few years since we’d all been together.  Her son and his wife were on a long-awaited honeymoon so we missed them.   It was a little chaotic with the babies missing mom and dad.  The 5 dogs added to the fun.  (They were outside.)   Eleanor loved the attention from her “big girl” cousins.    That trip was only about 3 hours, easy driving through small towns.

The very next day we went to Manassas, VA so we could go to the National Air and Space Museum facility at Dulles Airport.  This was a long-promised trip for James.  Back when we were driving cross-country, we had planned to visit the Air Force Museum in Dayton, OH.  We had to change those plans, and while he’s not still made about it, it was a big disappointment.  I think this museum made up for it.  There were a lot of planes there!  Eleanor and I spent as much time as she could stand looking around, then had some time reading and sewing in the car, so the boy got as much time as he needed.

That was probably our longest driving day, ever, with a rainstorm following us all the way.  But the  drive home the next day was easy and beautiful.

We had a good trip but it was sure nice to get home.  And, yes, everyone said “Yea! Home!” when we crossed the Pennsylvania border.  So, I guess this is home now.

Now, it’s time to start finding a dog!

If your Christmas card is late…

don’t blame me.  I don’t know who you should blame, just not me.

Christmas season doesn’t end till January 6, remember!

We survived the first semester!

Whew!  Finals are over!  Cris has a few weeks till the 2-week winter term starts January 8.   The spring semester starts in February.

So, lots of relaxation time, right?  Hahahaha!   We need to:

- finish raking the leaves before the snow comes!  At least the front yard is done!

- get a Christmas tree.

- empty the garage, put in a new storage rack, and refill the garage.

- clean out the office and rid ourselves of a few stray boxes of junk that followed us here.

- go through some boxes of books and try to part with a few more.

- start some of the reading for the upcoming classes!

- hang some more pictures.

Fun plans include our trip to North Carolina and Georgia for Christmas visits (there will be relaxing moments here), and Cris and James’s long-awaited visit to the Battleship New Jersey

Oh, and I forgot the first order of business when we return from our trip:  start looking for a dog!

I think today will be the only day he gets to sleep in!

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