Hard to believe it has been 2.5 weeks already.
2.5 weeks since we adopted our little man. Who is rapidly getting less little.
Y’all. He is so cute.
Nights have gotten much better. He usually sleeps through the night but rarely sleeps past 7am. Inside accidents are down though that may be slightly due to over vigilance on our part and less with him.
He’s figured out that during the day, sitting by the door will get him taken outside. And maybe 70% of the time he actually needs to potty…the rest of the time he just wants to snack on leaves and sticks.
I wish I could let him have unfettered outside time but with the side yard still in trenches, we just can’t. We’ve been taking him for a walk at least once a day…which is in itself a challenge.
He really does not like walking on the leash.
He did a little better yesterday because I walked in front of him with a little treat every couple of houses. The proverbial “carrot on a stick”. It was fairly effective but some of those leaves and sticks along the way are just tastier I guess.
He loves his toys and he is great at playing by himself. Of course he loves it more when we play with him. His favorite “toy” so far seems to be the piece of rope from when we had the attic door replaced a month ago.
Go figure.
He does like all of his toys. He has already received his first BarkBox and has loved everything in it – treats included (which is frankly not something I ever said about Trixie – she was always picky about her treats). No toys have been destroyed yet even though he seems to almost always have something in his mouth.
He even plays with the rope basket I bought to store his toys in. Actually, that’s likely his second favorite toy.
We are still learning what is an allowable chew toy – like the basket – and what isn’t – like the window sill or my office rug. But we will get there.
Mostly he’s just a happy happy pup. He loves to sleep on or near me…he definitely imprinted on me more than Rob but to be fair he spends 8 hours a day locked in a room with me.
The cats…well…not much progress there. They tend to stay in Rob’s office more than not which is really not that different than pre-puppy.
And when we are in the theatre and he is asleep we open the door and they come in so there is frequently all 5 of us on the couch at once. But there is little to no interaction between species.
Manfred tries. He occasionally will actually get so excited about trying to get them to play he lets out a little yip. For the most part the cats seem ok with him as long as he remembers his place.
Lilly did chase after him last week when he was feeling a bit cocky. No contact was made but I think he understands cat now.
If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook you have probably seen the bow tie pics I’ve been posting. My sweet friend Maggie sent him a dozen bow ties so I’ve had fun choosing a new one every day.
Sidebar: I promised Rob that I would not buy him clothes but I said collars don’t count as clothes.
Some days the daily pic is easier to capture than others. Today I got it on the first try. He’s very photogenic.
He’s also very wiggly and very fast.
I know that was a lot of dog talk but I can’t help myself. He’s so cute and I love him so much. I knew I wanted a dog but I didn’t realize how much I needed him.
In other news, the plumbing is fixed but the yard is still in turmoil. We passed city inspection so now they are just working diligently to put it all back together. I do not envy them their job.
Also my lovely green lawn now has several dead spots from having dirt piled on it for 2 weeks. I hope we can bring it back to life without adding a bunch of weeds. I was so excited last year that I finally had a lawn that was mostly grass.
And also still trying to figure out how to pay for all of this. I think I can kiss the new bathroom floors and tile work goodbye and just hope we used enough bleach…and that nothing got in the walls or subfloor. Priority is the yard, then a doggie door.
Also can anyone explain to me why I pay for a home warranty when they are only paying a little over $1,000 of the $24,000+ this is costing us?
Or why I have home owners insurance presumably for EXACTLY this sort of thing and they won’t cover any of it? We couldn’t even get an adjuster out here because “it wouldn’t be covered”.
It’s a fucking racket even worse than health insurance! At least my health insurance usually pays something.
Remember a few blog posts back when I declared we would be completing our little projects one room at a time?
LOL
It’s hard to be motivated when everything is in disarray with expenses just adding up.
Texas is officially open but we’ve stayed pretty home bound. We are finally registered for our Covid vaccines…I wonder how long we will have to wait? I’m not complaining, I’m genuinely curious. I hope we don’t have to wait too long though. I’ll definitely feel better once that is over and done.
Especially since we are possibly going to Maine in June. Rob’s family has a “cottage” in main built by his great-grandfather. Been in his family for 100 years. It’s not my ideal vacation but it means a lot to him. I’m sure I’ll have a great time, I just don’t love the idea of going to a cold beach. And I will put it in writing right now that I will probably love it - everyone says so. But those people also talk about summer heat like it's a bad thing and I kind of like it.
Beggars can’t be choosers huh? At least it is a beach. And it’s a reasonably affordable vacation which has suddenly become much more important.
Plus I’m still hoping for Germany in December.
Enough about me. How are YOU doing? Everyone staying healthy? Anyone fully vaccinated yet? How’s work? How’s the family? Made any theoretical post-covid plans?
At least spring is almost here! Miss you!