This morning we brought home our new puppy. We left home at 1015 for what should have been a 35 minute drive. It took me twice as long. Apparently, everyone from the Northeast is headed down to the beach in North and South Carolina and Florida for Memorial Day Weekend and they all have to drive through Stafford to get there. Once we arrived at the Breeder, we were greeted by the 3 remaining male puppies. The first two jumped on me and bit my fingers and the 3rd one came up and nuzzled my hand. Gabe then conducted his temperament testing. He had a small notebook and pencil, a set of keys, a ball, and some treats. For each task, he graded each dog with an A, C, or F. The first dog did pretty well. The second dog did not do well. The third dog would have aced the test but failed to come when called. Later, Abby conducted a retest for him to prove that he could perform the task. The third dog had a sweet and gentle personality and spent his time snuggled on Abby’s lap. When the other two puppies went back to their mom, he sat with the kids. When Gabe rolled the ball for him, he ran after it and pounced on it. We were all sold. The next decision concerned his name. We had narrowed the name choices down to 2, just like when Dale and I had named the kids. Dale wanted Blaze and I wanted Nugget. As with the breed of dog, I was outvoted by everyone. Even the Breeder took their side. So, Blaze it is. I must say this trip to the breeder went a bit better than when we picked up Sasha years ago. While we were inside signing the papers. Sasha’s aunt was digging an escape route under the fence. When we went back outside, all the adult huskies were gone. We then spent several hours driving around the countryside looking for them. You would think that would have been warning enough for us, but no. We paid our money, took her home and spent the next 8 years driving around the countryside looking for her and Czar. Blaze spent today playing in the yard, popping bubbles with his nose, tugging on his rope, and chasing the ball. The kids soon realized how much of their summer is going to be spent outside telling Blaze to “Do your business.” Blaze is currently in his crate asleep in the family room with Gabe sleeping on an air mattress next to, not in the crate.
It’s 1650, and I’m suffering from coffee withdrawal. A few days ago I decided to cut back on my daily consumption of coffee. I haven’t been out of control, but 4-5 cups a day seems to have more of an effect on my 43 year old body than they had on my 33 year old body. My eyes feel completely bloodshot, if bloodshot is actually a feeling. I’m trying to have 1 cup a day in the morning. It’s not going so well!
Why am I cutting back? In addition to aggravating my heartburn, coffee is helping to dehydrate me. Even now, it’s 106F (41C) outside. I’m already drinking 4 liters of water each day, sometimes 5. I feel waterlogged when I go out running and dehydrated when I finish. I really need to switch to running in the mornings instead of the evenings. This morning, sunrise was at 0455 and at 0600, the temperature was 77F (25C). So there is plenty of light to run at 0600, and the temperature is still relatively cool. However, at 1900 tonight, the temperature will be about 101F (39C), and the sun will set around 1913. All of the temperature data is from the Weather Underground.
What was I doing at 0600 this morning? Sleeping. I get up at about 0630 each morning, brush my teeth and shave, watch some news for the headlines, then wander into the office around 0730. I won’t have the luxury of sleeping that late when I’m slugging to the Pentagon. Oh well. I’ll be running this evening. Tommorow, and each Sunday, is my day off from running. I’ll try getting up early on Monday to go for a 0600 run.
Mugs and the kids should be picking up our new puppy right now. I’m sure we’ll have a great post from her soon!
Gabe has been busy assembling various items in anticipation of the puppy and kitten’s arrival. Yes, it started with feeding the birds. Then we got fish. Tomorrow we bring home the puppy. And June 18th we bring home a kitten. That’s it. No more. No rabbits, guinea pigs, ferrets, mice, rats, lizards, spiders, and definitely no snakes. Really, I’m done. Although, I’m sure Gabe would like something else to build. Each time Gabe starts his building project, he puts on his work clothes, a pair of blue jean overalls. He then opens the box, looks at the directions, gathers his tools, and gets to work. His biggest project was the cat tree, purchased in the hope that the kitten will actually scratch that instead of my favorite chair. He worked on it while I was out walking. I came home thinking I would have to help him straighten things out, but instead I saw him proudly displaying his work. He also set up a travel crate and a house crate for the puppy. “You can call it a kennel, Mommy, but it’s a cage. You’re putting the poor puppy in a cage.” I attempted to explain that experts advocate crate training a dog, but he didn’t want to hear it. The crates can’t be too bad, since Zeke keeps crawling inside and locking himself in. Today when Gabe began his work, he looked at me and said, “You don’t need to help, Mommy. I can do it myself.” Gabe has spent the last 9 1/2 months assisting me on my failed home improvement attempts and has apparently decided that he is better off without me.
We conducted our quarterly Aegis client training yesterday and today. Our timing couldn’t have been better. Yesterday the temperature got up to 100F (38C), and today it hit 104F (40C). Fortunately, going to a weapons range while deployed to Iraq is not quite the ordeal it is at home station. It also helps that Aegis handles running of the range and even supplies the weapons and ammunition. They also provide the transportation. All USACE has to do is shoot. The “Annie Oakley” award has to go to Liz. She seemed to enjoy the shooting immensely!
Here’s a closeup of her target.
Yes nothing like an Organizational...