Weekend Visitors

Carrie's birthday hit this week. The party didn't start until Chris and Genevieve arrived for a weekend stay! I had high hopes we'd pick up D&D again or some board games, but it was mainly a weekend of electronic lounging. 

And food. Lots of good food! 

I took Shane to TKD on Saturday and then he and I drove to NoVA on Sunday for Jama's 90th birthday. Gen, Chris, and Carrie stayed home to watch the puppy, binge Netflix, and play World of Warcraft.

We did have some other weekend visitors on Saturday. Kyle put out word there was free lumber after pulling down the old fence. A few people walked up and introduced themselves to us.

Others appeared in the yard!

I found the whole process interesting. I called it a "Scottsville yard sale," and was glad for every scrap someone claimed.

We still had some lumber left over at the end. Kyle and crew will haul it away at some point.

She Took It Up a Notch

In the past, I have called Carrie a monster.

Today, I called her Dr. Frankenstein.

She took it as a compliment!

Epic!

Progress Update

The Murphy bed showed up a while ago. I thought Carrie and I were going to set it up together, but she hired a company to do it for us.

Initially, I was annoyed. In retrospect it was the right call.

The first company didn't work out. They got to the house, starting setting it up, and then said, "We don't secure anything to walls." 

The instructions said, "Must be secured to a wall." They tried to wing it, broke some cam locks, and eventually Carrie walked in to help direct them. After three hours, she said, "You've accomplished maybe an hour and a half of work, broke some stuff, won't do what the instructions say you need to do, and I'm in here solving problems. Let's call it" (Paraphrased, of course!).

Carrie had provided all the directions (including video!) to the company ahead of time, so she was discouraged. She asked for them to either keep the deposit and walk away or come out and fix what was done without raising the price. The owner got in touch later, said they wouldn't attach furniture to walls, refunded the deposit, and apologized. It was a disappointment, but handled professionally.

Carrie used contacts to find another guy who came out to finish the project.

It was watching them work I came to the conclusion I was wrong and Carrie was right about hiring outside help. There were a crazy amount of screws and rivets that power tools we didn't have yet really helped with.

Carrie was the contact person throughout. She helped solve a few problems with the instructions and gave guidance for where she wanted things. She even played bedpost for a while (and refused to let me take her place). I was tempted to hop in a few times, but Carrie enjoys the process and too many chefs in the kitchen is best avoided. I really liked the attitude of the guy in charge. I'd hire him again.

They came by two evenings after their day job to finish up. Here's the final project.

We had Shane come in the room for a safety briefing. The bed swings down readily, but it's a heavy load.

Things have been happening around the yard, as well.

Kyle and crew took down all the old fence line. He took some wood he needed for a personal project and left the rest where it laid.

Some of the gate posts are still up around the arena, but that's it.

We've had some deliveries making a mountain in the arena proper for later phases of construction.

It's going to feel odd when the house is actually done.

Puppy Update

The puppy is here to stay. He's been scared of the septic tank pipe in the front yard (barking and circling it).

However, he made a breakthrough today. He can now bite the bucket without running in terror.

Shane keeps encouraging him to dig in the sand. Carrie's worried the two of them will dig up the septic tank.

Carrie keeps telling Shane to quit digging. He accepted part of the instruction and stopped digging around the septic tank. 

There are other piles of sand in the yard.

Shane walked up to me with a shirt full of one of them!

I decided to take a picture before making him unload.

"No goofy faces. Smile for your, Mom. She's not going to be happy to see this."

Loki's normally off leash in the front yard, but he's starting to enjoy the game of chase. That's where he runs gleefully whenever you try to pick up him to go inside.

Luckily, he's easily distracted and lured. I have chased and caught him, but he's going to get much, much faster. I'd rather not train him it's a game.

I like to walk and jog around the yard with him to get his energy out. He fell into a post hole one time!

I helped him out and he blundered into another post hole a couple feet from the first! I laughed even if he didn't.

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Loki runs around like crazy while he's awake. He's nippy and hyper, but eventually poops out. Speaking of poop, he has unfortunately had a few accidents on the living room rug. One of them was right next to Shane's head. He's been good about going outside 95% of the time, but a lot of that can probably be attributed to us regularly giving him opportunities.

So far, we've had no trouble getting puppers to sleep. Seems like a good indication we're wearing him out enough during daylight hours!

Bears

I dropped by the house before I went to pick up Shane today. I had a surprise as I pulled out of the driveway.

A pair of blackbears crossed the highway maybe 100 yards down the road from us!

I crawled by to see if I could see them in the woods. I saw them with my eyes, but it didn't translate to the camera. A car appeared on the horizon behind me, so I kept on driving.

It's odd thinking about bears being so close to our farm. Horses are much larger than bears and shouldn't be under a physical threat, but the smell can make them spook. We will have electric lines around our pastures, so even if a bear wanders on to our property I don't think they'd want to return.

Math and Life

I try to make my math class applicable to life....even if it's mainly my life. I took a picture of the fence and required the kids to label which parts should be parallel to the ground and which should be perpendicular.

I did not have them comment on the sad state of the actual fence.

I'm grading and looking through a lot more papers than I used to. I dropped some papers in front of Loki for a picture op.

He tried to eat someone's homework.

I showed the pictures in class. "If you're the lucky winner, there will be bite marks in the upper corner of your paper."

"I don't have more pictures, because I had to drop the phone and get the paper back."

I made sure to write comments on everyone's paper to establish that I do read what they write. I got snarky on some, and if the kids showed a little personality on theirs...

...then I played right along. 

I wanted to write, "You have low standards," but decided against sarcasm. 

I showed Carrie the picture I took, and she was insistent I needed to find the paper and add a comma.

I replied that I was math teacher, not an English teacher.

Wha?

Shane requested to go to the small local church again. I think it's twofold: 1) The service is later so he doesn't have to stop doing whatever he's doing when I first ask, and 2) It's a short drive and has gotten out early twice.

He may enjoy their being less kids, so that he gets more individual attention, as well.

It was a little awkward today, because the pastor opened up about dealing with depression and then announced he was returning to teaching. I told him he was "2 for 2" with sermons in my life on the way out.

Shane and I went by the house to grab Loki and then we drove into town. We met Dylan and Eli at Riverview Park. 

It's been a while! This was the first time we managed to coordinate with an old friend since being in the new house. Dylan and Shane both wanted to grab tablets right away, but we told them they had to play on their own for a bit first (I may have set a timer and then stopped it after they wandered off....).

Eli was interested in the puppy. "That's an Eli-sized dog," John said.

Either this picture is John offering to let Eli hold the leash, or it's John holding the leash as far away from himself as possible in case owning a dog is contagious.

Loki was super social and really enjoyed all of the kids and people at the park. He was an attention magnet! Eventually there were several kids running around with Eli letting Loki chase them.

Dylan got in on the fun after a while, too!

Shane? He was a bump on a log until I took the tablet away. He didn't even realize Dylan wasn't sitting next to him anymore.

I was a little worried about Loki overheating/over-exerting himself, so I had to call a break eventually. He had not peed or pooped since we'd been to the park, either. I think he was so overstimulated he didn't know what to do with himself! He wouldn't go to the bathroom the whole two hours we were there and crashed for a nap when we finally did go home.

But before we left we went on a trail walk. Eli had really wanted to go for a while. The older boys did not, but they didn't have a choice. There was a lot of digging in the sand, running, throwing rocks, and the boys would have probably loved to have jumped in the river if we let them.

John sent me this picture later. Shane mooched a pair of shades from Dylan.

John shepherded the boys on the trail for the most part. 

I shepherded the sheepdog. 

Loki had trouble on the leash. He was so small that the collar would pop off if I wasn't careful when he dug in his heels and about faced. I ended up carrying him most of the way. His little heart was pounding from all the running earlier. 

The boys would have liked to have continued the party at Dylan and Eli's, but I wanted to let Loki rest. The little guy passed out on the seat next to Shane the whole way home!

Carrie Did a Thing

We got a dog.

Carrie told me she was going to NOVA to drop off a client packet, but I was already suspicious. I'd been seeing "dog sign" for a while.

"What's this leash doing here?" I'd ask.

"OH! That's nothing," would be the reply.

Chew treats in the front seat of the Subaru? 

"Hey! Don't go through my stuff," Carrie would say.

Shane started to talk in front of me one day, and I said, "Isn't that supposed to be a secret?" 

The look on his face was priceless.

So, I started to make my thoughts on the matter clear. 

"I don't want a dog right now."

I'm the dog lover in the family. Shane likes the idea of a dog, but he doesn't know about the work involved in raising one. Carrie can't stand the smell of most dogs and is scared of anything too large (whereas I dislike dogs who fail "the football test"). 

I wanted a dog eventually. Not while unpacking, adjusting, building a barn, helping my wife heal stress levels, and helping Shane start at a new school as I started a new job and was gone for most of the day.

Next summer was idea of good timing. We'd be settled, know what it takes to run a barn, and Shane and I would be home to help. 

Clearly, that didn't happen. 

His name is Loki. I had no say in the matter. Carrie and Shane had already bought a collar and tag for him. Shane likes the name because the twins on How to Train Your Dragon, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, say, "Loki'd" whenever they pull a prank on someone.

If Carrie wasn't trying to be loving the whole dog delivery may have felt like a massive prank, so it sort of fits.

I didn't want the puppy now, but he is a cute little guy.

Loki is a Sheltie. If you don't know what that is think "miniature Collie." He should be roughly Indy sized by the time he's done growing (20 lbs?). He's 8 weeks old.

Carrie started looking for a dog she could live with when I said, "If we get a barn, I get a dog." She'd said, "Deal" and meant it.

Carrie went to several  local(ish) Shetland breeders to learn more and check if her nose could handle the breed's aroma. She didn't like that most of the breeders she found were older and without kids. She wanted a highly socialized dog.

The research trail led her to a breeder in Pennsylvania who was loaded with puppies and kids. The breeder only bred her Sheltie once a year, and Carrie hopped on the waiting list. She knew I didn't approve of the timing, but she felt like she'd found the perfect puppy and gambled on it.

I'm still coming around, but Shane's a big fan. 

The cats are not. Max has been more curious,....

...but Bucket is not amused. She actually peed on a plastic bag the first night Loki was in the house. She spends most of her time hiding. The sliver of time remaining is spent watching from afar. She won't even come up to Carrie until after Loki is locked up for the night in our bedroom.

I'd wanted to keep our bedroom pet free, but this seemed like the best idea. The cats like to run around at night and I can see that exciting a pup to barking. Our room will be quieter and while my allergist said I'm allergic to dogs my body has never reacted to them. We can lock Loki up with the lights off and enjoy some TV time in the living room without him whimpering at us this way, too.

Unfortunately, little puppy bladders can't make it through the night. The puppy wasn't my idea, but who do you think gets the 3 AM bathroom run?

We're still figuring things out. Carrie planned ahead for a lot of things, but the situation is fluid. Loki isn't housebroken, so we're taking him outside a lot. We keep doors shut and Carrie installed a cat door to the laundry room to keep the litter box accessible to felines and not canines (Plus, it gives Bucket a safe room).

We're still figuring out food bowls, how much to feed the pup, and which toys are favorites and which are busts.

Meanwhile, Max has been establishing herself as an alpha. She has acted half annoyed and half curious about the puppy. She made the mistake of running once in surprise, but has held her ground since. Loki doesn't seem to understand the threat of it all and can't figure out why she won't play with him (but he seems to sense it'd be dangerous to dive in, so he doesn't fully pop her bubble).

I wonder how much he'll grow. For now, he can fit under the living room table with ease.

Loki is a bundle of energy, so we have to work the stink out of him.

Shane did a great job the first day. 

It turned out the puppy had more stink than him in the end, though. 

We're trying to communicate to Shane that some things which are funny now won't be funny later. Carrie and I don't want to teach things like "it's okay to bite and pull on people's clothes." Shane didn't see a problem with it until he wanted Loki to stop and Loki wouldn't. 

Shane got the hint for all of twenty minutes before he forget whatever it was.

Carrie's trying to impart certain ways to pick up the puppy without hurting it, etc that Shane sometimes gets and sometimes ignores.

A puppy pen (that Shane called a "jail" and the term stuck) went up over the weekend to help corral the little guy. He's a nonstop bundle of energy who wants to mouth at you until you play with him.

Maybe he's smart? He seems to like to chew on rocks and dirt.

The drain pipe was tasted, but ruled undesirable.....eventually.

It's fitting Shane would get a dog who's interested in Shane's rock collection.

Just not for the same reasons.

Life is going to be full of all sorts of adjustments with a puppy in the house. I'm hoping that since Carrie went all in that she'll be okay with being home with the puppy all week without support! She says she's up for the task.

Carrie's hoping that Shane will bond with Loki and enjoy having a furry friend at the house especially after he had a rough first day at school. It may be that the timing of getting the puppy now (while very much not my choice) could be God's perfect timing.