Fitting in

Listen kid, if you want to be a part of this family, you'll listen to my advice.

First things first - you can't be afraid of Mad Teeth (tm). No hiding.


Face your fears


And give 'em as good as you get 'em.


Ha ha! That's my boy. He's learning the ropes around here pretty good already!

And so am I. I have resigned myself to the fact that muddy feet are just a part of living in the stix, and that I'll just have to become a little friendlier with the mop. And thanks for all your wonderful landscaping suggestions - over time I will definitely implement some of them to make our little space in the country more user friendly!

The dogs are loving it for sure. While we miss our our old haunts, there are some new ones to explore. Yesterday was beautiful, so we went and relaxed at the local dog park for the first time.



We made lots of new friends. Except for Wootie, who made no friends. He has taken on the roll of Dexter Protector, and he beats up anyone who tries to play too rough with "his" puppy.

And if I don't feel like loading everyone up in the car, we just play on our own property, which backs onto the dikes.

In the Jungle


The Mighty Jungle


The Puppy Creeps Tonight


Somebody comes from real sheepdog stock.


Now that he is getting kind of coordinated, like a real dog, he is all crouchy, creepy and stalky. It's very amusing to watch.

And he is getting braver too. He now tumbles merrily down the hills without fear. This is because he wants to follow his big brother and sister into the grass pit. The grass pit is this huge basin flanked by four hills, about the 2/3rds the size of a football field, and full of grasses that are about 5 feet tall. I can amuse myself for eons by lobbing a ball in there from the top of the hill and watching the dogs hunt for it.

Are you sure it's in here, Food Lady?


Tweed always finds it though.


Hours can pass without me seeing more of Wootie than this:


He's usually hunting wildlife. And there's lots of it too!

There are, of course, lots of ducks


Blue herons (this one was standing on my lawn and took off as we approached the house)


Yesterday I saw 4 snow geese circling the farm way up in the air. And two nights ago I could hear an owl "who who-who whoing" in the trees, so I went outside with a flashlight and saw him sitting at the top of a pine right outside my front door. How cool is that?

Yup, we are really liking it out here so far, kind of a surprise to The Food Lady, who likes her city comforts.

I always knew this would be awesome. I'm smart.


Are you just going to let him tell lies like that, Food Lady?


Come on, kid. Let me give you some more advice. Follow me, and you won't go wrong.


Should I be listening to this guy??

This is great

The view this afternoon from my patio door

They all touched down in the big pines surrounding my yard, and sang for about half an hour. The noise was deafening, but amazing. I think they were red winged blackbirds.

This is NOT so great:

That's after ONE potty trip, and right after those mats were freshly washed. The mud out here is so frustrating - no amount of dog paw wiping or floor mats seems to help :( I am a fairly fastidious housekeeper (at least for the visible bits) and I've nearly worn out the mop. The bedroom carpet is already a lost cause and it was pretty well brand new two weeks ago.

*sigh*


It does not help when Wootie decides to surreptitiously bury his knuckle bone in the mud during a potty trip.

I'm so ashamed. Sort of. Can I go get my bone?

I wish The Food Lady was not so grumpy

Home, Home on the Range

We're back! Did you miss us? We are finally all moved in.

That's not the same as being settled in or even the same as being unpacked. But why waste time unpacking when we can be exploring our new neighborhood?

We are located at the end of a dead-end road and surrounded by dykes and farmland that is open to roaming. Makes for a lovely photo backdrop, especially right now in the Fall.

It's got some wildlife, which is simply tantalizing for Wootie.

I'll bet he really wishes he could fly!

There was dense fog this morning, trying to obliterate that pesky sunshine

But it made it easier to sneak up on Mr. In Yo Face

The sun ultimately won the Fog War

And then it was beautiful!

A lovely morning for trying something new. Like a threesome:

And some light bondage.

Piper really enjoys being a dominatrix.

Dexter prefers to watch.

Though Piper is willing to share the secrets of her bossy success!

First thing she needs to teach him: How Not To Tumble Down A Hill

Dexter is settling in well! He can "sit," he can "lay down," he can wait for his dinner bowl to put on the floor, and his recall is coming along nicely!

Coming! I'm coming! Have cookies at the ready!

He is such a charming little bloke. On the weekend I brought him with me to the agility trial and passed him around from person to person. He's completely unfazed by noise and new experiences. Amusingly, everyone said "he's the one I would have picked, if I could have adopted one." It's amusing because I ended up with him precisely because nobody else *did* pick him.

Still, I think it worked out pretty well for both of us.

The dogs are diggin' their new home. Yesterday we played ball in our own yard whilst waiting for the Internetz Man to come hook us up. We found someone snooping around our storage shed and Mr. Woo ran him off the property with some self important Woofing, so he feels very important. House training is going well, now that outside is not 4 floors away :)

I'm a little less enamored with the new house. The set-up is frustrating, as the mudroom/entrance way is just off the bedroom, which we must pass through to get to the main room. This means my bedroom, despite the liberal use of towels, is a constant mess of dirty paw prints. This is the first time I've ever lived on laminate, and it doesn't clean up as nicely as hardwood. And of course, the house has exactly zero closets, and the World's Smallest Amount Of Counter Space. Building a kitchen island is first on the agenda, right after I put in a fence.

On the plus side, it's so wonderfully quiet out here! Instead of sirens and truck brakes, I hear frogs and the gentle "wheeeeeep" or hawks flying overhead. No more earplugs at night!

I think we'll settle in just fine :)

In other news, blogger tells me I've used up almost all of my allotted space for photos. I supposed this means archiving some of my very oldest posts and removing them from the blog. Anyone know how to do that?

Aftercare Instructions

Congratulations! Your rescue dog has just been reproductively sterilized and will no longer be capable of adding to the world's population of unwanted pets.

Your rescue dog has just had fairly major abdominal surgery, so please follow these instructions to make the healing process as successful as possible. Keep your dog quiet for as long as you can. No running,

and absolutely no jumping.

Try to keep her from excessive playing with other dogs.
It is very important that the incision stay clean and dry.

So try to stay on sidewalks and other areas that are free of debris.

Meh. So I'm not going to win the Foster Mum Of The Year award.

But it is Maeve's last day with us, and I wanted her to enjoy it!

Yay! Thanks for letting me out of the house finally!

I'm also not going to win the plain old Dog Mum of the year aware either. Not judging by these faces.

Oh yay, she's making me sit like a bunny. Again. Whoopee.

BRAAAAIIIINNNNSSSS. As in, 'grow one' Food Lady.

If I knew how to sit like a bunny, I would totally do it for you, Food Lady.

Kiss ass!

I will sit like a bunny! And then later, maybe I will pee on your bedspread, or eat something important to you.

*sigh* Is she gone yet?

(Excuse me. I cannot sit like a bunny, but I CAN look very sad and implore you to spare a cookie.)

That' s right folks. Tomorrow Maeve is going toward the light - err, I mean, she is going to her new forever home.

We'll all miss her around here. And by 'all' I mean me. I'm pretty sure no one else in this house will care. They will probably all be relieved that her constant energy has left the building.

Little do they know what's waiting for them just around the corner (Tuesday! He comes home on Tuesday!)

I am moving in a week, so won't have time to post much on 3WAAW for a bit. I will however try to keep 365Puppy updated as often as I can, so check in often!

But you know what the best thing about walking with my doggies on a rainy day is?

Pointing the camera down and capturing this:
Awwwww :)

See you soon, readers!