A Quiet Dog Day of Summer

Week two with Diego and we have settled into a rhythm.  Having Professor here this week is working out ok, too.

Last night I took Diego to Alexis' house to play with her puppies and dogs.  It was sort of stressful as we also had a meal together while they played but Diego loved it!  One of her puppies and her bigger dog were fairly rough and her puppies would gang up and tackle Diego but the little guy held his own.  He bared his teeth and went back at them and romped and rolled and wagged his tail the whole time.  All the puppies were covered in slobber when we were done.  I am determined to socialize Diego with other dogs.  Plus, he was exhausted so Scott and I were able to put him in his kennel and go to the late show!  We put him out to potty and gave him a drink and he slept til 8!  That's doable!

I've worked out the feeding and the other dogs are adjusting.  Professor has food allergies and Diego's stomach gets upset if he eats anything but his food.  Rex nibbles like a cat. Also, Professor has put on some serious weight!  So three times a day I put their food out in Tupperware containers and encourage them to eat.  Rex has eaten a fair amount and Professor will eat if it is far enough from Diego.  Diego gets distracted and sometimes looks for a place to poop in the middle of a meal so I have to sit there and keep everyone on track.

Professor absolutely hates Diego.  If Diego messes with him, he runs to the bedroom and sticks his head under the bed.  Rex is becoming more tolerant of Diego (see the Facebook video of him pulling on Rex's tail) and side benefit, he is tolerating Professor more too now.

So this morning after feeding and pottying them, I had my quiet time on the patio with Rex next to me, Professor on the other couch, and Diego played with his toys and ran all over the deck.  Scott and I took all three pups on a short walk to a large field which wore out Diego,so he napped while I taught water jog and Scott went to help a friend.  I even got a lunch and he was still asleep!  Scott and I do trade off and Diego does take a bunch of naps.  I took a nap already today, too!

Today is one of the rare days of summer that I don't have much to do.  I got Adelle yesterday and we made food for a neighbor with MS and for my busy friends Alexis and Jeff.  I enjoyed my time with Alexis.  I do feel somewhat tied to home but that will get better.

Here is a cute pic of Professor choosing the smallest bed.

Here is me this afternoon covered in sleeping pups.  professor is napping elsewhere.

Leah Shower #2

Whew what a whirlwind of a few days!

The new pup is awesome but we forgot what having a new pup is like.  Lots of work!  

He's going to be a great dog, smart, fun.... Potty training and training going well so far.

Thursday ran to LV town to pick up la mama.  Always nice to spend time with her.  I do love her so much.  I struggle with watching her age.  She gets helpless and dependent while here and it frustrated her not being able to help me out more with everything.  We toured Meadowlark on Friday hoping it would be amazing and it was just confusing and overwhelming.  Too many choices!  Too many things to consider.  There isn't a perfect solution.   I hope she doesn't wait until our options are limited.  I wish she knew clearly what she wanted. I worry about her at home alone.  

Friday night I helped a friend put on a baby shower for a TRU core family.  Wow.  It was a huge event.  Unbelievable, really, and not many people came but I think the family felt honored.   I made one of those silly watermelon baby things. It was tons of work!

After the shower Mom and I went to eat a burger with PD (Pastor Dave) and Mel.  

Friday night Scott had a huge issue involving poop and Diego during the night.  Saturday morning got the silly little guy to play while I had my prayer time then got the house cleaned and got everything ready for the shower.  Then Leah, her four friends and Professor arrived.  Still had Mom and new pup.  It might have been a little much.  I fixed them a nice spaghetti dinner then the girls went out.  Saturday night Diego got up three times.  Yup.

This morning was stressful trying to get ready for church while Diego was wide awake.  We managed it though.  Mom liked the service.  At one point, a verse in the song talked about winding down toward the end of life and being with Jesus forever and Mom and I cried.  

Got home and the girls and Mom napped and a Scott took care of all the dogs and I got things ready for the shower.  We had succulent cupcakes, jalepeño popper dip, and strawberries with whipped cream.  We also had mimosas with champagne or ginger ale.  I might have had a few but they were necessary:).  

There was a great turn out for the shower.  

Leah's friends from school, Shari, and Season came.

Joanna was here and Julie, Karalee, Virginia and Hunter.

Barb dropped off a gift and Mary and Alexis popped by later, too.  I knew Season and Alexis would hit it off and they did.  They stayed after and a Season gave me a bunch of good tips for Diego.

Did I mention we are watching Professor this week?  yep, I'm covered in dogs.  

Diego

The long awaited for day finally arrived.  Yesterday we drove 8 hours each direction to meet our newest family member, Diego, previously known as Bobo.  Some time ago, Scott and I were watching TV and Rex was cuddling me as he usually does and Scott said, "Where's my dog to cuddle?"  We have been on a waiting list to rescue a Sheltie but alas, when they finally got Sheltie puppies at a local shelter, they didn't approve us.  We wanted a Sheltie because they are super smart.  We loved Allie-dog, and I loved my Sheltie growing up, Laddie.  Scott always wanted a bigger dog.  Rex is now 11 and when I think of him not being around a ton longer, I get the itch to go get another tiny fluffy dog.  So when Scott found this puppy on the internet, a tiny sheltie, we knew it was ours!

The drive was horrendous, truly, lots of bad highways, turns, then curvy roads.  We were exhausted.  We did listen to a book on cd together which was fun.  And on the way home, Diego was great!  Scott held him quite a bit and we stopped a lot when he squirmed.  He ate and peed and pooed just like a good boy then slept.

When we got home at 3:30am(by the grace of God, truly), he went to sleep in his little carrier right away.

This morning, I got up at 7:30 and woke him up.  We went outside and I introduced him to Rex.  Rex wasn't sure what to think.  Diego was in a playful mood.  He got a hold of Rex's leash (see video on Facebook) and pulled, which baffled Rex.  Then they did the sniffy sniffy which went well.  Then Diego tried to get Rex to play and Rex would have none of it.  He just kept backing away like "what are you doing?"  Rex was curious, though, and kept sniffing him.  Overall, it went really well!

Diego seems to be adapting really well.  He really likes his little carrier and prefers to be in it so we open the end and keep him near us on the bed or couch.  He has pottied outside lots of times already and only tried to pee where he wasn't supposed to once and he whined first.  He loves his little toy and chew stick and he sleeps a lot.

Rex likes Diego but he is mad at me.  He'll get over it.  Hannah did the same thing when we brought Leah home.  Ha ha..

Quincy

Scott had soccer camp this week so he invited his cousin Matt's daughter, 10 year old Quincy, to stay with us.  We had a bit of adjusting to do since it's been awhile since we've had a kiddo here, but once we worked that out, it was a fun week!  Quincynis pretty adjustable since she goes back and forth between parents.  She arrived during a large church BBQ here on Sunday night which was hard for her and then Scott had a meeting.  She barely knows me but when she got tired that night, I laid in her bed and read to her until she fell asleep.  The next day we went to Walmart to get her a swim suit and run errands and then we were best pals!  I bought her a succulent plant at Dillons and she was thrilled. She named it and carried it around with her and took care of it.

There was lots of fun playing with Scott, smoothies, and board games, a couple of trips to the pool and she was gone!  Looking back, I realize what a great kid she is.  She only behaved like a ten year old a couple of times,the rest of the time she was easy!  Scott and Rex miss her tons.

Leah Shower

On Saturday, I drove to Newton for a wedding shower for Leah.  It made it so real!  She's really getting married!

I met Leah at her house-her house!  It's so cool to see Leah's dream of owning and decorating her own home come true.  It's already so cute and she is just beginning to get things to decorate it and they aren't quite done remodeling.  It's such a cute home, the perfect starter home for a couple.  

Here is a bouquet of flowers that Leah had on her counter: flowers picked from the prairie where the wedding will be!

The shower was given by Crystal, Leah's soon to be sister in law.

It was awesome to get to know Crystal as I know Leah is crazy about her.  Crystal and her Mom were such a hoot!  Crystal's Mom made the cakes, yum!! And Crystal made the fruit display and served iced coffee, also yum.

I loved spending time with David's Mom, Terri, and meeting the rest of the family.  Such nice, fun, down to earth people.  Leah couldn't have picked a better family to join. (Click on the pic of Leah and I to see Terri)

Some of David's cousins were there and Leah's friends and her boss, Patty, also.

We ate and watched Leah open her gifts and chatted and laughed for a couple of hours.  Then we met up with Dacid and his Dad and ate together at a new BBQ place in town.  I drove home late but beat the storms home.  

I am so happy for Leah, everything is coming together for her.  

A Day in the Life of a Soldier

This was seriously one of the best days I've had in a long time.  I am so happy that Angela talked me into signing up for it.  We go to go on post with about 50 educators to learn more about what soldiers go through.  It was truly amazing.

This morning was spent touring the Cavalry museum and they let us try on uniforms from each of the wars.  Here is Tracy, our Principal, all decked out.  We also practiced getting into formation, etc.  

Then we ate in one of the mess halls.  It was great! Angela and I, then Tracy and our new Assistant Principal, Dave Martinez.

After lunch we went to the simulator training center where first we got into a caravan of humvees and shot at simulated enemies on screens all around us while we drove on rough terrain. I took a turn shooting the big gun on top then a rifle from inside.

Then they showed us how to clear a room in teams of three.  One of the soldiers took the best video of me on my turn.  Ask me to view it.  Hilarious!

We next went to a simulator training next door where we went inside Bradlee vehicles and did a practice simulation and then another simulation of real warfare.  Dave and I were hitting targets like crazy during the practice round but when they started the real thing and moved toward us, we quickly used up our ammo and got killed.

It was pretty amazing seeing how tiny the space that the soldiers have to be in.  The Bradlees are basically their campers for months at a time.  We were cramped in there like sardines and they have six people  plus all their belongings in there!  And all their food and water and ammo.  Unbelievable.

Next they took us to the real vehicles where we tried on the gear and touched he real guns and got into and on all the vehicles.  We got on tanks, Bradlees and humvees.  

We got to put on all their equipment which was crazy heavy by itself.  But then they had us try on their packs, too.  I couldn't even take two steps and they train in those!  Not to mention combat! 

We then went to the recreation center which is a prototype for military installations, a ten million dollar project with amazing technology and entertainment.  There were six satellites and tvs, about a half dozen large screen gaming centers and about three dozen additional computers, poker and pool tables, a patio with a fire pit and giant bbqs, and a full snack bar, bar and coffee shop.  After seeing what these soldiers experience, I see how they truly need something like this.

The soldiers that we met today and interacted with were friendly, helpful, courteous and professional.  They patiently answered any questions and explained things in ways we could understand. They were so proud to share what they do with us.  We met two of the four head honchos at Fort Riley and they were super impressive yet very personable, also.  They didn't just bull us, either, they shared the real life issues with us.  They really wanted us to know what it's like to be in the army.

I went today basically to meet the new Assistant Principal and do some team building with he and Angela and Tracy, which we did, but we did so much more!  I learned so much.  My step dad would have been so incredibly impressed with the simulators.  I am so glad I did this.