One week on

I'm happy to introduce Wren, a sweet and snuggly yellow lab puppy and the newest member of our family. Here she is fresh from her very first bath, warming up in the sun:

We've had her home for a week now, and I'm deep in the throes of exhaustion. I'd been taking my full nights of sleep for granted, I guess, now that Ole sleeps a solid eleven hours and we head to bed pretty early ourselves on these dark winter evenings. Pup wakes every three hours (if we're lucky!) and has 3am bouts of playfulness. It is getting better already, though, as she seems to be getting more comfortable here and less worried if I'm out of sight.

We celebrated her two month birthday (yeah, I acknowledge that's not a thing) with *snow*! Three or so inches fell in giant flakes in just forty-five minutes. We bundled up and ran outside to play.

Pepper has been enormously helpful, playing and wrestling with Wren and tiring her out. She doesn't seem to mind being gnawed on the way we do, and for the most part (there was one unfortunate eye biting incident), she's been very gentle with the puppy.

The goats are terrified of the tiny pup. She has even been helping me herd them from place to place--until they realize she's not so scary. Clark, apparently, is the bravest of the three.

It has been a pretty fun week, and very reminiscent of having a new baby in the house. I even tried out ordering groceries online to pick up when I realized I couldn't really leave her alone in those first days. We're spending our whole four day weekend at home watching her play and sleep and eat and make cute faces. Pretty fun, indeed.

Counting down the days

We were treated to the loveliest late winter day yesterday. It was 56 degrees and sunny and I insisted that we all go for a walk to soak up a little sunshine.

We truly are counting down the days--only five more until the most exciting thing ever: we're getting a puppy! We made the trek to Willamina, Oregon, a couple weeks back to choose a pup from the litter of yellow labs. This gal was playful (but not too playful) and relaxed (but not too sleepy) and when she sat right at Alex's feet that sealed the deal. She wasn't quite ready to leave her mama or seven brothers and sisters, so we've been patiently waiting until she's old enough. We are still agonizing over the perfect name for her.

We have been busy preparing for the big day, gathering supplies and refreshing ourselves on puppy training. Oh boy, what are we in for!?! I converted Ole's old crib into a crate for the pup. I know it's maybe a little pathetic and symbolic, but it also turned out pretty cute.

In other pet-related projects, I decided to tackle an ugly corner of the upstairs. This curtained closet houses the litter boxes, raised up on a make-shift table to keep Pepper from snacking--gross! It's stinky and kind of a big leap for our older cats, so I aimed for something more contained.

Apologies for the blurry photos. I realized far too late that I'd forgotten to switch my camera lens from manual focus to auto focus resulting in dozens of blurred shots, including a bunch of puppy shots. :(

I found a used bathroom cabinet and sheet of laminate at the local Habitat for Humanity ReStore. For some reason they were having a sale, so my grand total came to $3! I cut a fat cat sized hole in one side and gave the whole thing a couple coats of paint in our upstairs trim color, "Popped Corn." And voila! I love how it turned out, and hopefully it will be less stinky. Next I'll tackle the closet's flooring and try to find something that matches the rest of the upstairs, and maybe someday the whole closet won't have to hide behind curtains.

And I'll end with an evening shot in the yard. I just love the lighting of late winter afternoons!