No Blogs? Life's been Busy!

The Dogs
The new dogs have been quite good at keeping us slightly busier than usual. They’re awesome little pups, but they are indeed pups nonetheless. And while mostly potty-trained, they’ve managed an accident or two in the house. Which has kept us on edge a lil’.

They are also – and I may have mentioned this – Labradors. Which of course means that things simply must be chewed. And of course, where there’s food, there’s paws in close tow. For instance, yesterday I made 3 – count them, 3! – bags of trail mix to take with me to work as a snack. I wasn’t that into the stuff, but the first two managed to be found and subsequently devoured. How the hell they smelled trail mix through a sealed baggie & inside a laptop bag is something only The Creator can know. It’s definitely a Lab Talent. They seem to have a sense for where food is, even when technically it’s supposed to be safe.



The Truck
On Thursday night the Tundra’s battery died. It was the original one, so I guess 6 years is pretty damn good. Anyway, she needed a jump which was handled by AAA after they tested the battery. No problems, right? Wrong.

On Friday morning we called to have AAA come out to replace the battery. The wrong one was attempted, then they couldn’t get the “right” one in I guess (I was at work), so they said “here, this one will work.” And it did! For the first attempt.

Now however, as soon as it turns over and starts, it just dies. Idles down to nothing and dies. So we’re a one-car family now, but with two working adults. Fantastic.



Speaking of Work
So yeah, come Saturday, I started with a different store after being transferred. Cool, huh? Well, it does have its ups to go with its downs. The store is new and clean, and it’s organized very well. I also think I’ll get along nicely with the store manager – I like his outlook on things, it seems to tend to gravitate towards how I would look at a given situation.

But things are new & different all over again. Learning new systems, you know? And if you know me – which I think you do – then you know that I simply hate not knowing any particular thing.

And did I mention the drive? Sweet. Er, uh, not sweet.



But mostly the New Dogs
We’ve both (The Girl & me) have been quite tired this last week. Today marks only our first whole week with the laddies! And again, while they’re sweet and cute & very smart already, they’re also going to need some time. And this has meant sleeping with one eye open.

Actually they’re pretty good come sleepy time. It’s really about stressing “what’s going to be munched up when I get home?” But still, also some of the “sleeping with one eye open” thing too. Plus I’m on a 9-day workweek stretch, going from open-to-close-to-open and whatnot, which makes random bob a very tired guy.

I need to get some time alone with them, but I haven’t quite figured out how. I need to get some commands ingrained in them and be absolutely sure they understand. And I also need to manage to be around when they try to do bad things. They need correction. Maybe not much, but they need it. They need to know only a handful of things, really, but they need to know them well. They need to know: (a) you don’t jump up onto things. The couch, the counter, things that are above the floor are above it for a reason, that reason being that it’s not for you; (b) you do not chew things up that are not specifically given to you. Yeah, it may very well be edible, it may even not be edible but feel oh-so-good in your mouth. However, unless it’s given to you to chew on, it’s not meant to be in your mouth. Period. This includes but is not limited to furniture, laptops, remotes, wires, trash, fences, trash cans, footwear, other dogs, Blu-Ray Discs (you can chew DVD’s they suck anyway :-D ), Television sets, radios, iPods, pillow cases, grocery bags, food, coal (think outdoor barbeque), carpet, rugs, or containers of any nature. And also (d), I expect there to be no question as to where the poop & pee goes. It goes in that spot outside by the tree or whatever on the grass. That’s it. Nowhere else. Not in the house, not in the garage, not on the sidewalk. It goes outside on the grass.

It’s all about being able to trust that they’re not busy destroying the place while we’re away. Because really, that stuff takes time away. Time away from taking them out fun places, time away from feeding them nice treats, and the rest. If I have to come home and clean the something-or-other for 30 minutes, well then, that’s 30 minutes less of playtime. And it might mean even less than that. Because if I was going to go out for 45 minutes, but now I’ve spent 30 cleaning… well maybe 15 minutes ain’t worth the effort, you know?

But they’re good thus far, a week in. They don’t need leashes already. They know their names and they come when called which is good. And they don’t run, despite the fact that I found them roaming the streets.

We’re going to have fun. I just need them to get The Rules down, is all. And they’ve got some time. They’re doing alright.

Peace.