Sophie is Growing Up and Other Unrelated News

Puppies grow so fast. Take a look at how big our little Sophie has grown.

That's Maddy beside her. I do not know how to get rid of those eerie eyes. Maddy weighs about 20 pounds, so I am guessing Sophie is over 10 by now. Sophie is chewing on my lambswool duster, which I no longer own. It had to go directly into the trash by the time she finished with it. The joys of having a puppy in the house!

We now have a hidey hole! This is the shelter before it was surrounded by concrete and topped with its sliding lid. I tried to take video for you, but the little video camera needed a charge. Two guys arrived at 7:00am and immediately began to work.

They promptly removed a big chunk of garage floor using a wet saw and the tiniest backhoe I've ever seen (you can just see it in the background). Then the digging commenced. A trailer full of dirt was hauled away and the wonderful guy in this picture began to clean up the mess they'd made. By this time it was only 10am. While waiting for the concrete to arrive, he proceeded to pressure wash my entire driveway, saying, "Well, ma'am, I'd rather stay busy than sit here and twiddle my thumbs." After the concrete was poured and finished and the top set in place, we ended up with this:

There is room for all five human members of the family, three dogs, two cats, and a fishbowl. Actually, we could probably get two or maybe three more adults inside in a pinch. Inside, you can latch the lid with chains. If the worst happened and we ended up with a car, or parts of the house on top of the shelter, a come-along (or hand winch) is installed to save us from ending up trapped in a shelter. We also registered the shelter with local authorities, so in the event of a tornado in our neighborhood, the firefighters ought to know where we are. All in all, I feel a bit safer.

It's Official: I've Totally Lost It

A week ago Saturday, we added another puppy to our family. I know, crazy. We now have three children, two cats, three dogs, and a fish tank. I spend all of my time feeding people and animals, then cleaning up their messes.


My husband, for some odd reason, is in the mood to acquire, which is quite out of character. He recently surprised me with a Kindle and about a month later, with a new laptop. I love the Kindle and am using it non-stop. There are so many wonderful titles available on Amazon for nothing at all; it's like having a lending library at my fingertips 24 hours per day. The laptop was quite overdue. It's nothing really special, just a Dell Inspiron, but it's brand new and shiny and fast. Then last Saturday, hubby took us shopping under the pretense of buying new collars for Jack and Maddy. The little guy and I had been talking about some cute schnauzer puppies we'd seen at our favorite pet store. Another customer had failed to spay in a timely manner and ended up with a litter of puppies. They asked the pet store to offer the whole litter for sale. There were three little salt and pepper puppies, like Jack and Maddy, and one little solid black female. I fell in love with her immediately and the little guy couldn't stop talking about her.


Not long ago, I bought my son a flip video camera from Amazon for $59, which is a steal. So, this morning I spent ten minutes taking a video of the dogs, new puppy included, uploaded it to the laptop and within two clicks, had the following movie. Please be kind; I have never used a video camera of any kind before. I left the original audio because I think Jack's play growl is so cute. The puppy, Sophie, is about ten weeks old and weighs all of five pounds. Jack is largest and is wearing a black collar. Maddy's beard is mostly white and she's wearing a pink collar. In the grand tradition of WillowTree, enjoy this immensely boring pet video: