Sophie at 6 Months

Sophie will be 6 months old on June 3rd. Then on the 6th she’s getting spayed. I’m a little nervous for her; she seems so little, but it's not too early according to the vet and of course we don’t want to take a chance on her going into heat!

She is almost completely potty trained but we still have occasional accidents. It’s seems that now they happen when we have visitors and there is a lot going on. With the nice weather we have the back door open a lot so often she can go in and out as she pleases but she still may get distracted and forget to go outside, and then OOPS! Not unlike a human toddler. But we’re getting there.

She’s IS growing because she can reach things she couldn’t reach a couple of weeks ago. I’ll think I have things safe from her curious little puppy teeth and then, surprise! I’ll find a crochet hook on the floor, or some yarn where it shouldn’t be.

She’s a little thief, just like her mother, apparently. She really likes shoes, my underwear and socks, wash cloths, and toilet paper. Unlike Stella she doesn’t just pile her treasures on the couch, she drags them through the house and chews on them!

We still have to watch her in our little backyard and check on her frequently. She will dig if given a chance (she’s a Westie after all), and she is still very little, only 10 pounds so far. She will gain another 2 to 8 pounds before she is fully grown, and will fill out a lot. She still looks like a puppy.

She needs to fill out some because she keeps getting through the cast iron fence. All winter we had dog fencing around the yard, but now the dog fencing is around the flower gardens so we have had to figure out something else.

We put up nylon netting, but she can get under that. So we used stakes to make that impossible, but we can’t put the stakes at the gate so she was still getting out there. Now we’ve got garden fencing where the gate is and so far that seems to be working.

She’s not really trying to escape, she’s just curious. When she gets out she doesn’t go anywhere, she’s just sniffing around. We have realized that she’s escaped within a minute or two but it’s still scary. It’s a good thing she’s not a determined escapee because if she was we would have to do something else to thwart her. She just needs to grow a little more!

The two older dogs are playing with her a lot more. It’s so much fun to watch them play. They never play as long as she would like but it’s great while it lasts. Tag, wrestling, chase the ball, zoomies. They don’t play tug of war, at least not yet, maybe because she is so much smaller than the other two. I think they would just yank her off her feet!

When Harper was young we went on long walks and hikes too, but the older dogs can’t handle that anymore. I feel kind of bad for Sophie in that respect. We’re all older and so far she’s not getting to have adventures like the other dogs did when they were younger. She did go out to breakfast with us the other morning for the first time. She behaved herself, mostly. And soon she’ll get to go out on the pontoon boat too.

One thing I really like about Sophie is her fearlessness. If something alarms her, a child’s toy, a vacuum, she may just shy away at first but then she comes right back and investigates. She taught herself to use the dog door. She does bark but it’s not too bad. Again, she’s a Westie!

A New Westie Pack at the Nills

I thought I would be writing my next blog post all about Sophie, our new puppy. So this is partly about Sophie, but also a lot about our two other old ladies, Harper and Heather.

Sophie came to live with us on Tuesday. After a few days of major adjustment it dawned on us that she was not going to potty train herself so we buckled down, got on a schedule and started to really focus. She’s doing really well now, or we are anyway! Outside about every hour, and after meals, and after naps, and before bed. 

We are learning to make sure she is restricted to a crate when we can’t watch her. We are starting to work on basic commands, mainly sit. She is a cute little thing, 14 weeks old, and full of it. It will be fun to watch her grow.

I had my ideas about how the other two dogs would react. I thought Harper would be delighted, and for the most part she is. They are playing and snuggling together on a regular basis, and have from day one. She is also making sure that Sophie knows she is the Queen, but not in a mean way. And she is a teeny bit jealous of us paying so much attention to Sophie, so we have to make sure we give Harper lots of attention too.

Then there’s Heather. I thought Heather would be like, “oooo a puppy to take care of!” but it hasn’t been like that. It’s been more like, “crap a puppy to take care of! I’m too old for this shit!” For the first couple of days Heather wouldn’t have anything to do with Sophie, either ignoring her or rejecting her. But the last few days she has been warming up to her, playing with her a little, and even snuggling with her a little last night.

All good, right? Well so I thought. Last night we went to bed around 9:30. Shortly after that Heather went to the foot of the bed next to Sophie’s little crate where she is sleeping right now and started whining. I thought maybe she needed to go outside again. So I took her out but she didn’t do anything.

Back inside, the whining resumed, again next to Sophie’s crate. Well maybe she’s trying to tell me that Sophie needs to go out, so this time I took Sophie outside as well, and they both pooped. Okay I thought, that must have been it.

But no. Inside Heather ran anxiously around the house, and when I tried to put everyone to bed again she started whining louder, and louder until she was flat out crying. At this point I woke up Lee and I called the emergency vet.

All sorts of things were flying through my head. Heather has a tumor on her pancreas but she’s been doing great for over a year. Was this it? Had something happened with the tumor? Or was it something else. Some cancer, or some other disease. 

As we drove to Blue Pearl, Heather cried louder and louder. At one point I joined her, crying “oh God! Oh God!” as Heather screamed. It was truly horrific. Suddenly things were quiet. I turned around to look at the next stoplight and Heather had thrown up. She looked a little confused, but mostly relieved and peaceful.

The vomit was a lot of white foamy stuff and remnants of her dinner and bedtime treats. It didn’t smell.

At BP I rushed her inside. The vet tech had heard her crying on the phone and he was very concerned, and as confused as I was that she suddenly seemed ok. They admitted her for observation and said they would call me once the doctor had a chance to look at her.

Back home I slept fitfully. On top of everything it was the start of daylight savings time so everyone’s internal clocks were messed up too.

Once I talked to the doctor in the morning we decided to test for the most likely causes of what seemed like a bout of very intense pain. The results? Not kidney stones. Not a gall bladder attack. Not her heart. Not pancreatitis. Her blood sugar was normal. Heather was fine!

We were puzzled, but also relieved. I brought her home and she is sleeping peacefully on the couch. I know we will lose Heather someday but I’m really not ready right now, and the last thing I want is her dying in agony. I sent a text to Diane, our Westie breeder, and this is what she said:

 “Penta [one of her mamas] does this when I have puppies whether they're hers or not hers. She does this, she eats her breakfast then she runs around the house crying and crying and crying and pacing and pacing and crying and and then all of a sudden she'll throw up just dog food for the puppies to eat so it could be that Heather's motherly instincts could be kicking in and she feels like she has to feed the puppy.”

Bingo! This is exactly what Heather was doing! I’m sure Diane is right. The timing is a little off, but Heather is old, and deaf, and sometimes a little confused.

I sure hope this was a one time thing. It was really nerve wracking. I love Heather and seeing her in what seemed like intense pain was awful. I’ve been telling her she doesn’t need to take care of Sophie. I hope she is listening!

So now we have a pack again. It’s nice, but it does make me miss Cosmo again, seeing three little white dogs on the couch. Some day in the not too distant future there will be only one little dog lying there. But not today, and not tomorrow. Not yet. 

Florida 2023 January 15-21: Apopka-Clearwater-Miramar Beach

Sunday January 15

Saturday night we went over to Nicole and Tom’s apartment for dinner. It’s just nice catching up, seeing how their kids have grown. Nicole made vegetarian lasagna and a salad. We brought wine. The lasagna was very good, and they gave us some to take back to the RV too.

In the middle of the night Harper had to pee. And then again at 5. And again an hour later. Uh-oh. Each time she’d squat for longer and longer. Looks like a uti. She’s actually never had one before but Heather has had plenty so we knew exactly what to do. We found an emergency vet 25 minutes away and Harper and I hopped in the truck and off we went. 

They were very busy. They put us in a room at 8:15 AM. By then Harper was peeing blood on the floor. This was good, in a way, because we were able to get a urine sample and get a definitive diagnosis. We had to wait almost 2 hours to see the doctor though. When we finally saw her she prescribed an antibiotic shot and then pills to take for the next 14 days. It was after 10:30 AM before we finally got out of there. I was feeling shaky cause I hadn’t eaten anything since 5:30. The vet had Dum Dums on their counter and I had one of them and it immediately made me feel better. Pre-diabetic woes!

When we got back to the RV Harper ate her lunch and so did I. Lee went to the grocery store. Then the campground called. “You’re supposed to be leaving and I have someone here that wants your spot.” “I AM??? Oh rats! I’m sorry, but my husband isn’t here and I can’t move our rig, not to mention it doesn’t go anywhere without the truck!”

They had another space, but first I had to call Clearwater. Clearwater was fine with us coming in a day late. Lee came back and we moved everything as soon as we could. Alls well but I feel pretty stupid! I have the itinerary all typed up but it doesn’t do anyone any good if I don’t look at it. 

Monday January 16

After we moved the camper we drove to Winter Garden to meet Tom and Nicole and the boys for a late lunch/early dinner. Winter Garden is a cute little town, on the south shore of Lake Apopka. It’s been nicely restored and is very walkable. We sat outside at a french cafe and had sandwiches and salads. The boys had French toast and it looked great. I wanted some!

Then we drove to Newton Park on the lake. We walked along the shore, watched the sunset. As we were walking back to the truck we saw the Spacex rocket launch! Wow!!’we saw the booster detach, and then the rockets falling back to earth. So amazing!!

We bought some pill pockets to give Harper her antibiotics. She loves them! I don’t know why I never tried them before. By lunch she had been on the drugs for 24 hours and was doing much better. She’s still peeing fairly frequently but not squatting endlessly and the blood is gone.

In the morning I went for a short run, the first time since the marathon. Running felt just fine, but I still have a slight cough and my chest hurt a little. Not too bad though. I was happy to be out running.

Before too long we were out on the road, headed to Clearwater. The traffic was TERRIBLE! Lee drove and I was glad. Nice to be here, finally. And it’s warming up too. Highs in the 70’s the next few days.

Tuesday January 17.

I decided to get laundry over with this morning. 4 washers, 4 dryers, but 2 of the dryers were broken so it ended up taking all morning. Oh well. I sat in the sun next to the pool and crocheted and talked to other people trying to do laundry so it wasn’t too bad. Lee got us burgers and hoagies at a nearby place for lunch. It was very good!

Then we drove over to Safety Harbor. Not much has changed. We walked down Main Street to the Harbor, through the park on the bay behind the resort, and along the boardwalk.  Mid afternoon so no birds. Warmish (75]. It felt nice but Heather was trashed.

On the way back we stopped at the place where we used to get our afternoon coffees. We like them because they make their lattes with coffee ice cubes. I got a mixed berry oat bar too.

Now we’re back at the RV. Everyone is tired!

Wednesday January 17

Today we went to visit Diane and Dennis, and pick out our new puppy. It was great! We spent a fun day together, playing with the dogs, watching the puppies. I thought my dogs would be overjoyed to see them. They were happy, but not beside themselves like they were when we went to New England last year. They were mostly just happy to be hanging out in a big backyard in the sunshine. 

The puppies are just so cute. It was hard to decide which girl we wanted but orange collar edged out pink collar by a hair. And we’ve got a name now too. Sophie!

We went to lunch at a seafood restaurant on the Gulf. Casters. The food was good. We just got a bunch of apps and shared. Even gator! And we shared a bunch of desserts too. It was all delicious!

Sophie won’t be coming home until March because we are going to California in February and we don’t want to have to board her so soon. It’s hard to wait!

Thursday January 19

It was warm this morning so I wore shorts and a short sleeved shirt on our drive to Tallahassee. We’re actually in a KOA in Perry FL, a little town in the middle of nowhere. It was only about 3 hours to get here. We were able to set up camp and take the dogs for a walk before a little rain storm blew through. Now it’s cooler and we’re just lazing around. Tomorrow we drive to Destin. 

Friday January 20

It was about a 4 hour drive to Destin. We are back on Central Time so we regained the hour we lost. This is a very small RV park only a couple blocks from the beach, actually south of Destin in Miramar Beach. They have a lot of pet rules; where you can walk your dog; you must close the windows to your RV if you leave your pets inside, etc etc. We’re going out for seafood tonight and will check out the beach and ride our bikes if it doesn’t rain tomorrow.

Saturday January 21

We went to Surfhut for dinner last night, a short walk from the RV park and right on the beach. The food was good. Lee got peel and eat shrimp, very fresh so hard to peel and gumbo. I got grouper with little blackened shrimp. The drinks were fine. We both got margaritas, Lee got a frozen one I got a tropical. His had salt on the rim. Mine didn't but mine had pineapple  in it.

In the morning we took the dogs and walked along the boardwalk in Miramar Beach. The rain held off, but it was chilly. We walked about a mile and then went back to the RV for lunch. 

Then I felt the need for more exercise so I took a walk along the beach. I started out with a lot of layers. It was very windy, and the clouds looked threatening. It rained a tiny bit, but I was fine. I walked about 3 miles total.

We’ve been mostly lazing around. There’s a nice bike trail but it’s too windy, rainy and chilly. Oh well! We’re going to try Italian tonight.

Windows and Other News

So it’s been very very cold here. Really cold. Day after day where the low is in the minus teens and the high doesn’t reach zero. Gradually the streets have emptied of runners and dog walkers. It’s too cold to walk dogs; their poor feet will freeze. And most people, no matter how crazy they are, don’t run outside below -10 or so.

We’ve been running humidifiers in our house this winter, and on one hand it’s been great. No cracks in my fingers, no dried up noses. But gradually, as it got colder and colder, we started getting ice inside our windows. And then more ice, and more. I started to worry that it would damage the woodwork, or cause mold to grow inside our walls.

I started researching it online. At first all I found were articles about old houses and bad windows. But our house is brand new, and tight, and our windows are great. Finally I found an article that explained what was going on and how to fix it.

When it gets really cold you have to lower the humidity inside your house,  because the dew point on your windows gets lower, and the condensation will freeze. That’s what was happening to us. When it’s below -10 we have to lower our humidifiers to 25%. When it hits 0 they can go up to 30%, 10 - 35, and finally once it hits 20 they can go back to 40%. I turned them down several days ago and our windows are much better! 

I also discovered that we need to keep our window treatments open as much as possible because they are preventing the warmth inside the house from helping to melt the ice. So now I’m opening the window shades as soon as I can after the sun comes up, and I’m opening all of them, even the ones in the bathrooms. That’s helping too.

There’s always something new to learn about living in the north. Before it got so cold we were going to the Arboretum to go snow shoeing, and one day Sarah and I took Leo to learn how to xc ski. But it’s just too hard to do things like that when it’s below zero. In the next week it’s going to warm up for at least for a little while, and then maybe we can get outside again. Maybe the dogs will even get to go on a few walks. They would be thrilled!

In other news Lee and I have gotten our first Covid Vaccination and are scheduled to get our second one March 4th. Then we wait a couple weeks. Then, slowly and cautiously we will start to return to the world. Does that mean we will suddenly be going to restaurants and concerts? Well, no, not at first. But it does mean that we will plan a trip to California to see Daniel and Kelsey, because, drumroll please, they are engaged! Daniel proposed on the last weekend in January and she said yes! We are so happy! We love Kelsey and she already seems like part of the family. We’ve had an email exchange with her parents and hopefully when we go we will be able to meet them too.

Daniel and Kelsey just acquired a puppy. Its name is Rossy. It is an Eskimo-Poodle mix, so its an Eskipoo, lol. We’ve seen pictures and a little video. Its a really, really cute puppy and it already seems smart. It will be fun to watch them learn to raise it. They will be very conscientious puppy owners, I can already tell. 

Meemaw and Peepaw daycare continues. Leo’s powers of logic, conversation and persuasion seem to increase daily. Yesterday we had a long talk about how everyone has been a baby at some point, even the dogs. We tried to talk about how his mommy and Uncle Dan were MY babies when they were little, and that his daddy and Auntie Kris were Meemaw H’s babies when they were little, but that is actually a pretty big jump in understanding for him. We kept circling back to “but Sarah is MY mommy”. Well yes, yes she is.

Kirby has developed a deep seated need to GO. That baby wants desperately to explore. He can be entertained for awhile in his new bouncy seat, especially if there are cheerios and maybe some blueberries in the little bowl, but what he really wants to do more than anything is get down on the floor. And (of course) he mainly wants to go see things he’s not supposed to play with, like the dog dishes, and the fire place, and the window shades. So if he’s on the floor I pretty much have to follow him around, and redirect him occasionally. He also loves to play with the dogs, and the dogs love to play with him. They play ball, they share toys. Yesterday, Kirby and Harper, head-butted each other (gently) across the living room floor. Kirby would bump Harper’s forehead with his head, Harper would back up, Kirby would crawl up to Harper and bump her again, over and over. Amazing!

Cosmo Part II

Adding another member to our family has been an adjustment, for all of us. I had certain expectations about how it would be. Some things are like I expected; others have been a surprise.

I thought that Harper and Cosmo would play together right from the start, but instead they have been getting to know each other just like anyone else. Harper loves all dogs, but somehow she knew right away that Cosmo was different, it would not be false to say that at first she was jealous. She pretty much ignored him, and if he tried to instigate play she would simply walk away.

But Harper is a nice dog. She wasn't mean to Cosmo, she was just a little aloof. She shared her toys, and had no trouble with him at feeding time. After almost a week they started playing with each other more and more. I would say they are well on their way to being friends.

Dinner time has been, well, interesting. Harper has always been a finicky eater and one of our hopes with getting a second dog was that she would start acting more like a dog, instead of a fussy princess, when it was time to eat. Well that has definitely been the case! Cosmo is much more dog-like when it comes to food. Little Cosmo is always hungry and eats his food like a starving coyote. Harper has speeded up her eating so that she doesn't have to share with Cosmo. But Cosmo still has to go over to Harper's bowl and lick it thoroughly when dinner is over!

I find it confusing to give commands to one dog, without the other dog thinking that I'm also giving the command to them. I guess I need to be sure to use the dog's  name when I give the command. But I still sometimes get funny results. For example, I want my dogs to sit and wait for their dinner, before I put down their bowls. Harper knows all about this routine, but Cosmo had to learn, and still sometimes forgets. So I tell the dogs to sit and wait. Harper sits immediately, but Cosmo sometimes just stands there, or after he sits, stands again before I've put down their bowls. Meanwhile Harper is waiting patiently, but sometimes she'll decide that maybe I want more. So while I'm waiting for Cosmo to sit, Harper will lie down, and I've even had her roll over once or twice!

We have an electric fence, and Cosmo needs to be trained to respect the fence boundary. I've started the first part of the training, where we go around the boundary of the fence, call him away, and give him a treat when he avoids the fence boundary. He is a follower, and not very adventuresome, so this part of the training is going really well. Next I need to introduce the correction aspect of the fence to Cosmo. I need to be very careful though. Since he is a little timid I don't want to scare him by giving him a big shock, so I need to have the collar just give him a very mild buzz at first if he gets too close.

Another danger with the electric fence is that although it will keep my dogs in, it won't keep bad things out. There have been reports off and on of coyotes grabbing little dogs and carrying them off in our area.  At night I always take Harper out on a leash. Cosmo is still learning, however, that it is okay and in fact desirable to go potty while on a leash. So for the time being when we go out at night I let him just follow Harper and I around the yard. As long as he stays right beside us I figure this is okay. But still I feel better if I remember to take the pepper spray with me when we go out for the last time before bed.

Taking both dogs on a walk has been another challenge. Cosmo walks beautifully, thanks to Diane, right next to me, never pulling. Harper on the other hand, well, it's our fault I know, but she is much more, er, challenging when it comes to walking. She pulls, she runs ahead, she tries to dash off after squirrels. After a couple minutes though, on most days at least, she settles down and walks nicely. But she walks much faster than Cosmo, and I get confused, and tangled up too. Sometimes I think I should see how much Diane would charge to "fix" Harper's leash-walking habits!

Cosmo is sweet and affectionate. I can tell that it won't be much longer until I love him as much as I love Harper. But I'm kind of funny when it comes to love and affection. I've never been a love at first sight kind of girl, maybe lust at first sight, but that's different! But true and abiding love takes awhile to build. Even with my children, while I immediately felt that powerful motherhood protective urge, it took awhile before I fell desperately in love with them.

Puppies are no different. I currently regard Cosmo with a mixture of amusement, exasperation, and yes the beginnings of love. Some mornings when his bright black eyes are wide awake at 5:30 am and I know he needs to go outside soon, but Harper is still asleep, and Lee is out of town, I sigh and wonder why we agreed to take this puppy. When he has an accident on the rug because I let down my guard, I'm angry, mainly at myself for screwing up, but also at this little guy that isn't catching on to the rules fast enough for me.

Then he and Harper go tearing around the house, making up some silly doggy game, or I find them both asleep, side by side. Or Cosmo and Harper both decide they must be in my lap while we watch TV, and I'm filled with love for these little beings, that put their trust so thoroughly in me. And yes, at the same time I need them to get the hell off of me, because I'm having a hot flash, dammit!

Like with babies, these first months of new dog ownership will go quickly. Before too long the changes in our routines will settle into a new schedule, and what is odd and inconvenient now will become comfortable and ordinary. In one sense I really can't wait for this time to be over. In another I wish that time would slow and my memory was better, because this time will be over much too soon.