Saturday Morning Update.

So far this morning, we.....and by we I mean Lionel with me observing---and occasionally intervening....have done the following:

-Come downstairs all by ourselves:

Bunny Hop from SoThereThen Gal on Vimeo.

-"Helped" (Attacked) bring the hose up from the garden to the house

-Chewed on all the toys in the house

-Chewed on the leather ottoman (That may have gotten us an ear bite from me)

-Drank all the water and shared with everybody via the drips from the jowls (He got those this week....he is really starting to look like a mastiff)

-Defended the homestead from the Evil Angel Bulldog:

Defending the Homestead from SoThereThen Gal on Vimeo.

-Tried to dig a hole to China (Another ear bite when we didn't listen to the mama dog growl from me)

-Tried a second time to dig a hole to China after we were told to knock it off (another ear bite.....five minutes after the first bite. Attention Span or just Short Term Memory Problem? Nah, just being a puppy.)

-Sat and watched the runners and walkers go by in a race around town

-Investigated the culvert at the corner of the property.....not too much though, cause it was dark inside and a little scary

-Defended the homestead from the Trifecta of Fiendish Foes:
*Sundry Rocks (Stellar bit of luck that we have a gravel driveway!)
*Bark-Slash-Sticks-Slash-Things-That-Can-Come-Off-Trees-Including-Leaves
*Pine cones
(Hand to God, I have my hands in his mouth or prying open his mouth at least once every 3 minutes when we are outside)

-Had a light breakfast of kibbles---just 1 of the 2 cups for the morning feeding. We'll finish it when we wake up from our morning crash.

Snuggied up to the radiator for said nap. Our legs and as much of our body that can fit, is shoved under the radiator. We can't fit under the Hoosier Cabinet any more.

We need to rest up for our second Puppy Playtime at Petco today at 3.


Seriously, this dog is hilarious. We went to puppy playtime on Thursday and I was a bit concerned when he wouldn't come out of the corner of the bigdog pen for the first 40 minutes. There was a pretty aggressive puppy that Lionel would have NOTHING to do with except when Aggresivo tried to engage him in "playing".....it was more of an attack/fight. Lionel bared his teeth for the first time to defend himself successfully. Which was good; that is the whole purpose of puppy playtime. Learning how to behave like a dog and get along with other dogs.

Once the aggressive dog left (Got kicked out......in a passive aggressive Minnesota way. The trainers didn't ask the owner to take the puppy, they waited until the owner finally clued in that the puppy was terrorizing everyone and asked: "Should I take her home?" The response: "Uhmmmm, yeah, you know, I think that might be a good idea. She seems to have had enough today."), things got better.

Lionel started trying to play with the toys first and then worked his way up to actual other puppies. Two golden retrievers, a 1/5 his size, were clowning around and Lionel started barking.

And then wagging.

And then he got up.

And then he was playing.

And all the puppy parents cheered for Lionel.

And then, 10 minutes later, puppy playtime was over and someone---I am not naming any names but it starts with a "Lie" and ends with an "O-Nell"---didn't want to leave the store.

So, we go back today to a different store. Big plans for the day, and for the evening as he absolutely CRASHED when he can home.

He is still crammed under the radiator, but now he is dreaming and barking in his sleep. I love this dog.

All this, before 9 am.

The Italians Are Coming! The Italians Are Coming!

I just like saying it as if I was Paul Revere. I am pretty sure there will be no gun play upon their arrival. The family I nannied for almost 20 years ago is all grown up, mostly. The father is coming with the two boys as the eldest is going to a attend a couple courses in Ann Arbor and the youngest is traveling with dad to come visit after they see the eldest off on the train from Chicago.


Wow. Good thing I am not an English teacher. That sentence is a wicked run on.


The youngest was 10 months old when I arrived. He is now in high school.

I refuse to admit, officially, any sort of aging on my part.

June. A Few Highlights.

Seattle, Washington. I was so excited to show my family this as I loved visiting in college (crap...20 years ago.). Somehow, it wasn't the same. I don't know why I am surprised. It's been 20 years, but, it seemed like just yesterday. Wah.

Blueberries, Tongass Rainforest, Sitka, Alaska.

Mosquito Bay--through the trees, Tongass Rain Forest, Sitka, Alaska.

Hubbard Glacier, Alaska.

Docks in Sitka, Alaska. I pretended that we were moving here and life would be dreamy. Then.....I realized that there is a lot of down time in small towns and Alaska is really far away.

Just kidding. I would move to Sitka for a while in a heart beat.

Ketchikan, Alaska. There were lots of diamond jewelry stores. I think maybe I was done being on the ship on this day. I did like this little area, though.

Monkey Puzzle Tree, Buchart Gardens, Victoria, Canada. One of the highlights of the trip for me. This place was flipping amazing. I really, really liked it.

Sunken Garden, Buchart Gardens, Victoria, Canada....this was a surprise. You would never know it is there.....the amount of time and effort put into these gardens was mind boggling.

Himalayan Blue Poppy. Buchart Gardens, Victoria, Canada. Poppies. We Already established that I heart them. But blue??!?!?!? What will those crazy kids come up with next? I may or may not have bought some seeds to bring home regardless of the fact that they probably won't grow in zone 4. A girl can dream.

A cedar.....I think. A flippin tall tree, at any rate. Same place.

We went on a family cruise to Alaska. Second family trip in 39 years. Plus various spouses. That's a lot of family time. It went much better than I expected..........AND I won $500 the first night in Bingo. That doesn't stink.

Lionel Live.

Hiccups. from SoThereThen Gal on Vimeo.

MY favorite is when he goes for the camera and hiccups right into it.

When we got him six days ago, he looked like a black lab puppy. He still does but today, or maybe yesterday, a mastiff wrinkle became more apparent on his snout, right behind his nose. We took him to the vet on Wednesday and he had gained 12.5 pounds in three weeks. Lionel---toddlergoofball. With the attention span to match as the next video demonstrates:

The Attention Span. from SoThereThen Gal on Vimeo.

He Might Be Lionel.

Mastiff Mug.

Superman Style Sleeping.

Baby Teeth.

The Sleep of the Dead, Toddlers and Puppies.

Our Newest Addition.