Doggies

Soooooo we got some doggies. I don't remember how, but I started looking at petfinder.com a few weeks ago, just for fun. Then as I did it more, we thought, hey, we really could get a dog! So we went to a few adoption events this weekend and found one that was great. But it's super clingy so they wanted a household that would adopt 2 dogs or already had one at home, so it wouldn't feel so alone. Since we'll be gone all day anyway, there are other advantages to having them at home, like the fact that they'll have each other to keep each other company during the day. That is the VERY BRIEF summary of how we came to adopt 2 doggies! They were delivered to us last night. Here is something Geoff wrote about our first night together (but first, pictures):

Roxy

Jax

It went pretty well!!! The lady was a little late getting to our house. She had to deal a little with Roxy. Turns out, she hasn’t been spayed yet. I have to take her to the doctor today so that we can get her spayed.

Initial introductions went well. In a complete switch from what we saw on Sunday, Roxy was acting like a complete spaz while Jax was much more calm. Roxy was jumping all over Jax, so we got her some toys to play with. Holy cow. It was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. We had brought the beds down for them to see, and Roxy, with the toy in her mouth, did a full on nose dive into both beds. She would then get up, which is work because she has short little legs, run around the house and at full tilt do it again. We filled out the rest of the paperwork, paid the lady, and she left.

Jax really took that hard. He seems to be VERY nervous in new situations, and around new people. We would walk into a room that he was in, and he would sprint out of it. If a loud noise, like the A/C coming on, happened he would jump and run around a little bit. Eventually, Kelly got onto the floor with him and let him sniff her and figure out what is going on. We went outside later that night so that they could go to the bathroom, and he sat down, Kelly sat next to him and started petting. He seemed to enjoy this and started to calm down some. We went upstairs later, and he decided that he wanted to start sitting in Kelly’s lap. He was still very skittish around me though. But I had to try and restrain Roxy anyway. Eventually it was time for bed. We managed to get Jax into his crate with no real problem. Roxy though, is a pain in the butt. Eventually, we decided to just leave her out of the crate and let her sleep on the floor. Since she always wants to be around Jax, we put a bed next to him, and then put a bed next to me, since she seems to like me. She finally collapsed around 11, and started to fall asleep.

We went to bed around 11:30. Roxy was near the corner of the bed on Kelly’s side. At 2:30, Kelly woke me up. “The dog is chewing on something!” I turned on the light, and the Roxy had moved to the other corner, near my feet. She was licking her paws or something. So I went back to sleep. When I woke up, the dog had moved alongside me, next to the bed, and next to her bed. It was kinda funny.

We took them outside to go to the bathroom this morning, and fed Jax (Roxy can’t have food because of the surgery). Roxy was all over the place already, so we took them for a quick walk down the block and back a couple of times to tire them out. It didn’t really do anything. I get the feeling that if we want to tire them out, we are gonna need to do some major running and playing. Fortunately, we are training for hood to coast, so that will help. We gave Jax a Kong when he got into the crate. He seemed a little disinterested in it, but was happy to get in more so to get away from the ever playing Roxy. Then, I managed to get Roxy most of the way into the crate with my hand, and then scooted her in the rest of the way with my foot. Hopefully with food and crate training, she will realize that it is not a bad place to be. We put a Nylabone in there, as well as a squeaky pig that she seems to like. Hopefully that will keep her entertained enough until I pick her up.

They are at home now. Hanging out. We are going to take Jax to Petsmart later today to look at baby gates for keeping them contained during the day. Should be interesting…

Jake is 5!

My beloved Jeep Liberty, Jake the Jeep, turns 5 years old today! He came to me with 107 miles 5 years ago and had ~50,700 miles on him this morning when we drove him to work. I really thought there was a blog post with pictures of him with me from 5 years ago today, but when I looked there was just a comment that I FINALLY got the Jeep (it had been a couple of weeks since we first went to the dealer to get the Jeep). I know I have those pictures at home, so maybe I will post a picture of Jake then and Jake now. Like you care.

Since I had graduated from college the month before I got him, I was eligible for all sorts of special incentive programs from dealers. I paid 1% below invoice and got a 5 year zero interest loan - that was Jeep's "recent college grad" program at the time. Not a bad deal. So many times over the years I've been tempted to pay off the stupid loan, but it just didn't make any sense because it was 0%. I finally caved late last week and did it - it wasn't *technically* due until the 27th but I couldn't wait. It was only about 2 weeks early, and now Jake is all mine!! (okay, ours. :) Jake was just MY first car that I bought brand new all by myself, so I'm a little more possessive about him) Now hopefully Chrysler (Fiat???) sends the title. :-)

Geoff gave Jake the BEST birthday present ever yesterday - we took him through the car wash, and then Geoff gave him his first wax! He also vacuumed him out, cleaned all of the inside of the windows, used leather cleaner/protector (I do that every couple of weeks), and cleaned all of the dash & other surfaces. Geoff claims he hasn't looked this good since the day I picked him up all the showroom floor. That may be true... he's a little rough around the edges now, but I love him even more than I did on that fateful day 5 years ago.

Okay I'm done being a spaz about my car.