Puppy Love

February 11:   

If you were to randomly take a look at my phone and scroll through the camera roll, you'd almost certainly come across a spate of pictures that looks about like this:  

It's a certain little 10-year-old in the house that really, really loves our sweet pug/beagle mix, Rocky!

 He barks too much, gets into the trash, chews holes in our socks, and tries to steal the people food, but he's also gentle, snuggly, and very patient with our bustling houseful.   We've had him for more than six years now and the kids still love him as much today as the day we got him.   The kids love when it's their turn for him to sleep in their bed he gets to sleep in and at this point  I only have to bug them occasionally about taking care of his daily needs.  

I am totally not a pet person, but he's definitely grown on me over the years and I am to the point where I would even consider getting another dog someday in the future.   The kids have stuck true to their word that I would never clean up his messes, although I do have to remind of them of that promise sometimes.    I still mostly keep my distance from him, but I don't mind a good Rocky snuggle if we're sitting down to watch a movie or something.  

Here are some interesting facts about Rocky:  

1.  He had just been dropped off  at the pound, when a friend called to tell us about him

2. We adopted him when he was about 1 year old and we were his third owners.

3. His original name was Oliver

4. Spence and Cami chose the name, Rocky

5. He's about seven years old, which in dog years makes him the oldest member of our household. 

6.  I think his crazy loud door greetings are a strong deterrent from friends coming in our house all the way when they drop by unexpectedly. 

If you live close by and ever want to come by and get your fill of puppy love without actually owning one yourself, give me a call!   We love to share! 

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LATE ADDITION (added Friday morning 2/12/16): 

These are the cute little Valentines that Ellie helped me design this morning.   They fit so well with the blogpost, I figured this was as good a place as any to add it in.  :) 

Saying Goodbye to the Chicks

Remember the little baby chicks in our bathtub from a few weeks ago?  

Well, I am pleased to say that with Ellie's, Adam's, and Emma's tender loving care that...

Rose....                                            Felix.....                                                and Stripe....

are all grown up....

and now free ranging it at Shelly's farm (pics coming soon)!  

And the best part of all?

Getting rid of the chicks meant we had room for Spence to bring home a new pet.    

Spence adopted Zeus from the animal shelter on Saturday.    Spence and Zeus are only here for a couple more days until Spence heads back to school this week, but Zeus has already become a well-loved figure in our home.

Except for Rocky (our dog).  He hates Zeus with a passion and barks incessantly at the closed door where the cat is staying until Spence leaves.

I think that he thinks that he's protecting us from the "big, bad" cat, that's actually quite sweet and nice, but all he's really doing is ensuring that the next pet we welcome into our home is more likely to be a quiet, easygoing feline instead of an obnoxious barky, underwear chewing canine.

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Meet Rocky (Pets: Part 2)

 In 2009, a friend of a friend offered to let us adopt their already neutered and house-trained pug-beagle mix before they took him to the pound.  My kids had been begging for a dog for years before that and although I already knew that I was not a dog lover, I let the rest of the family persuade me into giving him a try.  The dog previously called Oliver, was quickly renamed the much cooler sounding name, "Rocky," by the kids.  He was about one-year-old and although quite cute, was also quite a handful.  

You see, although I had had two brief stints as a dog owner in my childhood, nobody had yet cued me into the Dog Statement of Belief.  What?  You've never heard of the Dog Statement of Belief?  Well I have it on good authority that it goes something like this:      

"We claim the privilege of rolling in poo, pulling things out of the trash, chewing up leather shoes, and barking at any and all people, animals, and vehicles that come within sight of our house.  If there is anything stinky, meaty, or in any ways gross, we seek after these things." 

Apparently most people already know all about dog's beliefs and have either come to an acceptance about them in exchange for their cheerful companionship or have decided that they don't want anything to do with them.  Although by nature I fall squarely into the latter category, over the past few years Rocky and I have come to a reluctant peace with each other.

While I may not love all of his antics, I've grown to appreciate his presence during the day and his eager willingness to accompany me on a walk.  I find it sweet when he snuggles up next to anyone who sits on "his" couch and mostly I love that the kids adore him.   And on really good days  when he hasn't acted too crazily (not very often),  I even occasionally find myself wondering what kind of dog we might get next.

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More about Rocky:  

Rocky's favorites

• Likes to sleep snuggled next to Ellie
• Is attracted to dirty underwear and socks and will chew them to bits if given the opportunity
• loves going on walks
• loves to chase squirrels, but never even comes close to catching them
• is very sweet with the kids

Things that annoy us about Rocky

• Although the owner and dog are very friendly, Rocky hates the greyhound that lives around the corner from us, and goes embarrassingly crazy whenever we cross paths.
• Barks....a lot!

Other pets owned: 

• hermit crab
• 1 gerbil and a devil-gerbil, Fui and Lucy
• a couple of fish

Family History: Pets Part 1

I recently read a fascinating article from the NY Times about how valuable it is for kids to be familiar with their family's stories--stories from their own childhood and stories from their parents' and grandparents' pasts.  It was found that people who were familiar with their family history were more likely to feel connected and a part of something "bigger" and as such had higher self-esteem and were more resilient when hard times hit their lives.

After reading the article I felt comfortable that through this blog my children were getting a good glimpse at our lives from 2007 on, but I wondered how I could do better at capturing some of the stories from before that.  Because I'm a person who likes routine,  I've decided to devote a blogpost every Thursday to delving into our pasts.  It's likely that I won't use as many pictures in these posts, but I hope in sharing these stories that they will get an even better glimpse of where they came from and who they are.  I will be using a writing prompt each week and will cover a wide variety of topics.

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I was born into a family of pet haters.  It's not that we are cruel to animals or don't love other people's animals, but more that they just seemed like one thing too many to take care of in a bustling house filled with eight busy kids.  Twice we tried dog ownership and twice it was a dismal failure.

The first time was when I was about ten and my dad surprised us by bringing home a puppy.   We named him "Cinnamon-Sugar" and thought he was great fun to chase around the yard.   Too bad my mom was not in on the surprise and was not happy about the new member of the household.  A couple of days later, in a very puppy-like moment, Cinnamon excitedly greeted a neighbor kid and in process scratched him on the face.   My mom panicked and dragged us all back inside as quickly as she could.

Next thing I knew the police were pounding at the door and my mom had locked us in a bedroom and told us not to make a peep.  She had no desire to talk to the police about the dog's crime and she figured if we just hid, they'd have to come back later when my dad was home from work.  I actually have no idea how the issue with the neighbor was resolved, but suffice it to say that Cinnamon didn't last the week at our house.

The next time we tried dog ownership, we were in our house in Andover.   A family friend was moving and had given us their two trained Pomeranians (I think that's what they were).    We were older, had a bigger yard, and the dogs were actually very sweet.  Oddly I don't remember their names, but I do remember that they used to spend most of the day under my dad's desk.  We took good care of them and made sure they had everything they needed, except for love and cuddles.  Most of us Crains are not the touchy-feely type and it just never occurred to us to sit on the couch and snuggle up with the dogs.  Eventually after I had graduated and left for college, one of them was hit by a car, which when I think of our dead-end street in almost rural Minnesota, seems like it had to have been quite the careless driver.   Shortly thereafter my family moved to Russia and gave the remaining dog to a loving family.  We heard that it was a good fit and they were quite happy together.

After that they recognized that dogs were not for them.  They now own a cat, Tux, who spends most of his time outdoors.  Other than when we come to visit with Glen and Cami's cat allergies, it's a perfect fit for them.  

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Mom, Dad, and siblings:  Feel free to chime in on this post and let me know where my memory is faulty.  

  Stay tuned for Pets Part 2--- my adult experience with pets. 

The Golden Nine?

No I'm not having twins (or even one)-- Kristina! After a lot of begging and convincing their mom...the kids are delighted to announce that we've officially become a pet family!

Meet Fui--the gerbil
(pronounced "phooey")

And Lucy--the other gerbil

The maze Spencer and Glen created for a science project (the final impetus for getting out the door and actually acquiring the gerbils)!

And in a sick twist of irony...on the day that we purposely brought 2 rodents into our home we caught (yes caught!) our first wild rodent that had made its way in our patio door. It was almost as cute as Fui and Lucy, but this little rodent did not receive the same welcome response! After a quick trip to the woods we were back to only two again!

On an interesting note, while at our trip to the National Zoo today we learned that of 5000 species of mammals in the world, over 2000 of them are rodents! Ack!