R.I.P. Rocky

As I mentioned in this post, our 15-year-old puggle (1/2 pug, 1/2 beagle) passed away last week.   He'd been slowing down pretty significantly the last few months and we knew he probably wouldn't be around too much longer, but it still took us off guard how hard it was when the day finally came. 😢

To commemorate his life, I thought it would be apt to share the story of how we got him:   

I'll be the first to admit that I am not an animal person!   I grew up in a home without pets and this picture shows pretty accurately how we felt about animals in my family.     My cousins, siblings, and I are sitting on my grandmother's front porch in Oklahoma City and a dog had just wandered into view.   I'm told that it was a very calm, friendly dog, but it didn't matter.   It was a furry creature, which meant that we were petrified.  I am the one in the red dress just looking nervously at it, along with my cousin (the same age) sitting next to me.  My brother (in the suit), cousin (in the stripes),  and sister (in the lavender), however, are completely terrified.   The babies remain oblivious.    

This photo was taken approximately 45 years ago, but still reflects fairly accurately how my family feels about dogs, in particular.   3/8 of the siblings remain pet-less to this day.    4/8 are now cat owners.    We are the only dog-owners.   My brother (in the suit) remains nervous around animals to this day and will not even deign to greet our dogs or any of the other family member's cats when he comes to visit.   

So....how did we end up with dogs?    First off, Glen is allergic to cats, which put all felines off the table instantly for us.   Secondly, we had a very persistent child, who decided that she really, really, really wanted a dog.   Thirdly, I married a dog-lover.     

For years, Glen talked about how he'd like to get a dog....someday.   I always told him I'd think about it when we didn't have any small children anymore.   I knew myself well enough to know that having a dog AND small children would be too much for me.   Then when Cami was a tween, she had a couple of close friends with dogs and she got the idea in her head that she really wanted one as well.      For fun, she would beg to visit pet stores, so she could ogle over and sometimes even hold the puppies.   I'm pretty sure that seeing a puggle puppy in a pet store that had a sign next to it that said, "Good with kids," was what got her sold on that breed as her dream pet.    Over the course of a couple years, we received several letters from her outlining all the reasons why we needed a dog, why a puggle was an especially good breed to look at, and what she would do to take care of a dog.    

I remained resistant until the day when figurative lightning struck.   

One day, Diane,  the Mom of one of Cami's good friends called me and told me that a good friend of theirs was bringing their 1-year-old puggle to the shelter because they didn't have a fenced yard for him.   He was already house-trained, was great with kids, and they were willing to give him to us for free.  Glen and I quickly  discussed and decided that if we were ever going to get a dog, this was the way to do it.  We were saving him from having to go to the shelter, he was young, but already house-trained, and it was Cami's "dream breed".     So we decided to go for it. 

The kids and Glen were instantly smitten, but I won't lie....it was a rough adjustment for me.  Rocky was sweet and gentle, but he was also super barky, shed a ton, was constantly figuring out ways to escape our fenced yard, and loved to get into mischief around the house.   I was mad at him A LOT....especially those first few years we had him.    But he somehow wiggled his way into our hearts and here we are 14-years later mourning that a piece of our hearts has gone.   

Kids generally adored him, especially the last few years when he stopped being able to jump up on them.  Though his bark was loud, he was truly gentle and loved being close to his people.    With all his old-agedness that plagued him the last several months, he never lost his appetite and you could set a clock to his barking when dinner time arrived.  Between his age, his struggles to walk, and his final symptom (blood dripping from his mouth without any visible injuries) we knew that he wouldn't be coming home from the vet, so we made sure he got to eat some of his favorite foods (cheese and yogurt) before bringing him in.  It felt apt that he was well-fed, had a day full of snuggles,  and was being held by his biggest champion (Glen) when he left this world.    He will be missed.  

     Here are some picture collages with some of our favorite photos of him.   

Here are the mementos we received from the vet's office:  

Rest in peace, Rocky!   We miss you!  

(Read here for my very first post about Rocky and here's another one all about him a couple years later)

What Else We've Been Up to: Euthanization, Coloring Books, and More

 In between our trip to Virginia, Trek, and our trip to Alabama (which is where I'm writing this post from), we also spent a little  time at home!   Here is a glimpse of the whirlwind...

I created an alphabet coloring book.  It's cute and perfect for any vehicle loving 3-8 year olds you might know, although 18-month-old Lucie's been enjoying it too.  Check it out here and if you buy one, please leave a review.   I have visions of designing more in the future.  

Lucie and Cami came for a quick weekend visit...in the couple days after we returned from Virginia and right before Trek started. 

Glen smoked steak (for the third time in a month), so Cami could give it a try.  

 Lucie was in love with this little Grogu toy!   

Also, I'll do a more detailed post about it soon, but it's worth mentioning here that in the 24-hours between when  Trek ended and Ellie and I catching a plane to Alabama (with me still feeling quite sick), Rocky developed a concerning symptom and we felt like it was time to euthanize him.   It's something we'd been thinking about for a while, since he's been struggling to walk for the last several weeks, but the new symptom  hastened our decision and made it feel more urgent.   It was heart-wrenching and difficult to do and even more so because it needed to be done  in the midst of leaving town.    Glen stayed by his side and held him.   Ellie and I cried the whole way to the airport.    

Stay tuned for a post all about Rocky coming soon...

Surefire Cure for Insomnia

Life update taken straight from a letter written to our missionary.  I like crossing two things off my list in one fell swoop, so it's a tradition I've kept up  since my first one left on a mission. 
***************************************

5/8/2023

Hello dear Missionary!  
How has your week gone?   Has Springtime arrived there in the great state of Oregon yet?    Does Springtime mean copious amounts of rain?   Or are you just basking in sunlight and flower blossoms?  Actually...HOLY MOLY...I just checked the weather app that said Portland will be up in the 90's by the end of the week!   What the heck?!    That's a whole lot warmer than here, but what's new?!   We've still got our heater on over here and I just checked and confirmed that Minnesota is, indeed, also warmer than here,  so I'm not imagining things. 😶 

Oh, FYI, I should probably let you know now that this week was exceedingly not exciting, which means that this letter will probably show up in future textbooks as the surefire cure for insomnia.   In fact, I've already put the two dogs to sleep and I'm yawning, so the effects are kicking in already.  😴

So....what was the super non-exciting happenings of the week here in the G. home?  

Emma ate dinner with some people. Who?   Probably people from her mission, but who knows? 

I challenged the girls to try to stump me with a topic for sending them postcards.   Cami was easy peasy with a request for "exotic animals"...

Ellie wanted "gremlin", so I found her the ugliest most gremliny card I have, put a stamp on it, and actually sent it to her in the mail (of course I did).

  I'll send you a picture of Emma's request and actual postcard once she receives it.  She is only one who came close to stumping me.     Do you have a postcard request?    I'm ready!

Then I saw some pretty trees today.   We are about 2 months behind the blossoming trees in Virginia, but they made me very happy.  

Ellie has a bloodshot eye for no apparent reason.  I think she'd really like you to see this picture.   Please make sure you tell her that I showed it to you. 

Also, Emma does her hair purty and takes selfies.  You should for sure mention this picture to her as well....

You'll be happy to know that Rocky is still kicking.   He may be 101 in dog years, but he's also still annoying as heck--barking for no reason, peeing/pooping on the floor randomly, and getting stuck in the laying position when he's on hardwood floors.  But he's still surviving for now.  

We found this place for Ellie to take her senior pics.  We just need to go back with her cap and gown and make it official. 

I decided to try my hand at sourdough bread again.   I took a class from my neighbor and learned some tips and tricks.  I didn't eat any myself, but reports are very enthusiastic from the gluten eating members of the family. 

The mountains looked really cool the other evening.  Also, check out the behemoth house behind us.   It's massive and not very attractive looking, but they hired some people to help build it and it's  made more progress in the last few months than they had in the previous 1-1/2 years since we moved in.  

You probably thought I forgot....or more appropriately....you probably HOPED I forgot, but I didn't.   Here's your dam humor for the week.   I love you. 

  

ON a less sleepy note, here's a spiritual thought that popped out to me this week from the most recent General Conference....

“...the pure love of Christ is the answer to the contention that ails us
today. Charity propels us “to bear one another’s burdens” rather than heap burdens upon each other. The pure love of Christ allows us “to stand as witnesses of God at all times and in all things”—especially in tense
situations. Charity allows us to demonstrate how men and women of Christ speak and act—especially when under fire. .”

Russell M. Nelson, “Peacemakers Needed,” April 2023

 So, what do you think?   Are you sleeping yet?   Don't worry, I'll try and have a more exciting week next week.    I LOVE YOU LIKE CRAZY!!!!! 

Love,
Yo Momma
💗💗💗

PS  Here's a glimpse of our family phone call from his p-day last week:    

Walking Through the Mud

Anyone who knows me well, knows that getting out on daily walks is a hugely important part of maintaining my mental health.  Besides the boost in endorphins I get from getting my blood moving, there's something about being out in the sunshine that seems to lighten the woes that weigh me down. When the weather is poor, walking on the treadmill is an option I'll reluctantly take so as not to miss out on moving my body, but I definitely prefer a  walk outside any day I can get it!  

Most days I walk with Glen around the neighborhood before he heads off to work, but on Saturdays we can often talk Ellie and/or Emma into joining us as well.   Our favorite Saturday walk is from our home to the Horsetail Falls Trailhead...about 4 miles total.  It's all uphill on the way there and all downhill {with a gorgeous view} on the way down.   It's perfect for getting our heart rates elevated and for feeling like we actually got in a good workout.   

Our Horsetail hike is way too taxing for our "old man" dog, Rocky, who spends 90% of the day lazing around the house and the other 10% of the day being annoyed at Denali, who likes to run circles around him.  Denali, though, is another story.  She's full of energy and has no trouble keeping up with us on our walks.  It's been fun to take along a dog who can actually keep up with us. 

A couple weeks ago, we decided to explore a new trail on the way down and we ended up in quite the patch of  thick mud along the trail.   We squelched our way through it, with Ellie only panicking slightly about how messy her cute white shoes were getting, but Denali had a hay-day.   She was happy as can be in mud up to her knees and one time even sat down in it to get something out of her fur.   

It wasn't long before we realized that a bath needed to happen ASAP upon arriving home.   

So...we picked her up at the front door and brought her straight to the tub, where the mud started flowing the second the water hit her fur.   

She definitely wasn't thrilled with the whole bath thing, but, unlike her big brother, she did not fight taking a bath either.   It made for a MUCH more pleasant experience than it ever was for bathing Rocky.   We laughed at how little she looked with her wet fur and honestly almost like a different dog.  I'm not sure we could have recognized her had she been in a line-up of other soaking wet doodles. 

She was very happy when bathtime was over and she enjoyed the extra snuggles as Ellie dried her off. 

Pretty soon she was chilling on the couch, fresh and fluffy as ever!   

We have become quite enamored with our Denali girl...mud and all! 💕

 

How We Got Denali

So, we did a crazy thing.   

Back in October my good friend, Natalie, posted that her poodle mama had just had a litter of 11 goldendoodle puppies.   Now anyone who knows our family well, knows that I have a 16-year-old daughter who is OBSESSED with dogs, so it was with great excitement that she planned a trip to visit the newborn puppy nursery!   

We arrived for our visit when they were a mere 2 days old and they were sooooo tiny!  Their eyes weren't opened yet, they didn't walk, and they mostly just slept and nuzzled around looking for more food from their mama.  

It was a pretty special experience to be in the presence of such young and fresh life...

and, Ellie, in particular, was pretty smitten from that first visit.

It didn't take long before there was a full-court press to adopt one.  We kept going back for visits and Ellie narrowed it down pretty quickly to the purple, the pink, or the black collared one.

Natalie's family went to great lengths to care for all the pups for the several weeks they were in their care.  The pups were weighed multiple times a day, were well-socialized, were exposed to a variety of noises, and her family performed  early neurological stimulation exercises with them daily.   Ultimately, we decided that there was never going to be a better opportunity to adopt well-adjusted, healthy puppies and we decided to go for it. 

Natalie was gracious enough to let us keep visiting and it wasn't too long before we settled on this sweet pup...

   

After some family discussions, we called her Denali and prepared for her to come home with us just before Christmas.

In the meantime, we brought her home for a couple of home visits.  Rocky was very tentative about meeting his new baby sister....

We introduced her to the far away family members over Facetime...

And mostly just loved on her as much as possible...

Here are her parents....

Champ is a 15 lb. goldendoodle.

Mia is a 40 lb. purebred poodle.

They expect the pups will grow to be somewhere between their two sizes. 

On December 22, we finally brought Denali home with us!   As excited as we were for her to finally be an official member of the family, the first couple of weeks were honestly pretty rough.  We had houseguests that meant that our house was chaotic and out of routine.  Then we all got COVID and her energy proved to be extra challenging to keep up with.  The whining all night while we crate trained her was the hardest part of all.   I actually blame being sleep deprived from her whining as one of the contributing factors to us getting COVID in the first place...but things got better eventually.  

Fast forward a month and we've finally gotten to a better place with her presence.  She now sleeps all night in her crate without whining, she is on a good path to being house-trained, and she only annoys Rocky some of the time. 

She is still full of energy and loves to chew everything in sight, but it seems that she is a *little* more chill than some of her litter siblings.  We love the fact that she often sleeps on her back...something Rocky would never do in a million years.  

Having a puppy is a lot of work, but, for the most part, we are having fun with Denali!  She is cuddly, energetic, and loves belly rubs.  

Need some puppy therapy?   Give me a ring!