A Life Full of Puppy!

It was not a quiet week at our place. Sandy kept us hopping and entertained! Tuesday he turned three months and Wednesday he hit 13 weeks.

Dusty is enjoying having someone to play with. When it's nice, they play out in the back yard. Of course, there are dangers for a young puppy, so one of us has to be with them all the time. Dusty is fine, of course, but he doesn't always know when Sandy is likely to get into trouble. Having Dusty play with Sandy keeps the puppy out of trouble most of the time, though.

Sandy is very fast and agile. Chase is a favorite game, and he knows there are places he can go but Dusty can't.

We've started walking in the neighborhood again. Sandy is getting pretty good at staying out from under our feet and keeping up with Dusty.

It isn't a very long route, but it gives us some exercise and gets the pups out of the house and yard for a bit.

When we get home, we have to wipe the pups' paws with sanitizing wipe, putting each dog inside the door as we finish. Then we have to take off our shoes and clean the soles with a bleach solution. It's a bit tedious, but until Sandy has his full immunity, we have to be careful not to track Parvovirus into the house.

When Sandy goes out in the backyard (or anywhere) to potty, he almost always returns with a souvenir to commemorate his visit. We don't want him to chew them up, of course, so we take the souvenir away from him and ceremoniously deposit it on the mantel with the rest of his collection.

Saturday he found this "stick" behind the shed. Dusty knew that was too big for the house, so he tried to take it away. I had to intervene. Needless to say, this "stick" did not become part of Sandy's souvenir collection!

Sandy won't have his piranha teeth too long, but we're teaching him to let us brush his teeth. First he gets to sniff the brush (with a very tiny amount of doggie toothpaste on it). Then I hold his mouth closed, put the brush between the lips and the teeth and brush to the refrain to "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window" once through for the back, once for the front, and then repeat on the other side. After that, he gets to have his tongue brushed, because we have an idea where that tongue has been.

Sandy is a light sleeper. He usually wakes up if there is any change in the sound, light or air movement in the room. You can imagine that he woke up when a big truck started backing up right in front of our house at 5:30 AM. It picked up the dumpster. Then a little while later, it returned with a new dumpster. Sandy had been out twice during the night, so I didn't get much sleep that night. I try to nap during the day when Sandy is asleep. Some nights he sleeps all night.

The neighbors across the street are gone, and workers have removed most of the roof to the garage. That was what the dumpsters were for. We had been guessing about what they were doing to the house.

By Friday, it became clear. The neighbors are adding on an upstairs over the garage. The gables in the roof are currently just sky lights for the one-story home, so obviously, they will need to put in a staircase. I was guessing a new master suite, or maybe a playroom for the kids or bedrooms for them. I saw the owners on Sunday and asked. It's two bedrooms and a jack-and-jill bathroom.

I haven't managed to do too much knitting since Sandy joined us, but the Talvinen cardigan is coming along slowly. Just a few more inches on the second sleeve, and I'll be ready to start the colorwork section.

I made a loaf of gratuitous sourdough bread. We don't eat a lot of white bread, but you really can taste the sourdough better. Of course, I still use the starter to make my whole wheat sandwich bread.

The Oregon grands participated in a "fun run" to raise money for their school. Soren really enjoyed himself. He's a good runner, but I think he was in it for the fun.

Johan was all business and worked to get as much distance in as he could.

Zachary sent me a photo of Josh, his new A Girl for All Time Max doll, wearing the clothes I sent along. I made the pajama pants and purchased the T-shirt and shoes. A knitted cardigan and another T-shirt were also included.

For some additional cuteness, here's our sweet granddog, Louis, keeping the cats off of his mom's shawl while it blocks.

There's a lot more work to do that isn't getting done at our house. There will be time for all that when Sandy is older.

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Talvinen cardigan and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating).

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Little Miss Crocker and the Spider, an edited version of our first story.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Weaver's Daughter by Sarah E. Ladd. 

What's in my wine glass: Hook or Crook Field Reserve 2018. Very nice.

What's my tip of the week: Miniature poodles and some other breeds are prone to dental disease, but frequent brushing can minimize the need for cleanings and reduce tooth loss as they age. We found once or three times a week difficult to enforce. Our pups were very resistant to having their teeth brushed. However, when we began to brush their teeth every night before bedtime, it became part of their routine, and they started to enjoy it. It's even easier when you start it when the puppy is young and doesn't really need it. You just go through the motions at first to give them the idea. Gradually increase how much actual brushing you do until you're brushing all the teeth thoroughly by the time the permanent teeth come in.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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