i get up early

This is what most of my mornings look like.

Getting ready to read some of my favorite blogs

As I mentioned here, I have very little recollection of my last dog as a puppy.  I do remember that when I first brought her home, I set an alarm and took her outside in the middle of the night, but I don't remember how old she was when I stopped doing that.  I also don't remember when I stopped crating her and let her sleep overnight out in the house.  What I do remember though is that she slept until I came downstairs in the morning, and if that meant I didn't wake up until 9:00, she didn't wake up until 9:00.

Not so with Miss Ivy.

From day one, she's been waking up between 5-5:30 am.  I thought by now she'd stretch it until at least 6:30, but no.  She seems to love that 5:00 hour.

There was a time in my life when I'd be rolling in the house at 4 or 5 am after a night of debauchery.  I'll admit that I'm glad those days are over.  I had what I lovingly refer to as my "two major benders" in my lifetime, one in my 20's and the other in my 40's.  I'm not sure which one was worse.  I did some crazy shit in both, and for the most part, I can laugh about it.  I'm actually laughing a little as I type this.  These days I rarely ever want a drink.  I guess I got it all out of my system.

But back to Ivy.  When I first got her, she was raring to go the minute I let her out of the crate.  I was not.  In fact, I was downright angry.  I bitched and moaned and complained about her waking up so freaking early.  Then I noticed one day that I was starting to get used to it.  Then I bitched and moaned and complained about how I was getting used to it.

I can be somewhat impossible.  Just ask my SO (that's short for Significant Other).

Ivy is almost six months old now, and she's not as raring to go as she was a few months back.  When I let her out of the crate, she goes outside first thing, but when she comes back in, she doesn't race around or grab her toys or get all up in my business anymore.  She curls up and falls back to sleep.  I make my coffee, give her the stink eye for falling back asleep while I'm wide awake, and open my computer to catch up on some reading.

And you know what?  I'm kind of liking the peacefulness and quiet.  I guess you could say that I'm liking getting used to it.

Now that's not to say that I wouldn't rather she sleep until about 7:00, but there's something kind of fun about listening to the world around you when it's super quiet in the house.

For instance, I can hear the train, and I've determined that whoever the conductor is, he's pissed off that he has to work so early in the morning because he lays on that horn for the entire time the train is passing through town.  He seems to want EVERYONE to be awake too.

I get it, dude. I totally get it.

I always wonder about the handful of people who drive down the street to the main road.  What are their jobs?  Where are they going so early?

I know exactly whose dogs are barking.  I've got the Hound of the Baskervilles behind me and the Bark Twins down the street.  Sometimes the Bark Twins set off another round of dogs a few more streets down, so it's obvious that I'm not the only one awake with the beasts.

In a few months, it will start getting lighter around 6:00 am.  I'm already looking forward to taking the dog out for early morning walks.  Maybe I'll take my camera.  But with my luck, that'll be when she starts sleeping in.

We'll see.

i did a really stupid thing

Honestly, that could be the title my memoir.

I did this stupid thing on September 28, 2019.  I got a puppy.  I have no idea what I was thinking.

Well actually, I do know what I was thinking.  I was thinking how much I wanted another dog.

This was my Trixie.

Trixie in her prime

We had her for almost thirteen years.  She was the best dog you could ever have because she was the dumbest dog ever.  Seriously.  Dumb dogs make the best dogs.

She wasn't without fault.  When she was younger, she jumped on people and scratched them with her dew claw.  I'm surprised we never got sued.  She used to love to roll in fox poop.  She would bolt out of the house and run away from us.  I wasn't so much afraid of her getting hit by a car as I was afraid that she was too dumb to find her way home.

She got sprayed by skunks twice.

So when her time finally came, I knew I would get another dog at some point.  After a little over a year went by, I started looking on Petfinder, which is how I found Trixie.

However... it was not as easy this time around.  Local shelters had nothing but pit bulls, German shepherds, and lab mixes.  I have nothing against any of those, but the labs and the shepherds were too sheddy, and the pit bulls were going to be bigger than I wanted.  Trixie wound up being 60 lbs, and I needed a dog a good 20 lbs lighter this time around.  I applied to a bunch of rescue organizations, but I was denied by many of them.  I never got a reason why, but I think it's because I'm over 50.  So I began to look at breeders.

I'm all for rescuing, and I have nothing against going through a reputable breeder.  The only reason I didn't want to go through a breeder is because of this:

PUPPY

Sigh.  I'm sure you know what comes next.  

Ivy, 8 weeks old

She looks like a slug here.  I picked her up when she was 8 weeks old.  It took us all over a week to agree on a name.  And let me tell you, I was sorely unprepared for what was to come next.  

I had ZERO recollection of what having a puppy was like.  ZERO.  It was like I totally blocked out Trixie's puppyhood.  Trixie was about 3 months old when we got her, and that's makes a big difference from having an 8 week old, but I could not remember what day-to-day life with a puppy had been like.  I was pretty sure after the first week with Ivy that I had made one of the worst decisions of my life.  In fact, I posted this on my Facebook page:

So, a few observations as I close in on my first week with a puppy:

1. The last puppy I had was 14 years ago.
2. I am NOT 40 anymore.
3. This WILL probably kill me.
4. My knees will give out before this dog does.
5. Ditto for my back.
6. It has been even longer since I had toddlers because it took me over 15 minutes to figure out how to set up the baby gate.
7. I’m pretty sure Popes are elected in less time than it took to agree on a name for this dog.
8. Everything is cute when sleeping.

Well, Ivy is now five months old, and here are some current observations:

It hasn't killed me yet.
My knees have improved since that first week.
Ditto for my back.
I still have trouble with the baby gate.
She's still at her best when she's asleep.
She's too damn smart.  Smart dogs are nothing but trouble.

Ivy, 5 months old