It came early!

The new X-pen arrived on Saturday morning!  Ember has been released from leash in the back yard!

I put it together before I let her out of the crate after puppy nap #1.  She seems a little bummed to be prevented from her destructive ways, but I feel better, knowing she can't electrocute herself with her gnawing on those conduits behind the unit!

When it started to sprinkle raindrops, we came back inside, and we didn't even last through "lunch".  There is no keeping her out of the basement now.  Now it is the puppy who is determining what to eliminate from my junk.  She found my old triathlon training gear, including a bike helmet that has LED lights in it and a rechargeable battery.

Safety concerns had me prioritizing getting that particular item away from her, and several other things got sacrificed in the process.

As of now, the casualties include a yoga mat, my Suisse exercise ball, a couple of CD cases, some 3.5-inch floppies, a cord that used to connect a Zip drive to the old computer via a printer port... you know, the general "I haven't used this in ten years" collection of stuff.

It took considerable patience to wait out some of her energy and entice her into the crate for puppy nap #2.  I proceeded to shift almost everything from the big open room into what used to be my son's basement bedroom.

Here's what's left... the tube from the ancient computer but not the tower, keyboard or peripherals.  

In the bedroom:  Mt. St. Omigawd South.  At least there is a closeable door to that room.

Meanwhile, the cat will have to have an escort all the way to the laundry room door (but I was mostly doing that anyway, due to needs to feed, water, and clean the litter box).

I warned "the kids" of all Ember's misadventures of the past few days, and they are still up for the dog-swap on Sunday.  OK, then!

Sunday morning

The great dog swap began about 10 a.m.  Before that, Ember had a session of carpet tearing on the basement stairs, but pretty soon bored of time apart from her Mommy, who just plain didn't want to watch that stuff.

Ember came back up to have her normal routine time leading up to Mom fixing her own breakfast, then tucking Ember into her crate for Puppy Nap #1.

While puppy was napping, Mom washed dishes by hand (waiting on a part for the dishwasher).

Ember got released from the crate about 9:40 a.m., and was dressed in her harness before "the kids" arrived with Carl.

I'm hoping that Ember is napping for them at appropriate intervals.  Just now I have Carl napping on my big bed, because he's a big boy and doesn't chew on everything in sight.

Instead, he never misses an opportunity to bark at the pesky squirrels who tease him mercilessly.  Ember doesn't bark at squirrels, she just silently watches them, and if they get too bold, silently charges at them.

Carl was quite happy to play with Ember's toys, but didn't quite get the concept of some of them being "inside toys", so he migrated about three of her plush ones outside, for Grandma to retrieve and let him know this toy is for inside only.

Ember had to learn about the hose not being allowed inside, Carl is learning about iguana, hippo, and foxy not being allowed outside.

I played ItsYerChoice with Carl, and the initial phase with him wasn't as hard on my hands and arms as Ember's first attempts at it.  He licked, and he pawed, but he didn't bite.  He did surge toward the cheese, but when I folded my hand over it, he respected that.  He caught on to the concept in the first round.  Good Boy!

Meanwhile, the kids took Ember to Carl's closest dog park, the one they call "Friend Park" to wear her out a bit before taking her into their home.  

It took some doing to get Ember into the truck, apparently, but there she is, looking content to go for a ride with these people.

At Carl's "Friend Park", adoring the mythical son.

DIL reports that she recalled to her name, and gave no trouble leashing up at the end of the park visit.

The kids had brought me an extra baby gate so I can keep Ember out of the basement until such time as I can get the door replaced.  It's a real nice one, that has a human opening gate in the middle.  My son installed it while his wife and I supervised the two dogs in the back yard.

The plan is now for me to ferry Carl back over to their house around 3 p.m.  Foster kid for respite is due to arrive around 3:30 - 4 p.m., so the two dogs will have a second opportunity to play together if I hang around to meet the boy.

Since there is the possibility of this turning into a fairly long-term arrangement, I for sure want to meet him.  He should know there are extra grown-ups available.  He already met my DIL's parents, at the last respite weekend.

Life is good, in Emberville/Carltown.  Spark on!