Photo of Ember greeting the sunrise, Tuesday morning!
Ember earned her leash walks on all three days, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Beginning on Wednesday she was wearing her newest harness. It was purchased at the same time as the one she is rapidly wearing out. This one is a sturdy one, the style that Carl wears.
In between naps and walks, we've been practicing being a lap puppy, a cuddle bug on the couch, every day this week. I give her gentle massage pets and she seems to just relax into it.
Planning for the Christmas main meal continues, back and forth in family message thread. There remains some uncertainty of the timing. Foster grand kiddo will be spending Christmas night with his birth family, but the timing of when he leaves for that visit is at this point unknown and could affect when "dinnertime" will be. Sure enough, the detailed schedule, leading up to his reunification with his birth father and siblings on January 3rd, arrived in DIL's email today. Looks like an early "dinnertime" for a mid-day drop off.
I'll be making the baked cheese puffs, but this time I'll be doing half of them with brown and serve sausage bites instead of olives. Seems we have a couple of family members who are not big fans of olives and are intrigued by the possibility of an adaptive recipe! I shall have to be careful about when I cook and how I store the sausage and the cheese puffs resulting, as this is definitely not a dog-safe treat!
Here's Ember, noshing on her pig's ear, a regular before supper treat, Wednesday afternoon. I am always interested in how she approaches the pig's ear. Sometimes she dances around it, tosses it in the air, jumps, or runs from it, and leaves it lying on the floor while she plays with other toys for a bit.
I got my Prevnar 20 vaccine on Wednesday morning, during puppy nap #1. My vaccination planning got thrown off when I scheduled that cataract surgery in October. If all goes well, in a couple of weeks I will go for the next Covid 19 booster. January will bring the annual "checkup" medicalizing.
Tuesday and Thursday both had trainer sessions for the human in the household (me). Now we'll have a week off, while the trainer enjoys the same vacation week as his wife.
On the way to the Thursday trainer appointment, my four-wheeled companion, Dexter, turned 50,000 miles! Not too shabby for a 2012 model, eh? The classic little old lady driving habits don't wrack up the miles much! Those miles include one driving trip to Florida, one to Wisconsin, and one to New York state. But those are offset by the three years of the pandemic, when I went practically nowhere.
In Thursday weather news we've had big gusty winds, to offset the mild temperatures. I decided to brave going into the park with Ember, and I let her direct our path. Did she find something dead? In the long grass? Of course she did. And rolled in it and came home completely stinky... and after a fresh groom on Monday!
Ember also came home with attitude. She pulled the treat bin off the counter and absconded with it, outside. It was getting down to the last couple of days' worth of kennel treats, and I abandoned it to her attention. Then I did not give her "kennel nap" cookies the rest of the day, since she'd already gone over ration. When I got her settled for puppy nap #2, I went out and acquired two small bowls, in preparation for playing "Vito's Game" when I deem it ready.
I've also ordered an area rug and the pad for under it, to fix the footing for playing said game. Excuses to spend money are endless, aren't they?
Looking ahead to the weekend, it promises to be a people-y one. Saturday is my daughter in law's birthday, and we have a family dinner planned at a local Indian Cuisine restaurant. Sunday I'm meeting the gal who took over my position when I retired, for lunch. Monday Ember has a vet visit scheduled. Then suddenly, it's Christmas eve and Christmas Day!
Life is good! Keep on Sparking, my friends!
The holidays bring family members together to make beautiful memories. The foster child will take those with him when he relocates. My son's youngest daughter has a birthday on Saturday, too.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the birthday dinner with family. Enjoy lunch with your friend.
From the look of the picture, it won't be long before the pup vaults over the deck rail.
Foster kiddo has had lots of fun holiday memories made, and I hope the skills he has learned see him through the next phase of life as the full family adjusts.
DeleteAs for Ember, the deck vault capability is there, but desire? Varies. But all it would take is a strong enough temptation, right?
Happy Birthday to your Granddaughter!
All in all seems like a pretty good three days for Ember. She is really a smart pup isn't she. Have a great next three days :D
ReplyDeleteYes, taken from a high level, it's been a good week. Two steps forward, one back seems to apply to puppy training as well as to Spark!
DeleteAwwwww, glad Ember is learning to be a lap puppy and cuddle bug! We all need that!
ReplyDeleteGlad you get to spend some time w/the kiddo for Christmas. And wish him the best.
Glad you got that Prevnar vaccine. Pneumonia is going around.
Wow! 50,000 on Dexter for a 12 yr. old car. That’s great!
LOL! What is it that attracts dogs to stinky things. *SIGH* AND, of course, right after grooming.
Happy birthday to your DIL. And how nice to have lunch with the gal who took over your position @ retirement. Good luck to Ember w/her vet visit on Monday. Yup . . . people-y week!
Hugs and happy holidays
Barb
1cd
My work mate and I used to get together for lunch every month or two when I first retired, and that kind of got disrupted during the pandemic years. As we said when setting this up: "it's been too long!"
DeleteEvery so often I'll run into former co-workers at the grocery store or out and about, and of course several are still Facebook friends, so we keep up... but lunch face-to-face, you get so much more!
LOL... I've read somewhere that when dogs roll in the stinky stuff it's to hide their own scent from potential prey and competing predators. But ewww! Not fun for the humans! I squirted her with some of that "waterless shampoo" (she did not like this, and that kind of contributed to the attitude). And I threw all my clothes in the washing machine right away, too.
Hugs, and happy and healthy holidays to you and yours, as well!
Little old lady, indeed!
ReplyDeleteWhen I traded in my well-loved 2012 Volvo for my new-to-me 2019 Expedition in 2020, I had 117,000 miles on it.
DH and I were marveling over how well-muscled Ember is.
LOL! You get around, m'dear!
DeleteAnd yes, Ember is a strong young canine!