tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

I had a whole post roughed out in my head based off something Aaron said yesterday about Breve. Something about how it’s sort of like when you’re dating someone who’s really hot and makes you laugh and you really love them most of the time, but they are batshit crazy enough of the time that you just can’t stay with them.

Anyway I guess that’s how we feel about Breve. And I’m just so sad about it I can’t really think of anything else to write about it, to fully capture our experience with him, what’s great about him, and why we think he’d be better off with a different family. One with no kids or older kids, and a more active dog who wants to play with him more than Illy does.

He needs a lot of training, preferably by a professional, to work through some of his issues. I feel like even if we worked with him over the next year so that he was ok around kids and being alone and didn’t have resource guarding issues anymore, he still would be better off with a more playful dog, and a home with a bigger yard.

Anyway that’s where we’re at right now. I think Breve is leaving us this weekend and I’m brokenhearted over it, even though I am pretty sure it’s the right decision.

I just can’t talk about it too much right now.

Things I’ve Learned in the Past Two Days:

- I really love Illy. She is literally the sweetest dog in the world. And I know this is true because everyone who meets her says the same thing, including Breve’s foster mom, who has around 40 dogs living with her right now. So if you don’t believe me, believe her. She’s seen a lot of dogs.

-It is so much fun playing fetch with a dog who really loves playing fetch.

-It is equally nice snuggling with a calm, sleepy dog who just wants her belly rubbed, and doesn’t need to be all up in everyone’s business every second of the day.

- I love watching a dog really enjoy chewing on his bone.

-Training a dog who loves figuring out what the trick is and who wants to please you is endlessly fulfilling. It’s so much fun that even Illy wants to come join in and see what all the excitement is about.

- Having Breve around has made Illy more social, coming downstairs to hang out with us and observe the shenanigans, and sleep on the couch next to me when she is too worn out by a crazy puppy to deal with it anymore.

So far, things with Breve are going pretty well. I’m cautiously optimistic that he will work out for us. Maybe a little more on the cautious side at the moment.

He will go back to his foster mom if he either shows intent to cause the cats harm, or his neurosis starts having a negative effect on Illy’s mental health.

The problem is, he has a pretty decent case of separation anxiety. We keep him crated when we are not actively training him or playing with him. And if one of us leaves the room, he immediately freaks out and starts pawing at his crate, and then starts whining and barking.

Not good.

Especially not good when his freakouts cause Illy to get stressed out. This is unacceptable.

So, we are working on it. We need to tire him out physically and mentally, and then when he’s calm in his crate, leave the room and come right back. And keep doing this, over and over, extending the time we are away, until he trusts that we are eventually coming back and he doesn’t need to freak out about it.

That’s the plan at least. We’ll see how it goes. I don’t mind working with him and getting him to a healthy state of mind where he’s in a good place, but I’m not going to put Illy’s mental health at risk in order to get there with him. There are tons of other families who have shown interest in him and could give him a nice home. So while I have bought him his own leash and collar and food bowl (and treats and bones and on and on), my mindset is that we are just evaluating him, and trying not to fall in love with him so we can make the best decision, for him and for us, about whether he belongs with our family.

Here’s hoping.

Breve: Short for Espresso Breve. Espresso with half-n-half.

We’ve been talking about getting a companion for Illy for a while now, not to mention an actual dog for us since Illy is mostly a cat. I had been sending Aaron pictures of dogs to look at for months, and he had always either dismissed them outright or said something vaguely neutral like, “That seems like a nice dog,” quietly ending the conversation.

Finally I sent him a picture of a border collie mix, around a year old, with slightly longer fur than we typically have been drawn to, but an irresistible face. And to that dog I got, “That’s a forever dog.” And I knew I had him.

We sent in an application, and they liked us! We found out later that this had been a supremely popular dog, but the foster mom liked our application the best so we scheduled a home visit and were invited down to meet him.

So we headed down to Bumpass, VA (true story) and met him, along with about 20 other border collies living at the house. He was more puppy-like than we expected, but Illy seemed to like him and he was beautiful. We were a bit wary about his energy level meshing with Illy’s, and ours, but we decided to take him home for a three week trial. They have our check, so if we like him, he’s ours, but if he doesn’t fit, back he goes.

Illy on the road to meet her possible new brother:

She really is the prettiest, sweetest dog in the world.

And here he is, the Breve Brother:

Showing his true color:

We found out on the way that he likes to bite air. My guess is he’s never had his head in the wind before.

Bitey Breve:

We’re still settling in, so more to come about how we’re faring in a bit…

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous. And one of the few weekends we didn’t have planned from morning til night. So randomly on Sunday we decided to go check out the British Pub in Upperville, Hunter’s Head.

It was pretty authentic inside, and had a nice garden area. The bangers were absolutely delicious, and tasted just like I remembered. I had a chicken pot pie which was very good, although a little short on the chicken. It wasn’t exactly cheap, but we knew that going in.

Then we drove around for a little bit and ended up at Barrel Oak Winery to have a glass of wine and take in the nice day. And wouldn’t you know, there was a puppy adoption day going on! Wine and puppies? Heaven!

This little guy was adorable:

But I fell in love with this girl:

If she was a boy, I’m sure we would have taken her home. But I know Illy gets along better with boys, so I had to be strong.

It was tough.

Sigh.

So, we got another huge snowstorm this weekend. I’m always shocked when the weathermen get it right. Luckily we didn’t lose power (yet) and I’ve got a lot of knitting to do and MacGyver to watch so I’m prepared to be stuck inside for a while. Except of course to shovel and take Illy out for walks.

Who knew she would be such a snow dog? She loves it!

Not many other dogs got out to the field so we had to forge our own way.

It wasn’t easy.

She only looks sad because she knows I’m tired and we’re heading home.

Not even a deer track in sight!

What else to do while we’re snowed in? Try my hand at latte art, of course. My very first sort of heart:

Well for once the weatherman was right. I was sort of annoyed, since I had planned a nice afternoon of knitting, movies, and festive holiday cocktails with a few friends. And of course the 2 feet of snow put an end to that. However all was not lost, since I do love snow and we had a fun time playing in it. Surprisingly, Illy loved leaping through the snow drifts. She hates water, but I guess snow is more fun.

This was our family walk Saturday morning. Aaron’s wearing the first scarf I ever knit for him.

Leaping dog leaps!

It was coming down heavy all day.

Practically a white out. You can barely see the other dogs and their owners in the back of the shot.

Illy with her boyfriend Ralph.

Just chillin’

Belly deep snow!

It finally stopped snowing. We didn’t measure what was on the table but suffice to say, it’s the most we’ve seen here in ages.

The door on the deck wouldn’t open because of the drift, so we had to let her out through the basement. She bravely forged a trail.

And here are the cookies I made for the neighbors and the knitting party. The neighbors did get theirs, at least!

So it’s 1am, and we’ve just reached home. We brought Illy inside, said hi to the cats and started bringing the bags in to the house. I had Illy’s bed in hand, and I am one step from the door when Illy pops her head out from behind Aaron and darts outside. Normally when there is a lot of noise and movement she stays as far away as possible, but not this time. I guess she really did get comfortable down in VA Beach.

I try to shoo her back inside but she takes off down the street. I call to her and she completely ignores me and keeps trotting. I start after her and she takes off at a run.

Shit.

So I take off after her. I’m not running yet, trying not to spook her, but I need to keep her in sight. I can’t see that far in front of me since it’s 1am, and she’s black so she’s got built in camouflage. She reaches the trees and hangs a left. I start running since she’s heading for the street. She hears me coming and takes off like a shot. She bounds like a deer through the trees. She really might be a deer crossbreed, I’m not sure. She even leapt sideways like they do.I can barely see in front of me, I’m stomping through puddles and running into tree branches, but I can’t stop. I can just imagine her darting into the street, which still had some traffic even that late on a Sunday.

She stopped for a pee and I almost caught her, but she heard me thrashing through the pine trees and took off again. Luckily she turned right instead of going straight into the street. Unluckily she took another right … into a large wooded area bordered on two sides by roads. The grass, or whatever it is, is waist high in places. I have never even thought of walking in there before – who knows how many ticks, snakes, homeless people, etc are in there. But I barged in after Illy, trying to hear where she was going. After a few minutes, I couldn’t hear her anymore and I realized I could barely see anything. So I ran back to our house, grabbed a leash and a flashlight from Aaron (at least one of us was thinking clearly!) and then told him where I saw her and told him to drive around to make sure she didn’t run out the other side of the woods and into the street.

Anyway so then I had a flashlight and was able to get further into the creepy little woods. I was running around there like mad, calling for her and trying to get her to move so I could hear her…but then I would think, wait, what if she’s already escaped out the other side and is way far away? So then I would get out of the woods, sprint around to the other side and see if she was over there. Then I ran into about 5 guys wandering the streets. I asked if they had seen a dog but they said no. As I walked into the woods again with them walking along the sidewalk next to me, I realized how it suddenly felt like I was in the opening scene of a Law & Order episode. I guess they were either well intentioned, or thought I was suitably crazed and wielding a huge maglight flashlight that they didn’t want to mess with me. Anyway they kept walking and I kept searching.

Aaron was driving around all this time, since we thought she might have escaped our ‘perimeter’. Eventually I got in the truck and we were debating whether to give up for the night and wait until it was light. But there was just no way I could have left her out there all night. I knew she would run into the street eventually. While we were talking, I suddenly heard 4 barks in a row.

Now, Illy never barks. It’s just not her thing. But when we were down in VA Beach, she barked for us a few times. Like I said, she felt comfortable down there. Thank god for that! I screamed, “I hear barking!”, jumped out of the car and took off into the woods. I’m sorry for the people who had to have heard me yelling for her at what was then 2am, but my girl was in trouble!

Thinking back, I guess she barked because she couldn’t hear us anymore and she was annoyed that we had left the game. I finally heard her tags clinking and the sound of her moving through the woods. Then I saw her eyes reflecting the flashlight. So close! I was yelling for Aaron, “I see her! She’s right here!” and then she took off.

I chased her in circles through those damn woods, and almost had her a few times. I almost twisted my ankle and hit my head on a branch, too.

She ended up running back towards the back of our row of townhouses, toward the field where we walk her every day. I kept her in sight and Aaron was following us. She outpaced me though and I lost sight of her. I took a right to go to the field, and I told Aaron to go left and see if she went that way. I ran into the field and thought I saw her. But it was just two deer. Aargh! I figured she couldn’t be in the field since she would have chased the deer already. If she had gone into the field, I think we never would have caught her.

But she went left, behind Best Buy. I took off at (another) sprint until I caught sight of her. I yelled at Aaron that I saw her and I ran as fast as I could – faster than I ever have – so I could pass her. I knew I needed to get her between us. I thought my heart was going to explode, but I passed her. Like I said before, it was a good thing I didn’t take a jog earlier in the day, or I never would have had the energy. As it was , I barely made it. But she got scared and turned around.

Aaron, the animal whisperer that he is, had put his flashlight away and crouched down and called to her. The tired dog started wagging her tail and ambled toward him. He grabbed her collar and petted her.

I jogged over and snapped the leash on and collapsed. She was scared of me, so I gave the leash to Aaron and we walked back to the truck.

We finally got home around 2.30am. I checked Illy and myself for ticks, but didn’t find any (until today – two!). I took a shower, ordered an electronic training collar, and went to bed.

Here I am, happy and exhausted after my hour and a half run around the neighborhood.

Here’s our runaway dog, relaxing after her fun game.

We had a lovely weekend visiting our cousins in VA Beach – luckily the rain stopped just in time for our Friday night drive, so traffic wasn’t horrible and we made it in 3.5 hours. Dee and Christopher were kind enough to wait up for us so we were able to catch up a little before going to bed.

In the middle of the night we got hit by a sudden thunderstorm. I heard the loudest crash of thunder and then felt four paws simultaneously land on me and opened my eyes to Illy’s tongue panting in my face. She crawled in bed between us to hide from the storm. I still ended up waking up at 7.30, so we got up and hit the beach with Dee and Archie.

Illy had a great time chasing crabs.

She doesn’t like the water though, but Archie sure does.

She was a happy girl.

Here she is giving Archie bunny ears.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the sunshine and relaxing. Aaron and I had a nice lunch at Bubba’s. They have the best she-crab soup and crabcakes ever.

I took a jog after lunch, and I actually did pretty well for it being 88 degrees outside.

Archie had had enough exercise at the beach.

Gratuitous hot husband shot:

I tried to get Illy to look at the camera, oh well.

We didn’t do too much on Sunday either. I took Illy for a walk and she found a baby bird who was on the ground, apparently learning to fly (obviously needed more practice!) She suddenly darted for it and tried to pick it up – just retrieve it, not eat it, mind you. The mother bird who was right overhead did not take kindly to that. I told Illy to drop the bird, which she did, but then the mother bird shat all over Illy’s back and then dive bombed her. Right then a car was passing. The bird scared Illy so she panicked and tried to run away…into the street. So I had to hold her back, totally yanking on her neck to keep her from running headlong into the car. The lady driving gave me a look that clearly indicated she thought I was abusing Illy. Oh well. Luckily the little birdie hopped away, and I kept Illy from chasing it again, although the mother bird kept yelling at us. The baby did end up climbing back up the tree to try and fly again, so I have to assume Illy didn’t hurt it.

I was going to try another jog, but I was sore from the day before so I decided to rest. This was probably a smart idea, as you’ll see in my follow up post.

After that we went to a long lunch – Mother’s Day is not a good day to try and get a quick bite to eat, apparently. The foods was great though, so I can’t really complain.

We had a nice sunset as well.

We headed home shortly after dinner. We were making great time until we hit 95 and came to a dead stop. We moved a mile in an hour. At least after that we were fine again.

We made it home at 1am, exhausted and ready for bed.

Unfortunately, it was not to be…

…to be continued…

This weekend was the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. Kim had gone last year and booked a hotel for this year. She was going with her mom and  her friend Heather, and there was room for one more, so I jumped at the opportunity.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect, but I knew I wanted to see some sheep and alpacas, and pick up some yarn.  I went in without a game plan – I just wanted to browse everything and see what caught my eye – and I think it worked out well. I ended up seeing everything just about twice, and I made some nice purchases.

I headed up Friday night and made it in an hour with no traffic. I settled into the room to wait for Kim et al to arrive. They showed up with food, wine, and plenty of empty bags. We had a good time catching up and then hit the sack.

We were up relatively early but still hit some traffic on the way to the festival. We lucked out with a great parking spot though. It rained for about an hour but the rest of the day was pretty great. Not too hot, not rainy, not muddy.

I met up with another friend there, Sharan, and we wandered around together while Kim et al. shopped for fleece and spinning wheels.

Here’s Kim in fleece heaven:

I really enjoyed wandering around the barns and checking out all the animals. Sheep are loud! I wanted to steal this one:

I also found the alpacas! How could you not love this face?

This sheep got up close and personal, but held still for my camera phone. This is the face of an angry sheep.

One of my favorite things was the border collie sheep herding exhibition. Sheep are pretty stupid.

All the other dogs were dying to be able to get in there and herd those sheep as well.

Here’s me loaded with gear. Well ok, my bags are stuffed with yarn and other various goodies.

Don’t think I didn’t contemplate rugby tackling this girl to get to this lamb.

All in all it was a great day. After 6 hours of non stop walking around in poorly chosen waterproof hiking boots, my feet and legs were killing me. We cleaned up at the hotel and headed out for Mexican. This was a damned good strawberry margarita.

We ended up going to a Ravelry after-party at another hotel (they had a chocolate fountain!) but we didn’t stay very long. We were in bed, asleep, by 10.30! I headed home in the morning, but Kim and the rest stayed for another few hours on Sunday, when it was pouring all day.

This is part of my stash. Not pictured are my sheep covered socks and a lovely soft handwoven cotton table runner. The grey yarn there is going to be a big squishy blanket. The dog is now named Romney. The puppy basket is Aaron’s ‘in’ box.

I sort of wish I had splurged and bought a large watercolor print, by the same artist who did the one in the lower right corner of that picture above. She had a lovely print of a bunch of sheep standing outside an old barn. I was really drawn to it, but wasn’t sure I wanted to spend the money.

Thanks so much for letting me crash, Kim! I had an awesome, awesome time. Next year for sure!

One more alpaca for the road!

So, life has gotten busy. Well, work has gotten busy, really.

But at least the weather is finally starting to turn nice. I’ve been taking Illy for runs on the warmer days. She is usually pretty good about trotting beside me…or lagging behind if she’s not happy to be moving so quickly and would rather be sniffing around for squirrels.

I took her to the Battlefield one Saturday morning so we could have more of an open area to run in, and there was NO lagging behind at all. She took off at a gallop and never slowed down. It’s kind of hard to keep a running pace while you’re being pulled by a freedom-crazed dog. It’s supposed to be 80 this weekend so I’ll give it another try on Sunday.

In other news I treated myself to a digital piano. Basically just a keyboard but without all the crazy add-ons that keyboards usually have. It’s supposed to help me de-stress, and I think it’s working. Although I need to find some music books inbetween Little Brown Jug and Beethoven.

Anyway, back to the grind.