Changes and I was wrong

Puppy School!

Puppy classes are fun!  This was week 2 and we got to play a game of pass the puppy where we all had a chance to play with one another's puppy.  That was a fun game.  They are all so sweet.  Millie is the largest pup in the class but also a pretty good player with "excellent social skills".  She LOVES the playtime outside with the other puppies.  She's excited now just arriving at school.  We really are big fans of the Animal Welfare Society now.  We've had nothing but good experiences with them so far.

Learning to "targt" the hand.

This target game has already had some good things to come of it at home.  Millie can sometimes decide she just doesn't want to.  Mostly it's about coming back inside the house.  But she will follow that "target" hand now and it's got her moving when she was firmly planted to the lawn.

He can still hold her, but not for much longer.  34 pounds at 4 months and a week

We still have no idea what her final hair coat or size will be like.  We're still thinking large.  The lab in the class is two weeks younger than she is and he's probably heavier than she is although she's taller.  So she's not as muscular as a lab.  I think she'll be leaner like a german shepherd but we don't know.  She's still growing and changing all the time.

Cooking together.  Did you smell bacon?

So I was totally wrong.  This 17 year old cat has had a much better life since Millie's arrival than she has had in the past 4 years.  The arrival of our kittens wasn't too big an event at first but over the course of the next year or two we started to have a lot of trouble between the girl cats.  The calico has treated Mouse like prey.  Self fulfilling prophecy there with that name?  I don't know.  But the game of cat and mouse has had Mouse fearing for her safety whenever she was at ground level.  She'd taken to living her life atop the fridge, counters, my bureau or any place "up".  Even then she often had to sleep with one eye open.  She'd find herself trapped outside if she left the house.  Jester would not let her back in.  So we added cat litter boxes to all 3 floors inside as well as one in the shop.  We have multiple places for dry cat food and water as well.  I thought a puppy would be just too much for this old cat.  I thought we'd get a dog when she passed on.  At 17 she is not slowing down in the least.  So we gave up and I braced myself for what might happen to Mouse next.  I was wrong.  I was SOOOO wrong.  

Mouse slapped that puppy in the face the first day.  And she's stood her ground against that pup every day since.  They do well together.  Mouse is not in the least worried about Millie.  Jester, on the other hand, is terrified of her.  She hides in "cat sanctuary" which is a room we have gated so that a cat can slip under the gate and keep Millie out.  She just now has started to hiss and hold her ground a little but she is still worried about the dog.  Mouse has control of the house.  The power has shifted and her life with her new bodyguard is just the way she likes it.  She's thriving.  Here she is with Millie checking out the kielbasa that John is preparing for our German Potato Salad.

Attentive staff in the kitchen

The view from here.

New screen house

 The new screen house is mostly complete now.  We need to stain/paint it and also add a little screen to the spaces between the rafters where bugs could get in.  But otherwise it is quite ready for relaxing.  Which we've been doing as often as possible the last week.

a place to vacation at home

It's so nice to have this vacation right here in our own back field.