Perpetual motion

Except when she's sleeping. Mr. A remarked the other day that she seems to have only two settings – ON and off. Right now she's off, at least for the moment, so I'm trying to get some work done and post this adorable puppy picture.

She really is adorable. That's a good thing because she's also a lot of work, and at times a lot of yelping and barking, which I find very nearly unbearable. Tater basically never barked as a puppy, and still rarely does, so this is all new to me. The standard advice is to ignore it so she learns she only gets what she wants by being calm and quiet ... so far we're doing OK with that, but it's not easy. My biggest challenge is to tire her out enough to be calm and relaxed by the time Mr. A goes to bed, so I can get a few hours of work done without worrying that she's going to start barking and wake him up.

The good news is that she's turned out to be a pretty good sleeper. She doesn't like to be in her crate alone at night, but once I go in and get in bed she's been quieting down and going right to sleep. I'm getting up at 2 and 5 to take her out but other than those trips she's been pretty happy to just zonk out again as soon as she's back in her bed. I hope this lasts!

What I'm looking forward to more than anything is the day when I know it's safe to give her free run of the house and yard. When will that be? Next spring? Until then we've got baby gates and a portable exercise pen and a puppy run in the back, and the front and back yards secured and cleared of dangerous items – with the exception of foxtails, which are impossible to eradicate completely, though we're working on it. Water is so scarce and expensive that we've never even tried to have a lawn – it costs us over $100 a month as it is, just to keep a few garden beds and potted plants green. Around here lawns are sort of regarded as a wasteful extravagance, and I've never really missed having one until now; but now I have to admit I'd love to have a soft, safe, green expanse of lawn for her to play on instead of the scratchy stubble we mow our "grass" down to every summer. I would also love not having to comb through her fur every time she comes inside, to remove all the seeds and particles that stick to her as she rolls around.

It makes me think maybe having a long-haired dog in the country isn't the smartest thing ever. But I do love soft fur on dogs ... I petted a beagle the other day and was glad our dogs don't have that kind of fur. I'm in the process of getting Tater shaved down for the summer and he feels just like a soft furry plush baby toy. I think Bea is too young to be shaved this year, but next year I'll do her for sure.

Out the window: A fence lizard doing pushups on the edge of the fire pit, now jumping onto the wheel of a metal patio chair and doing pushups there. The wheel is the same width as his body and he looks cool sitting there draped along the curve of the wheel with his legs hanging down the sides.

Really this whole post is a thinly veiled excuse for not doing my statistics homework. I've been having a very hard time getting my brain back on track with this; it just doesn't seem to be sinking in the way it was before. It's true I've had a lot to process over the last several weeks ... Hard to believe Mr. A's mom has been gone almost a month already. We went to his parents' house on Saturday for a barbecue in her honor – not really a service, but the family and several neighbors and friends were there, and some words were said, and I thought it was nice. She had said she didn't want any kind of memorial because she didn't want the bastards to have any more of her money than they were already going to get. I think she would've appreciated our need to acknowledge her life, though.

I miss her. She would have loved to see this puppy.

Now out the window: a fat quail ... checking out my ripe raspberries! OK, gotta go!