Bob the Builder

This past weekend we went to a local humane shelter to look at a puppy named Happy. Happy is a hound mix described as "shy".

The first time we met Happy she was going ape-shit in her yard trying to attack Bennie, the most benign creature that has ever walked the earth. Caden didn't even get a chance to enter the yard with Happy since if a creature doesn't like Bennie, there is something inherently wrong with said creature. Happy was removed from the yard, which left one more puppy. Who they were calling...wait for it...wait for it...Adele.

How could we not pay attention to Adele? She is 6-month-old husky mix with silky black fur. She completely worked and won us over.

Currently, she is out in OUR yard with Bennie, because, ya know...we took her home.

It feels so good to have another dog in the house. It has been 10 months of being a Single Pup House and I wasn't enjoying it. There was alsways something missing.

Once we brought her home it was sorta required to name her. I'm not good at names. At least with the kids I have 10 months to think of names...and I needed each day of those 10 months. It's also a very good thing they were both the gender that they are, because I don't even like their other gender names anymore.

When I adopted Bennie, they were calling him Ben. So, I'm not terribly creative when it comes to naming pets.

So we left it up to Caden who recently named his two Betta fish Jack and the Beanstalk. So we call one Jack and one Bean (the one on the left is Bean, so really they are Bean and Jack)

Well, Caden wanted to call her Bob the Builder. We spent the first day calling her New Dog and Black One. When shen got out Sunday evening, it was really hard calling her back in without something to call her! (We had to abandon Adele pretty quickly, since, you kow, we're trying to get the baby to learn that as her name. It's on her birth certificate and all, so we can't use it for the dog and rename the baby.)

Although Caden tried to call her Bob the Builder for at least 24 hours, which is serious commitment, we have decided to name her Gracie.

Welcome to the family Gracie (Bob the Builder)!

The Forest For the Trees

In September, it will be 8 years that we moved into this house. An average 4-bedroom colonial with an above average yard. While we own less than an acre, we are graced with nearly 8 acres of woods surrounding our house in a largely swampy area.

The result is towering sycamores and poplar trees that help us mark the passage of time.

The leaves turn and fall gracefully to the forest floor beneath them and we get to sit back and admire the yellow, orange, and red transformations.

Sunlight dances on the trees throughout the forest, creating leaves that shimmer light and dark as the winds flip them over and the sun brightens the lighter side.

In the early years in this house we enjoyed the yard with our dogs. Watching them run from one side of the other, running along the fence line, and barking at the deer that passed through the woods.

Over the years, the tree canopy grew and expanded. Slowly casting even longer shadows across our yard. The sunlight seemed to shine for fewer and fewer hours. We lost sight of the sycamore tree trunks as the poplar sprouted lower and lower branches. Two of our dogs passed and are now resting beneath the trees.

Today, a tree company is trimming back the trees and taking the poplar up, welcoming the sunlight back into the corners of the yard.

Now we enjoy the yard with our one remaining dog and two young children.

The trees will continue to mark the passage of time as our children grow and we welcome and lose more dogs.

And when the limbs grow out and the shadows grow long, we will remember to trim them all back so we never lose sight of the forest for all the trees.