Christmas in Phoenix

We just got back from our trip to Phoenix to visit Paul's family for Christmas. Thankfully no one tried to blow up their underpants on the flight there or on the return.

We had over a week to visit, so we had time to do some sightseeing. Here's some of the highlights from our hikes:

This is on the Peralta Trail. Coincidentally, this picture was taken by a family with a University of Arizona student and two Indiana University students. At least we have the same school color.

From Phoenix 2009

Here's where we turned around - Fremont Saddle. The big rock formation off in the background is called Weaver's Needle.

From Phoenix 2009

For Christmas Eve, we went to a friend of the family's house for a traditional Polish dinner. I didn't bring my camera, but believe me there was a good spread! There were at least 3 different types of homemade pickled herring (just like the Swedish kind), pierogis, stuffed crepes, borscht, and tons of other stuff. We started the dinner with the traditional Polish Christmas wafers, where each person gets a piece, then breaks off a small piece of each other person's wafer while wishing them Merry Christmas (or some other nice thing).

Back at the Simacek house, we exchanged gifts including these Christmas outfits


And, of course, Snuggies, which my grandmother informed me used to mean some kind of undergarment for old ladies:


We also went to Sedona and experienced the wackiness of the area by visiting some vortexes. Apparently some people believe each "vortex" has some magic energy that is either male and female or some sort of yin-yang balance of something or other. Paul seemed to have a good grasp of why these were special places - they are all really nice places to take in the view. Paul's dad had been there before and brought us to some of the highlights of the area.

Here we are on an apparent vortex near the airport


Here's another vortex, in Boynton Canton, with something called Enchantment Resort in the background. They had some drum session going on while we were hiking past it. So now we know where to go if we need a good Native American drum session followed by some vortex action.


This was my favorite rock formation of the hike - it looks like a face in the rock, kind of like the old man of the mountain of New Hampshire (RIP)

Backseat Driver

In the garage, Binsey tells her chauffeur to hurry it up, please!


We've since bought a hard plastic kennel for Binsey to stay in for her car rides (much safer for her), but on this day she stayed on my lap in the back seat and fell asleep as usual. Something tells me she's not going to be a big fan of riding in the kennel versus on my lap!

Finals!

Today I just had my last class of my second first semester in graduate school - or is that my last class of my last first semester in grad school? Either way, I've got winter break coming up and after this program I'll certainly have enough letters after my name!

For those who may be interested in the work I'm doing, here's the topics I'm working on for my final papers:

1. A research proposal called "From the Terrible Twos to Psychiatric Patient: How Preschool Teachers Identify Emotional and Behavioral Problems and Navigate Pathways to Treatment" That one wound up at around 20 pages and I turned it in today!

2. A 2-page single spaced final memo for Sociological Theory. I'm writing about the politics behind a question that was on the Massachusetts ballot in 2008 about decriminalization of marijuana, as explained by a Marxist theory of class conflict versus Durkheim's theory on social solidarity as it relates to law. I have no idea how I'll fit it all on 2 pages!

3. For my Health Policy class, a look at how off-label marketing of prescription drugs might be viewed from three perspectives: physician autonomy, patient empowerment and corporate responsibility.

So it looks like I'm all over the place topically! But that's fine since I've got at least 3 more semesters of classes before I have to come up with a dissertation topic.

Woodland Adventure

This weekend we took a trip out to the Beanblossom Bottom Trail a couple miles from our house. We found it by accident last week when there was nice weather and we'd gone for a countryside drive. It's a really neat spot with something like 2.5 miles of wooden walkways through marshy land. Here's Paul and Binsey on the elevated walkway



Binsey wasn't afraid of the ice - in fact, she ran all around on it and tried to dig out some frozen sticks. Good thing she only weighs 30 pounds so she didn't crack the ice and fall in!


Here we are on a lookout platform. I got a chance to wear my new rain boots for the hike since there were semi-frozen puddles in some places

The Best Rowing Movie Ever Made...

Today Paul and I watched a movie we got from the Bloomington Public Library called Miracle at Oxford. The review on the back said it was "the best rowing movie ever made". I'm not about to doubt that claim, but it was pretty good. Since both Paul and I have rowed (and Paul at Oxford), we were probably a little more interested than most other people would be in the film. But it was still really neat to say "ooh, I know that street!" or "Hey, isn't that the butcher shop we liked?" It also had some interesting commentary on how Americans are perceived in the UK.

What was a really bizarre coincidence is that one of the main actors, Dominic West, also starred in Mona Lisa Smile, which was filmed at Wellesley College while I was a student there.

So now I'm thinking it might be a good time to watch Breaking Away again - that's the movie about bike racing in the Little 500 in Bloomington, Indiana. It's always fun to watch a movie about a place you've lived, and now that I've been in Bloomington for over half a year I should be able to recognize some places!

Thanksgiving in Indiana

This year it was just us, but we still went all out with the turkey and all the fixins. Even Binsey got to eat the innards.


Post thanksgiving, we had turkey sandwiches, turkey soup and turkey stir-fry. 13 pounds of turkey goes a long way between 2 people!

Right now I'm in the middle of final exams, which is all long papers I have to write. I just turned in my long theory paper today (I've got a short theory paper due later), so that feels good. What doesn't feel so good is that we're both coming down with a cold. I guess spending time around 40,000 or more students tends to spread germs no matter how careful you are. I'm just happy that libraries are now all online so I can be at home to study.

A note on Rhode Island from James Morone

For my Health Policy class, I've been asked to read Hellfire Nation by James A. Morone. So far, I've read the introduction, where he laid down this nugget:

"The Puritans...sent heritics packing to Rhode Island ('the latrina of New England,' even then)." (p 9)

Excuse me, Mr Morone? And you happen to be a professor at Brown University in none other than Rhode Island? What kind of comment is that? Calling your home state a toilet? And what does that make you?

Needless to say, I'm not too eager to read the rest of the book after that comment.

Sayonara, Grasshopper!

Binsey is an avid hunter. She likes to chase bugs, and until recently enjoyed eating them. Now, she just likes to pick them up, taunt them and then crunch them in her growing adult teeth. Here's one that she decided to sneak into the house in her mouth (still alive!). It lasted about a minute before she crunched on it and spat it out. So gross!



At least I know I'll have someone to kill bugs when Paul's not home.

Packing on the Pounds

Guess who's tipping the scales at almost 25 pounds now!


She eats so fast we have to give her her meals in that green/purple thing next to her. It's a food-dispensing toy that she has to push around to get her kibble. It's great because this way she has a "job" to do and it occupies her for up to 45 minutes - much better than the 15 seconds it takes her to inhale a meal from her bowl.

That's Pants!

You might not be familiar with the phrase "that's pants" since it's used only in the UK. It means "That stinks" or "that's awful". Well, it certainly applies to things around our house right now as Binsey is learning not to jump up on us. We took her to her first puppy kindergarten class this Saturday, and the trainer said she acts just like a normal puppy, but when she jumps up she also tries to bite and tug on our clothes, frequently ripping our pants. Not so much fun. In fact, that's pants!

And related to the puppy class, once again we were the only ones in the course. That sounds like a good thing, but really the classes are important for doggy socialization etiquette so you really want to have other "students". So the trainer gave us a private lesson, but signed us up for a different class that starts next week with at least 3 other puppies. We've already started to notice a difference in her behavior since that lesson, so we feel really good about this trainer!

Halloween

I can't believe it's November already! Halloween was pretty fun around here. We way overprepared with candy for trick-or-treaters because or neighbors said it's huge around here, but we still had about 150 or so come by. Boys seemed to be favoring spiderman costumes, and girls ran the range from princesses to Harry Potter.

Binsey, not to be outdone, was a bee

From Fall09

Paul was "karate man" (as some little boys called him) and I was Princess Buttercup.

From Fall09

Later in the night, Binsey had a hot date with Romeo...
Here they are laughing about something


Which led to some paw holding and noseing

Binsey supervises our yard work

From Binsey

The Biggest Waterfall in Indiana

Yup, this is it. Cataract Falls. The biggest waterfall in Indiana.



We took Binsey out there last weekend when we had a little bit of sunshine. Here we are at the lower falls


She seemed to enjoy herself.


And I just thought this view of the river bed was really neat


And it wouldn't be an Indiana state park without the obligatory covered bridge. This one was used until 1988.

Public Service Announcement: Leggings are NOT pants

Somebody seriously needs to call the fashion police around here. There is a new trend (or rather a re-run of a trend from the 80s) for teenage and college age girls to wear leggings. What many of the girls around here don't seem to realize is that leggings are NOT pants. I repeat, leggings are not pants. Even this website on college fashion says so. Leggings used as pants are the female equivalent of the "coin slot" some men show off when bending over. Not pretty.

So that's my public service announcement of the day.

One Step at a Time

Well, I've reached midterm time. For two of my three classes, that means a take-home exam which, at this point in my life, I prefer to an in-class exam by far. My more interesting paper is for my Health Policy class, where I'm writing about using different frameworks to analyze the US health care system. For example, should markets determine the health care system? How about employers? Local communities? Doctors? Is there a right to health and, if so, what does that mean for the health care system and the government? Well, that's a little taste of what's going to be going through my head for the next day or so.

In other news, Binsey has now started going up the stairs on her own. This is a big deal for us since we've had to carry her up there whenever we wanted her to take a nap in her crate upstairs.

Cutest Dog Competition

Binsey, despite being free to take home, does not come cheap to take care of. So, I entered one of her super cute puppy pictures into a "cutest dog competition" so she can help earn her keep. Please vote for her so we don't have to throw her out on the street*!



*we won't really throw her out on the street, but we do want you to vote for her!

Fall is in the Air

Yesterday I decided to make some cupcakes, and to decorate them with some kind of theme. So, I bought some food coloring and well, maybe went a little overboard with it. But these pumpkins came out real cute, so I had to show them off!




I used the "neon" line of food colors. To make them look like pumpkins, I used a toothpick to carve out the ridges. The stem is made from chocolate that I melted and molded by hand. I know the vines aren't "anatomically correct" or whatever, but I made green frosting and had to use it somehow.

Overheard on campus...

Today while walking through campus during another big rain storm (we've probably had about 6 inches of rain in the last few weeks), I overheard two undergraduate guys having this conversation:

Guy1: Dude, when I go home this weekend I'm totally getting an umbrella.

Guy2: Yeah, me too. I already called my mom and was like "Hey Ma, get me an umbrella." And she was like "You mean one of those $5 umbrellas?" and I was like "Yeah, get me one of those."

Umm.. yeah... you guys are old enough to buy your own umbrellas!

Bird Watching

So we just went out the front door to take the dog out, only to be greeted by this!

From Dresden

UPDATE: To explain further, this thing is a hot air balloon in the shape of a bald eagle. Why it looked like that, I don't know. There was another normal hot air balloon further out that said "Oliver Winery" on it (a local winery), so I guess they must do these fall foliage balloon rides. Either way, it scared the heck out of me when I saw it!

Interdepartmental Courses

WARNING: Nerd Alert!

One of the most exciting things in graduate school is the opportunity for interdepartmental courses. Right now I'm taking a class in Health Policy, and while it's not listed as an interdepartmental course, we have students from a number of different programs, including Public Administration, Sociology, Social Work, and Political Science. Some of the students have never left school, while others have been working for a decade before deciding to go back for an advanced degree. It's just great to have those perspectives when you're discussing things like how state-run Medicaid programs should function versus how they actually function.

Now if only I could get focused on the book I have to read for that class, called "Healthy Wealthy & Fair: Health Care and the Good Society". I'm having to look up tons of things, like what "inside the Beltway" means (thank you Wikipedia.org), but that's probably a good thing since I don't usually read economics or political books on my own. Plus, it can only make me better at telling economists why they're wrong about people (haha).

Pronunciation

A funny thing in Social Science theory, or at least I think it's funny, is that people who are normally speaking English suddenly develop a German accent when referencing Max Weber. Apprently, saying Maaahx Vay-baar must sound much more sophiticated or intellectual than saying his name like you'd read it out of a US phone book - Macks Web-ber. I don't know, I just think it's kind of pretentious, but then again I'm the odd one out on this. For now, I'm holding out as long as I can with my American accent. Maybe I'll sound just as abrasive as the Germanophiles sound to me, but I can deal with that better than pretending to have an accent.

Might I also add that Hoosiers doesn't mess with foreign pronunciation, as in Peru, Indiana, pronounced "pay-roo". Our neighbors in Illinois do likewise with Des Plaines (dehs playnes). Even Kentucky gets it, pronouncing Versailles, KY as "ver-sails". I'm definitely not the only one to Americanize pronunciation.

So let's see how long I get away with my little rebellion.

A Preview

It's definitely starting to feel like fall, with the temperature dropping enough today that I needed to wear a jacket over a long-sleeve shirt. So seeing as time is marching on, that means that Halloween is coming up soon. Here's a preview of what's going to be going on at the Simacek house


She's too small to fit into the rest of the costume, but can you guess what it is?

Rain and more Rain

This past week we've had rain every day, but it really has been all for the better for us. Paul is very happy about it because prior to this, he was out watering the new grass seed three times per day. With the constant rain and cloudiness, there's been no need to water the lawn for about a week now.

I would have thought I'd be more productive with the poor weather, but really it just makes me want to have tea and cookies all day and listen to the thunder. Tomorrow's supposed to be sunny with a high of 75, so we'll see how that affects productivity around here...


In Binsey news, she's growing fast! We were worried she wasn't fattening up, but considering all the worms & fleas she came with, and the fact that she's doubled in weight since we got her despite her ever-extending spindly legs, we're not too worried about her thin build. I'm sure she'll fatten up once she slows down growing. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have a normal, healthy puppy!

Fall is Here!

It's the first day of Fall, and I made sure to deck out the house with a fall-themed wreath on the door:


There's just something about a wreath that makes a house feel more like a home.

And while I'm on the topic of fall, I remember hearing in grade school that on the equinox, and only on the equinox (which is today), you can balance an egg on one end. Well, I googled it and it's not true according to snopes.com. Oh well, I guess there's better uses for eggs anyway.

Overheard on Campus

Just had to share this conversation I overheard on campus a couple days ago:

Guy1: Oh man, John and I got so wasted last night. We split a bottle of Jager fifty-fifty.

Guy2: Dude, that's retarded. That stuff's NASTY!

Guy1: No it's not! It's freakin' awesome!

'Nuff said.

Binsey and her Beau

Last night our neighbors, Juliana and Sergio invited us over for dinner and a chance to let our puppies get some energy out. They have an adorable and very energetic corgi named Romeo, and after getting over a little shyness on Binsey's part the two are learning how to be pals. I say "learning" because right now it's more like Romeo runs up to Binsey saying "play, play play!" and Binsey replies "back off, bucko!". But they'll get over that. Here's some of what they got up to:


We just love our neighborhood. I'm sure it helps that we have an adorable little puppy, but everyone's been so friendly and welcoming it's been a relatively easy adjustment.

Oh yeah, and school's going well.

Binsey the Monkey Puppy

The Escape Artist

Twice now, Binsey has managed to pull down the puppy gate and roam around the house while we were gone about an hour or less. Somehow she hasn't made any messes while we've been away (probably unintended on her part), so we're happy about that, but we're starting to wonder how we're going to contain her. So far, we decided to put her in her crate while we're out, rather than in the bathroom with the puppy gate, but this morning while we were trying to eat breakfast, she was whining and whining. We tried ignoring her, and telling her to be quiet, and here's the result:

Yes - she JUMPED OVER THE GATE!! How the heck does a seven pound, 9 week old puppy jump over a gate twice her size?? Either we're going to have to invest in a taller gate, or let her hang out with us in the house more, watching her every second - not so convenient when you're trying to read your homework!

If anyone's got suggestions, let us know!

Happy 30th Birthday to my Wonderful Husband!

Yup, it's been 3 decades since Mr Paul Simacek was born. I am so blessed to have such a supportive, loving husband with whom I can celebrate in this moment. We've feasted on a wine & cheese dinner, of course, and played with our puppy in our new house. It doesn't get much better than that!

Puppy Nutrition

You probably can't tell from the pictures, but Binsey barely has any whiskers. We had thought that maybe the guy we got her from had cut them off for some bizarre reason, but we were wrong. It seems that she was so malnourished that not only was her coat rough and dull, but (we think) her whiskers became really brittle and broke off leaving stubby split-ends.


But, we've been feeding Binsey some really good puppy food since we got her. It's called Horizon Legacy, and it's supposed to mimic what they'd eat in the wild. It stinks of fish, and Binsey LOVES it. She loves it so much that she eats her entire bowlful within 5 to 10 seconds no matter how much is in there. So, we're trying the muffin tin approach today, where you divide the food into the muffin tin cups to try to slow her down.

Her whiskers are definitely growing back and the new growth looks a lot thicker. Plus, her coat has gotten all shiny and soft. Amazing what a good diet can do!

Binsey the Huskador

You may be wondering what in the world a huskador is. Well, it's not a real word but it does describe our new lab/husky mix puppy. She comes with a crazy story too. We got her for free out of the back of a pickup truck in a parking lot after we saw an ad for free puppies in the newspaper. The guy told us he had wanted to breed his purebred lab with another lab, but he brought her to his cousin's house where she got pregnant by a husky.

From Binsey

We're calling our new puppy Binsey, which is another Oxford reference. She's about 8 weeks right now (the guy wasn't sure when they were born), and she's very different from Rewley in more than just looks! It could be that we're just better at dog training now that we've been through a course, but she's already pretty darn good with "sit" and "stay", which of course I videotaped.


She's getting totally spoiled by our neighbor's two girls who are just head over heels for her and love to stop by to play with her. And of course we just love having someone else to tire her out and get her used to kids.

Back to School

This week I've been going to various orientation things for my PhD program. The hardest thing was picking classes. Because I'm coming in with a master's degree it makes things more complicated, mostly because I have less time to complete the course requirements. One big chunk to get through is the outside minor. I think I'm going to do a minor in Social Science Approaches to Health & Healing Systems (isn't that a mouthful?), which amounts to taking 4 courses. But, I also want to make sure that whatever I minor in is going to be helpful for my career. The other courses I have to take are sociological theory and advanced research techniques.

It's funny, you'd think by age 27 and with 2 degrees I'd have more of an idea what I want to do when I'm done with school this round, but it seems like every time a new door opens, you've got a million more paths to choose from.

Fall Flowers

A trip to the local WalMart resulted in me bringing back some orange and purple mums for the front walk. The puny shrubs don't really do much for the space, and at least these add some color. I was too cheap to spring for more of them, as much as I'd love to see a big bursting heap of flowers. But it's some progress!

Not sure what we're going to do to hide the plastic downspout extender. But now at least our yard is looking slightly more festive.

Rewley Boogaloo, we'll miss you

Well, the surgery revealed problems way worse than anyone expected and Rewley's not coming home. It turns out Rewley's small intestine had telescoped into the large intestine and scarred up, basically meaning both small and large intestine were not working. The vet had never seen anything like it apart from reading about it years ago in vet school as a very rare case. He seemed to think that this was probably something he was born with, or that happened soon after he was born given the extent of the damage. What's remarkable is that he could still digest any food at that point, and this just made the surgical discovery even more surprising. The vet said he could try removing the damaged tissue, but it was so extensive he probably wouldn't even wake up, and if he did, his chance of survival (and it would be a miserable existence) was slim.

He was a tough little puppy who must have been feeling just awful but still ran up to every stranger to lick them. It's going to feel a lot more empty in our new house without him.

Surgery

Tomorrow morning we're taking Rewley in for surgery. Our vet consulted with a specialist in internal medicine and after giving Rewley an ultrasound, they think he might have a partial obstruction that wasn't detected in the ultrasound nor in x-rays following a barium series. All his blood tests and parasite tests came up normal, too. It's really scary to take the little guy in for surgery, but we know that if we don't, he won't have much of a chance of getting better. The poor little guy has been mopey on and off since we brought him back from the emergency hospital. Every day we thought he was getting better, he'd feel worse the next day. He's lost weight and just mopes around barely interested in his toys. We've tried every medication that might help, as well as a limited diet in case it was allergies, and we've run out of options besides surgery.

We can't be certain what's going on in his little tummy until his surgery is done, but we do know that this will give us some answers and hopefully fix things up so he can be a crazy puppy again. It just breaks our hearts to see him so uncomfortable. The recovery should be similar to a spay, we're told, so that's good.

So please think happy thoughts of good health for our little puppy!

Our House, per request

Here's our new house (picture taken during a rain storm when we had our inspection). We're thinking of changing the color of the shutters once we have some money burning a hole in our pockets.

From Dresden

And here's the back yard as viewed from the deck

From Dresden

We've got a lot of ideas for the yard, but probably won't start making any progress until late fall or next spring.

The interior is not yet ready for its photo shoot, as it seems a cardboard box factory exploded all over the place. The dog doesn't seem to mind, though. Once we can get some furniture, we'll have some places to put all this stuff. It's funny to try to put away some of the things, because they're from our "single" lives and our separate apartments from 2007, so for example I have a dozen or so fancy martini glasses, and Paul has lots of beer glasses, but now we have dozens of wine glasses (I'm not exaggerating), so we could probably fill half of our kitchen cabinets with glassware alone! So I'm saving our bubble wrap for storing the excess once we get a better handle on our inventory. That said, do let us know if you need bubble wrap! We've got TONS! (It was really handy working for an industrial supply company at the time)

We'll sure be able to have one heck of a party once we have some seating for guests!

Paul's an official graduate!

We had meant to reschedule Paul's August 1 graduation ceremony date at Oxford so that we could actually attend, but between rushing the dog back and forth to the hospital and the whole house hunt and then closing, that didn't happen. So Paul received a notice that since he wasn't there in person, they read his name anyway and he's an official graduate.

It is kind of a strange system compared to American universities where everyone graduates the same day.

Anyway, I'm sure we'll find another reason to go back to England.

We're homeowners!

Despite some crazy events leading up to it (like our key not opening the car door a half hour before the closing), we are now officially homeowners. It is a really great feeling to know you don't have to move out in a year, or deal with random maintenance people letting themselves into your home. Plus, we have a yard which is just fantastic for the dog. So far his favorite thing about the house is that he can chase grasshoppers in the lawn (if you can call it that!). Getting him back in the house, on the other hand, is a lot harder!

Otherwise the house is a total mess, since we have a lot of boxes of stuff but no furniture except a couple chairs and a kitchen table. But we'll get there eventually. The best part is having a bed to sleep on that no one else has ever slept on. We also got to pick out all the appliances since it's a new house. Finally, after 2 years, we can use all those awesome wedding presents we got!

We love the location because we are in a subdivision that's a bit out in the country. Really, it's just a few minutes drive from Indiana University, but it's far enough away that you have to drive past cows to get here. And when we went to change the address on our drivers licenses today, the local BMV office was using a cowbell on the door to announce your arrival.

Our 2nd Anniversary

Of course the puppy is the big concern right now, but we did also just celebrate our 2nd anniversary the night before Rewley got sick. Paul took me to an Afghan restaurant in town called Samira. Their food is so flavorful and different from the food we usually eat. I got some dumplings, and Paul got the lamb skewer. I normally hate lamb, but they cooked it perfectly there and I LOVED it! Plus, I finally had a chance to wear a dress I bought last summer in England.


Here's the dumplings and the lamb in case you're curious what it looked like.






We can't believe it's been 2 years already! It's been a wonderful adventure so far and we really feel blessed to have all this time together. Things don't seem to be slowing down any time soon, and we're excited for the adventure to continue, though we wouldn't mine a little stability! Still, I wouldn't want to ride this rollercoaster with anyone else.

Puppy ills

Well, it's not just me & Paul who have been ill recently. Rewley just had two stays at the Indianapolis Veterinary Emergency Clinic. It started a week ago when he got violently ill overnight. We took him to our local vet, who had him on an IV all day for dehydration. At the end of the day, she recommended we take him to an emergency clinic since he was still in bad shape. He wound up spending 3 days there, then getting sent home, then getting called back up due to some new x-ray findings, then discharged again the next day.

So now Rewley gets to take antibiotics for a month and eat a special diet of venison & potato canned dog food for the next 2 months. He LOVES the stuff, which is so awesome because he was refusing his food before we took him in. We're hoping to make friends with some avid hunters in the area so we can get our hands on some good deer meat.

It's been a real emotional rollercoaster, and we're hoping that this will finally keep our puppy well.

The Walk-In Clinic is Fantastic!

I haven't blogged anything for a while, with good reason - we've both been sick with a nasty cold that just won't go away. We tried about 5 different over-the-counter medicines and hoped we wouldn't be listed as criminals for buying so much pseudoephedrine. After 3 weeks of being sick without improvement, we finally went to see a doctor on Thursday.

But, it's not all that easy to see a doctor when you're new in town. Since I've moved so much, I'm very familiar with the protocol - first you check with your insurance company (if you're even insured yet) to find a doctor who accepts your insurance and then make an appointment with them. Easy enough. Well, not so easy. Many doctors aren't taking new patients, and those who are have special appointments for new patients, scheduled 2 weeks to several months in advance. Bummer. So what to do when you're sick and need some sort of non-emergency medical care?

Urgent care is an option, but our insurance doesn't cover it until we've met our high deductible. But, it does cover office visits with just a co-pay. So, I searched around and found a local walk-in clinic, called them and found out that they bill walk-in visits as normal office visits! Score!

The clinic was brand new and super clean. And we saw a doctor right away with no appointment. So now we've got some antibiotics and finally get to sleep through the night due to some prescription cough suppressant. And the doctor assured us we don't have swine flu or pneumonia. Whew! If only it was always so easy to deal with medical treatment!

Teething Begins

Given that Rewley is a puppy, he's wanted to chew on EVERYTHING from the beginning, and we've been working very hard to make sure he knows what he can and cannot chew on. We thought there would be a clear signal when the teething process began, like incessant chewing on furniture, but today while playing with him, I noticed he had 3 missing teeth already!

In some ways, I'm hoping he has a time with very few teeth, because I'm always having to pull things out of his mouth like bark, leaves, cigarette butts, and whatever other garbage people have left on the ground. I've even pulled out used chewing tobacco pouches from his mouth! (I had no idea what they were, and when Paul told me, I was none to happy to have something in my hand that had been in both a person's and a dog's mouth. Gross!) The worst had to be the toad he tried to eat, but he spit that out on his own.

It's so cute to look back at our first pictures of him, but I am definitely looking forward to having a grown dog who chills out a little more and doesn't feel the need to chew on everything he sees!

Rewley's Graduation

Tonight was Rewley's graduation from puppy kindergarten. Here we all are, diploma in hand.

From Rewley

Here's what he had to do. Walking on a loose leash (in the store - so distracting!).

From Rewley

Sit & Stay (here with the trainer's dog)

From Rewley

Down stay:

From Rewley

And a few other commands, like "watch me" and "leave it".

For his special trick, we had him learn "take a bow". We say "take a bow" every time he stretches after sleeping, so he'll eventually associate it with the command. So far it's working most of the time.

We're so glad we did the training, and I'm impressed with the quality of the training we got at Petco. There was another puppy in the class for a couple weeks, an Italian Greyhound named Lady, but she dropped out. What that means is that we pretty much got private lessons for most of it. Not bad!

All done with puppy shots!

On Monday, Rewley got his final puppy shots, including his rabies shot. He was, and has always been, so good about getting his shots. This time, he barely seemed to notice them. Yay no more shots! (at least until next year's rabies shot) Here he is doing a nice attentive "sit-stay" while showing off his new rabies tag.

From Rewley

We had another great session with Rewley's puppy kindergarten on Tuesday. He is getting better and better at "heel", and we upped the ante with "stay" by having him stand and stay. So far he seems to get it about 80% of the time at home. Next week is our last week of puppy kindergarten, and Rewley's graduation! We're so glad we've been doing the training because he's only getting more and more obedient, which will make him a happier pet.

For homework, we have to teach Rewley a new trick. Not sure what we're going to do yet, but hopefully we'll think of something good! Any puppy owners got suggestions?

Crackdown on Puppy Mills

As a new owner of a fantastic puppy who we got from a responsible breeder, it makes me really sad to see puppies in pet shops. It's pretty much guaranteed that if you buy a puppy from a pet shop, it has come from a puppy mill. A few weeks ago, we peeked into the pet shop at the local mall here in Bloomington and saw a golden retriever boy a few days older than Rewley. We were back there today, and he was still there, his sad little eyes looking up at us from his droopy, scrawny body. I had to leave before I started to cry. I don't know why we went there; I guess just to remind ourselves that even though we got our puppy from a breeder who clearly loved and cared attentively for our pup, a lot of dogs don't have that kind of life.

In talking to some of the people working at local shelters, we heard that there's a huge number of dogs in puppy mills in Indiana. But there's good news - a new law that goes into effect on July 1 will seriously crack down on puppy mills. An interesting editorial about one recent puppy mill closure is here. The AKC is actually against the new law because it may punish responsible breeders, and because shelters are exempt from the standard of living clause. Read more here if you're interested.

Overall, I'm glad there's some progress being made to stop this deplorable treatment of animals. Sometimes I think how if the pet shop puppies look so sad and unhealthy, it's probably a heck of a lot better than the conditions the puppy's mother is living in. And if it means responsible breeders have to charge more to make up for the new taxes, I'd be happy to pay that extra fee if it means an end to puppy mills.

All of this means Rewley gets extra hugs today, even if he doesn't know why.

Cheap Entertainment

With an empty milk jug and a puppy, we've got lots and lots of entertainment around here. It just cracks me up to watch him chase it, roll around with it and pounce it. I guess we're recycling this way!

Zucchini and the New Abe Penny

Have you seen the new penny? Crazy! (pardon the blurry close-up) I guess showing the Lincoln memorial was too morbid, so they went with the good ol' image of Honest Abe reading while taking a break from chopping wood. It must have been a needed break after walking for miles to return that penny.

Oh, and zucchini is in season and makes for fantastic chocolate zucchini bread

Our First Date! (in Bloomington)

We don't get out much. But, last night, we did get out - without the pup! It was $2 pint night at a local brewpub, so we decided we'd take advantage. Paul got some kind of hoppy ale, and I stuck with the weiss beer. It was so nice to get out together on a real date, and to sit at a table where we could actually look across at each other!