We survived Rewley's first bath

It's got to be strange for anyone the first time they take a bath, whether human or animal. Certainly Rewley was not sure what to think when we put him in the tub with some water. He tried to jump out a couple times, but eventually settled down when he realized he was really just getting a massage. So while we won't be bathing him all that often since it messes with the oils in his fur, at least now he knows what's going on when we put him in the tub. I brushed him for what must have been about half an hour (he fell asleep), and somehow I'm still getting fur on my clothes. That's what you get with a golden! Anyway, here's the finished product

From Rewley

His front leg looks small there, but this picture from earlier today gives a better idea of how fast he's growing!

From Rewley

Walking on a leash

Today Rewley did an awesome job walking on his leash! He has not been liking his leash for the most part, so when he walked for about 15 minutes straight with little distraction, we were very happy!

Lately we've been watching the Dog Whisperer on television, and we've integrated some of his techniques into our training routine. One thing we do is make sure he sits before going through a door, making sure we go through the door first, and having him sit before he gets his meals. We also realized he's not too receptive to discipline, and he thinks it's a game. So, we are trying to copy what Cesar does on the show, which is pretend like your hand is a mouth and give him a nip when he misbehaves. This seems to work a lot better than a scruff shake or a "no" (these sometimes put him into play mode), and it doesn't hurt him. It actually calms him down and gets him to focus, which is great!

We also got an adjustable nylon collar. It's supposed to be a more gentle version of a choke collar, since it's made of two attached loops where one pulls the other one tighter if he pulls. It doesn't go all the way tight like a choke collar, so he can't hurt himself too much. It really works great on our walks, and he's seeming to notice that when he walks nicely with us he gets a loose collar, praises and happy tail wagging. We're looking forward to when he's big enough to go on longer walks!

And just for fun, here's Rewley doing what we call his "dinner dance". Note the "sit" before dinner is served.

Licensed Drivers

Today both Paul and I got our Indiana driver's licenses. We had to go separately so one of us could stay with the dog. It took two visits on both of our parts, not because of the testing but because they first wouldn't accept our proof of address paperwork (car insurance policy). But on second examination, they decided to accept it with "special permission" from the manager. We had opened a bank account this morning in town because they hadn't accepted any of our paid bills (vet bill, car bill, health insurance bill, car insurance bill) because they did not contain the phrase "amount due". So we didn't even need to open the bank account! I'd also been told when I first went there that I couldn't register to vote at the BMV, but when I did go back to get my license, they asked me if I wanted to register to vote. Guess it depends on who you get!

It's a good thing we passed our tests, because if we weren't "in the system", we wouldn't have been able to get our car title registered, nor get license plates. Normally, it'd be OK to do this late and get late fees, but since we're moving in August, there's no way

Yet another reason why I'm tired of moving!

Little Rascal

Sometimes Rewley is a little rascal.

Exhibit A: On the way back in from going outside, Rewley discovered my slipper and tried to make off with it behind the coffee table

From Rewley

Exhibit B: Rewley telling us he's had enough of the collar and leash (too bad, pup, you're stuck with it)

From Rewley

Exhibit C: Rewley assaulting the paparazzi following him around

From Rewley

But most of the time he's a sweetheart and doesn't mind his leash. Plus, how can you resist this face?

From Rewley

Good computer news

Paul just found out that his laptop computer is completely A-OK. He brought it to a repair shop, and they said they opened it up and there was a TON of dust in it. Apparently the computer fan he'd bought to cool off his laptop had been blowing tons of nasty dust into the computer, and it clogged up the electronics. We're so glad we don't have to pay for some expensive repair or replacement computer, though we did essentially pay $75 to have the computer cleaned and some wires reinforced. But that's still way better than what we thought was wrong with it!

Mad Skillz

So far, it seems like Rewley has learned a few simple commands/actions. The best is that he sits by the doggy gate in the kitchen when he needs to be let out. Whew! And he is becoming a real champ at "go potty", so that's fantastic. He's also got the "sit" command down fairly reliably, as long as he's not distracted by a bug, bird, piece of grass, mulch, cigarette butt, etc. It's the same with walking with us on the leash when we say "let's go", "heel", and "stop". When we've got his attention, he's great. He likes to prance when he's doing something we're happy about, or when he grabs something like a branch and trots off with it. Cute stuff.

The hardest part so far is getting him to calm down at night. Last night before bed he wanted to be let out what seemed like 10 times. We think it's because it's been so hot and humid during the day that he's not thrilled about being outside until it cools off at night. And then the party starts. It gets frustrating because he's so easily distracted and it seems like our neighbors all like to go for night drives between 9PM and 2AM, meaning doors opening and closing, engines starting, brakelights flashing, etc... all things that Rewley loves to watch and wait for.

But, once he comes in and gets in his crate, he goes right to sleep without a peep. We have to keep reminding ourselves that although he's making a lot of progress with basic training, he's still a puppy with a super short attention span.

Today's Anne's last day with us. She seems to have really enjoyed playing with Rewley, which is awesome because we can't go out too much with all the puppy care!

Here's Anne discovering that Rewley really thinks he's a lap dog. We think he's grown already; we had to loosen his collar yesterday!

From Rewley

Anne did a great photo shoot for us with the pup. We dressed him up for the occasion.

This one's our "Hello from the Simaceks in Bloomington" one.

From Rewley

Rewley says "I'm tired and hot, can I go inside and sleep now?"

From Rewley

Exploring with his bandanna on

From Rewley

Trying to cool off with his tongue out

From Rewley

Rewley's new toy

We decided that it was time to step up Rewley's toys, since he's not all that interested in playing with his Nylabone for all that long, and we want him to have the opportunity to work on his motor skills. We went with a food puzzle toy, which is basically two attached rubber balls with holes on the sides. You stuff a few pieces of kibble in it, and as he plays with it, food sometimes falls out. I caught him on video the first time he realized that food came out of it.

From Rewley

From Rewley

He also likes to give kisses

From Rewley

Wal-Mart wins on Cheese

One more thing about living in the midwest in general - you're closer to Wisconsin than you are to Vermont. What does that mean? It means that most, if not all, of the cheddar cheese you find in the supermarket is ORANGE! And we all know that orange cheddar, even if it says "sharp" on the package, is pretty darn mild. Sure, they have specialty cheeses in the "gourmet" cheese section, but when I'm just looking for an everyday block of cheddar from the dairy section, it's all orange. EXCEPT at Wal-Mart, which is open 24 hours to satisfy my every shopping need, including Cabot cheddar cheese, which is in my opinion the best cheddar in the country. So relieved my cheese cravings can be satisfied!

Le Moustache

Paul, Anne and I could not stop laughing at this picture of Rewley taken this morning. It looks like he has a mustache!


See any resemblance with Steve Martin in the Pink Panther?


Yesterday Anne and I had an awesome sushi lunch downtown, then drove around looking at houses. We found one street in Ellettsville that was just perfect - gorgeous houses with nice yards and and established trees... only to find out later the houses for sale were listed around $600,000. Yikes!

This afternoon Paul's taking Anne to Lake Monroe, and to see the Star Wars movie.

And in trying not to only blog about the dog that's taking over our lives right now, here's a few things I've noticed about Indiana. First, the big box stores like Wal-Mart and grocery stores are open 24 hours. What a change from England! Second, food tastes in general are not so adventurous as I'm used to. I like to ask local people wherever I am about what restaurants they would recommend to someone new in town. Here, the kinds of recommendation are places like the Golden Corral buffet, Olive Garden, or Applebees. Strange considering Bloomington is home to dozens of fantastic ethnic restaurants. And third, people are really a lot friendlier. Even checking out at the grocery store, the cashiers are friendly and multiple people at various shops have offered to carry my bags to the car for me

Ok, and for my fav puppy pics of the day:
Nap Time


And just looking handsome

A Busy Wednesday!

Today has been pretty eventful, at least for our standards. Paul's sister, Anne, is visiting us from Phoenix for a few days. I haven't seen a whole lot of Bloomington, so it's going to be fun to do some touristy kinds of things with her. Of course, either Paul or I will have to alternate staying home with Rewley. There are a bunch of parks and lakes around here, and a couple vineyards and breweries that I'd like to visit (which might be boring for Anne since she's not old enough to drink yet). And I've heard good things about the Saturday farmer's market in town. We've just barely stocked the kitchen with food for us, so having Anne here is a good excuse to get some real meals put together. Tonight it's chili with baked potatoes. And somehow Rewley doesn't seem to notice the aroma!

The crate we got for Rewley worked great last night! He only whimpered a little at first, but quickly settled down. We took him out twice during the night, but it was really easy because we could hear him moving around when he woke. The house training is going great. No accidents apart from day one, but we blame ourselves for that. We're keeping him in the kitchen except for his meals, which we're feeding him in the crate. So far he seems very happy with the arrangement, and we are too.

I took Rewley to see the women working in the apartment management office this afternoon while Paul went to get Anne at the airport. There was a 3 month old dalmatian puppy there as well, so it was puppy playtime! Rewley is so well behaved, and he plays nicely. He settles down easily - the other pup kept barking even after she was restrained. I like to think we have a super smart pup, but it's also helpful that we've been doing some relaxation training with him, following our Monks of New Skete book.

Paul and Anne should be here soon, so I'll leave with some cute pictures of the day:

Here's Rewley taking over our laundry basket

From Rewley

And here he is snuggled up with an old towel that Grandma gave us to help pack glass things on our move:

From Rewley

Rewley Day 2

Rewley had a big day today. It started off with a lot of tail chasing. In fact, he hasn't quite realized that his tail is actually his. While we were all in the kitchen, he started really going after his tail, and when he caught it, he bit it so hard he whimpered - and this went on for a good minute, biting and whimpering! He hasn't done it since, so it seem he's learned that when he bites the "mystery tail", it hurts. We've also made sure he has a Nylabone to chew on, which he seems to enjoy.

From Rewley

After lunch, we took him to the local vet. Our friend Nicole recommended the place, and we really liked it. Of course, it's all expensive right now because he was due for his second round of vaccinations, but altogether, we were happy with Canine Companions. He was such a good boy despite being poked, prodded and stuck with needles. He even had to have one vaccine given by drops into his nose! Here he is relaxing on Paul's lap at the vet's.

From Rewley

But, we have had a little trouble, which is our fault. Last night we had him in a cardboard box with some old towels and a blanket, which seeemd like a pretty nice and safe dog bed to us. But, Rewley prefered to chew the cardboard rather than sleep in it, and then figured out he could just fit under our king size bed. So, my wonderful husband took him into the penned in kitchen, cuddled him to sleep on the kitchen floor and then slept on the couch next to the kitchen so Rewley wouldn't be lonely.

This morning I bought him a crate, so he should be safe sleeping in our bedroom. So far, he loves to jump right into his new den, and settles down quickly if we close the gate. Fingers crossed that it will be a quiet night!

Introducing Rewley!

Rewley!

From Rewley

Yup, we got a puppy. His name is Rewley, and he's already responding to his name when we call him. We picked him up this morning from a farm way out in Loogootee, Indiana, which is about an hour and a half away. He was wonderful in the car! Fell right asleep on my lap in the back seat and didn't whimper the whole way back, though he was curious when a big truck went by with a whoosh!

Rewley was the last of his litter to be picked up. When I held him, he immediately licked at my face (which is a sign of submission, whew!), but then began to howl like a wolf. We think he was saying goodbye to his mother.

That's his mom up close and his father in the background. Beautiful dogs! Missing from the picture is the dead bird that Rewley's mom was trying to get at, hence the concerned look.

From Rewley

Rewley is doing fantastic so far. He's getting used to his little collar and even the leash. We've really appreciated the tips from the Monks of New Skete book, and we've set up a food/elimination schedule based on the book. So far so good!

Now for the money shots you've all been waiting for...

With his toy goose:

From Rewley

Sleeping (which he does a lot of!)


Eating (we think he's still worried about other pups barging in - note the watchful eye, but he doesn't budge if you stick your hand in his bowl)


And checking out the grass

New Wheels and a Big Surprise!

We found a cheap deal on a car rental for this weekend, so we took advantage of it and got a lot of stuff done. Mainly, stocking our pantry and getting those little household things, like a mop. And a car.

Yup, we found a great car within our budget. We'll be driving in style in a 12 year old Cadillac Catera that was barely driven. It's only got 59,000 miles on it, which, for our budget, is super low! It must have been owned by an older gentleman, because only the driver's seat shows wear and the rest of the car looks brand new. It's got leather power seats, moonroof, and, well, we're probably going to get spoiled on it because our next car probably won't be nearly as nice! Paul's family friend found the car at a used car place in Kokomo that he'd bought from several times (he likes to fix up old cars). So score one for us!

And, for the Big Surprise, you'll have to wait until tomorrow! But, I will say that we have been running around like crazy for this big surprise, and it's sure going to change things up around here! We have to get up WAY early for it too. What could it be?

The Drive to Bloomington

I tried to capture all of the state welcome signs as we drove from MA to IN, though I didn't get the RI sign. We left from my grandmother's house in Rhode Island, stopped overnight in Pittsburgh and drove the next day to Bloomington. It went smoothly, apart from having to replace the windshield wipers. And now that unpacking is done and the internet connection is back, I can post the pictures!

Entering Connecticut in the rain with malfunctioning windshield wipers...

From Move to Bloomington

Entering New York...


Pennsylvania and better weather...


Something called the Cheese House in Pennsylvania. Note the bugs on the windshield - YUCK!


We had an awesome time seeing Julina and Michael in Pittsburgh. They brought us to a tasty Belgian restaurant for mussels, which may have been even better than the ones we had in Brussels! It's always bittersweet seeing friends all over the place - so much fun to visit, but sad to leave. Well, we'll be in Bloomington for a while and we like visitors!

Day 2: West Virginia


Ohio


Can you see the rainbow? (note the cleaner windshield)


INDIANA!


And, Bloomington!

Computer Snags

Well, yesterday both of our laptop computers died. My 6 year old laptop because of a faulty wireless driver, Paul's 1.5 year old laptop possibly due to a blown graphics card. Luckily I was able to get my computer working again, but Paul's is going to need an expensive repair (if we repair it at all). On top of this, I'm writing at the apartment complex management office because the internet cord to our building was severed by a gardener yesterday morning, so we have no home internet access until at least tomorrow morning. Fun stuff when you're trying to get set up in a new town and do things like look up the local bus schedule or look for jobs.

Otherwise we're enjoying a massive midwestern thunderstorm that should last through tomorrow. It reminds me of summer camp in Minnesota where the thunder rolled on and on. It's certainly helping us to stay inside and finish unpacking!

We've arrived in Bloomington!

We got into our temporary apartment in Bloomington last evening around 5. It took 2 days to drive the 980 miles from Massachusetts through lots and lots of hills. Right now we're making progress through all our boxed stuff that's been sitting for nearly two years, plus our wedding presents, which have only been sitting for one year. So far the highlight was finding our mugs, which include Paul's cowboy mug and my frog mug. We can't fully unpack because we're moving again in 3 months. Luckily there is storage space at the apartment complex so we don't have to drive somewhere else to store the extra stuff (it seems we're going to have quite the library judging by the number of book boxes sitting in the truck).

Well, I'd like to be able to walk through the room without tripping over and into boxes, so it's back to unpacking. Pictures from the drive to come later...it's probably going to be a while before we can share pictures of the apartment, at least on the inside!

The move is starting... slowly

Today we picked up our 16' moving truck. What's great about a truck that size is that it comes with a built-in ramp, which makes loading and unloading a LOT easier! My only complaint is that the cab reeks of cigarette smoke, and I'm not looking forward to smelling that stench for the 20 hours we'll be on the road. I tried spraying some disinfectant/deodorizing spray into the cab and closed the doors, so I'm hoping some magic will happen tonight and the smoke stench won't be so bad tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

Paul and my dad managed to get pretty much everything into the truck this afternoon. I'm sure lucky to have strong men around to do the heavy lifting! We'll see what happens when we get to Bloomington and unload... but luckily we have the truck for a couple days on that end in case we need the extra time.

Tomorrow we're going to my grandmother's house to load some things she's giving us, and then we leave from there on Saturday morning.

Both of us are pretty stressed out about the move, but so far it's gone pretty smoothly!

The Puppy Hunt

The puppy hunt is on. Since we've got less than a week left before we move to Bloomington, we're starting to get more serious about our search for a puppy. The Bloomington Animal Shelter usually gets lots and lots of puppies in the summer. The woman I spoke with there even said we'd probably be able to get a golden retriever mix, which is fantastic!

We're also starting to check out breeders of purebred goldens, but most breeders have waiting lists for their puppies months in advance, meaning we'd be looking at puppy availability in July or August. I'm not convinced that for a family pet a breeder is going to give me a puppy all that much better than a pound puppy, so it looks like for a number of reasons we'll probably wind up adopting a puppy from the pound some time this month.

To prepare for a new puppy, we started looking into training books. We bought "The Art of Raising a Puppy" by the Monks of New Skete - yes, they are real monks who raise german shepherds and spend their days studying and training the dogs. They even have a doggie boarding school where for $2000 you can send your dog there for 3-4 weeks for intensive training! You can read about them here. Paul is just finishing up the book, and I'm going to read it next. So far, from the excerpts Paul has read me, it's very helpful in understanding and responding to dog behavior.

In the meantime, we're working on names. So far the winner seems to be "Rewley", after the street we lived on in Oxford. But of course, we'll have to see how the dog responds to the name.

Hopefully the right pup will come along soon!

Information Hogs

I don't really consider myself a tech geek, and I'm definitely not up on all the latest gadgets, computer technology and "social media" avenues out there. I don't even own an IPOD or use I-tunes, and I don't intend to in the future, mostly because I like the radio and I don't see the use of spending money to do the work of making my own playlist - I prefer to be surprised. I don't use Twitter, and I recently deleted my Friendster profile because it was one too many "profiles" to maintain. What I do use is Facebook, and I've been using it since 2003 to keep in touch with friends and share pictures and contact info. Some of the games on there, like Scrabble, have been fun too.

But here's where I am starting not to like Facebook - it's becoming, to sum it up, too commercial. For example, they've got all these neat features, like a map where you can "pin" the places you've been to. Well, by signing up to use this "tool", you give whoever made the map program permission to use your personal information from your profile, and the personal information of any of your friends for marketing purposes. I don't like that.

Now, I don't want to seem like an old stick in the mud, but I'm not a big fan of the "improvements" being made on Facebook - like advertisements that use information from your profile. I guess the marketers like to call these "targeted messages". For example, if I look at my husband's profile, I see ads with headlines like "trying to have a baby?" Yeah, it's that creepy.

But what's really starting to get to me is the idea of a "Feed". It's a big deal in marketing right now, as companies try to "feed" you, "the consumer", their goods in "innovative" ways using the "web 2.0" and "social media". OK, I understand, everyone's trying to make a buck in this economy, but it seems to be getting out of control. Not only are targeted ads using my personal information to entice me to consume goods, but now when I click to look at my list of friends to see who has new info (I suppose this counts as a "feed"), Facebook instead takes me to a page that says "We'd like to help you find your friends". Oh really? Gee, I thought I already found them, and that's why I'm trying to look at my friend list!

What it really comes down to is Facebook wants to grow their marketing database and sell more ads. Sure, sounds great if you're trying to sell something, but it starts making Facebook less useful for me and many others, I'm sure. I guess people are starting to use Facebook to market themselves and their services, but I'm not.

So here's what I have to say about the direction that "social media" seems to be moving - I am not your fat pig to consume your "feed" at an electronic marketing trough.

It's too bad, I used to really like the site for its simplicity and ease of keeping in touch with my friends. And to be honest, I don't mind having some ads in exchange for keeping the site free. But this kind of information-pulling from the people most important in my life is not something I condone.