AHHHH, October!

It's October and I've decided to end my Celebrate the Small Things posts.  I'm returning to posting when 1) I have something to say/share, 2) I have cute puppy photos [shout-out to Cooper & Murphy], 3) we travel, 4) we do anything of interest and/or 4) it's been too long since my last post.

I've fallen into the habit of sharing things on Facebook and Instagram and forgetting to share them here. As of this month, I am backing way off posting on both of those. Not stopping, just trying to not visit/post as often.

So first off, I'm going to tell you about my last week. As you may or may not know, Stu is in Maryland attending several Firefighter functions and visiting family. I'm at home with Cooper - and now Murphy.

I will say it - I've been spoiled. Stu gets up early with Cooper and lets me sleep. No more, for the last twelve days, I've had to get up early - first with Cooper and now with him and Murphy. I already posted about Murphy's first night/morning. Oops!

But since then, we haven't had ONE accident - not one! Now the chewing is something else...he has such needle-teeth and he chews on everything. I divert as much as I can and use a lot of Apple Bitter spray. The two of them now sleep together in the newly purchased XL crate (the old was a M).

Old Crate - which Cooper was quickly outgrowing.

New crate, plenty of room for the two of them.

We have a routine. We get up, I go out with them for their morning duties. While I'm out, I gather up the toys that were carted outside the day before and pick up the poop I find. Back in and they eat - well Murphy does. Cooper isn't a big morning food person whereas Murphy is a gobbler. He eats in the utility room (door shut or baby gate up) and Cooper eats in the kitchen/dining area as usual. Murphy is eating off a large cookie sheet to spread the food around to slow him down. I also toss in a couple of ice cubes that slide around.

Fed, they may play for 20-30 minute, then they nap for an hour or so. Back outside, if the weather is nice, I close the gate at the top of the deck for an hour or so. That lets me get some things done - like vacuuming, sweeping, showering, etc. Lunch is usually between 12-1 with more outside play afterward, then dinner around 5pm. More play and by 8-8:30, they crash until 10-11pm for their last out before bedtime.

They love playing tug-of-war and Cooper's toys are showing the wear. We also have two nice young neighbor boys that like to come over in the afternoon for 20-30 minutes of play with the pups. We head to bed between 11pm and midnight and get ready for the next day. Here's the results from the last week of play. One grunting hedgehog with a split seam. One flat fox with a hole (and two other flatties not in the photo, the same) - favorite tug toy. One crab with stuffing coming out. One ball, deflated.

Has it all been fun? No, Cooper is almost 37# now and Murphy is 18#. Cooper is tall, Murphy is short. While most of the time Murphy can stand up for himself, sometimes Cooper has to go into a time-out till the excitement settles down.

They do travel well in the back of the pickup, fortunately. Murphy did well at his first vet visit. The big surprise was finding out his weight under Cooper's by less than 2# (Murphy was 12 weeks and Cooper was 16 weeks). Yup, we're going to have TWO BIG DOGS.

The other excitement was the neighbor coming over to tell me BOTH DOGS WERE OUT OF THE BACK YARD! Yikes! We were sure Stu had fixed the spot where Cooper had escaped and looking at it, he had. While we were trying to corral them, they scooted under the shed and back into the backyard. Ey-yi-yi!

Long story short, I suspect Murphy scooted under the shed to get away from Cooper for a bit but Cooper discovered he could fit and out they went. Thank goodness for wonderful neighbors who put up more fence wire around the shed to keep them in the backyard. Not thirty minutes later I look out and Cooper is standing on storage box - which means he could easily get over the fence if he tried. So I run out, scold him and do this. LOL!

So now it's day two and no escapes. Phew!

Yesterday they went to doggy daycare, played and had baths. Kept them a little quieter last night. It let me get a much-needed haircut and pick up groceries at Walmart. I still need to get fuel in the pickup, that's on the agenda tomorrow along with a dump run (yes, we take our trash to the local transfer station).

Stu should be home around October 19-20th (I hope, I hope, I hope). We have RVing friends coming to look at the property we have for sale. We'd love to sell it soon! Not much else new. I did luck into finding a great guy to mow the yard for us. He did a nice job and will be back in another 7-10 days to do it again. Oh, and we now have TWO calves in the pasture. At least Cooper has stopped barking at them. LOL!

I admit it's nice to FINALLY have book three of my Klondike mysteries done, now working on the paperback. Sales have been pretty slow, but I just hope those who do buy it, enjoy it. I think the series will end here. I do plan on writing the third in my Lei Crime Kindle World series, as time permits. I'm not sure I will write any more books...if I do, it will be shorter books (novella length) in the Lia Rules series I had planned to do. But nothing is final....

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Ciao for now!