Big Changes!

Good morning and Happy Saturday!

First, let me introduce you to our new family member. Her full name is XO Osiris The Spy Who Loved Me. Yes, that’s a mouthful. We call her Bond, Jade Bond.

No, we really just call her Jade. She was born on Saturday, April 13th and she came home with me Saturday morning two weeks ago, the day of the AGMC concert.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We knew that a new puppy would mean big changes in our home. Anything that can easily become a chew toy but shouldn’t has been put away or raised out of reach. Playtime is any time, and the teething stage she’s in means all Jade wants to do is bite, bite, bite, bite, bite. It has earner her nicknames like Bitey Monster, Raptor-puppy, Veloci-puppy, and more. That is starting to subside somewhat now, and she mostly gnaws on things she is allowed to gnaw on but we still don’t let our guard down. Those puppy teeth are sharp!

All outside trips are 100% supervised again. Halo will be five years old in August, and I trust her in the yard by herself and with the boys without being out with them the entire time. Jade still hasn’t quite figured out that our older Italian Greyhound boys, Monticello and Flash, want none of her crazy antics. She is getting little better about recognizing their refusals, but she still often gets so full of puppy craziness that it makes her more persistent.

Big changes had to me made to accommodate a crate again too. Halo’s crate used to be in a corner in the bedroom. She hasn’t had to use a crate in about a couple years now, I think. I did NOT want a large dog crate in the bedroom again, and the boys’ crate already occupies the guest room, so that left one option, my craft room. I was okay with this, it was my idea, and there was really a minor amount of shuffling stuff around that needed to be done to make space for a crate.

This may be a long term thing for my craft room. Jade may surprise us and prove to be trustworthy to be allowed free reign in the house with Halo earlier than I expect. But I am prepared to have her crate in my craft room as long as is necessary. I’m already planning a bench to build on the wall that her eventually bigger crate will still fit under. It will also solve a lot of the work surface and storage issues that I have always had in this room.

I haven’t spun anything since the gradient project, and I likely won’t start a new spinning project for a while. I have one knitting project on the needles right now; an Italian Greyhound sweater that I have altered from its original pattern with guidance from Franklin Habit’s Knit to Fit Your Pampered Pet workshop at the Men’s Spring Knitting Retreat. I think one for Halo should follow this, and by the time that is done, Jade may be just about fully grown for one of her own too.

On a more short term basis on the adjacent wall, I have taken down my spindles and handspun yarn to accommodate one of the shelving units for our games that will eventually move into the guest room. Still, this is no problem, and was my idea, as I am in no rush to start a new project. I plan to be spending most of my time for the foreseeable future watching this precious little girl grow up. She might even have her first show in November.

Have a great weekend, and stay hydrated!