Kindergarten

Last night was Diesel's first day of Kindergarten. There are eight other students representing many breeds: another pug, a labradoodle, a cockapoo, a german shepard, a goldern retriever, a shih tzu, and a great dane. Diesel was suspicious of what was going on.




Here he is finding safety under dad's legs. During play time, we were not aloud to touch our own dog. Diesel made his rounds to the humans but did not pay much attention to the other dogs. Especially the great dane who he would run from. But then he learned that if he was the volunteer he got treats. The next photo shows him wanting to be the volunteer.







The trainer told everyone that in the class each pup represents different personalities and we discovered that Diesel is the strong-willed dog. When all the other pups were doing the activities, Diesel would just bark and run away from us. Finally, it was play time again and he got to explore a little more. Here are some pictures of him and dad playing.



We were given homework and have to spend 15-30 minutes a day working on the exercises we learned. The trainer said that even though he is strong-willed we will end up with a really good dog as long as we follow through. This should be fun!

Skunks and Tornadoes (again)

Yesterday was yet another eventful day in Findlay, Ohio. I started my day getting ready for work. Andy had taken Diesel out for his morning constitution and piddle and mentioned nothing out of the ordinary. He left for work, and it was my turn to take Diesel out. Two steps onto the deck we heard growling from under our feet. I took Diesel back into the house and went outside (through the front door) to investigate. I went into our neighbors yard (a safe distance from our deck) and looked under. Next to our house under the deck I saw an animal with a triangle face and a white stripe down its back, a skunk. All I have to say is thank God it didn't spray us when we were walking above him on the deck! I am also very thankful that it left the deck and we didn't have to call animal control. I think there is a skunk epidemic in Findlay, it is the only road kill I ever see on Co Rd 99.

The excitement continued after work. For the third time in 2 weeks we had a tornado scare. Because of the recent touch downs around us, Hancock County is enforcing a 3-2 siren. What this means is the siren goes for 3 minutes and is off for 2 minutes. The all clear sign is silence for 5 minutes. So as long as the national weather service has us under a tornado watch our sirens will be going off. Last night they went off for 1 hour!

My neighbor and I had been outside looking at the clouds as the storm approached. (I have to add that her daughter just graduated high school and will be attending Michigan, GO BLUE!) When the sirens went off she called our house because she thought Andy was still at work. She said that she didn't want me to be alone and offered for me to come over, but Andy had gotten home minutes before the first siren went off. Next time I might take her up on the offer, she has a finished basement with few spiders. If this continues we are going to have to reevaluate finishing our basement soon! If these tornadoes keep up it is going to be a long summer.

More about Diesel....

I have finally figured out how to get my photos off of my phone (that is why there are so many entries today) and I wanted to put a few more pictures up. As you can see, Alex and Elena love to play with Diesel along with his things! The photo on the bottom is one of our favorites. He likes to sleep in the strangest positions. Finally, the photo second from the bottom was a picture taken the 2nd day at our house..isn't he sweet!

Diesel and Lucky

Diesel and his cousin Lucky have been spending a lot of time together. Kelly took this video on Friday, I cannot wait for Diesel to be the size of Lucky. Then we will see who keeps away from who!

Susie's Wedding

Friday I was in my friend Susie's wedding. I forgot my camera and then to keep taking pictures on my phone so needless to say I do not have a lot of photos.

Andy, Sarah, Sean and I had to cut the partying short due to the threat of a tornado! Yes, it is now 2 Fridays in a row where Findlay had a tornado touch down near by. We were in Michigan, but it did not stop the bad weather! Despite the weather Matt and Susie are in deed married - CONGRATS!

Lightning and Thunder and Tornadoes - Oh My!

Last night was a HUGE storm here in Findlay. Andy and I had rented some movies and we were watching Cloverfield (a decent Sci-Fi movie, I would suggest it as a movie to watch if you could stand watching Blair Witch - a lot of jerky camera movements) and the lightning was lighting the whole sky and kept scaring me, thanks to the movie. Then after the movie, and right after we climbed into bed, one struck so close that the vibration of the thunder shook the foundation of the house! I was alarmed, but still went to sleep.

Than, at about 1:30AM I was awoken by a siren. I sat straight up in bed and listened for it to go down. It stayed at one tone.....TORNADO!!! Andy was still sleeping, I hit him and he acted like it was no big deal! I ran out to check on Diesel (who was sound asleep) and looked out the front door. I am used to the house on Lallendorf where you could see if something was coming, but here these trees block all view. I looked at the houses around us and no other lights were on so I went back to the bedroom. (I really did not want to go to the basement - Too many spiders!) Andy had turned on the TV and it said the danger appeared to be further east than us. Needless to say that I could not fall asleep for about an hour.

Today, Andy talked to our neighbor who has a weather radio and said that when the first siren went off (yes there were 2 sirens, Andy said he heard the first but went back to bed) it was very possible that a funnel cloud was forming near us and one did touch down in just east of here and destroyed a few homes.

The moral of this story is, when you hear that dreadful solid tone siren, get into the basement! Don't worry about the spiders and get the dog!

Working From Home

Today I do not have any clients, but I do have a bit of paperwork to do. So, I got out my computer and started figuring out my case loads. As I was working in the kitchen, Diesel was playing in front of me. Then I heard him start scratching the door so I let him out and he went potty outside. (In fact today he has went to the door every time he had to go) It wasn't too long before he figured out that when he went to the door I stopped working and spent time with him.

The battle begins.

I cannot deny him from going outside, because he has to go to the bathroom, but most of the time I take him out he just sits down. After about 2 hours of this I started playing with him and then doing a little work. It has been helpful, but still hard to get anything done. In fact the only reason I can write this right now is because he is sleeping. I think he is in competition with the computer!

Needless to say I have realized today that we probably play a little too much with him to where he feels we HAVE to be playing with him. The new plan is to teach him it is OK to play alone. I know we spoil him!