And So It Begins!

Those of you who read my blog know that we had to say goodbye to Fresca the Wonder Dog, our faithful American Eskimo dog, this past spring because of severe congenital heart disease.  At the time, I swore I would never have another dog.  But the ensuing months have really shown me just how big a hole her absence has left in my heart and our home.  The house has been SO quiet with just me knocking about in it every day while the Commander is at work.  No little white shadow trailing my every step.  No smiling face looking out the window as I pull into the driveway from running an errand.

I guess that's why I had begun pining for another dog.  I was SERIOUSLY pining by the time my birthday rolled around.  I'd been researching so many breeds and talking with my kids.  I knew I wanted a dog that would be good with other dogs (since I have two granddogs and one grand-cat) and good with kids because of the occasional visits from Spud and Sweet Pea.  The Commander finally agreed that I could have another pet but he wanted a smaller dog, one that didn't shed as much as Fresca, and one that was friendlier to other people.

In the meantime, my friend Judy was looking for another dog to add to her family.  She already has a cute-as-a button West Highland Terrier named Sadie.  I had been considering getting a rescue greyhound (now out of the running since the Commander didn't want "big"), Havanese, or poodle mix dogs.  Judy had been advocating Westies to me.    When Judy mentioned that her breeder had some adult females available for adoption and that she was going to drive up with Sadie to see if there might be one that would be a good match as a sibling for her dog, I jumped at the chance to go along with her.

I had also promised the Commander that I would NOT bring a new dog into our home until after my trip to Texas in September.  Well, this ruled out my adopting one of the adult females.  However, in my own communication with Judy's breeder, I found out that a litter of puppies was soon to be born and would be available to go home in October.  The timing would be perfect.

That's how we found ourselves making the LONG drive to the breeder outside of Punxsutawney, PA the other day.  It couldn't have been a nicer day with cool temperatures, blue skies and no humidity.  Oh, Abercrombie!  To make a long story short, there was only one adult female left who hadn't yet been adopted but she didn't seem very interested in Judy or Sadie.  There were two more families coming to see her so I think there is a good chance that she found her forever home.  Judy, on the other hand, has decided to get a puppy from the same litter that I'll be getting my puppy from.  Yay, we will have siblings.

On the way home, we stopped in Punxsutawney to have a picnic in the little town park.  The library is right next to the park and the famous Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog lives at the library.

This is all we could see of Phil, who must have a "Mrs." because there were two of them in the burrow.  What is extra cool is that there is also a big picture window inside the library in the children's section where the kiddos can watch the groundhogs while they are visiting the library.

Speaking of watching groundhogs, Judy's granddaughter and Sadie were certainly enjoying watching those two critters.  I think we were all hopeful that they'd wake up and do something.

They never DID do anything but snore so instead we just posed for pics to prove that we'd actually seen a famous groundhog.

Luckily there was a statue of "Phil" that was a little more cooperative when it came to posing for pictures that  looked more interesting.  As a side note, if you ever find yourself in Punxsatawney, PA, stop by the library and check out Phil.  If it's a nice day, have a picnic.  There are benches scattered about in the park if you don't feel like sitting on the ground.  Bathrooms are in the library and it's a nice library worth checking out also.

So now the waiting begins.  The pups are due to be born in about a week.  At five weeks we can go up there and have first pick of which ones we want.  I'm hoping for a male and Judy is hoping for a female.  I'll be in Texas at the five week point so most likely Judy or the breeder will have to pick one for me unless the Commander wants to go up there with Judy and do the picking.  What I'm busy doing now is picking a name.  Oh, boy....is that fun.  But that's a subject for another blog post.