Violet Puppy Dog

This picture was taken the day that we brought Violet home.

One of the reasons I haven't been able to blog so much this year is due to the topic of this post: our puppy Violet. We got a new puppy in June this past year and she has filled up much of our free time. It has been an adjustment having a new kind of baby in our house, but we really do love her. I have never really considered myself to be much of a dog lover (which is ironic, since I worked at a pet store for two and a half years as a teenager), but Violet won our hearts over. Just like with having kids, I think that often a person grows to love pets if you have one of your own.

Lucy actually was the first person to plant the idea in our heads about getting a dog. For several weeks she talked about how she wanted to have a white dog that she named Coco. I would look up pictures of white Bichon Frise puppies online to show Lucy, and she would gasp and say, "That's Coco!" This led me, out of curiosity, to see if there were any Bichon Frise puppies for sale in the area. When there was a litter of eight that was born on April 22nd, and the breeder didn't live too far away., I convinced J that we should go and "just look" when the puppies were old enough to leave their mother. Of course, the puppies were so darling that we couldn't resist them at all.

These are Violet's seven siblings. We watched them play while the breeder got Violet ready to come home with us.

Violet's siblings

The breeder had each puppy in the litter wear a different colored collar, so that she could tell them apart. Our puppy had a violet-colored collar, which ended up influencing the name that we chose for her. (I'm glad we convinced Lucy that we shouldn't name the puppy Coco, especially since "cocô" means poop in Portuguese.) Violet is sweet and demure like a small violet flower, I think, so her name is fitting.

The day we brought Violet home

Sam's friend Logan lived near the breeder, so we invited Logan to join us

After we got Violet home, I realized that I had a slight allergic reaction to her. We debated sending her back to the breeder, but we decided to stick with it - Sam sobbed and sobbed when we brought up the possibility of sending her away, and I felt like I couldn't break his heart (and truly, it was a sad thing for any of us to consider). For the first several weeks that she was with us my throat often had a tickle (especially after I vacuumed) and sometimes my nose would be runny. But we found an air purifier that helped and my immune system has since built up a tolerance to the small amount of dander that she produces. Luckily, she doesn't shed and that helps.

For the most part, Violet has been a fairly easy pet. She also doesn't bark very much. She loves to sit in our laps and likes to have J scratch her ears. She is patient with the kids; she adores Sam and tolerates Lucy's affectionate hugs. The only time she is really difficult -- which isn't that bad -- is when she gets a naughty streak and runs away from us. She zooms around the yard and often digs in the dirt while we chase her. We usually call this her "witching hour" behavior (J's co-worker calls it the "zoomies") since Violet goes back to her demure self afterward.

Violet likes to sleep in funny positions along the baseboards of the house that make us laugh:

One of Violet's other quirks is that she doesn't like to eat her food right at her dish. She gets kibble in her mouth and then steps a foot or two away (or even walks into the next room) to chew it. She also has a lot of self-control with food and will stop eating if she is full, which is different from the dog I had growing up (Maple).

Violet's favorite activities include picking up toys and bones and distributing them around the house to arbitrary locations. She also likes to join in when J plays a game he made up ("The Leg Game") with Lucy and Sam. She adores J and likes to be with him all the time. She also responds best when J is disciplining her.

Violet also likes to find makeshift dens around the house. She doesn't like to sleep in her crate, but she loves to sleep under couches and also in her soft travel carrier. Sam tried to climb under the loveseat and join her one day, but he got stuck after I took this picture (below) and I had to lift up the loveseat so he could get out!

It has been fun to watch Sam assume responsibilities and care for Violet. He is so good at taking care of her basic needs, playing with her, and walking her.

Sam carrying Violet on a hike in Lake Tahoe over this past summer

In fact, the only reason I have free time right now is because I'm watching Violet while J is with his brothers and their families at RB. We hoped to send Violet to doggie day care for the day, but Violet went into heat yesterday (her first and only one) and, for obvious reasons, should not be around other dogs. Currently she's sitting in my lap while wearing a makeshift diaper made from one of Lucy's Disney princess panties.

We plan to get Violet spayed, but she had some health issues this summer which led our vet to recommend that she get spayed after her first heat. The health issues really made this summer difficult for us and Violet - and I think that the stress is what caused me to lose all of the hair in the middle of my right eyebrow (which, thankfully, is now growing back). About two or three weeks after we got Violet, she began to squat frequently to urinate and would squat for long periods of time (as if straining to urinate). She also would wake me and Jeremy up multiple times in the night - it was worse than having a newborn! We thought she had a bladder infection, and we treated her for such, but her squatting and straining didn't improve. Our vet began to write off the behavior as simply a quirk, but then Violet began to have traces of blood in her urine. Again, she was treated with antibiotics but without result.

Finally, about two months since Violet's symptoms began, the vet did an ultrasound and found that there were multiple stones in her bladder. We made an appointment for her to go in for surgery, and a few days later the surgeon opened her up to discover that the stones were gone! After dealing with the stones for two months, she passed them just in the day or two before she went in for surgery! If only dogs could talk - then she could have told us that she didn't need to go in for surgery after all! We still had to pay for the surgery and Violet had to heal from her incision, which was really maddening and unfortunate.

This was taken just after Violet came home from her surgery, and the anesthesia still was wearing off. What a rough day!

Since that point, we have kept Violet on a special rice-and-egg kibble diet with a Cosequin supplement. In order to make sure that she gets enough protein (since she no longer eats the regular puppy food), she has a hard-boiled egg about every other day. She may be on the smaller side because of this special diet and her health issues, but I don't mind if she ends up being small.

Since Violet passed her stones and recovered from her surgery, she really has been an easy pet. She likes to sit in my lap when I work, and she is a cute fluffy buddy.

"Positive Neurons" and Santa Claus

About a week or two ago, J and Sam were playing Twenty Questions. Sam was thinking of a person, and Jeremy asked if the person was real. Sam said, "Kind of. He's a myth." It turned out that Sam was thinking about Santa Claus. We have never spoken with Sam about Santa Claus being a myth before. In fact, a few years ago he stumped us in Twenty Questions by claiming that he was thinking of a "real person" when he had Santa in mind. But J and I decided we needed to sit down with him before this Christmas Eve, so we could figure out what he has heard and what he is thinking about Santa.

Tonight ended up being a good opportunity for me to do so. Sam and Lucy wrote their letters to Santa tonight - Lucy even "wrote" (i.e. traced) half of the letters on her page and signed her name by herself on Sam's letter! I love that Sam included a winking emoji after his opening question. After we folded up the letters in an envelope and I got Lucy in bed, I sat down to have a talk with Sam about Santa.

I asked Sam why he told J that Santa was a myth. Sam explained that he half-believed in Santa, and half-believed that he was a myth. His biggest doubt was that Santa should have been a record holder for multiple categories in his copy of The Guinness Book of World Records ("Fastest Distance Traveled," "Longest Distance Traveled," "Least Seen Person"), but he isn't listed anywhere. What an endearing and perceptive conclusion to make!

I felt like I needed to tread carefully in our conversation, because I want the spirit of Santa and the magic of Christmas to be real to Sam. And what I decided to do was tell Sam that he is old enough to learn a secret: Santa is real, but he is more than one person, and Sam now can assume the special role of being a "Santa" himself. I explained that the role of Santa is to help keep the spirit and magic of Christmas alive for other people, which means that a true Santa will never encourage someone to not believe in Santa Claus. Instead, a true Santa strives to help keep the spirit and magic of Santa alive through love and generosity.

Sam was so darling through all of this conversation. He said, "Well, that makes sense to not discourage people from believing in Santa because The Santa Claus Book says that Santa is kept alive from the positive neurons that come from people who believe in him." I double checked this point after our conversation and found that the book discusses how the magnetism of the North Pole pulls "positive ions" up north, which lengthens Santa's life (p. 38). But I latched onto Sam's observation and we talked about how we want to encourage people to emit "positive neurons" when they think about Santa.

Anyhow, I think the conversation went really well. Sam is excited to encourage Lucy to believe in the magic of Santa Claus, and I said that he could help to fill her stocking and Violet's stocking this year. He really felt proud to assume this responsibility and graciously initiated a "thank you" and a hug at the end of our conversation. I sure love this sweet boy, and I'm so glad that he wants to keep Christmas magic alive.

"We Can't Change That"

After a conversation with J last week, I have been working on generally being a less stressed and fretful person. I'm trying the idea of writing out the things that concern me at night, to see if that helps me to feel some type of mastery or relief of the issues that beset my mind during my waking moments. Then, I'm hoping that I can focus my mind and conversations to more pleasant thoughts. To be honest, this week (especially yesterday and today) it has been really hard. Last night I was up working until 3:00 am. I got a lot of work done that helped to alleviate my stress levels today somewhat, but this morning was full of unplanned activities that threw me for a loop. As we drove in the car, Lucy looked at my reflection in the rear-view mirror and we had this conversation:

Lucy: Mom, your eyebrows are down.
Me: Are they?
Lucy: Are you fwustwated [frustrated]?
Me: Oh, I guess that I am.
Lucy: Why?
Me: Well, I have a lot to do today.
Lucy: I'm sorry, Mom.
Me: And I didn't get a lot of sleep last night.
Lucy: Well, we can't change that.

I chuckled at that last remark. It's true! I need to stop dwelling on things that I can't change and try and embrace the things that I can change. I'm glad that I had a flexible schedule today so that I could take Lucy to the doctor for an earache, and then immediately segue into helping my family members and a friend in need. And I'm grateful for my three-year old girl who is starting to have more mature conversations with me and share her perceptive observations.

Summer and Fall Garden

Hans Thoma, The Rhine near Säckingen, 1873

I got back from my trip to Germany about a week and a half ago, and I keep thinking of this painting that I saw in the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin. The green color of the field reminded me exactly of the green that I noticed when I drove through the German countryside. It is a distictly different color green than what I see in the PNW - the German green is brighter and a lighter value. And it has been a little depressing to come back to Seattle since my trip: my lawn is completely burned out and my summer garden flowers are fading and shriveling away. The green color of the German countryside is nowhere to be seen.

I was able to buy some mums and asters this week to try and rejuvenate the color of the garden for the fall months, even if just a little. The Belgian mums colors are: Prima White, Conaco Yellow, Urano Orange, and Granata Red. And the asters are Henry III Purple and Henry I Blue.

This week also been looking at photos of my garden from earlier in the spring, to remind me of happier times when the plants were thriving. TO be honest, I didn't love the assortment of flowers in my garden this year: I had to plant a lot of marigolds and geraniums (two of the flowers that I like the least), simply because the rabbits would not eat them. I also planted a lot of snapdragons this year, too, but I like those flowers. I also planted a few foxglove as well.

I also tried out a few new flowers, and I was excited that the bunnies left them alone. I planted some lithodora and a Rolly's Favorite Catchfly. For my birthday, Ixoj gave me some Calibrachoa plants which did quite well (and the rabbits left them alone!). Ixoj also gave me Coreopsis Curry Up which stayed green the whole season, but did not produce any flowers. I'm hoping that it just needed time to stabilize and that there will be flowers next year.

Lithodora

Rolly's Favorite Catchfly

Coreopsis Curry Up (the small green bunch in the center)

Calibrate plant (at the end of the summer season)

We had a really wet spring and a very sunny summer, so the plants really thrived this year. The red Lucifer Crocosmia plant got huge and was larger than it has ever been. The daisy plant also got really large and the wisteria finally began to climb across the top of the trellis and down the other side. The hydrangea on the side of the house has gotten really large too.

Daisies in early July

Wisteria across the top of the trellis (mid-July)

Hydrangea in early August

The other major change to our garden is that we had to put up a little green wire fence (about a foot tall) to keep our puppy Violet out of the flower beds. Violet can stick her head between the wires if she is determined, but for the most part she keeps out of the flowers.

UPDATE (09/16): Well, I don't think we will be planting asters in our yard again. Either a rabbit or a deer completely eradicated the Henry I Purple aster plant. All of the blossoms and leaves were chewed off today, down to the stems. Too bad!

Memorial Day Weekend: Bowen Island and Britannia Mine Museum

After leaving Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, we headed to the ferry terminal and took a ferry to Bowen Island. We have been wanting to go there for some time, especially since the island has such as great name!

On the ferry

We stayed at a charming cottage that was beachfront property. Lucy loved the mirror doors of the hallway closet, and she kept going in and out of them. She pretended that the closet doors served as a portal to Oz, and she kept going to visit different Oz characters. J and I joked that she was confusing the Oz closet with the idea of a Narnian wardrobe.

Throwing rocks on our private beach

Digging in rocks on our private beach

We went on two short hikes during our stay on Bowen Island. The first was a quick 1.5 mile hike to Dorman Point, which had a lovely overlook of the water.

Our second hike was after lunch, and we walked from Killarney Lake to Bridal Veil Falls. I think this was about a little over a mile hike altogether.

The kids loved jumping on the trampoline at the beach house

On Memorial Day, we took the ferry back to the mainland and headed to the Britannia Mine Museum before driving home. Sam wanted to go to this museum because he thought he could make some associations with the game Minecraft, but I don't think he really was able to make any good connections, Regardless, I'm so glad that we went here and I think that we all really had a good time. It was a little bit more expensive than I had hoped, but it was definitely worth it. The exhibits were really interesting, and I liked learning about what this mining community was like in the early 20th century. It was also fun to go inside the actual mine and the mill. I learned quite a bit about mining too. One thing that stuck with me is that the song "Sixteen Tons" is actually referring to the amount of rock that muckers were supposed to shovel and load in a ten-hour shift.

Waiting for the train to take us into the mine

The mill was huge! This photo doesn't even do justice to the vast space contained in this structure.

And then, we headed home. Lucy conked out after all that fun and slept for a good portion of the drive back home. She tends to only nap in the car now, which is unfortunate since she really could still use a nap each day. She often will fall asleep if we drive anywhere in the late afternoon.

Memorial Day Weekend: Burnaby and Vancouver

Our first full day in Canada was mostly spent in Burnaby and Vancouver. We visited a lovely park and farmer's market in Burnaby, and everything was walking distance from the Burnaby Village Museum. The museum recreates the appearance of a village in the 1920s, and volunteers are dressed in period costume throughout the site. The village was free and open to the public, and we all had a really fun time. I especially liked visiting the houses in the village and seeing all the interior decoration. We also had fun seeing places like the Printing Shop and the General Store.

"Riding" on the stationary trolley

This antique carousel was accompanied by music from a restored Wurlitzer organ!

After we left Burnaby, we headed to Vancouver and visited the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. I was curious about this park because I noticed it when J and I spent our anniversary in Vancouver over a year ago; our bed-and-breakfast Thistle Down was just up the road from the park. It was fun to walk across different bridges and take little hikes in the area. We didn't have our hiking backpack for Lucy, which was unfortunate, but we managed alright by carrying her when her legs got tired of walking.

Sam was nervous on the suspension bridge, but he managed alright!

The Cliffwalk