Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Ice Ice Baby

We'll probably be talking about the January, 2009, ice storm in Northwest Arkansas for quite some time. With 4 full days out of school and lots of damage, it is not something that will easily be forgotten by those in the area.

We were fortunate to know that winter weather was imminent earlier in the week. We were released from school early on Monday, January 26, 2009, to try to avoid any travel problems getting home. By the time I had picked up the boys, I was very glad we had gotten out early.

By the next day we had quite a bit of ice built up and it was still falling.




Unfortunately the weight soon had tree limbs and branches buckling. This photo was taken early in the process, so it doesn't do a great job of showing the extent of the damage.

HoneyBear was working a Friday to Monday schedule, so he was home with us on Tuesday while we waited out the storm. We spent the time playing video games and other fun things, so the first part was actually fun.

Unfortunately, most power lines had a heavy accumulation of ice. Once limbs, branches and even trees started falling, they were in trouble. Our power started cutting in and out as power lines all over the region fell. The biggest frustration with that was that we were playing a video game that required reaching specific locations before saving. We consistently reached just steps before the save point in our game when we would lose power.

Eventually, our power went out and stayed out. Our house was not well-insulated and got cold very quickly. With my condition, temperature extremes are problematic, so we started getting concerned. We also had a young pug pup we'd been warned to keep out of cold temperatures due to a high risk of pneumonia. (With noses that short, there's not much before air hits the lungs!) So we escaped. We packed up a few things, our boys, our pugs, and headed to Little Rock to wait out the storm as refugees.

While our house was coated in ice and without power, we enjoyed an early spring break with temperatures in the 50s. What a difference 200 miles can make!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Siblings

This weekend we got a snapshot of some of the differences between our two boys. HoneyBear and the boys were watching television and saw a commercial for an upcoming show that will air during halftime of the Super Bowl next weekend. An "extreme challenge" type of show, it is apparently pretty physical, and very much for the guys.

Tyler, who is much more like me in activity level but remains a boy with boy interests, thought it was cool. "I want to see that!"

Then came a classic Shawn line: "I want to DO that!" Why watch, when you can do?

Of course, deep down HoneyBear agreed with Shawn!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Pug in the Hood

Silly Daddy! Puggies don't go in Mommy's hood! I guess this pug pup doesn't mind, though--hoods are a great place for a nap.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Roly-Poly Role Reversal

Though Tucker is still not very happy with the new whippersnapper, he seems to be slowly adapting. He lets Roly-Poly come closer to him, and no longer takes the extremely long way around the room to get somewhere if Roly-Poly is in his way. He is still very possessive of his spaces, though, and we support that. The bed is off-limits to little Roly, and behind the chair closest to the back door in the living room has been claimed as Tucker's territory as well. Behind the chair is especially funny, because Roly loves getting up to Tucker there and trying to entice him to play. When Tucker's not there, Roly gets the funniest look of perplexity on his face!

Poor Tucker has to fend off the advances of little Roly often, since the puppy seems excited about seeing something that looks like him--especially since they have almost identical coloring and shading. If Tucker isn't in one of his "safe havens" Roly loves to try to chase him down. Tucker is getting a bit too old for that, though, he seems to feel, and looks at us just begging for our intervention! Since Roly's a lot lighter than Tucker, he's the one that tends to get scooped away.
Pup Corn
Today there was a bit of role reversal. Tyler let Tucker in from the back yard, and Roly actually ran from Tucker! It turns out that he was guarding his "pup corn" dog treat! These treats were sent home from the breeder, and are made from popcorn and shaped like dogs. Roly likes them a lot (if he's not too distracted), and this morning did not want to risk losing one, even to play with his idol! He certainly keeps us entertained!

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Pug Kisses to Wake Up

This morning started out similar to our previous couple of days, though I can't call it "normal" since this is only Roly-Poly's 4th day with us. After getting dressed, I let out the "baby." Roly-Poly, fitting his name, rolled out of his nighttime crate and hit the ground going strong! Fortunately, Tucker was still on the bed (our bed, as in myself and HoneyBear, or his bed, as in Tucker's--however you choose to look at it), so Roly couldn't disturb him.

This morning, though, Roly-Poly discovered something new--he can walk right under the bed without even ducking, and he thought that it was a pretty cool place under there. I was a little nervous, because Tucker has always considered UNDER the bed his domain as well, and when we recently cleaned out under the bed it was a bit alarming what he had taken into his cave.  I'm still not sure how I coaxed Roly-Poly out of there before Tucker discovered where he'd gone!

Once I got the puppy out from under the bed, it was time to wake up the boys. Roly-Poly kisses are a great way to wake up Tyler, though Tyler does have to be on guard with all his stuffed friends in his bed with him--"Puppy" and "Baby" seem especially interesting to Roly, being Tyler's favorites as well. Shawn always wants to have Roly-Poly on the top bunk with him too, but tries to roll around so much it makes me nervous for little-bitty Roly-Poly. I can't leave him up there very long, but it does seem to help Shawnie wake up!
With such great pug puppy kisses, Roly-Poly is a great way to wake up!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Playing With the Pug

Roly-Poly is slowly getting used to being part of our family. The boys love playing with him.

Today we had fun in the yard. He spent some time running around (on sweet, short little legs), then let us hold him for some pictures.









We love our Roly-Poly pug pup!

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Picking Up the Pug

Our Roly-Poly pug was ready to come to his new home when he was 9 weeks old. He'd been weaned and was eating solid foods well.  In fact, he was eating solid foods VERY well; he was doing better than any of his siblings and was starting to fit his name well with his sweet roly-poly belly. We were able to pick him up the Saturday he turned 9-weeks old.

He was already so well conditioned, and we had no problems with him on the way home! We stopped by Grandma's house to show him off, and let him run around the playroom. We also brought Tucker over so the two dogs could meet on more neutral ground. Roly wound up chasing Tucker with Tucker doing his best to avoid the pup. Roly also dodged around the furniture, so pictures didn't turn out very well.



Even though the composition and focus of this picture were awful, I love seeing how tiny his little legs were and how (comparatively) big his belly was. His little puppy body was just so cute!



HoneyBear held him for a shot, but he started to get tired pretty quickly, so it was time to take our full clan home for a rest.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Picking Out the Pug

We're getting a new family member! Since Tucker is older now (he'll be 11 this month), he has no interest in letting the boys play with him. He just wants to be king of his domain, with some lap time for petting. Shawn thinks that dogs should run around with him, though, so it doesn't always work out so well. Tyler wants a pet too, so we're getting the boys a new puppy. (Okay, fine. We're getting ME a new pug puppy. It's for the boys, too, but basically those just make really good excuses!)

We traveled to pick out our puppy today. We weren't able to hold them (or smell the sweet puppy breath!), because they want any bonding to occur only with the new puppy's family, not anyone who visits. That was a little disappointing, but we still got to see the sweet babies.

We chose a puppy with the same colorings as Tucker--an apricot fawn color--rather than the lighter fawn that is so common in pugs.


The puppy wasn't thrilled with being held up, but we wanted to try to get a few pictures.

On the way home we talked through what we would name the new puppy. Shawn kept calling the puppy a roly-poly puppy, and HoneyBear though it would be funny to have two pug puppies--one named Tuck and one named Roll. It was several minutes before I realized we already had a Tuck, since I often called Tucker by that as a nickname. Since Shawn's "roly-poly" description seemed to fit the puppy, we decided it would be the perfect name.

Meet sweet 7-week-old Roly-Poly pug, the newest member of our zoo.