Meet Miss Ava Solbach

On February 19, 2011, Joseph and I welcomed a new little girl into our family. Now, before you get excited and think that I had a baby and just was holding out on ya'll, let me tell you that Ava is a puppy. We adopted her from Operation Paws for Homes. She was rescued from a high-kill shelter in NC not long after she was born. Ava had a rough start to her life (she's 13 weeks old). Out of her litter, only three or four survived. They had all contracted some sickness from the shelter they were in. She was all skin and bones when we adopted her even though she had a clean bill of health.

Her first day home.

President's day. Third day after adoption. See how skinny she was!?

She loves to snatch whatever Rocky has right out of his mouth.

What messes, Mom?

MY dragon!

Sleepy baby

Now, if you look closely, Ava seems to have a foot growing out of her tummy. That's Rocky's back leg. She lays on top of Rock and he lets her.

Aren't they just SO sweet together??

The Dog Days of Winter

Yes, Winter. I mean, we've had some pretty crazy weather in Northern Virginia this year. There were a few days in the winter where it got rather warm. Since the dogs needed something to cool them down. They were given ice cream.

Rocky

Lily

Must. Show. Cuteness!

Aren't they sooooo cute! The boxer is my Rocky (which I'm sure you recognized from former posts) and the pitbull is my brother-in-law's. Her name (the pit) is Lily. Isn't she gorgeous? Yes, the dogs sun bathe together in the front window. I just had to share.

Dogs may Stink, but they are SO Cute!

Behold! The two cutest dogs in the whole wide world. This cuteness totally makes up for anything mentioned in the previous post.

Rocky and Mason

Mason is under my chair and Rocky beside it. Since I took the picture with my phone it isn't the best, but you can still see that the cuteness factor is out of this world!

Oh! and I should have put a disclaimer at the bottom of my last post as well. I was not, in any way, really complaining. I just thought it made a great, funny story to share here on my blog. I promise, it's really not a big deal. :-)

Dogs Stink! (or Why I am stuck at home instead of being at work today)

My husband shook me awake this morning. "Hannah. Do you Smell that!?!"

"Huh. What?"

"Do you smell that?" It was more a demand this time instead of a question.

I sniffed. Just barely. For my trouble, my nose was assaulted by the most disgusting smell. "Oh, no. I'm going to kill her!" I rolled over while Joseph told me he was going to turn on the light so I could check on Mason.

"I don't have my contacts in so I can't see a thing, Joseph."

Joseph crawled over to my side of our king sized bed and peered through the shadows of the bed stand lamp at Mason's kennel. "Oh! Man! It's on the carpet!" He let loose a string of a few choice words that definitely let Mason know how he felt about her accident. It was 3:59 A.M.

We both got out of bed and as I went into the bathroom to put in my contacts, we discussed what we were going to have to do. I told Joseph that I would wash her off, but that he should just throw the bedding out since it wasn't the first time she had had an accident on it. I just wasn't feeling another long day of laundry related to dog bedding. Not to mention the fact that I had to work today. I've missed way too many Mondays lately. This was NOT going to be a good day. As if to emphasize my thoughts, Joseph walked into the bathroom with Mason in his arms while I had only one contact in and the other on my finger poised to be placed on my left eye. "Joseph! You're gonna have to stand there and watch her, cause I have to get my second contact in still!" He had placed her in the bathtub.

Thankfully, Mason had mostly avoided her poop, (yes, poop) so I really only had to wash her back half of her body. By the time I finished bathing her, Joseph came to the bathroom door and stated that he was going to lay back down for the next twenty minutes. That was so not going to happen. My alarm had already gone off. I needed to get in the shower and get ready for work. Joseph was just going to have to watch her. "Take Mason and Rocky outside to go to the bathroom." I said. Amazingly, Joseph complied.

Once I was finished with my shower, I got dressed and completed my morning routine. Then, I took over watching the dogs while Joseph got ready. When he finished his shower, I gave him the only two options I could come up with for today. 1. We call Mason's owners (our good friends that went out of town this weekend) and ask them to come get her this morning or 2. I stay home and work from home while paying close attention to Mason.

We opted for the second choice. Unfortunately, what I had forgotten is that my work computer doesn't have a power cord. Well, it does, but I can't find it. Anywhere.

I would have gone back to sleep after my decision was made, but Mason decided that she didn't like the carpet just inside my back door anymore than she liked her kennel this morning. Another mess of crap to clean up. I called Joseph who was already on his way to work. "You know how we were just talking about getting a new carpet for inside the back door yesterday? I'm glad we had that talk because I'm throwing the one we have out with the trash this morning." Can I just say, right now, that I am ever so glad that our garbage men come twice a week? The first day each week that they show up is Monday.

While Mason hasn't had another accident since that second one around 6am, I've been watching her like a hawk. I've got my kitchen timer set for 38 minutes at this very moment. Mason is lying under my chair as I type this, her small body pressed against my legs. Rocky is passed out lying next to my chair, his body angled towards the back of the chair. I thought until just a second ago when I checked, that Rocky was probably face to face with Mason, but I was wrong. She's actually curled up under my chair with her nose smack dab against Rocky's back. Dogs are so cute when they sleep.

Lily and Rocky - First Snow Winter '09

I know there's no sound and it's really short. This was only my second video ever. This is Lily's first snow ever too, so it was alot of fun watching her run around in it after she got over the wet, whiteness of it all.

Rocky at Nine Months

I just realized that I haven't posted any pictures of Rocky lately. Well, here are his nine month old pics.

Joseph and Rocky coming back from the front door.

The cute face hasn't changed that much!

He's getting sooo big!

Isn't he gorgeous?

Sittin' pretty.

Losing Myself in Wrestling

It's been 13 days since I last posted. Wow. I've been so busy playing FB wrestling when I've had any free moments that I had almost forgotten that I had a blog. So, let me tell you a little bit about what I've been up to.

To be honest with you, I don't really remember the 10th through the 13th. At all. The 14th found me in my morning room having a color "party" with Joanna and Hannah. Joanna and I were getting ready for the TLC Ladies Luncheon at church at noon. We were having so much fun talking and getting ready that we were both late to the luncheon, but it was still alot of fun. After the luncheon we all went home and I have no idea what I did for the rest of the day.

Oh wait! I forgot the biggest news. On the 10th... I signed up to be a Mary Kay consultant. Finally.

So, back to the breakdown. Missions Conference at CBC started on the 14th and continued through Wednesday, the 18th. However, instead of attending Missions Conference on Monday night, I joined Hannah at Susie's house for my very first Mary Kay business meeting as a consultant. It was there that I received my Mary Kay pin.

Monday through Wednesday found me out of my house until sometime after 9pm each night. Not much sleep at all was happening. This was amplified by the fact that Joseph and I were dog sitting Max and Bailey from the 14th until just yesterday. Then, on Thursday, Ace joined in the madness. (Ace is Tres and Somer's mixed breed puppy.) Ace and Rocky are great friends and they LOVE to play fight ALL day! Literally.

Anyway, if you made it through reading that whole jumble of thoughts, you're a better person than I. I was seriously just writing as I thought of everything.

Poor Little Puppy

So, Rocky was dropped off at Pender Veterinary Centre on Wednesday morning around 6:30 so that he could be neutered. The clinic keeps all dogs overnight just to ensure nothing goes/went wrong. Of course, my dog was the epitome of goodness. It seemed to me that everyone at the clinic that had anything to do with Rocky had already fallen in love with him. Yeah, he's weaselly like that. He just wiggles his way into your heart. Anyway, since the clinic kept him overnight, that meant that I got to pick him up yesterday afternoon. You know those big plastic collars that look like funnels? I told the clinic to make sure they sent me home with one. The first nurse told me that most dogs didn't need them but if I really wanted one of course they would send one home with me. I kinda just looked at her and explained that Rocky is a chronic cleaner in the first place. The stitches wouldn't last any time at all if he wasn't sent home with a collar. She understood at that point. So, without any further adieu, here is my darling puppy with his collar on. We were on our way home so of course he's sitting in the front seat of the truck. WHAT!?! Don't look at me in that tone of voice! He REFUSES to sit in the back. I'd rather put up with him in the front seat than have to worry about an accident because he's trying to crawl up to the front between the driver's seat and the passenger's seat. ....My Puppy.

Doesn't he just look sooooo cute!?! Poor baby was so uncomfortable. But, he managed to just sleep through it.

As I Promised

Here are a few pictures of my favorite escape artist. I realize that it probably isn't very convincing to him that I don't want him doing this when I stand at the morning room windows and wait for him to commando crawl just so that I can get a picture of it.

Going out.

Coming in.

Problem solved.

Sorry, Rocky. No more visiting Steel in his backyard. You'll just have to play from either side of the fence.

The Artist Living in my House

The ESCAPE artist aka Rocky Knox Solbach. Let me tell you a little bit about my rotten boxer. He is round about 40 pounds now and I'd say about 21 inches tall. That's about half the size he'll be when full grown. He's mostly lazy but there are those moments when he just won't calm down. In fact, when Rocky does get worked up, he tends to run around my house in circles until I'M dizzy.
So, where does the escapism come in. Rocky is a slippery little bugger. He's so smooth in his escapes that many times I don't even realize he's made it out of wherever I want him to be. Like keeping him in the bathroom while I'm getting the towels for his bath. If I don't back out of the bathroom (even then sometimes), he will slip right through my legs and shimmy under my bed. His latest and greatest escapes have involved our backyard. Look at the below picture and imagine the following scenario:

Now, straight ahead in the picture is the corner of our yard against our neighbors Tina and Doug's yard. Tina and Doug are the happy owners of an enormous Alaskan Malamute named Steel. From the corner, look at the second section on the left. Joseph, his dad, and I put chicken wire up before Rocky was even picked out as our future pet. Unfortunately, the chicken wire is VERY malleable and Rocky has figured this out. He has pushed the wire up under the bottom slat of the fence so that he can commando crawl under the fence into Steel's yard. Now, Rocky only goes into Steel's yard when Steel is out back, but Rocky has done the same thing on the opposite side of the yard. The side of the yard that is along the field. Of course, Rocky will wait until the very moment that I walk away from the morning room windows. One of these days I'll take a picture of Rocky in Steel's yard, but hopefully, I won't ever have another chance to do so. I'd really like to believe that Rocky will stop going into my neighbor's yard and the field next to our house. I know that's not going to happen, but maybe he'll hit another growth spurt this week that will end up preventing him from fitting under the fence.

Do you know any escape artists?

Oh! How my Baby has grown!

I got Rocky on November 1, 2008 for my birthday when he was three months old. He was the puppy that I wanted. The only one that I would have picked out of the litter. Imagine my surprise, relief, happiness when I discovered that Rocky (or Miles, as he was named originally) was the only puppy left. I was sooo excited.

This was taken the day after Joseph and I bought Rocky.

Same day as the one above. We were able to bring Rocky home the day that we bought him.

This is my puppy tonight. Obviously, you can't see his length since he's sitting, but you can still tell that he's grown quite a bit! I love this puppy to death and already cannot imagine life without him.

O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E

NOT Rocky's favorite word. I promise. However, he made me look really good last night at his very first obedience class. I signed us up at PetSmart since that was the only close and affordable class I could find. We learned 'Watch Me', 'Come', and what to do to discourage jumping. The class started with socialization which consisted of passing the dogs in the class around the room to another pet owner. Let me just tell you that all the other dogs were straining on their leashes to get to the other dogs or to their own people, but not my dog...nope, Rocky loved up on every person in that class. Laid back, lazy boxer! Smokey the poodle, Foxy the German Shepherd mix, Mae the German Shepherd, and Wiggle the Australian Shepherd are all older than Rocky. You'd think they would be a little bit more relaxed. I'll tell you, Foxy was the strongest dog there. Second smallest, but the strongest. Mae was the jumpiest, Wiggle the loudest, and Smokey the most timid. I don't think the pet trainer knew what to think of Rocky. He did each command correctly the very first time and when she was just talking and explaining things he laid on the ground at my feet. Have I mentioned lately how much I love my dog? I think we'll be just fine through this class...IF we can manage to get him to pay attention to me when we go off the leash in two weeks. Start praying for me now.

What else can go wrong?

This morning I forgot my badge and my keys for work. First time ever. I had to "sneak" into with someone else and then after logging on to my computer ourside the elevators, I IM'd my former boss, who, since it is Monday, was in the office early. David came up to the front of the office and let me in, but I was still without keys. I quite actually sat at another person's desk for two hours this morning, working while waiting on Adam, our IT guy, to come in and unlock my actual office. While I was waiting, I managed to tear a huge hole in my nylons.

My day managed to right itself within a matter of moments once I made it into my office. BUT, then I found myself starving by 10:30am. For LUNCH. At 10:30am. So, I ate lunch, Chicken Noodle Soup, at 10:45am.

The remainder of my day at work went by without any more hiccups.

When I got home, I needed to give Rocky a bath. Consequently, I bathed Rocky then proceeded to clean the bathtub and my shower since Rocky gets his bath in the master bathroom's bathtub. Unfortunately, while I cleaned, my wonderful puppy decided that he needed to pee. Right on my carpet.

Other than all that...my day really was fantastic.

How was yours?

What do you get...

When you put one teenaged boy, one boxer puppy, and one dog crate together? Invasion of puppy privacy! Apparently, Titus wanted to know what it felt like to be in close quarters.

Giving the puppy some lovin'.
Invasion of puppy privacy and territory.

A little cramped, Titus?

Lazing around with the puppy in the dog crate.

Hmmmm. Maybe I should keep Titus in there. I wouldn't have to worry about his bedroom and bathroom needing to be cleaned.

Then again, I would have to listen to both Titus and Rocky whine about the lack of space all night since the dog crate is in my bedroom. Get out of the dog's space, Titus!

We made it out for a walk today

As soon as I got home today I let Rocky outside as I changed out of my work clothes. Then straight to the back door to let Rocky in while I looked for his blue collar and leash. Of course, I had to grab the little contraption that hangs from the leash that holds a small roll of doggie bags. Yes, that kind! Couldn't find the blue collar so I squeezed him into the red harness. Yes, you heard right, I squeezed him in. He's almost grown out of it! Two weeks ago he could pull himself straight out of it, but no more. Out we headed.
We walked through our development and into the neighboring development that actually has walking trails. Altogether we may have walked one mile, but I don't really care about the distance. I was just wicked glad that my puppy stayed with me. Or...I should say, that he even walked! See when we first got Rocky he wouldn't walk on a leash worth beans. Now, he heels beautifully and we haven't even been to obedience class yet! Everytime I slowed down or stopped he was right beside me or right in front of me sitting just like he is in the picture below.

Isn't he such a good boy? Funny story. While we were out, we crossed one road in the neighboring development that is right in the middle of a ton of construction. On our way back, there was a truck full of workers coming up the road so I stopped and waited for them to go past. While they were taking their didly old time, Rocky sat right beside me perfectly patient. All of those guys were paying more attention to my wonderful dog than they were to anything else (driver excepted). Did I mention how much I love my dog?

He's been talked about

But not seen before now. I figured I'd better add some pictures of Rocky so ya'll can see him in the still cute puppy stage. He is three months old, but fast approaching four months. Aw, my baby is growing up!

Look mom, I'm all big and bad!

How can you resist my eyes? I will captivate you with them!


He's such a chewaholic, as Titus puts it. This dog just can't stop chewing!

Again with the chewing. This is his chewable collar. The blue one is his walk and going out collar.

He was licking the rain water off the bottom of the stair to the backyard. Crazy dog!

I WANTED to wrap more Christmas presents today

BUT... This was in the way. See, all of my Christmas stuff is BEHIND that door!

Rocky and the Dog Park

I'm lucky. Really, I am. I live within thirty minutes of anything I could ever want. That said, I took Rocky to the dog park this afternoon. The dog park is about 8 minutes from my house. Yesterday when we went there were only three other dogs. Charlie, a yorkie, Napoleon, a mutt, and an Australian Sheep dog. Rocky got along just fine with them. In fact, he loved chasing and playing with them. Not so today. There were quite a number of dogs there today. All of them bigger than him. Now, Rocky isn't afraid of big dogs, but most of the dogs today were pretty aggressive. Rocky's used to being the aggressive one so the dog park turned out to be quite an experience this time. He didn't really run around with the dogs today, but he did take more time to get to know the dog owners. In fact, when it was time to go, I had to pull him away from some other people that he just didn't want to leave. Crazy dog. You'd think he doesn't like me, wouldn't you. I wanted to take pictures while I was there, but since Rocky wasn't doing much there aren't any pics this time. Maybe next time.

This is a big step in my own life. I'm not usually the kind of person that is comfortable around complete strangers, but Rocky gives me common ground with them. I can carry on a conversation just by beginning to talk about our dogs. He's good for me, that boxer. Gets me out of my house, walking around, and socializing. Ack! what's this world coming to...I've spoken to four people that I had never met before just today. Change is in the air this fall and I kinda like it.