I'm having to do a lot of bio writing and talking these days.  Came up with this to try to cram into a Facebook field:

Home: NW Austin (Oak Forest)

Spouse:  John Watters
Toddler: Johanna (2.5)
Steps:   Ellen (17)
         Jay (15)

Pets: Morgan (female G.Shep)
      Josie (female tortycat)
      Cally (female calico)

Fish: Angelfish, bottomcats,
      pleicostamus, mollies,
      crawfish named Buddy

I think that sums it up.  I live a rather rich life!

We've had Buddy about a month. I guess it took me this long to blog about him b/c I wasn't sure he would survive. But he seems to be doing well, so, introducing Johanna's new(ish) pet:



The story is this: We went to the fish store to turn in dozens of our constantly-breeding mollies, and Johanna spied a tank full of feeder crawfish ($1.50 apiece, and who knew fish could eat crawfish??). She fell in love. She immediately learned the word "Craw!-Fish!" How could I say no?



We got a little 2.5 gallon tank, and let Johanna pick out some gravel. The amused Aquatek dude did his best to scoop out a perky feller. We had this brilliant idea of putting some of our ever-abundant little mollies in the tank with Buddy in the hopes that they would, er, disappear. Turns out we have the most docile crawfish on the planet. He and the fish are fast friends. *Sigh.* So much for our plan for population control...and crawfish sustenance. Now we feed the whole gang dried shrimp and pellet food.



I've learned far more about crawfish than I ever thought I'd need to know. This forum has been particularly helpful. If Buddy lives to reasonably ripe old age, we'll go for a gorgeous, electric blue crawfish next time. But only after Buddy goes to his great beyond. Apparently crawfish don't so much like to share a small tank.

Incidentally, Johanna continues to adore Buddy. She turns his light on and off, feeds him, and watches with rapt attention when we change his water. I'm not sure what she'll do when she finds out about crawfish étouffée.....

NEVER thought I'd see the day.



When we got Morgan, my biggest concern by far was my sweet cranky-but-lovable old girl Josie.  She tolerates Cally Cat barely.  A dog?  A BIG DOG?  I was sure I'd never see her again.  That she'd disappear upstairs, under one of the kid's beds, and come out only at night and on special holidays.  Like when the dog was at the vet.

Indeed, she did take the longest to adjust.  Cally was, for the most part, like, "Dog? Feh.  I"ve had worse."  But Cally was a street-rescue.  She is a very roll-with-it kind of girl.  Josie definitely sulked for a long time.

And yet, she's now the one most likely to "play" with Morgan.  She for sure taunts her, knowing full well Morgan will lunge but never snap.  And tonight?  Unbelievable.  There's Josie, drinking from Morgan's water dish (daintily using her paw as a scoop), and Morgan, wolfing down her food.

So sweet!  So unbelievable, and so sweet!

Dog sees squirrel.


Dog waits for squirrel to make a move.


Squirrel is annoyed.


Squirrel moves!


Fail. Poor doggie.


Have I mentioned that I don't like squirrels?

Ohhhh, Johanna was being adorable this afternoon. I was minding my own business at the computer when she spontaneously started snuggling Morgan. I had to snap quickly to capture the moment, so the photos aren't great, but here she is. A girl and her dog.

Morgan?

Mmm...yes?

That's not your sandbox.

Oh. But it's really nice in here. Warm. Comfy.  And it's just the right size.



Hey, Morgan?

Mmm...yes?

The baby isn't going to be very happy when she finds you taking up her entire sandbox.

Hm?  Oh.  Hm.



Morgan?

Mmm...zzzz....  Mmm...yes?  Zzzzzzzz.



Never mind.

This is kind of random, and maybe an odd thing to end NaBloPoMo with, but I sure do love our doggy, Morgan.



She's such a great dog. She barks at strangers and scares 'em just a little, which I like very much. Door-to-door "salespeople" who annoy the crap out of me definitely notice that I have a BIG DOG. Just the other day, some city workers came over our back fence WITHOUT telling me first that they needed into the yard. I was inside with the windows open and I thought, "Do I hear people...in the back yard??" I let Morgan out first and then followed her to behind the shed, where a man was scurrying up his ladder, saying, "Is your dog okay? Is your dog okay??" I said, "Well, if I tell her it's okay...." They were dropping a line to our neighbor's house and they needed access to the box in our yard. Of course I called Morgan off right away, but jiminy, how's about a courtesy knock at my door to let me know you'll be in my yard?



Also, she eats things. Especially if she's home alone and bored. She's eaten a diaper. On the Saturday we were gone all day to celebrate Thanksgiving, she ate a large portion of the blanket we use to cover "her" couch. Of course she has to barf all this stuff up, which is gross, but I have to say.... In a way I think it's really cool that my dog can eat, uh, pretty much anything. Crazy damn dog.



She is so incredibly sweet and tolerant of the baby. She and Johanna are definitely forming their own special friendship. The other day, Morgan was on the couch and Johanna was standing there playing with her paws and chatting to her. Johanna was using a language she never uses with anyone else. Giving a soft, chatty kind of "let me tell you a story" speech. I looked over and said, "Johanna, whatcha talkin' about?" And she looked at me like, "Huh? None of your business. It's between me and the DOG."



She loves to be petted and cuddled.  She obviously thinks she's much smaller than her 65 pounds.  Before walks, she jumps and clomps around the house in hyper-spazzmo mode.  During meals she lurks under the table (yeah, she manages to fit herself under our 4-top), and when I feed Johanna she hangs out right next to the high chair.  Johanna has learned to drop things over the side for the dog.  Though sometimes these tasty morsels land on her head.  Which she doesn't seem to notice.

She is completely and totally part of our family now. I never thought I'd own -- and love -- a great big black doggy, but you never know where life's gonna take ya. Cheers for Morgan Dog!

We signed the papers yesterday.  Morgan is our very own family dog!  She has really settled in.  She follows me from room to room.  Whines when I go upstairs.  REALLY whines when John and I leave the house.  She loves us!  It's so sweet!  In addition to the whining, she "talks" quite a lot. This morning she was really chatty about how much she wanted to leave now now now for her walk.  It was funny and cute. I've never had a dog this vocal.

There are a few advantages to having a BIG dog.  When John was out of town late last week, I slept just fine knowing there was a 65 pound German Shepherd between me and the front door.  And she does appear to have an instinct for home protection.  I was watching an episode of L&O late one evening, and Morgan was in the bedroom with me.  A scene came on in which the cops had to break into a house.  There was a crash and breaking glass, and Morgan was up and at the bedroom door in an instant, growling.  Ha!  Take that, you scary burglars!

That being said...she's a pussycat.  She only barks once or twice when someone comes to the door.  She stands back while we open the door, and once she sees we're okay with whomever might be visiting, she nuzzles and licks them.  She doesn't even attempt jumping up on people, which is soooo good.

She loves to patrol the yard.  She's a laaaazy dog, but once you get her up and moving, she trots around the perimeter of the fence, scouting for squirrels.  Which she sometimes sees...even when they're not there. I guess you gotta make your own entertainment every once in awhile, eh?

It's surprisingly difficult to photograph a black dog.  She turns into an inky blob....


She gets brushed every day.


She's very patient. I think she rather likes being brushed. Incidentally, the Whole Foods bag? It's for the PILES of hair we get off her when we brush her.

Yawn.


She has claimed a couch.


Morgan FooFoo.


And we got her a toy, which she loves.


She's really a cool dog, and we're thrilled to officially make her a part of our family!

Just having a dog, any dog, is going to take some getting used to.  For a cat person like me, anyway.

Case and point: this morning, Johanna erped up quite a reasonable volume of partially digested breast milk.  I was holding her, and most of it landed on the deck.  You know what the dog did?  Of course you do.

I'm sure this behavior comes in handy sometimes, and in a way I find it not only a potential convenience, but also kind of...brave?  Fearless?  Still, I can assure you that my cats -- even the crazy one who eats peanuts -- would never go for baby erp.

Our ideal dog was smallish (30 pounds), and not much of a shedder. You know, a simple little low-maintenance doggy.



Oops. Meet Morgan! She's a German Shepherd mix. She's, uh, 65 pounds. And man alive, she sheds like you wouldn't believe. Piles of black dog fur. It's amazing. We bathed her on her first day with us (she took it very well), and we pet and brush her several times each day.

But she has the traits we value most! A solid track record with babies and cats. Her first foster home had wee ones, and she got along great with them. She had to move because some of the TEN dogs living there were picking on her. Her new home, where she lived for nine months, had four cats. One of them used to sleep with her. So sweet!

She's still getting used to us, but so far it's been going well. She either licks or ignores the baby, and just wants to play with the cats. Which, yeah, the cats don't so much appreciate, but Cally, anyway, is getting braver every day. Hopefully Josie will come downstairs again...someday.

Mostly she's a lump of a dog. Heh. She likes to lay in whatever room you're in. She's friendly with everyone. She loves walks and does extremely well on the leash -- doesn't lunge for other dogs we meet along the way. She barks only when she's got really good reason to (like when the neighbor dogs bark -- but she doesn't start it!).  Much like shubbe's dogs, she chases squirrels.  Cats?  No.  Squirrels?  Lemme at 'em.  And, well, I don't much like squirrels, so this doesn't bother me.  So she has a fun time patrolling the back yard, which is mighty cute.

She's still settling in, and clearly misses her foster mama.  She whines, and sulks.  She's not eating much.  But she's bonding with us a little more every day, it's clear, and I imagine in a week or two she'll really have settled in.

Welcome, you big black dog!