Home Sweet Montana

After some travel delays, we finally arrived home on Tuesday evening. After leaving my father's, we met up with Jim at his mom's in Cleveland. While there, I went for a run every other day, and one day played Ultimate Frisbee with the family. We played kids vs. adults and the kids kicked our butts. Of course they had two superstar runners on their team, young  miss Riley who can do a 20 min 5K and Joey who no one can beat - he'll be a freshman this year and may be on Varsity track.

One day Jim and I went for a long run, but I ended up walking the last part back to the house because the humidity was killing me. Another day I got to run with one of Jim's sisters, Becky, who does triathlons. The hardest part for me was all the sidewalk and pavement running. I missed the trails! But I resigned myself to maintenance running and was just happy to have survived the vacation without too much laziness and gluttony.

One of the best parts about coming home is that we finally got to get a puppy. The kids have been asking for a puppy since before Wesley died, and we told them we had to wait until one of our dogs passed away (thinking that Josie, who is old and has some health issues, would be the first to go). But we have learned that life doesn't always work out the way you expect it to, and we lost Wesley first. Since then we have talked a lot about the next dog we want to get.

We really wanted a dog that would be a nice, friendly family dog, who wouldn't scare people the way Wesley sometimes did. We wanted a smart dog with lots of energy to go for runs with us, and play with the boys. We talked a lot about different breeds that would be good for us. As much as I love the idea of rescuing a shelter dog, we really wanted to get a puppy that we could train ourselves, and because kids just love puppies. The week before we left for our trip, we found the perfect situation/dog for us. The day before we left, we went and picked out our puppy, Arrow.

Arrow's mom was rescued from a shelter in Idaho, very pregnant with him and his 8 siblings. (See story and pictures HERE.) No one knows who his father is, but he is a smart and good looking pup. We picked him up the day after we got home.

Arrow's first night here was a little rough. He was crying, alone in an unfamiliar place, so I went downstairs and cuddled with him on the couch. By the second night, he was comfortable in his bed underneath my desk, his own private little cubby. He has been exploring the yard a little bit at a time and has ventured as far as the chicken coop. He is particularly interested in the chickens, who make lots of noise and run when they see him. Josie growls at him, and yet seems happier now that he is here, so I think that she will eventually accept him. The cat, Fernando, has been sneaking past him, so that she knows that he is here, but he didn't know that she was here until this morning when they met up on the stairs. It will take a while, but I think they will eventually be friends too, like she was with Cody and Wesley.

It will be a while before he can be a running, or even walking partner, for me, but I think he's going to be a good one and I'm willing to wait. He has quickly become a part of the family and we look forward to many years with our new friend.