New Mexico Day 1 and 2

A few months ago, as we considered what to do during our Christmas break, I realized that it had literally been years since we'd had a break where we didn't travel somewhere or have visitors.  I love to travel and visit friends and family, and I love to have visitors.  But I also like to occasionally have a break to do stuff around the house.  And when I say stuff, I mean projects like decluttering the garage, shampooing the carpets, stuff like that.  The kinds of things that make my house more livable.

So when my parents and my mother-in-law asked about visiting during the Christmas break, I respectfully requested a postponement.  I just wanted to be at home during the break, with no visitors and the free time to leisurely putt around the house and get some odds and ends done.

However, the kids really wanted to play in the snow.  It is usually our custom to spend a couple of days in Flagstaff to do a little sledding, but we also had an invitation to visit my uncle and aunt in New Mexico.  When the choice was staying in a cruddy hotel for a night in Flagstaff, or staying for a few days at my uncle's house, they wanted New Mexico.  And with gas so cheap right now, I couldn't put up too much of an argument.  

So I gave in to my kids and on Monday, mere hours after the Grand Canyon Baha'i Conference ended, we were packing for New Mexico.

We didn't leave Phoenix until after 5 pm, but we made pretty good time and the kids (and Cristina) could sleep through a good chunk of the drive.  I almost ran out of gas as we neared Tijeras, but luckily, our GPS guided us to a 24 hour gas station about 3 miles off the beaten path.  For the record, I can make it from Payson, Arizona to Tijeras, NM on one tank of gas.  Barely.  So there's that.

We got to Uncle Doug and Aunt Lynn's house around 2 am.  All the kids had woken up during the stop for gas, so they were all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for a little while, until we could finally get to bed.

Day 2:  After somewhat of a sleep-in, we got started with our day.  There were several inches of snow on the ground, so the kids got dressed and did a little playing, until their boots got full of snow and they had to come in to thaw out by the fire.  

After a lunch of pizza, we packed up some dinner sandwiches and headed to the Explora museum in Albuquerque.  We went to this hands-on museum when we were here last year, but the kids loved it so much they wanted a repeat trip.  Since our Arizona Science Center annual passes give us entry into Explora as well, it was definitely on our list of "must do's."  In fact, it's another reason the kids lobbied so hard for New Mexico vs. Flagstaff.

We spent a few hours at Explora, ate our turkey sandwiches as the museum was closing at 6 pm, then drove to the botanical gardens for their annual "river of lights."  From November through December 30, the gardens are decorated with thousands of lights in the shapes of everything from animals to plants to cars and planes.  The temperature was rather chilly to us, although Uncle Doug commented on what a nice evening it was for Albuquerque.  We spent about an hour and half walking through the lights.

Inside a giant pumpkin.  Note the "pumpkin guts" and seeds hanging down.

Back at home we had hot chocolate and popcorn.  I laid down with Alex and Bella and fell asleep with them around 10 pm.

The Egon Experiment is Over

Well, he is a beautiful French bulldog.  Egon spent a full week with us.  But Saturday, Valerie picked him up and he will be joining a loving family in Nebraska.

We decided we weren't ready for a second dog.

It wasn't because he peed on Alex's bed (on a rather expensive down quilt), requiring me to figure out how to successfully launder a down quilt.  (He peed on Bella's bed too, but that was just a regular old comforter.  Still inconvenient, but not as big of a deal.)  And it wasn't because the very next day, he peed on Alex's bed again, on the same, freshly laundered down quilt.  As infuriating as that was, we know that it was a territory thing.  An adjustment period thing.

And it wasn't even because he bit Alex on Christmas day, drawing blood, after Alex got too close while he was chewing a rawhide bone.  We hadn't done the "dominance down" thing with all the kids, so Egon didn't see Alex as higher in the pecking order.  After this quick dominance exercise (thanks Valerie!) Alex could now take a steak from Egon's mouth without so much as a growl.

No, the reason we decided against a second dog is because I realized that it's more work than I want to add to my life right now.

It reminds me of a story I heard a long time ago.  A man of modest means was depressed that his house was so small and his wife just had their third child.  So he went to the village wiseman and asked what he should do.  "Get yourself 2 chickens."  Though this advice seemed strange, the man did as the wiseman instructed and brought two chickens home.  He squeezed their pen into the kitchen, which was now even more cramped.  He went back to the wiseman the next day.  "You need a goat."  So he got a goat.  It had to stand by the bed that he and his wife slept in.  He kept returning to the wiseman, hoping to get relief for his overcrowded home, but each time, the man advised him to get something else.  Soon he had 2 chickens, a goat, 3 dogs, several old tires, 8 pigeons, a rusty bicycle, 4 cats, and a cow, all crammed into his tiny shack.  When he went to the wiseman the next day, he put his foot down.  "We have no more room!  We have to eat our meals with dogs between our feet and at night the cow stands over our bed and keeps me awake.  Please help me!"  And the wiseman said "Take all those things out of your house now and give them away, and your problem will be solved."  The man did as he was told, and was amazed at how much room there now was in his home for his himself, his wife, and his 3 children.  They all felt like they lived in a mansion.

So the problem with Egon wasn't so much space, although our house is not that big, but just the extra work of tending to another animal was not something I wanted to add to our busy lives.  Having Egon for a week reminded me of how easy Vivien is.  Egon had some traits, some habits, that Vivien just doesn't have.  He was more of a licker (not our favorite).  He jumped up on everything (including our bed).  He liked to roam if he got out the door, and didn't come when called.  I know all these things are trainable behaviors, but that's exactly my point.  I don't have the time right now to deal with modifying these behaviors.  Or I should say I didn't want to make the time.  It made me appreciate how great of a dog she is.  So for now, Vivien will be our only dog.

Thanks for the visit, Egon.  And remember that it was nothing personal!

Egon

Valerie, the woman who we got Vivien from, has had a male French bulldog, Egon, for quite a while. We tried to get Vivi pregnant by Egon a few months ago, but to no avail. With the bad economy, the dogs aren't selling very well for Valerie, and Egon is starting to get a bit on the old side (he's about 14 months old, but most buyers want a brand new puppy). Valerie is trying to work out something for us to have Egon as a permanent member of our family. I have entertained the idea of getting a second Frenchie, for the companionship of Vivi, who can get a bit lonely when we're at work and school. I had thought about maybe keeping one of Vivi's puppies, but in reality, a second dog from a completely different bloodline is a better way to go. And since we need Vivien to have a couple of litters of puppies, what better than to have the stud live with her (marriage ceremony is pending).

So we're giving Egon the test run this weekend. He is a good looking dog. If he doesn't sell, and we wind up keeping him, Valerie will use him for breeding and charge a stud fee for each "fruitful union."

As you can see in the pictures, he is much bigger than Vivi. But Vivi is already on the small side. He's not even as big as typical male Frenchies, but at only 14 months, he will fill out some more. He'll get stockier, but not much taller.

His head is far bigger and bulldoggier than Vivi's, and his tongue often hangs out (Vivi's never does...she's much more proper than that). The tip of his tongue hanging out 90% of the time tends to give Egon a slightly moronic look, but it's kind of endearing. He is not as well behaved as Vivi (yet). He jumped up on our bed this morning, which is amazing because our bed is pretty high. But strangely enough, he is scared of the stairs. He's slowly mastering them, but going down is still challenging.

And if there was any question as to whether Vivien is the alpha dog or not, that question has quickly been put to rest, as you can see in this video. Vivien never fails to put him in his place, especially if he gets out of line. This is Vivien's house and she reminds him of it often.

Puns are a sign of intelligence, right?

This morning when Bella was putting her socks on, I overheard her quietly singing "We will, we will, sock you!"

What a clever girl! Good taste in music, too.

What's your secret fantasy job?

I think we all have times where, even though we may ultimately like our jobs, we have a down day or week and we think about another job that we envy. Deep in some secret place, we yearn to have that job. Maybe it's just a fleeting moment of yearning. A grass is always greener moment, to be sure. Usually its a job that carries the perception of being far less stressful. Kind of like when you watch your cat sleeping and think "Oh, to be a cat and just lie around sleeping all day."

Often these secret fantasy jobs can be quite funny. A friend of mine's husband is a chef. Big time Japanese chef in Scottsdale. He won the Beard award a few years ago, which for chefs, is the equivalent of winning an Oscar. His secret fantasy job, though, is to work at Panda Express.

A few years ago, my secret fantasy job was to drive a UPS truck.

So what's your secret fantasy job?