Well, that was unexpected.

We have a new dog. Let me explain.

The short version goes like this: I was looking on the Internet about dogs like Jake. I found the national recognized hybrid dog list and I was laughing at the really annoyingly silly names. Go check. I'm not kidding. I think these guys breed the dogs just so they can use the dumb names. Anyway, some of the breeds don't have any pictures available, so I was typing the two breeds in to see what would come up in a search. That led me to the Humane Society....which led me to Callie.

Josh saw the picture, and immediately wanted to meet her. I was reluctant and dragged my feet the whole way. The only reason I agreed to go to the Humane Society at all was that I was pretty sure she would be wild and noisy and not a good fit for us at all. So, we went on Friday. We met Callie. Josh was instantly in love. I liked her, too, but wasn't about to say so. I told Josh that he would probably love anything in dog form that walked in and wasn't a toy breed, so I insisted that we meet another one. We met Brownie. He was somewhat smaller, and much better at fetch. But we didn't love him. Then, I made Josh go out to the car for a Very Serious Conference. There was no dissuading him. So we decided that he could have her as his birthday present. As they were preparing the papers, a girl came in wanting to adopt Callie. This bothered me, deeply.

So, Callie came to live at our house. Would you like to hear about her? She is half lab, half collie (the short haired version). I'm sure that is how she got the name Callie. I've decided to officially name her Caledonia, though. Collies are Scottish, right? Also, we didn't name Jake, but he was named after a ridiculous country song, so I thought Callie should have a song, too. I have one called Caledonia.

Callie is black, with some traces of white on her chest. She is 1 year 8 months old, but thin. She was found as a stray, and when she was brought in, she had worms. The ladies at the Humane Society told me that Callie should gain around 10 pounds to be at her true and healthy weight. She's not a genius at Fetch. She likes people more than toys. She is also somewhat of a clown. And she's very kissy. Her favorite games are "Ha, ha! Kissed your ear," "Wanna see me bonk my head?" and "Torment Jake". We also played a round of "Guess who pooped on the carpet!" last night at about 4am. Not my favorite, so far. She follows us around (me in particular), and has a very intelligent expression when she is watching things. Some cues make me think she has never lived in a house before. She didn't understand about my opening the refrigerator, and totally did a startled double take when she saw me looking in a mirror. She's quiet, and calm when she isn't playing. She also does little donuts when she's excited, just like some little dogs do. I've never seen a big one do it before. If you fuss at her, she's sorry, and at night she sleeps just like me! That means, if the kids roll over in their beds she gets up to check on them. I might have to start sleeping through the night with her around to check things for me! She loves to play outside. I hope the back yard stays dry. Callie isn't interested in going in the front yard at all. She doesn't seem to want to be there. Also, she is not leash trained. Not even a little.

Josh took both dogs to his sister's birthday dinner over at his mom's place. It was difficult. Jake used to live there, you know. He seems okay with sharing us with Callie, but he wouldn't share them with her. Plus, they have a little dog, and Missy had her little dog visiting. There were lots of people, and more kept showing up, and then Backy showed up with her little dog, too! But she took it like a champ. She was accepting of everyone, no matter the size, and didn't do anything unpleasant. When we came back, she acted like a dog coming home, which pleased me. It is already her home.

So, I've been very busy with this, and have barely had time to feed people, and no time to do anything else. I'm hoping that today I can get started on a few lingering chores, and some housecleaning that was brushed aside when Callie joined us. We'll see how that goes.

In other news, Josh might stay home from Thanksgiving after all. Just the thought of having to leave early and drive for 3 hours, shower and shave, and then drive another hour to work was starting to make his eyes bug out. Even if we went to Versailles the day before (3 more hours!!) instead of that morning. The driving was sounding horrible, but I think he was more worried that he would have to go before the food was served. Poor man. And he's sad about missing everyone at Versailles. He's particularly fond of all my uncles. But this way he can spend it with his own family, who aren't that far away.

I'm a little sad about it, but don't tell him. I will be very lonely for him. On the other hand, I guess it frees me up to make spur-of-the-moment plans.

Duty calls! I am wishing you all a wonderful Monday. (They make those, right?)