Blue Baby

Espresso is in love with my Snuggie (yes, I own a human Snuggie. That will one day be a story in a post of its own). Its her new favorite thing-of-mommy's-to-steal-and-sleep-in.



As I was uploading pictures today, this photo gave me a sense of deja vu and I didn't know why. I began searching through my very unorganized hard drive for Espresso pictures.

And I found it.


After we agreed to take on the puppy (another story worthy of its own blog post), we anxiously awaited for the breeder to send us the first look at our future ward. All we knew was that it black-and-tan, and it was she. This is Espresso at about four weeks old. Or I should say, the puppy-we-eventually-decided-to-call-Espresso. This was the very first picture I ever saw of the the little creature that would change my life. And I fell in love with her right then and there.

It's amazing how cute and sleepy she was. Currently, she is running laps around my apartment squeaking her squirrel, celebrating that she managed to shred an entire Chipotle paper bag in just under a minute. I love my little monster so much.

Balloons Two

So my previous entry was describing Espresso's love of popping real balloons.

Like this.

My mother went on a quest while she was here to find Espresso a balloon she couldn't pop. Or at least something balloon like that would last longer than .2 nanoseconds.

Luckily, Petco provided.


I know Espresso loves her new toy-balloon, but probably not quite as much as she loves popping the real things. But given that her mother (me) isn't as generous and doesn't buy her balloons regularly, I think she'll take her squeaky balloon.

Balloons

Espresso loves playing with balloons (after she got over being terrified of them, of course). The only thing she loves more than rolling a balloon around is popping one. However, she doesn't seem to understand that the popping is permanent. This is a video my boyfriend texted me when I was on vacation. It was entitled "Why won't you play with me anymore?"

When I was home over Christmas break, we pulled out the wrapping from the spare closet which means we had to pull out just about everything else too. In the process, a baggie of balloons fell to the ground. Upon discovering this, my mother blew one of them up for Espresso to play with. Espresso proceeded to chew through all 12 balloons in the matter of about a half hour or so.

My mom had wanted to give Espresso a bag of balloons for Christmas, but never got around to it. So when she came to visit last weekend, you can imagine how happy Espresso was when my mom brought her the overdue Christmas gift.

We rationed them over the entire weekend, but she still managed to pop them all surprisingly fast.

Tied Toy

So remember that post a while back about Espresso's gift via mail? The green rope bone is one of her favorite toys. In order to give us a moment of peace, my boyfriend thought of a way to entertain Espresso without having to hold onto the toy personally.

She proceeded to de-stuff the toy completely and then yank the knot holding the rope to the chair so tight we couldn't get it off for days.

But at least it meant she spent hours doing that and not eating my underwear, sneaking into the kitchen, and causing all sorts of other dachshund mischief.

Espresso in the Sun: A Break from the Rain

Ever since I got back to school from winter break, it has been endless gray days of tulle fog, rain clouds, and overcast. The mud, cold, and dark was starting to get to me.

And then the sun came out. Today was the first day I truly saw the sun in my town for almost two weeks. Besides revealing how ghastly pale I've become, the sun provided a much needed break from the winter doldrums.

This morning, when we were waking up, Espresso headed into the living room as normal. But today she didn't meander in the dining area and hall. She ran straight to her sun-patch.

There is one spot in our living room that has a streak of sun from morning to early afternoon. Espresso will spend hours sleeping in the sun, only moving to follow the sunbeam as it moves across the carpet.


I don't think I've ever seen such doggie-joy as Espresso in her sun-patch this morning.

Rainy Days

The weather has been pretty miserable in most of CA. Around here, if its not actually raining, the ground is so muddy you get covered in filth in two seconds, the pavement so slick you slide on non-rubber soles, and everything outside is soaked so you get wet anyway. It hasn't been warm enough today, our first day without rain in a week, to change much.

Espresso hates the wet and cold. She's pretty convinced that the rain is trying to drown her from above and that getting wet is a form torture we have devised for her.

It is adorable however to see her prick her feet up one-by-one, attempting to keep the wet grass from her butt and belly. This is also quite a challenge for a dog who has 2 inch legs in 2 inch long grass. She leaves the most adorable paw prints though on the sidewalk too.

After trudging out into the wet and muck, nothing beats curling up with a warm blanket on the couch - Espresso seems to agree with me.

Shopping Excursions

So a new market opened up across the street. Why would I care about this so much to write about it?

1) This is a small town. And a bad economy. Pretty much anything opening up is nothing short of a miracle. Seriously I'm surprised someone didn't spot a crying statue on opening day.

2) I'm lazy. The nearest market is about a 10 minute drive which means that when I'm in the middle of cooking beef stroganoff and realize I forgot to buy sour cream, I no longer need to postpone dinner 30 minutes, overcooking my egg noodles horribly.
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3) Now we have yet another place we can take the puppy on excursions. Of course she can't go inside, but it still gets her out of my apartment and gives us more chances to socialize her. The picture to the left demonstrates Espresso anxiously awaiting for her daddy to finishing buying our beer and ice cream.

The place is very local friendly and apparently doggie friendly. I've already seen three doggies tied up outside awaiting their owners patiently. They even have a water dish for the exiled canines. And yes, that water dish is big enough for Espresso to swim in.

When we first went to the store (sans Espresso) to get food, we being obsessive dog owners immediately checked out the over-priced pet aisle and found the perfect squeaky-rubbery-solid-yet-pliable-so-less-likely-to-be-destroyed-by-dachshund-teeth squeaky bone. It's now her new favorite and she's spent hours gnawing and chasing it.



I'm pretty sure in Espresso's mind the dog toy we bought her on our first shopping trip beats walking over in the rain for mommy and daddy to get junk food.