and then there was Ada

We'd been talking about it.  On the way back from Mexico we almost went looking for one.  But then it came to us.

One day word of mouth reached me and so I asked Isaac, Do you want a puppy? To which he replied yes.  Not much later a puppy arrived at our house, well, two.  We chose which one we wanted and that was that.

But we soon realized the puppy was far too little to be away from it's mom.  After one night of feeding her every two hours via syringe, she was returned to her mother.  We wanted her, we named her and so we requested that when she was ready to be away from her mother she be returned to us.

And a few weeks later she was.

Ada, dubbed so by Isaac in honor of the first coder Lady Ada Lovelace, came back into our lives.  It was a Thursday night, and I had just finished up quarter two parent-teacher conferences.  As I neared my porch a four-wheeler drove towards me.  The driver pulled up and Ada was produced.  She had just had a bath and she was ours now.

Isaac and I were just as unprepared for her as the first time, but at least now she could eat and drink on her own.   Food was prepared from frozen moose, and I retrieved Stella's old kennel from the storage closet.  We learned that unused shelving made good barriers and that Boston Fern leaves are not poisonous.  

 We were glad that Ada's arrival was a Thursday night, so we had the pending weekend to adjust to life together.  Our life that no longer involved sleeping in or wearing socks around the house.  But did involve snuggles and licks and having our arrival at home be celebrated as the best thing to ever happen all day ever.

 Those first few days we found out that she would go do sleep if we swaddled her.

 Mostly she just always wanted to be near someone.

The outdoors were not her favorite.  Hopefully this will change as she gets older because Isaac has high hopes for a skijoring companion.

 She was a little unsure of other dogs.  Ada and Maggie, a fellow teacher's dog.

 And when walking she mostly just tried to step on our boots in an attempt to be carried.

 On the trail to the old airport after a good snow.

 One day we saw Ada's mom when returning from a walk.  I had only met her once, when we returned Ada, but I immediately knew her by her eyes.

Puppies are so much work.  This I knew from when Stella was a puppy.  With her I remember regretting the decision for a solid two months after I brought her home.  It was no different with Ada.  Constant attention, pee, food, pee, poop, pee, play, pee, poop, pee, pee, and repeat.  She has her own little behaviors that made me think what was I thinking?  But after a few weeks she was growing and we started to get to know each other more.

 And then one day I actually thought I kind of like having a dog again.  

 She brings some spunk into our lives and its nice.

 With Ada, I've been getting outside more.  Taking a walk in -7 degree weather is just another Tuesday.

 And she's growing.

 She's learning to sit and to stay.

She was a good choice.