Pupperdoo

 

Meet Gideon Wolverine -- our newest adventure. A maltipoo puppy, born February 11th. After years and years and years of not being able to have a dog due to severe allergies, we discovered that there are hypoallergenic puppies! 

What does it mean if something is hypoallergenic?  If you have allergies, you likely look for products marked “hypoallergenic” to avoid triggering an allergic reaction. Hypoallergenic means a product contains few allergy-producing substances known as allergens. link

Having spent many nights and days in the emergency room, including celebrating New Year's 

Eve 1999-2000 listening to the nurses and doctors celebrate the turn of the century, I have learned to avoid dogs completely. Suddenly, a whole new pupper world has opened up.

While searching for a puppy to start our adventure, we started with a google search. This is the point at which a remind people to beware of puppy SCAMS! We were very close to being a victim of this ruse. So excited to becoming puppy owners, we bit on a scam site offer. https: //ihearts family .com/

Beware of this site, they are STILL selling the same 'nine week old' puppies as we looked at a month ago. Photos on this site were taken before these puppies could have even been born. 

Tips to avoiding puppy scams.

1.  If they are asking for money with no personal contact. STOP and think about that. Are you really willing to send hundreds or thousands of $$$ off site unseen? 

2. Puppies are too available. Real puppy breeders have waiting lists! 

3. Meet in person...don't bring money with the first day. 

4. True breeders should be as concerned about your ability to take good care of the puppy as you are concerned about getting a good dog. 

When we first brought Gideon home, we searched for information on raising dogs. First we looked on Audible, mainly because I have available credits. I picked out the Audible book, Maltipoo Bible and Maltipoos.  Sadly, I was not very happy with this choice. There is too much emphasis on what can go wrong, including illness and puppies impending death.  

After that disappointment, I searched for the best dog book. What came up was 

Zak George’s Dog Training Revolution  link. 

Both a book and series of youtube videos, this audio book is currently free on Audible. It is being sold on Amazon in physical book form for $19.99. So very much a better read than our first attempt.

In amongst learning about our new furry family member, leases, potty pads, treats! and poop bags, we set up an appointment at our chosen Vet. In our case it is Euclid Veterinary Hospital  in Ontario. Being concerned about the incredibly infectious Parvo, we are required to wait for over to 2 weeks after the puppy arrives before we can have him in for his first visit.  

Parvo is the canine parvovirus (CPV) infection, and it is a highly contagious viral disease in dogs. There are two different forms that this disease can take. The most common type is the intestinal form. This has symptoms such as diarrhea, vomiting, lack of appetite, and weight loss.

Vaccination card in hand, his first visit is successful! Be sure to get vaccination information when purchasing your puppy!  Gideon's next appointment is already set for three weeks from now. More vaccinations to keep him healthy. 

We have serious puppy training to do! SIT is going well! Everything else, including potty train has had its ups and downs. He has been very picky about his puppy treats, preferring cat treats over dog ones. Keeping this in mind, we ordered the puppy treats Zak George speaks of in salmon flavor. A nod to his cat siblings. After a few days, he is finally responding to these little nuggets. 

One of the most important things we have discovered is YES, he is hypoallergenic enough to be a pleasant addition to our little family.

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Making Quilts for Baby

Starting up in Livermore and finishing down here, I made this quilt similar to the one I made for Thomas thirty years ago.

Yup, my ironing board is a board. 

Making a baby quilt for her sister, Natalie learning to sew, cut squares and quilt all at the same time. #adulting Starting with picking out the fabric, she created the entire 'Trip Around the World' quilt by herself. Just a few hints and helps from me along the way.

Even though I have a nice craft area, with husband working from home these days, sometimes the bedroom has to suffice.

I purchased the forest animals paper piecing quilt pattern from Annie's Catalog. It has a lot of really cute animals, but I needed to have a bear, so I created the design to match with the ones I purchased.

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Shower for the future baby bear!

 

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Tourist Time 2022 Reprise

In all the time we lived up in the Bay Area, we never had time to visit most of our favorite spots on those few occasions when we did drive down to visit. Katy coming to visit less than a month after we arrived helped to jumpstart our trips to the wonderous places.

 Victoria Gardens

After arriving a day late and a couple suitcases short, we take a quick trip back to Ontario Airport to check on that luggage situation. Nope...not there yet. Apparently, Katy's clothes are still enjoying their side trip to Nashville. Snow is smothering the Midwest and East Coast, yet, here we are sunshiny and lower 60s for temperatures. 

Early in that first day, we take Katy down to Ontario Mills Outlet Center. Thank goodness the pre-Christmas crowds have dissipated. Just a couple of weeks ago, there were long lines outside most stores. People waiting forever just to begin shopping. Then, to top off the day, we went out to Victoria Gardens for ice cream. I was hoping their Christmas tree would still be up, but by January 5th it was gone. 😞

Sake 2 Me

On our second trip to Sake 2 Me in a month, we met up with Tessa and Adam. It has been years since these three sisters were all together. 💖

Chinatown -- Los Angeles

As weekend number one rolls around, we head to Los Angeles to visit Chinatown. Always beautiful, it is sad to see how many of the tiny shops have not survived the Coronavirus. We parked in our normal parking lot, up near the Twin Dragon Gate  and walked down to the Chinatown Central Plaza. In and out of a few shops for some small trinkets and a stop at the Wonder Bakery for almond cookies and butterfly pastries.

Farmer's Market -- The Grove

We finish up the day at The Grove. Just blocks away from Thomas and Zach's old apartment, it is bittersweet to be there without them. Dinner at The Original Farmer's Market, and we head back home.

 

On Sunday, we spend the day at the beach! We walk the sands near Balboa Pier. After having pizza in the Balboa Fun Zone, we ride the ferry over to Balboa Island. Finally, we sit down back into sands at the beach and watch the sunset over the water.

Newport Beach

Natalie's Birthday -- Tessa and Adam's place

Mid week, we celebrate Natalie's birthday at Tessa and Adam's place. They moved into their new place three weeks after we came back to SoCal. This is the first time we have seen their sweet new home. We bought dinner at Buca Di Beppo, just blocks from where they live and ate in their brand new dining room. 

Disneyland

No visit with Katy is ever complete without a trip to the Happiest Place on Earth. Blue milk in Galaxy's Edge, Beignets at New Orleans Square and pizza at Naples Ristorante. It was a delicious day!

 

Fast forwarding to weekend #two, we find ourselves at San Diego Bay on Tsunami Day! A volcanic eruption in Tonga caused all of the beaches from San Diego up through the Bay Area to be closed due the possibility of a tsunami. Add some rain, and the day was interesting. 

We toured through the Maritime Museum of San Diego. A fascinating place that I would be sure to visit again. We were told that the Soviet B-39 Submarine that we saw was due to be taken out and sunk within the next couple of weeks. In amongst the ship we were able to walk through was the ship used in the filming of the movie, "Master and Commander" with Russell Crowe. There were several photos posted around the ship to show movie scenes. 

Intending to show Katy the humungous statue of the kissing couple, the rain and tsunami threat had us pointing out the statue as we drove by when leaving. We finished off the day with food, of course! We met Natalie's friend, Nicole and had pizza at Pizza Nova down on the Bay. 

San Diego

Our last big adventure during Katy's trip was a visit to Universal Studios Hollywood. We had butter bear to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, got soaked on the Jurassic World ride, has a face to face encounter with Blue and watched the water burn at the Water World show. We also got wet at the show!

Universal Studios

 

Venice Canals

A few days after Katy flew home, we drove down to visit the Venice Canals. One of my favorite places of all to go, I didn't even know these canals existed until seeing them in the movie, "Valentine's Day". At lastly, we walked out to the end of the Venice Beach Pier for the very first time. In all of our trips to Venice Beach through the years, we had never actually walk out onto the pier.

The pier at Venice Beach

Our first month-plus back in the Southland was busy, busy, busy. It is great to be home!

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