Brave Bandit!

We met up with some friends this morning at the Marymoor off-leash dog park.  Bandit got to hang out with Violet, Jack, and Blue.  Initially, we just couldn't entice Bandit to take to the water, even though he saw our friends' dogs happily frolicking and having a good time.  K and I waded in the water, and as I held our friends' treat bag, Bandit did get in!  No swimming, but he did walk around as fortunately the area we were in was relatively shallow.  This was a big step for Bandit!

Woo hoo, look at me!

Just one of the guys

Jack, Blue, and Violet (they also happen to be siblings from the same litter)

Romping with his friends in the fields

I'm So Tired ... In A Good Way

I started my new job on Monday.  Bandit's and my routines are completely different from what we'd been used to.  I had worked from home since 1998, so getting up at 5am to catch a 6:40am bus to get into Seattle and start my job at 7:15am is something I'm going to have to get used to.  Ordinarily, Bandit and I would have a lengthy morning or mid-morning walk at the local park.

Bandit is such a sweetheart in the morning.  I try to give him five minutes of playtime in the bed before I actually start getting ready for work.  The first two mornings he wouldn't eat his breakfast.  He's been used to eating anywhere between 7:30 and 8am.  However, yesterday morning and this morning he ate his breakfast like a trooper at 5:30am.  K gets home before I do and he has taken Bandit for some afternoon walks in the neighborhood.  And K works from home on Fridays, so Bandit's essentially home alone (with Simba, of course) for four days a week.

On Monday I was asked to start at 8:30am so I was able to get up and take Bandit for a 50-20 minute neighborhood walk before work.  But now that I get up at 5am, a morning walk just isn't in the cards.  I have taken him to the park after work and given us both a good pm workout. 

My one new co-worker with a thick Russian accent came to my desk yesterday and asked me, "N, are you a dog person?"  What a great icebreaker for two people who don't know each other!  "L" told me that she lost her dog exactly two years ago on August 4.  She had a poodle who lived to be 17!!  She's still not ready to get another dog. 

Bandit has been such a good boy.  No destruction of any kind or potty accidents.  I knew there wouldn't be a problem with potty accidents, but I'm still going to keep an eye out for bad behavior such as chewing or getting into things he shouldn't.  K and I are going to meet up with some friends at a dog park this coming Saturday, so Bandit will get to play with our friends' three dogs, and hopefully they'll entice him to try a little swimming.  The temperature is supposed to reach the nineties here this weekend!

I'm sorry I haven't been able to check out blogs lately like I'm used to.  Once I settle into a routine and I'm not so tired, I'm sure things will get back to normal, or a new semblance of normal.

I actually kind of enjoying riding the bus in the morning as it's a perfect time to read.  And now that I'm done with school I'm enjoying reading books for fun again!  K and I both read Anthony Bourdain's "Kitchen Confidential" during our vacation, and now we're both reading (separate sticky bookmarks) his current book that's a bestseller.  I'm almost done with it, and then I want to read that book that's been made into a movie that's coming out - the one starring Julia Roberts.  I think it's called Eat, Pray, Love.  I hope Costco has it for dirt-cheap.  The movie's supposed to be a huge, huge hit.

Goodbye, "M"

Last Sunday, K and Bandit and I drove up to Samish Island, Washington to drop M off at summer camp.  This is his ninth summer at the same camp (started as a third grader) and his first year as a "Counselor in Training."  He'll be gone a total of three weeks.  We had planned to pick him up for a weekend visit home after the second week, but we ended up picking him up this past weekend instead since all the regular counselors were leaving to attend a Mariners game.  The Mariners are Seattle's Major League Baseball team, and they're in the midst of one of their worst seasons ever.  Bandit was ecstatic to see M walk in the door yesterday!  They are good buddies and Bandit often lays with M while he's playing Xbox downstairs.  K and M are currently en route back up to camp.  We won't see him again until August 21st. 

As dogs aren't allowed on the camp grounds, even while checking in one's child, Bandit had to watch from the car.  "Goodbye, M!"

We saw several deer up on the island

We stopped for a photo op on the way home. Bandit looks a little bit sad. Maybe he's wondering why M's not with us.

Vintage Friday

Nine weeks old

My Sister Insisted I Do This

She directed me to this website to make funny things.  Here's Bandit the postal carrier.


Photo fun with Photomica


Photo fun with Photomica

I still like making things at Obamiconme.com

Vintage Friday

We have another "Vintage Friday" participant today!  Check out Bocci's picture at his blog.  Anyone who wants to is encouraged to participate!!

The above picture was taken at "The Grotto" at St. Edward Park.  The Grotto was an Eagle Scout project in the late eighties or nineties.  This part of the park can be reserved for private parties and weddings.  It's part of Bandit's and my regular loop through the park after we hike down to the lake and back up.

Running Free!

I was dismissed from jury duty so I came home and took Bandit to the off-leash dog park within Marymoor Park.  I tried to get him to swim a little or at least get his toes wet but he wasn't interested.  A lady at the park told me that if I bring him enough times and he's hot enough, he'll get in.

Bandit's not one to succumb to peer pressure

"This is the life!"

"Hey everybody, look at me!"

"I'm running free!"