We are well into summer here.  The monsoon rains have turned everything green and the wild grasses are getting tall.  The humidity eased off a bit for a couple of days this week.  Today it is back and the clouds are piling up over the mountains.  I expect we will get more storms later today.

I got 2 new books this week from Amazon.  The first one is Sheepish by Catherine Friend.  The second is Navajo Shepherd and Weaver by Gladys A. Reichard, first published in 1936.  I ordered these with the wild idea that I might get some Navajo-Churro sheep to raise and shear.  Since some time has passed and my friends and family have declined to support this idea, I too have given up the idea of ever getting any more farm animals or livestock.  I will have to be content with my 3 alpacas, 17 chickens, 2 ducks, 2 cats and one huge white dog.  I will read the books though, as they look very interesting and reading will help keep the Alzheimer's at bay.

I did find a puppy in the Arizona Star Newspaper that I could not resist however.  I saw the ad and couldn't wait for Steve to get home.  I was afraid the pups would all be sold.  Fortunately for me, only one of the 2 pups that I was interested in had been sold.  The other one, a male, was still available.  So at 5 pm on Wednesday, July 24th, we drove into Tucson and met our pup.  We stopped at our daughter's house on the way home to show him off.  Then we had to stop for some dinner.  We finally got home about 8pm.  I expected to be up all night with the pup.  I was up all night but only about 2 hours was because of the pup.  He settled down fairly quickly in his new crate.  I, however, tossed and turned all night because of eating lousy food at 830 at night!  Yikes!

Our pup is a registered "Olde English Bulldogge."  It is a rare breed and fairly new.  A man in Pennsylvania in 1970 wanted to get back the old time bull baiting bulldog of the 1800's without the aggressive tendencies needed for bull-baiting, but with a personality of a companion dog and without the genetic problems of the modern English Bulldog.  Most modern English Bulldogs have to be delivered by Cesarian section because of their huge heads.  Our pup and his siblings, there were 11 of them, have smaller heads and can be born naturally.  The "Olde English Bulldogge" is a combination of English Bulldogs, Mastiff and a couple of other breeds.  Our pup will grow to about 16 inches tall at the shoulder and weigh about 50 pounds or more.  He is very mellow so far.  He does chew things but seems to be content to sit or lay at my feet while he's tearing things up.  He will chase a ball and bring it straight back to me, but he does not seem to be hyper active like most puppies tend to be.  I think he will be a great dog for us as we age.  But I tell you what!  It is almost like having a new baby in the house!  I have to watch him every second that he is not in his crate to prevent potty mishaps and chewing up the wrong things.  He has been good about learning to "go to bed", meaning going into his crate, and mostly going outside to potty.  But he is only 10 weeks old, so it will be awhile before the potty thing is conquered and I can trust him indoors.  I keep reminding myself that puppyhood is short and soon I will have another lazy companion who is content to sleep at my feet or follow me around all day!  It is going to be a long year!  But how could I resist that face?