It's Not Halloween Yet

Sorry it's been so long between posts but it is October after all. And everyone knows October first always marks the start of Halloween decorating season. The beginning of the month started with temperatures in the 80's. That was just too hot. I got the ghoulish gear out of the attic but had to wait for more seasonal weather to start transforming the yard.
Then, overnight, our temps dropped to 40's and 50's. Now I was ready. Unfortunately, Mother Nature still wanted to challenge me. As soon as the temps got to the 50's, the wind increased to the 50's too. At least it felt like 50mph. So now my orange lights are tangled and falling off the trees. Styrofoam tombstones are threatening to blow away.
I've got one more week to stake, hang and plug in before All Hallow's Eve. If the wind doesn't take everything away before then, I'll post some pictures.



Meanwhile, our new puppy Ruby has been helping around the house as well. She is now seven months old and is really excited for Halloween. Honestly, she is really excited for everything. She likes to chew her toys. She likes to chase balls. She especially likes to be chased. Which is why she is still on a leash when outside. She got away from us outside a few times which resulted in a chase three neighbors over. She has trained us to get the treat bag and kneel in the grass until she decides to stop running circles around us and get her treat.
She answers to her name. She just doesn't answer to 'come'. She has also obtained many names which may be confusing her.
Along with the name Ruby, she has also heard the names,
Ruby Duby
Ruby Doobs
Rubes
Ruby Dooby Doo
Ruby Tuesday
Ruby Begonia (That's from Grampa Gary)
Ruby Poo
Ruby Boo
And any other cutsie bootsie name that rhymes with ooby you can think of.
In addition to playing with her toys, she also likes to play games with us.

When she isn't playing or playing games with us, she likes to hang out under the couch. She will scooch her puppy butt underneath and peek out with her little black eyes.

She also likes to torment her cousin Rosie by taking her toys and then jumping on her face.


So far Ruby is working out to be a pretty good puppy. We often compare her unfairly to our previous puppy, Liberty. I'm not sure if she will ever measure up to Liberty. Liberty set the bar pretty high. Although, I think our memory of Liberty's first few years are a little fuzzy when it comes to her puppy naughtiness. We tend to compare Ruby now to Liberty when she was ten years old or so. When we could let Liberty run around the yard and not worry about her coming back or getting into something she shouldn't.

One thing Ruby does that is reminiscent of Liberty is her napping. For some reason, Ruby at seven months, will actually take multiple naps throughout the day. I don't think Liberty left us alone for a minute her first few years.
So, I guess, Ruby isn't too bad after all. We can probably be patient enough to see how she turns out in the next fifteen years or so.

In case you're wondering, yes we still have two kids. Just because I don't mention them in every post, doesn't mean they aren't doing something interesting too. Once I find where they are I'll ask them what they have been up to.