This last week…

has mostly consisted of a number of school visits for me and making plans for going home.

We have decided to leave the last week in June and drive home. I’ll be going up to Texas to buy a car to drive back. It turns out buying a car in Mexico to take back to the states is prohibitively expensive, because it would not only need to meet US emission requirements but safety requirements too, which would mean rebuilding the bumpers or something.

Now that we have a plan - I am letting myself think about all my friends and my home and getting very excited to return. It will be very bittersweet leaving here. I have loved it so much - but plan to figure out ways to return.

Here are some pix of the week:

We discovered the fun of combining bubbles and puppies.

We had a party on Saturday and played a very fun intergenerational game of Werewolf.

There have been a number of parades - the people I have asked are not sure what the occasion is.

I spent a few days observing in sixth and first grade classrooms.

And got some nice pix on a walk down a nearby callejon.

It rained!!!! Finally!!!!!

The day we went camping….

Can you see the raindrops on the water?

We actually had a wonderful time. We had already had much of the afternoon at the site, swimming and frolicking, when it started thundering and lightninging and then raining. I was convinced it would pass quickly, because the only rain we have gotten here lately has lasted about 5 or 10 minutes. Luckily we had just got the tents set up and we huddled inside and waited it out. ( Though it did chase one of the families that we were with away.) It was actually pretty lovely and wonderful, but I was worried at one point that it would just keep raining and we would end up packing up and hauling everything out in the rain. That’s what would have happened in Oregon. It stopped after about an hour, and we all had dry clothes to change into. It was a chilly evening, but we had time to cook dinner before the sun went down. There were s’mores and guitar playing around the camp fire. I just kept thinking about all the fleece and gloves and hats I didn’t pack because it was 90 stinkin’ degrees as we were packing to go.

Butch did great. She loved being outside and finding sticks and horse poop. The next morning, as soon as the sun came up it was warm and then hot. We took a walk and took frequent dips before

we packed everything up and hauled it out again. Butch got out on a log and dove in to try to follow us, but made a hairpin turn in the water and ran right out. So cute.

More of little Butch Napper and where she got her name

Well, her second name anyway:

She does like to NAP!!

So a continuation of the story that led us to this moment- the Friends of Animals ladies just disappeared, the phone was disconnected and everything. So finally last week I went over to the neighbors to tell them that and that I was still interested in the puppy. She came running out, but the white one wasn’t there. She had been stolen because she was pure white. The fellow thought he knew who stole her, so he told us to come back in a week and if he could find her we could have the black one. I was planning to go by tonight. After my little afternoon nap I went out onto the balcony and the fellow was on his roof and he whistled at me to come over.

Here’s Mama Dog (Rasputina) a few days ago.

He looked so sad when we got there Mama Dog was very happy to see us, but the puppy was quite shy. We sat around for a bit and he told me that they couldn’t find the white puppy, but he wanted us to take the black one anyway - right away. She has huge paws and looks like she is going to be pretty big. So even though they like her, they decided it would be better to give her a good home, than it would be for them to have two big dogs. He even had a little bag of dog food ready for us. He decided not to get Mama Dog spayed yet so he can try again, for a white one, I guess. It was a sad farewell. I almost cried looking at his big sad face.

Butch is adjusting well so far - mostly sleeping and a little exploring and whining. I feel like I am covered with fleas, so we will do some basic maintenance and make some purchases tomorrow. I suppose a trip to the vet is on order as well. Yikes - what a big responsibility. But can you even stand how cute she is?

And handsome, yes?

Meet Butch Napper

We now have our own dog for our own balcony (we don’t have access to our rooftop.) Thanks all of you who sent puppy thoughts this way. Our neighbors just decided that we can have her and here she is in our house - all of a sudden. I have more to post but no time now, and some technical difficulties with the camera. Stay tuned.