Learning to Make Nice

Oh, how the weeks fly by. I can't believe it's already been almost a month since my last post. I was doing really well posting fairly often, but if the last few weeks have been as busy for you all as they have been for us you know why I haven't posted.
I'll pick up where I left off...
First of all, I've been working a lot of weekend days recently, so that's a major factor in how often I blog. The weekend of November 15 & 16 I attended the California Library Association Annual Conference in San Jose. It was nice to have the conference so close. I just took the bus downtown in the morning and back in the evening. I went to several really good workshops and was able to reconnect with some colleagues I hadn't seen in a few years, including JoAnn Bauer, the librarian I worked with at the Humboldt County Library. However, it did consume my whole weekend!
The next weekend was busy too. Since I was working on Sunday I had to squeeze all of my weekend errands (and some fun) into Saturday. We started out the morning by having a training session at our house with Clark's trainer Amelia. We wanted her to come demonstrate for us how to introduce Clark to visitors coming to our house since we would be having 12 people coming for Thanksgiving dinner. For those of you who don't know, Clark has some problems with strangers, not just in our house but in general. We're not sure if it's because he was a stray when he was a puppy or if it's just his personality. But he's scared of strangers and shows his fear with aggression- barking loudly and generally looking scary. Amelia showed us some good techniques for introducing him to strangers, and he actually did a really good job on Thanksgiving. It will take a lot more work to get him to the point where he's comfortable with strangers, but I think we'll get there. Clark is a really smart dog and a fast learner. Here's a recent picture of him with his best buddy Logan: The day before Thanksgiving Logan's dad and stepmom arrived to spend the holiday with us. Clark had met them in July when they visited and he took to them well. He really enjoyed having them stay with us again- to the point that he wanted to sit in their laps all weekend! (He has a habit of yawning with excitement often when I snap pictures.)

Logan cooked another perfect turkey this year (or so I am told, since I don't eat turkey!) Since 13 people would be eating the turkey we had a 22 pounder. Here's our friend Heather making friends with Clark. Cooked chicken works wonders! (In case you're wondering, Clark is wearing a muzzle. Amelia suggested it so that we won't be worried that Clark will snap at someone if he gets really stressed during training. He doesn't seem to mind it much since wearing it means he gets chicken- a very special treat.) It always gets crowded in the kitchen just before dinner is served, with the last-minute preparations. Here my mom and Katie help me finish the cooking: Clark finally relaxed enough to lay down in the kitchen before dinner (I think he was waiting for some turkey to fall on the floor.) Despite the fact that we have a small house we're able to fit 14 people comfortably for dinner. We just push the sofa forward and add another long folding table. Dinner was yummy! Clark was a really good boy during dinner. I took his muzzle off and gave him a big treat to chew on. The next day we relaxed. We took Clark to the dog park to play for a while and then spent the afternoon and evening at home. Clark took his favorite spot perched on the back of the sofa and enjoyed a nap while Richard and Sue watched TV.

I had to work on Saturday but on Sunday we drove up into the Santa Cruz mountains with my parents and Katie to cut down our Christmas tree. This will be Clark's first Christmas with us, and he had a fantastic time running up and down the hill at the tree farm. He is so fast! Here he runs up the hill toward Katie:
Whew! He was tired out after all that running around, and his long tongue proves it:

After the trees were tied to the top of my dad's new XTerra we tried to get a family photo for our Christmas cards. "Tried" being the operative word. It took a while for us to get Clark to sit still! Here is take one:
And take two:
He finally did sit still, and we got a really nice, very professional-looking photo. (Thanks, Katie!) But you'll have to wait to see the winning photo until you receive our Christmas card.
Dad was kind enough to deliver our tree to our house later in the afternoon. He really enjoys driving his XTerra around:
While Logan and Dad unloaded our tree I took this photo looking up at the tree in our front yard. The sky was so blue in the background behind the red leaves of the tree:
We put the tree up that evening and decorated it the next night after I got home from work. We always put our tree in front of the living room window, which means that we have to move our green armchair into the corner. Which means that Clark can't sit in the chair to look out the window for the whole month. But I suppose he'll live...
Here are Clark and Logan looking cute...again:
Clark wasn't quite sure about the tree at first. He kept staring at it. He stares at it even more when Logan starts up the train that runs around the base of the tree!
Clark cautiously leaned out to smell the tree when he finally got brave enough. Luckily he hasn't decided to pee on the tree, drink the tree water, or steal/eat any ornaments. He's really a very good boy.
That's all for this time. I plan to update again soon since there should be some exciting holiday events happening in the next few weeks.