Preparing for the new bundle of joy.

I was better prepared for a new dog, but Rocco still surprised me.  He is a savage compared to Sparky.

This used to happen to me at the start of every school year.  I knew what to say and do, but the students seemed dull and not very bright.  They had mediocre brains and mediocre personalities. 

It wasn’t their fault.  I was comparing students who were coming off of summer break and coming out of Chemistry, with students who I’d worked with for 9 months.  By May, they knew me and they knew physics.  I liked them.

Rocco will be fine, but it will take time.

The house was set up for him in advance.  The idea is to keep Rocco in the solarium until he proves himself.

Those are spare Gladiator wall panels left over from doing the old garage walls.  Rocco could clear them if he wanted, but he hasn’t yet.

The bins on the couch are to keep Rocco from getting any ideas about hopping up on the furniture.   The only cushioned place for him to lie down is in his crate.  That’s supposed to get him to like it in there.

This is an admittedly half-assed way to block this door out of the kitchen.

There is a gallon jug of water in the trash can to act as ballast.  Rocco was skeptical about this barrier, but he’s stopped trying to go through or over.

I need to get in and out easily because we may be living like this for weeks.  A temporary hinged door was added to the other kitchen entry.

A pet gate could have gone here, but I didn’t want to go looking for one and had parts on hand.  I could have ordered one from Amazon, but I’m glad I didn’t.  UPS wasn’t able to deliver Rocco’s bigger crate because the driver figured there was too much snow in the driveway.

I don’t know what happens with his new crate.  On Amazon, it says that a delivery attempt was made, but no instructions for when another attempt would be made or if I can pick it up somewhere.

I set this up a day early, so Sparky could get used to it before Rocco arrived.

After Rocco arrived, I added the small table to hold the laptop and monitor from the camper as shown on the photo at the top of the page.  Rocco needs me to be in there with him, and there isn’t much to do without a computer.

When I picked up Sparky from his orphanage, my sister drove so that Sparky could be on my lap, getting constant attention.  With Rocco, I just chucked him in his crate, and he was fine.

Rocco seemed pretty happy to look out the window.

Occasionally, I’d call his name, and pass him a treat through the bars.  I think that helped him get the idea about his name.  I’m not sold on his name.  Rusty and Rosco are starting to sound better.

Why shouldn’t he be happy?  The orphanage he was pulled out of, was filled with bully boys and thugs.