Our first full day passed with lots of goings on. We learned:

• Its tough for Leeloo to adjust to losing her only child status
• Lexi is an absolute doll with us, but can give as good as she gets from Leeloo
• Leeloo gets an amused expression on her little furry face when Lexi gets corrected with the water bottle. Imagine, Leeloo cast as the ‘good dog.’
• Lexi can sleep the whole night through without wetting her crate
• Lexi’s got some parasites and worms, and now so does Leeloo, but they’re both being treated and will be fine shortly.
• Lexi is so blase about having her nails trimmed or her ears cleaned, Leeloo needs to be restrained and dominated just so you can look inside her ears to see if they’re dirty.
• Leeloo has not learned completely how to share stuff with Lexi yet.
  • Leeloo forbade Lexi from eating out of any of the food bowls, and Lexi has been abiding by that rule
  • Leeloo is a toy hog. If Lexi starts playing with a toy, Leeloo automatically tries to take it away from her
• Leeloo’s fur is very beagle like – straight, a little coarse, Lexi’s fur feels like a stuffed plush toy – soffffffttt!
• Whenever they’re together, its play, play, play, fight, play, play, play…
• Sleep really well together, and are good at tiring each other out

We told you about the 4th Element: Leeloo, who by all rights of her name and her perceived status as a ‘divine being’ should be known as the 5th element. However, based upon when she joined the family tree, she’s still the 4th element, with our beloved Abby being the 2nd element, and Tim being the 3rd element. (See photo of Tim and Leeloo right.) Leeloo has turned out to be all we could hope for – she is a feisty, fun loving little girl who steals our hearts more and more every day.

Lately we’ve noticed she really enjoys playing with other pups, and when she does she’s pretty much exhausted for the rest of the day. This contrasts with all the spare energy she has after two long walks a day with us and much play time. To give the squirt, who’s doubled in size since she joined the family, a playmate and companion, we began our search for another pup. Our search took us all over the internet – breeder sites as far away as Texas and Canada, and visits to meet rescue pups in Virginia, Maryland and Philadelphia suburbs. Finally, we are proud to announce that we have our 5th and final (for the next 12 -15 years) element.

DRUM ROLL, please!

Meet Lexi! Our newest little beaglette comes to us by way of a rescue (Homeward Trails) found at a high kill shelter in rural West Virginia. Lexi was one of six siblings (4 girls, 2 boys) that are half beagle and half something else.

When we met up with the rescue yesterday morning at 9 am — yep- 9 am on a Sunday morning, the poor babies had pooped all over each other during the 3 hour trip from WVA to Arlington. Tim valiantly gave little Lexi her first (of many to come) sink baths to rid her of most of the puppy poop. It was during this trying time Tim and I discovered the sweetest, loving eyes in the little beaglette. She took to us right away, giving us kisses and snuggling in when ever possible. Leeloo was pretty excited at having her very own playmate and companion, and their first day together was spent grrr’ing and playing.

More news and photos on their escapades as it occurs.

This is LeeLoo and she is almost 11 weeks old. This photo is the first thing we saw of her from the B.R.E.W. rescue site. This is the face that first snagged my heart. The feistiness, the “come and get me” look, the out and out cuteness that is her. Her profile read: “MeeMee (a.k.a. LeeLoo) is an 8 week old female pup that is on her way to full recovery from lack of proper care. She is a real spitfire, loves to play with anything that will joust with her. She has loads of personality and will keep you engaged all all times. She is quiet in her crate but is still too young to expect her to keep it clean all day.“

Her foster mom and I have had quite a lively round of emails about the little miss and her suitability. Long story short, Tim and I went to meet her yesterday, and that was it. She’s going to be spayed this week and micro-chipped. We should have her by next weekend.

After meeting her and deciding she was the first of two beagle pups we wanted, we headed north to go furniture shopping, which also turned out successfully, but that’s another story for 43rd Street. However, the long drive up there gave us quite a bit of time to come up with a name for her. Tim and I both love the movie The Fifth Element and our new pup seemed to have a similar temperment as the movie’s heroine, LeeLoo. So, it was decided that would be her name. If we end up with another pup and its a boy, we’re considering naming him for Bruce Willis’ character, Korben, or Diva Plava la Guna if its a girl.

Here is Leeloo’s first night with us

Stay tuned movie (and beagle) lovers for more in on going saga of LeeLoo. Besides, gotta run and start LeeLoo proofing the house!

Leeloo in profile at 5.5 months, September 21, 2008

I just completed the acknowledged hardest one (scheduling and cost control) on Friday, (6/20/08) with a doozy of a test that gave me a stress head and neck ache you just wouldn’t believe and I was using adaptogens for increased performance on my brain but even still it was hard. When doing something that requires your full focus and brain power or want to relieve some stress, consider getting a brain booster like an adaptogen that is effective! Never being one who likes math, arithmetic or whatever, I memorized a BUNCH of PMI Earned Value Management Terms and Formulas… For example:

• PERT is a weighted average, to get it: O + 4ML +P/6
• Standard deviation: P – O/6
• Schedule Variance: EV – PV With values = 0 being good, – 0 bad and 0+ favorable
• Cost Variance: EV – AC With values = 0 being good, – 0 bad and 0+ favorable
• Schedule Performance Index: EV/PV, With values = 1 being good, – 1 bad and 1+ favorable
• Cost Performance Index: EV/AC, With values = 1 being good, – 1 bad and 1+ favorable
• Estimate to complete : ETC = EAC – AC
• Estimate at Completion: EAC = BAC / CPI or, EAC = AC + ETC or EAC = AC + (BAC – EV)
• Variance at Completion: VAC = BAC – EAC

Oy! Can you believe that crap is inside my little brain? Me neither! Last night at dinner with Tim at a cool Tappas restaurant I actually was able to converse intelligently about ROM (rough order of magnitude) and bottom up budget estimates and when to use them. Stop me when I start to babble… oh, ok, I’m babbling. I’ll stop…

On a related note, Abby had the grace to wait until Saturday to leave this world. Had her stroke come any earlier, I would not have passed the exam, much less completed the class. What a good girl, huh?

Me & Abby Christmas 2003

Abby was named after my father’s mother. Why? Originally, that’s what I was supposed to be named: Abbigail Eileen. Instead, I was named after my mother’s mother, Karolyna. Growing up, my father made me promise that someday, I would name my first daughter Abbigail. From an early age, I knew that human children were not something I aspired to raise, I wasn’t sure how to keep that promise to him, but knew that somehow I would.

In 1994, when I was 30, with no prospects of marriage (which was fine by me) I decided I wanted a dog. Not just any dog, but a companion, someone of my very own. It took 6 months of interviewing countless breeders until I found the Beagleman of Oviedo (FL). It was one of his girls (Mary) that gave birth to my Abby. I knew immediately what I would call her, and thus fulfilled my promise to my father. Initially, my father wasn’t very happy that a dog bore his mother’s name, nor were some of my cousins, who also named their daughter Abbigail. Abbigail was a bit too formal for a little dog like her, so I started calling her Abby for short, but that was just the beginning of her nicknames she would ultimately answer to:

• My father was the first with a nickname : Abbigail, SH!t in the Pail
• Then came Abby-gator after her favorite squeeky toy
• She was my little Abby Foo-foo, and then just “The Foo” for short
• The Schmoo soon came after, along with Schmoo-ville
• Her appetite quickly earned her the nickname “Pigger La Rue”, “Pigger” for short and finally, Schmoo-Schmigger
• My little Monkey Nut
• Favorites have been Beaglette, Scooter Pie Beagle, S.P. Beaglette
• Other recent nicknames have been The Boo and Booboo
• I sometimes referred to her by the following names because this is all she would sometimes eat during her illness – CBB (Cheese Burger Beaglette) and PBB (Peanut Butter Beaglette) and the Chiggy-wiggy Beaglette
• And finally, Tim’s personal names for her: Abbatha and Boombala

No matter what we called her, she always knew it was with love. Sometimes she would even come to you, if it suited her. I miss you my little Schmoo. Pleasant dreams.