Tuesday - 4th day with the new puppy

Having a puppy is harder than I remembered. I have no idea how I did it alone, with no fenced yard, moving three times the first month. No wonder Odin turned out to be so chill - he had already experienced everything by the time he was 9 weeks old.
Also, memory is fallible. I swore up and down Odin had three accidents, total, in his entire life. Then I opened his puppy book, and lo and behold, he peed out of spite, he peed when I wasn't looking, sometimes he peed in the house twice in a day. Up until almost four months old! I remember the torn up books, couch, chair, magazines, newspapers (a good use for a used Stranger), but not the accidents, biting, yelping, and all the other bad things only other dogs did.
I worked from home today, and we finally had a sunny, warm day (goodbye 50's, hello 70's) and so we got to sit outside in the yard, where Betel walked up to Odin, Odin growled, Betel walked away, Betel waited 10 minutes, walked up to Odin, Odin growled, Betel walked away. Repeat about 200 times and you'll have a good idea of what my day was like. That and me roasting in the sun with anemic-winter skin. It was a blast.
Then we went to the barn and my trainer drove Kevin around in the cart, which is totally awesome. As best I can tell, like other sports, what appeals to me about it is: the cart bounces and you get thrown around (surfing, falling) and there are lots of clanky noises and the smell of leather (climbing, regular riding, sailing). So it pretty much fits the bill for all my favorite sports, except you get to spend most of the time sitting on your butt. Betel got to watch, and he is definitely far more energetic than he was 3 days ago. Now I have to run to catch him before he gets in trouble.
The boring, but reason I started the blog: Betel eats about 1 cup of food a day. That doesn't seem like enough to me, but he's little. Odin only eats 3 now (with all sorts of old dog additives - herbs and horse joint medicine), but at the apex of his growth, he ate about 10 cups a day. Betel drinks a lot, and had no accidents today. He is biting a lot, and has little bursts of independence and then frantic running towards you with that ecstatic puppy look on his face. He has the fat little milk belly and the good puppy breath. His hair is a lot lighter than Odin's, so he looks sort of like an old man to me, whose scalp shows through.
I made a backpack for our routine which starts tomorrow. The backpack has a water bottle, two bowls (one for food, one for water), food, dog biscuits, pig ears, a jar of treats, a towel, and shortly after I finish typing, a leash and some 'biners to keep everyone together. I got a baby carrier at the used baby store, but he doesn't fit in it very well, so I don't think it will be useful. Plus, I feel stupid carrying him on my chest, like I am in the "desperate to have a child" category. Especially when he's wearing his sweater, which is only because his hair is short and he gets cold, not because I think he looks funny and cute in a sweater.
The parking garage where I work is about 50 degrees, and my plan is to get up early, wear him out, take a long lunch break, wear him out again, and give him a late afternoon bathroom, stretch-his-legs break. It's not ideal, but it's too cold to leave him in the dog room with the door open to the cat cage (which is basically an enclosed cat run, to make sure our neighbors don't think we're high class - we had to do it after the schizophrenic neighbor took Watanabe to the pound). Poor Odin will make the sacrifice of sitting in the car until mid-June when Orion arrives. Then the two boys will be in there together and in July I think I can start leaving them in the cat cage/dog room and coming home at lunch. I'm super stressed about only being able to work 8 hours a day with all the dog breaks.
According to the Odin bible, the first four months are the killer months. Then again, the Odin bible quits at the end of the fourth month, so my only basis for saying that is I quit writing "what am I doing wrong?" and start writing "my dog is great!"
Here's some more photos: the cats (gray=Echo, b&w kitten=Bellatrix, b&w fat cat=Watanabe); Quilliam; and Mercury, the wonder horse.
I'll do more photos soon (the new skylight, the raised garden bed, more adorable photos of Betel) and more highlights from Odin's wonderful puppy years.