Ears

Lewis P. Wellington has a nasty ear infection.   I noticed it right away and brought him to the vet, but it's since gotten worse. So today we upped the meds in the hope that he's feeling better soon.

There's a lesson in this for me.   Lewis is groomed every month by an excellent groomer.  She's been doing my dogs for 20+ years with very few problems, but unfortunately she is human.  It appears that she missed plucking the hair in one of Lewis' ears on the last groom.  One ear was good and hair-free, but the other (the one with the infection) had clumps of hair growing in it. 

The lesson for me, is that (as somebody who is learning to groom Gemma myself) ears are important!  You have to stay ahead of them - and apparently do them often -  or the dog suffers.

Ears are hard for me.  I'm scared I'll stab Gemma in the brain with the hemostat when she moves around, so I've been cleaning weekly and getting help from other groomers to do the plucking once every two or three weeks.   I think that after this, I'll work harder on getting more comfortable doing it myself, and keeping on top of it every week.

Stretch

It makes me happy that she hasn't grown out of this pose (yet).

Cold night in

It's -30C outside tonight, and predicted to get colder before it warms up.  If you need us, we'll be under a blanket on the couch, with a fire roaring.

Location scouting

Every week since Gemma came home, I take a picture of her with Lewis on the stairs of the back deck and post it on Facebook.  It's been fun to watch her grow from smaller than Lewis to 4 times his size, and now each picture shows her getting lighter and lighter in colour.

Unfortunately, the lighting is getting harder to deal with as winter settles in.  The sun is directly behind the stairs in the mornings, the light reflects off the snow and gives the pictures a blue tinge in the afternoon, and it's dark in the evenings.  So, I have been thinking about shooting the pictures in another spot.

I took this one last night.  It didn't work out so well - I had to use a filter to clean up the colour again because there was too much of a red tinge.

I swear, Apple used to let us adjust the white scale in pictures between blue and red, but now it just intensifies and reduces the colours.  I guess what this means is that using my cheap point and shoot camera or my iphone won't work.  I'll have to bust out the good camera, and make those adjustments before I take the shot.

Colour Changes

I'm learning about the poodle colour thing as I go here.  I can hardly picture her as a light dog, but I'm told that's what she'll become in the next year or so.  She's my third standard poodle, but my first two were black or blue.  (Tallulah was blue... which I didn't even know while she was alive.  Blue poodles get white/grey hairs mixed in with her black hair at about 3 years old... too young for it to be a reflection of their age, but they definitely have a sprinkle of grey worked into their black.)

Gemma is a silver standard poodle; a poodle that's born black but lightens up in their first year or two.  She's expected to be a platinum silver girl, which is the term used to describe a very light silver dog... hard to believe, considering how dark she is today.

I'd pay a lot of money to roll out of bed and have a head of hair that looks that good.  

Somehow, I've never managed to make my curls work for me.  They always seem to want to fight me.

And here's why they're called "silver" instead of just grey... they glow.

This is the poof around her ankle, which appears to be changing first.  

Right now, it looks medium-dark grey from the outside, but if you dig down to the skin it's getting a lot lighter.

17

Today, my "geriatric" cat decided he needed to go up.  And so he did.   9' up.

One of each

Winter the cat, napping in his pod.  (Black and White will cover a lot of flaws in photography.)

The view behind me today, as I worked...

And the wee beastie, trying to entice me to go for a walk at the end of the work day.

Sunbathing with Lewis

The Pod

Winter loves his "Pod".  The Pod is a tacky plastic footstool-ish thing that is designed to look like a knitted poof.  There's a bed inside with a cat/small dog sized entrance on one side.   Most importantly, it's poodle-proof.


Sort of.

Back again

Well, hello strangers.  It's me again.  I've been looking for a place to post photos for a while (I suspect people are getting sick of me posting so many on Facebook and Instagram hasn't clicked for me), so I figure I'll post pics here.  I expect there will be more pics of pets than nattering from me, but I do like to natter.

So... a quick summary of what's been going on...

• Same house.  Same job.  Same car.
• Single again... not looking.
• Winter is 17 years old and still believes he rules the world.
• Lewis is 3 1/2 now.  He's a super easy going, mellow dude that I think of as my little hippie.
• I lost Tallulah last year after she had a series of strokes.  It broke my heart, and thinking of her still makes me weepy.
• I couldn't live long without a poodle in my life so in July I adopted Gemma, a silver standard poodle.  She was born to be a therapy dog, which is what we are working towards.  

Gemma was born black, but will be a very light grey when she is mature.   She's really quite striking now with the silver face and feet and black body, but I can't wait to see how she turns out when she lightens up.

Lewis; my metrosexual boy.  He loves to be combed and groomed, so I'm growing his hair out to the show cut.  It isn't easy to keep a short white dog clean, but he's game to try.

My pictures of Winter have been archived, but I'm sure I'll have more to post soon. 

That's Enough

Believe me when I tell you that in this blog I have only touched on a small portion of the problems encountered with the basement room that I've been trying to have built this year.  It's been incredibly stressful, and the final straw was yesterday when the guy I was considering hiring to do the millwork deliberately kicked Lewis down the stairs.  I quit.  I need my life and my home to get back to Normal.  So, I've shoved an old armoire in front of the hole that was to be the hidden door, and I've hauled my old tiny desk to the new work space.

I'm going to call that good enough for now, and put off the wall of bookshelves/built in desk that I wanted for the foreseeable future.  I think that, as long as Alberta is in such a boom where it's so difficult to find good workers and reasonable human beings, I'd rather stay with the status quo than to risk having the sort of people I've been dealing with in my home.

And so, without further adieu, here are a few pictures of the finished part of the room.


The foyer at the bottom of the stairs
(Note the fancy cat hole beside the door that I made for Winter.)

The front of the room

... I still need to find a proper console to house the tv and its paraphernalia, and a coffee table... window coverings too.  But, it's done for now.

Behind the couch is the area that I'm going to pretend doesn't exist.  Instead of the wall of bookshelves and built-in desk, it's a 12' x 16' space with blank walls, mismatched furniture and a lot of frustration.  It'll have to do for now, because I'm done.

And on the note of being finished,  I think it's time to admit that this blog is also done.  It was fun while it lasted, and I thank you for reading my ramblings.  It's time, though, to wrap up and move on.

New Room

... no, this is not THE new room that I've been harping on for 6 months.  This particular room was put up by my new contractor in an afternoon, using left over materials.

I needed it because code requires that I have a fire break between the mechanicals (furnace/hot water tank) and the living area of the house.  Except, I don't want Winter's litter box in the finished part of the house.  I *could* have them finish the new room, and once it's passed inspection then cut a hole in one of the walls or doors so that Winter could get into the unfinished area, but it was suggested to me that if I did that and the house burned down, Insurance would have cause to deny my claim.  The walls that were put in today are walls that I'd planned to do some day anyway, so I decided to get it done now. Better safe than sorry.  When the door is installed tomorrow, I can cut a hole in the wall behind it and then Winter will have free (legal) access to his pooper.

PROGRESS!

Impulse Purchase

Tallulah has at five full-sized dog beds in the house.  All of them are big enough for her to stretch out on her own, or curl up with the wee beastie.  The two dogs often share beds, so it never occurred to me that Lewis might need or want his own bed.

I'm not sure what I was thinking last night  - this was a complete impulse purchase - but something tells me it's a hit.

These (quick - low quality) shots were taken at various times throughout the day today.

Apparently, Lewis wanted a bed of his own.

Half way there... and other random stuff

Last week, I was in Calgary to work though the third of six courses (exams) I have to take to earn my expert certification in ITIL.    The classes are dry as dirt, but I always come away with ideas for how to improve things at work.  I'm guessing that's the point.   That, and passing the exams to get the certificates.

I won't be going back for any more classes until spring arrives.  The drive to Calgary was awful - again -  with a heat wave rolling in after a big dump of snow.  I had to use my windshield wipers non-stop because of the dirty water spraying off the roads the entire drive, and ran out of wiper fluid about 3/4 of the way there.

Last summer, I had some skin cancer removed.  It's the less-scary variety of skin cancer that should be gone once it is cut out; except that mine keeps growing back.  What was a small mole is now a big scar across my collar bone.  I went to my doctor in December about new spots in the area, and he prescribed a cream to put on them.  Except, the cream costs $300/month.  Yesterday I went back to the doctor to ask for a less expensive option and he scheduled another appointment to do some more cutting Monday morning.   Dang, I have a lot of scars... I guess a few more won't matter.

My dad and I have been scrubbing the heck out of the tile floor in the basement.  We've been pouring vinegar on it, scrubbing the grout with a brush, then using a floor polisher before sucking it up with a wet vac and then rinsing off with water.  We've done this to the area twice... it took three hours both times.  Improvements have been good, but it's not there yet.

Burned Again

I haven't slept since Christmas Eve.  I can't.  I go to bed and stew, wake up multiple times throughout the night and stew, and am up stewing every morning at least an hour before the alarm goes off.

The reason why I am stewing is because of the basement.  On Christmas Eve, I finally received what I'd been asking for since October - a tally of the expenses to date.  I didn't really need that tally, because I had a quote for the entire job.  However, in October one of the subs told me something that made me feel suspicious.

The bill I received for the framing, drywall and electrical (which is still hasn't been fixed) exceeds the entire quote already.  It doesn't include tile, trim or the extensive millwork I was planning.  It also doesn't take into account that the tile is still covered in grout haze, which is curing (getting harder to fix) every day.

And let's remember that the job was supposed to have taken a month to six weeks - five and a half months ago.

Shortly after New Years, I went to see a lawyer to discuss my options.  He confirmed that the quote I was given is legally binding.  His recommendation is to have a trusted contractor come to give me a quote for how much the work that has been done is worth, less the cost of the corrections to the electrical and tile and pay that out.  It may be higher than the original quote, but it is unlikely to be nearly as high as what is being asked now.

I emailed the contractor yesterday to tell him his work at my house is at an end, and that I'd mail him a cheque once I had calculated what I owed.  I honestly don't know if he set out to take advantage of me, or if things just got out of control.  As he is the spouse of a coworker, I am hoping it is the latter.  Either way, he has caused huge problems for me.  Having somebody come in to take over - fix his mistakes - is going to cost a lot more than it would if he'd just done the job right the first time.

A friend's husband is a contractor.  He is one of the three that I interviewed before the job started.   I was leaning towards going with him, in fact; but his quote came in quite a bit higher than this one's.  I realize now it was a more accurate, honest reflection of what the job should cost.   He's on vacation right now, but has agreed to call me when he is back.  At this point, I suspect I'll just hire him to finish the room and get it up to code.  The millwork (the highlight of the room) will probably have to wait until I've recovered from this financial hit.

Happy New Year

May 2014 be a year of good friends, good times and good fortune for you.

If at first you don't succeed...

Assuming that the basement will eventually be finished one day, I'm going to want a TV down there.    At first, I was going to get one through Telus, when I switched over to them from Shaw for Internet/TV/Phone.  I quickly determined a free TV wasn't worth having to deal with Telus, though, so I bought one on Black Friday.

That TV came from BestBuy.com.  It was sold as a smart TV, but when it arrived I realized that it wasn't web enabled... was in fact only called smart because it had two USB ports. (!)  It took no less than - honest to God - four and a half hours on the phone to convince them to take the TV back and give me a full refund.

After that, I waited until Boxing Day to take advantage of the sales.  Since my experience with the last TV convinced me that Best Buy is not a store I want to support anymore, and options are limited if I don't want to drive to the big city, a friend told me about her nephew that works in an electronic store that could probably get me a deal.  So, I woke up early on Boxing Day and went out to meet the nephew.  He didn't get me any huge savings, but the price was slightly lower than anything else I'd seen until then.   I bought the TV, hauled it home and set it up.

Yesterday, I was at Costco and saw that they had the same TVs, only bigger and $60 cheaper.  I went home and called a friend who helped me load the Boxing Day TV back into the car and return it, then drive out to Costco, pick up the new one and take it home.  The Costco TV is in my spare room and still in its box.  I probably should set it up today so that I can test it out and make sure it works before the return period is up.  After having set up and disassembled so many TVs, it shouldn't take me too long but I am having trouble finding the energy.  One thing's for sure - this is the last TV that I'll be buying anytime soon.

Thankful

On Christmas Eve, I had to run home briefly to let the dogs outside.  My nieces asked to come along, and Lewis was incredibly excited to see them.  We all went out to the back yard to give him a chance to run, but since he was so excited to see the girls and they weren't dressed for the snow, we ended up coming back in right away.  A few minutes later, we gave the dogs treats to tie them over and went back to the party.

When I came home a little while later, the dogs greeted me at the front door and I think I saw Winter.  I took off my coat and boots, and walked towards the back of the house to let the dogs out.  That's when I realized the back door was wide open.  And, by open, I don't mean unlocked.  It was blowing in the breeze and letting anybody that chose to either come or go.

It took a little while for this to register, so I was already out back with the dogs before I clued in to how bad that open door could be.  I left the dogs in their pen and came back in.  I'd thought I'd seen Winter when I came in -he almost always greets me when I come home- but I needed to confirm that he was still around.   Winter has been an indoor cat his entire life, and while he can be trusted not to dash out the doors when they are open briefly, this was pushing my luck.  He was still inside...  or possibly inside again.

Every year I hear stories of people's homes being broken into over the holidays while they are out celebrating.  Honestly, I was so relieved that all three of the pets were safely inside that I didn't even bother checking the house or looking for items that may have been stolen.

Whew

A representative came around today to check out the tile with the wrong coloured grout on the newly tiled basement floors.  It's white, and is supposed to be dark brown.  She confirmed that the problem is caused by crystals that are produced when too much water is used to wash the grout off of the tiles after it is applied.  She did a spot check and luckily a diluted acid removed the crystals, leaving the grout in the colour I wanted, so they won't have to rip anything out and replace it.  No word on when they'll be around to do the cleaning, though.

In other news, I was told today that my couch will be arriving ahead of schedule.  It should be here by the end of January... whether the basement will be ready for it remains to be seen.

Training

Lewis P Wellington and I had our first session with the trainer.  She was nice, and I liked the way her focus was on looking for behaviour I'd find acceptable vs perfection.  (eg - All I need is for him to walk on a loose leash beside me, rather than demanding a perfect heel to my left.)

As expected, Lewis was a little over eager when it came to the possibility of getting Treats.  We only had to ask for and reward a behaviour two or three times before he started offering it... you'd think I never fed the dang puppy.  It's kind of hard to practice recall when he won't move more than 2 feet from me when I have food, so we worked together.  We ran around the basement and called him back and forth between us, celebrating and rewarding each time.  For practice this week I'm to get a 30' line and take him out to a park so that he (hopefully) gets distracted from the food in my pockets and wanders far enough from me that I can call him back.

When I first contacted her, I said a priority was teaching Lewis to LeaveTheCatAlone!   He's been getting a lot better, but as the trainer left she declared that we had work to do on that and would be focusing on it next week.