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My pictures of Winter have been archived, but I'm sure I'll have more to post soon.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