Slowly but surely

I'm getting the painting done slowly but surely. I've got the half bath done except for the baseboards, a bit more of the window trim, and a couple little touch-ups. It's so pretty, I just love it.






So much nicer than the flat grey-beige with white trim that was in there before. When I get the floor cleaned up, and touch up one spot where the floor paint peeled off the wood filler below it, I'll try to get a pic of the whole thing - walls, trim, and floor - all together.

I picked a paint color for the living room walls, and painted a test patch to see how it would look. It's a little lighter than I thought it would be, but part of that might just be the spot I painted. It doesn't get a lot of light, either natural or artificial, in that spot. I thought about taking it back to the store and having them add the tint necessary to get the next darker color on the paint chip, and I still might do that. Or I might just go with it as it is - I don't want to go too dark or it'll make the rooms smaller. I'm going to use the same paint on two walls of the dining room, and swap trim and wall colors on the other two dining room walls. You can't really tell the color from the following pic, but it's a pale pinky-peach. I've picked a pale minty-green for the trim/2 dining room walls, and I think I'm going to go with a medium brown with just a hint of red called Cedar Plank for the floors.



Test patch in the living room
I picked up some 10-gallon storage tubs for the tomatoes I'm going to grow outside the garden. I just need to pick up potting soil for them, and I'll be ready to put tomato plants out. We're still getting frost warnings - there's one issued for tonight - so I haven't put anything out yet. Actually, I haven't even tilled the garden yet. I'll be a week or so late getting everything in. So what else is new?

The grass got horridly long because of all the rain we had earlier in the month. I can't get my lawnmower started by myself, I'm just not strong enough to pull the cord hard enough to get it started. (Even my stronger sis had a hard time getting it started last year.) So, as much as I hate to spend the money, I put up an ad on the bulletin board at the little grocery store in the village for yard help. I got a call from a very nice young man who came this morning. It seems my mower deteriorated over the winter, he worked with it and could get it started, but couldn't keep it going. So he went and borrowed his dad's mower, and he's out there now cutting my grass. We agreed on $10 an hour and this first cut's going to run me $40 because the grass is knee-high already, but after this it should only run me $20 each time he comes. He's a good kid, a hard worker, he's doing a better job than I would, and he's saving me days of aches and pains from doing it myself, so I think it's going to be worth it to have him come do this, and perhaps some other yard work, for me.

I lost a rescue pup to parvo this week. Poor little guy was pulled from a shelter last Thursday, got transported on Saturday and Sunday, got sick Monday morning, and died on Tuesday. Such a heartbreaker. And what a truly awful disease. I've been so lucky in my rescue efforts, I've never had to deal with parvo before. And I hope to doG I never have to deal with it again. Not only is it heartbreaking to watch a pup keep getting sicker, it's an awful lot of work. In just 32 hours I went through a jumbo roll of paper towels cleaning up gelatinous vomit and bloody stools, and filled an empty 40-pound dog food bag with paper towels and newspapers. And after he passed, I used so much bleach scouring my bathroom, bowls, crate, and anything else he touched that even 48 hours later I can still smell it. I probably overdid it a little, but I just don't want to take a chance that I missed something. I've got the already-bleached crate and the bowls out baking in the sun (ultraviolet light kills the parvovirus) just for good measure. I think I'm going to pry off the shoe molding on at least a couple of the bathroom walls, so I can bleach underneath/behind it. None of the diarrhea was anywhere near the walls but some of the vomit was, and though it's likely the virus was shed only in the feces, I don't want to take any chances. And if I get in any unvaccinated puppies in the next 6 months, they're going to be quarantined somewhere other than my bathroom. I was very careful not to track anything out of the bathroom - I even stepped out of my shoes (Crocs) as I left there and stepped from my shoes to the floor outside the bathroom so as not to bring anything out. Afterward, I bleached the shoes, too.

I've had the beagle/fox hound pups up on petfinder a little over a week without any interest and I was starting to worry that I might have them longer than I thought I would, but I got a couple of inquiries today (an application request for Scarlet, an inquiry on Chance), and a request for an application for Ernie the Shih Tzu. So, we'll see what the apps look like. These pups are very sweet, and have come around beautifully. They're not shy any more, they're attention hogs now. Sydney is a big-time cuddler, he'd rather be on my lap than anywhere else. (Don't tell anyone, but Syd's my favorite of the 4.) Scarlet's sweet but she's one tough little cookie, doesn't take any guff from anyone, period. If another dog even dares look at the toy she's playing with or the rawhide chip she's working on, she really gives them what-for. I've had to correct her for it more than once. A little finger-tap on the nose with "oh no, missy, that's not acceptable here!"

Rosie the Borg dog is cute, but she's a little stinker. Stubborn and sneaky. She got out into the yard with the big dogs today and I couldn't get her back in. I warned her if she messed with Nellie she was going to get herself a good thrashing. But it's been a couple of hours and she hasn't gotten herself beat up yet, and it's been quieter on the patio without her there, so if she and Nellie continue to be congenial I think I'll let her out into the big yard more often. She can get a lot more exercise out there, and that can only result in her being quieter and easier to get along with inside.

Ginger the Papillon is gradually coming around. Last night she took some spaghetti from my fingers, and came back looking for more. Even put her front feet up on my leg, asking for more. She still doesn't want me to touch her when I'm upright, but enjoys having her ears rubbed and her tummy tickled when she's on the bed and I'm lying down. I'm hoping that getting spayed will help, too; she's scheduled for June 16, along with Syd and Ruby the Cavalier. Scarlet, Holly, and Chance are all going in next Thursday. She absolutely loves Penny - who doesn't? - and can almost always be found curled up with her.

I got a great update on Rosie the Cavalier. She's settling in very well, and is bonding with her boy. She even sleeps in bed with him now. I also got a picture update on Seal/Toby this week. Oh my goodness, he's huge, and he's only 6 months old. He's going to be one very big adult!


I need to do a follow-up for both Parchesi and Livvy, see how they're doing. I think I'll go do that now.

Procrastinator Nonpareil

That's me. There's no more accomplished procrastinator in the world than I. I should be working, but I'm sitting. Waiting to hear that a little 4-month old beagle/poodle pup got pulled from a shelter this afternoon (before he's euthed tomorrow morning) and will be arriving here on Sunday. They also had a 4-month old Mountain Cur puppy. She, and a big Lab/Deerhound mix, are the only ones slated for the gas chamber tomorrow that haven't been spoken for as of about an hour ago. As much as I'd love to help, I'd have a heck of a time finding an appropriate home for her and I'm afraid that, even at 4 months of age, she'd be too prey-driven to live safely with cats. I hope someone else can take her.

I seem to have "will take beagle mixes!" stamped on my forehead. That's OK - they're cute, sweet, are usually good family dogs, and are pretty easy to place. The beagle/fox terrier pups - box terriers? feagles? foggles? - are doing very well. Scarlet and Sydney are both very social, snuggly little stinkers, and both enjoy just crashing on my lap. When I reach out for them, they lie down and roll onto their sides or backs to get belly tickles. Chance and Holly are still a little shy, but coming around. They're all over me until I reach out for them, then they move back out of reach. But they're easier to "catch" than they were a couple of days ago, so I think they'll be fine in another week or so. I listed them on Petfinder on Tuesday afternoon, and haven't had a single inquiry. It could be because of the upcoming holiday weekend, people thinking they'll be able to take a puppy right away and not wanting to do it until after the long weekend. Or it could be because their descriptions say the pups came from a puppymill, with the word 'puppymill' being a live link to Prisoners of Greed.

I got a decent application for Nellie today. I don't know if she's the right dog for them, but they're worth checking out. It might be a very good situation for her, and it sure would be nice to get her out of here and into a permanent home.

When I woke up this morning, Ivy was curled up against my thigh. I just reached down and started rubbing her head - she didn't flinch, didn't try to get away, just stayed relaxed and enjoyed her head rub. Either she wasn't totally awake and didn't realize that it was me touching her, or she was too relaxed and just didn't care. In any case, I enjoyed being able to pet her. Snickers has almost completely come around. I can even reach out and touch him now when he's on the table and I'm standing. He sleeps next to my feet, and comes for cuddles every morning. I'll be lying on my back petting cats and little dogs when I'll feel him getting on top of my shins, and then up my body to my stomach, where he settles down and waits for me to notice him through the crowd and reach through to pet him. He's a very heavy guy, at least 16 pounds. It hurts when he walks on me!

Poor Chu-Chu. She was getting really shaggy, so I gave her a haircut last night. I had given some thought to letting her coat grow out, I think she'd be stunning in a "show" coat, but I figured she'd be more comfortable, not to mention it would be easier to keep her clean, if I just gave her a summer shave-down. I didn't realize that her head's so tiny in comparison to her body, she looks a bit like a cartoon alien now. I'll have to get a pic, she's pretty funny looking. Oh well, she'll be cooler for the next couple of months, and now I know not to shave her head completely next time, but to leave a little beard and topknot to balance her out!

After my last class of the term on Monday night, I stopped at Lowe's on the way home and got the paint for the floor in the family room. "Grey Blue Sky" - a light bluish grey. I've decided I'll get 3 quarts of Glidden's bright floor paint - one red, one yellow, one blue - and mix some of those together to get orange, green, and purple, and splatter those on the grey floor. Anything that's left over from those bright colors can be added to a quart of white to make medium-bright or pastel colors, and I'll use that to paint the bookcases/shelves I want to put in there. I'm going to start removing some of the carpet in there tonight; not all of it, just enough to finish filling my trash cart. I don't want to wait to start removing carpet because I don't want to waste the trash cart space now and then have to wait 2-3 weeks to get rid of all the carpet later.

I'm going up to my mom's in the morning. There's a huge community garage sale where she lives, tomorrow and Saturday. I'm looking for a futon and a rocker/recliner, but I'll settle for any seating that's a) in better shape than what I've got now (that's not going to be hard to find), b) comfortable, c) something I can fit in my car to either bring home or get to my mom's to put in her garage until my sis (with a van) or my brother (with a small SUV) can get it here for me, and d) cheap. The old leather sofa I have now was destined for the curb when I took it from an acquaintance 3 years ago, and it's in a lot worse shape now than it was then. Like the carpet, it's got to go! My rocker/recliner is still in relatively good shape, but the seat cushion's not cushion-y any more. I can feel the wood slats when I sit in it, and have had to put the cushion from an old couch on the seat part. I'll hang onto it even if I find a replacement, and just move it out to the family room. I'd also love to find a small computer desk on wheels. The desk I'm using is a good sturdy office desk, but it's awfully darn heavy. Too heavy for me to move easily, even if I empty it out and clear it off. I need something that rolls. I'd move this desk out to the pole barn, and either sell or chop up the old but not antique wooden desk I've got out there. I'd like to find a smaller, lighter dining room table and chairs, too. The table I've got is OK, but it's heavy. The chairs match each other but not the table, and they're heavy too. I'd really love to have one of those old tubular-leg, formica-topped kitchen tables from the 50's, and chairs to match. Again, something lighter weight that I could move easily myself. I'm also sort of looking for an entertainment center cabinet. Nothing big, just something that will hold my 21" TV, the cable box, and my VCR all in one convenient place.

There's a devastating predator in my yard. Flint, who likes to spend his days out on the patio with the little dogs, has recently taken to dashing out to the big yard when I open the gate in the evening to bring the big dogs in. He wants to prowl. He never leaves the yard or I wouldn't let him stay out there after dark, he just stays in the yard until I let dogs out at bedtime, then he comes in with them. Almost every morning, I have to take a dead mouse away from Sparky. Flint's catching and killing them and bringing them onto the patio for me, and Sparky finds them in the morning and runs off with them. I have to chase him around the yard ordering him to "drop it, DROP IT!!" then pick the mouse up and dispose of it when he complies. It's gotten so I don't even open the door in the morning without sticking a paper towel in my pocket so I'll have it in case I need it as a shroud for one of Flint's victims. If I sound cold-blooded about Flint dispatching mice to the great cheese wedge in the sky, I am. Since Flint's been on the job, I haven't seen a single mouse in my garage. Organic mouse trap, indeed.

OK, now I really am going to get up and work on the kitchen floor some more. Yes, I know I said I hoped to have it done by tonight. But I also told you I'm very good at procrastinating. *grin* It's coming along, just slower than I'd planned. I'm hoping the flooring under the carpet in the living room, dining room, and bedroom is in better shape than the stuff in the kitchen. I'm on my third pint of wood filler, and not done filling cracks and evening off the height differences between all the different pieces. I 've been putting off pulling up the carpet from the stair between the kitchen and the hallway, I'm afraid of what I'll find underneath. But I guess I'll bite the bullet and just do it. Might as well get that stair done at the same time I paint the floor in the kitchen in that area. Here we go......

Busy Week

I should be working on the house, and did do a little earlier, but I ran out of gas pretty early. Thursday was a very long, very busy day for me, and yesterday was just as long and busy. Ah'm tarred. Ah well, I'll have a little nap in a bit, and do some more work in the kitchen later. I'll prime some smaller areas in the kitchen - areas I can easily block off overnight - before bed tonight, and paint those same areas before bed tomorrow. That'll leave just the open area in the center, and if I play my cards right I'll be able to get that primed Tuesday night before bed, painted Wednesday night before bed, and the whole kitchen second-coated Thursday night before bed, and then the kitchen floor will be done.

Beau, Bailey, and Max were neutered on Thursday, and Beau and Bailey went to join Roux in their new home on Thursday night. Their new mom couldn't remember 'Roux' (Roo), so she's been calling him 'Boo'. So now she has Boo, Beau, and Bailey. I did a home visit for Rose the Cavalier on Thursday afternoon, and both Rose and I liked the family. She's going to be spayed Monday, and her new mom will pick her up at the clinic and take her home from there. She'll have a 2-year old Boxer mix sister, and a pair of gentle, well-behaved children to dote on her. It's a lovely home in a lovely neighborhood, with people who are experienced in dealing with shy/timid dogs. I think she'll do very well there. Parchesi the boggle puppy and Ernie the Shih Tzu are also going to the s/n clinic on Monday, and Parchesi will be going to her new home the end of the week.

Yesterday I went up to my mom's early in the afternoon, to escort her to a doctor's appointment. From there we went to the Ace Hardware store nearby, to look at and collect some paint color strips. Ace has a paint called Sensations that has Scotchguard in it. Even marks like crayon wash off with just soapy water. I think it'll be much easier to keep clean than most flat paints, so that's what I'm going to use on all the walls and trim. I spent several hours over the past week playing with color combinations of wall, trim, and floor paint. (I've used Valspar porch and floor paint in the half bath and kitchen, but I think I'm going to be using Behr floor paint in the rest of the house. The Behr paint just seems a little more colorful, and I like the color choices, too.) I think I've chosen the colors for the half bath - the floor is a color called Chinaberry, a kind of medium dusty rose. (Remember Teaberry gum? It's that color!) I've picked a pastel greenish-teal for the walls and a medium tone of the same color for the trim. (Mom says "I don't know about using a different color on the trim..... won't it look funny? Do people do that?" Yes, mom, they do, and no, it doesn't look funny!)

I'm still not 100% set on the colors for the rest of the house, but as of now I'm looking at a wine color for the floor in the bedroom, a pale robin's egg blue for the walls, and trim that's a dusty pink just a shade lighter than the half-bath floor. The half bath is accessed through the bedroom, and the bedroom trim (and the bedroom side of the pocket door to the half bath) being close to the same color as the bathroom floor should help tie the two rooms together and make the whole space seem a little larger. For the living room/dining room I'm looking at a medium-pastel peach for the walls. It's a nice bright color without being garish, and should help warm/illuminate the living room, which only has one large window and has a tendency to be a little dark. I'm playing around with trim and floor colors, but I'm looking at a floor in a medium sea-green (like the crayon, but darker), or a medium or darker teal, and a trim in a medium-pastel shade of the same color. I'm going to do all the walls in the living room and the north and south walls of the dining room the same color, but I'm going to do the east and west walls of the dining room and their trim in reverse of the way they are in the living room and the north and south walls. The peach walls (and trim) in the dining room will blend harmoniously into the darker peach floor in the kitchen.

I'm still not sure what I want to do about the family room, either. It's a very dark room, the only natural light comes from the sliding door which opens onto the covered patio. It faces south which would ordinarily provide quite a bit of light, but there's a big pine on the east side of the patio that blocks the light in the morning, and the house blocks it from the west in the afternoon. It's a cold room, too, except when I'm using the wood stove, because there is no HVAC ductwork to that room. I'd love to use a nice, bright peachy-yellow on the walls, something that'll both light and warm the room. Whatever I use in there will also go on the walls in the hallway leading to it, and has to harmonize with the ceramic tile on the floor in the hallway; it's got some peach and bluish-grey tones in it. I want something on the family room floor that's not going to make every single little muddy footprint clearly visible so I don't have to mop it every time dogs come in, but I don't want to use anything really dark in there, either. Behr makes some really bright floor paint colors - orange, sunshine yellow, primary blue, grass green, primary red. I'm thinking about maybe doing the family room floor a medium-light bluish-grey, and getting pints of some of the bright colors and using them to "splatter" or drizzle over the grey. It would add color without being overwhelming, and I think it'll also make doggy footprints less noticeable. I've got a couple of wood shelves/bookcases I'd like to put in there; they need to be sanded down and painted first, and I could use the leftover bright floor paint to do the shelves with. That would give me more bright, but not overwhelming, color in there.

Anyway, after checking out paint we went back to Mom's. I got the ham in the oven, then gave Daisy a bath, combed her out, and clipped her nails. While she was air-drying, I got the asparagus, carrots, rice mixture, and baby portobello mushrooms ready to start cooking when it was time. Then I gave Daisy a haircut. I finished her just in time to start cooking the rest of the stuff for dinner. We had a Pepperidge Farm frozen lemon cake for dessert. I didn't get home until about 10. My brother called while I was there, he's going up tomorrow to take her out to lunch and she wants me to come too, but unless I wake up early tomorrow bursting with energy - and I doubt that'll happen - I think I'll skip it. I've got too much I want to get done here, and a busy day on Monday.

Blizz is OK, she only had two small wounds that have healed without needing any more attention than initial cleaning with hydrogen peroxide. I kept her and Ten separated through Monday, but then I let him go out in the yard with her. I stood inside and watched them through the window for a while, and since everything was copacetic I went about doing what I had to do and kept checking on them every15 minutes or so. At one point I looked out and they were lying on the grass a few feet apart, just hanging out and napping on and off. I know that Blizzard would not go and lie down by Ten, he has to have been the one to go lie down by her. They've been fine together since. Actually, it's been unusually peaceful out there since Lumi hasn't been out in the yard with the other big dogs.

Lumi is healing well. It's not pretty, but he's healing. I've kept him and Ten separated for the last two weeks. I let Lumi and Blizzard out together for a few minutes first thing in the morning along with Tansy, Penny, Dudley, Sparky, and usually Chu-Chu and Ginger (the Papillon, fka Pittypat). I leave the gate from the patio to the yard open, anyone who wants to go out into the yard can go, then I close the gate behind them. Then I let Lumi, Penny, Dudley, Sparky and Chooch back into the patio as they come back to the gate, and then bring them all inside. Then I put Ten, Nellie, and Spot out in the big yard, then the rest of the little dogs out in the patio. Once everyone was out this morning and the yard was "locked", I let Lumi back out onto the patio with the little dogs. (I have a panel from a big wire crate attached to the bottom half of the patio gate. It extends past the gate on the latch side, and I use a snap bolt to fasten the extended end to the fence on the other side of the gate post, once the gate is closed. Not only does this prevent small dogs from wriggling through the gap there and into the big yard, it prevents the dogs in the big yard from getting the gate open and getting into the patio to rearrange the furniture, up-end tables, chew on the hose, etc. Except it doesn't keep Nellie out, she just climbs the gate and jumps into the patio. Little stinker.) Lumi and Ten greeted each other through the fence. They each seemed happy to see the other, there was no tension in their postures, and both tails were doing relaxed, scooping, happy wags, instead of sharp, on-alert waving.

It looks like this is going to be easier to manage than I thought it was going to be. The last time I had to keep dogs separated - Eiger had to be kept away from both Blizzard and Lumi - an instant attack was certain. But with Ten and Lumi, if I slip up they wind up in the same space together accidentally, I think the risk of an instant conflict is probably pretty low. I think they'll probably be able to be together for a few hours out in the yard again, too, at least occasionally if not on a regular basis. I'll just have to make sure they come into the house separately, Lumi first and crated before I let Ten in.

Ten's been his usual sweet self, and he's been extra compliant and well-behaved too. I'm less stressed about him than I was a week ago, and much more hopeful that his recent behavior is due to transitioning from adolescence into adulthood, and that I can manage it and work through it with him. I'll have to be ultra-vigilant and consistent, and he's going to have to prove he's worthy before I'll trust him again, so it's going to take time and work. But I'm feeling much more optomistic about the whole situation.

My brakes are a little funky. There's either air in the brake line, or the master cylinder's going. I hope it's just air, the master cylinder was replaced 2.5 years ago and really shouldn't need to be replaced again. (It's not under warranty any more.) If it's the master cylinder, there goes the check - which should arrive this coming week - for this term's Monday night obedience class. I had other plans for that money. *sigh*