Two whole years...

As of the 24th (yes, I'm a few days late), I have been in this house for two years. Seems like it should be time to move again, doesn’t it? Don’t worry…I’m not planning to go anywhere. Its amazing to me that I’ve lived here that long, and that I don’t have to pack up and do it all over again anytime soon.

With the exception of grass (I don’t really have any – two big dogs will take care of that), the back yard is almost the way I want it. I’ve planted some more trellising plants along the fence, and I have some great flower beds and hanging plants. And most of them are safe from Duncan. The front yard is slowly coming along, with a couple of flower beds and a small tree that will hopefully do something this summer. There’s no good grass to speak of, thanks to the previous owners killing most of it and my slack self not replanting in the fall, but one of my coworkers promised to come over this fall and aerate, lime and fertilize.

I’m still working on a few touches inside, but I’m not as stressed over those as I was my first year here. Although, I probably need to get someone a bit more artistic than myself in here to stencil my hall door...I’m pretty sure I would mess that up. Now, if only I could decide what to do about my floors...

Belle and the Door

This is what Sam was thinking of (see comments on Belle's birthday post). When she was a kitten, Belle would jump from the floor to my dresser, and then on to my bedroom door. She would lay there, draped across the edge of the door, like it was the most comfortable spot around.

Happy Birthday, Mirabelle

Mirabelle will be 9 years old on Sunday. She came to me during the summer of 1997, after I returned from England. Belle has been a wonderful cat all these years, very sweet and affectionate, and definitely a Mama’s Girl. She hates the dogs - actually rode Reyna once - but has come to accept (eventually) all of the other cats that live with us. No matter what, tho, she maintains her position of honor as Head Cat, and is the only one allowed to sleep snuggled up to my chest.

Happy birthday to my sweet Belle. May we share many more years.

CF #7

Two lessons ago, Reyna wasn’t particularly interested in working. That’s understandable, we all have our off days. She was really balking on her spins, tho, which was a bit odd for her. As the week passed, my sweet, stubborn girl decided she wasn’t going to do any more spins. At all. No matter the reward (bribe). She would simply stop and look at me. And then she began to stop moving and look the other way. And then she just started walking off when I asked for a spin. I’m not too stupid…I got the hint. At our last session, we totally redid the routine, taking out all of the spins, except for a couple of spirals that she seems perfectly happy to do. She’s still refusing to do any spins, the little snot. Thankfully, tho, she seems happy with the new routine. I’m just really grateful they gave us an extra month to send in our video, since we revamped the routine Saturday, and were originally scheduled to tape on Sunday.

To the Kittens!

The kittens all turn 1 year old this month. I know Khar’pern’s birthday is April 16, so it seems reasonable to celebrate all three at the same time. After all, Parm and Per’la can’t help the fact that there weren’t any people around to mark their entry into the world.

Happy birthday, Kittens!

Scary Thought

Duncan, who is not yet 9 months old, is now taller than Reyna. I haven’t had him weighed in a while, but I think it’s a safe bet that he’s heavier, too. He’ll never be as long as she is, but he could potentially get a bit taller. GSDs usually don’t reach full height and weight until they’re over a year old, so he could easily get bigger. And I’m thinking he’ll hit 100 pounds, easy.

Weekend

Khar’pern actually came out while the pups and I were outside working Saturday. I’d left the baby gate down, so she came under the hall door and wandered out on the porch. Reyna was a good girl and left her alone. Of course, to Reyna, if I’m outside, there’s nothing more important than the soccer ball. Duncan spent most of the rest of the time we were out there on the porch with Khar. He was nice the entire time, nosing at her a bit, and then just laying down next to her. He really wants to be friends with the kitties. He spends a lot of his spare time with his nose and a paw under the hall door, waiting for one of them to come play.

I brought out the wading pool Saturday, too. Reyna kept running through it every few minutes, and occasionally plopped down in it to cool her belly. Duncan wasn’t so sure what to do with it, but he finally walked through it a few times, and once I even got him to lay down in it. Poor guy, his black fur was so hot.

I also started back to putting out birdseed – I put a feeder up outside the bedroom windows for the cats. Turns out a squirrel heard about the new buffet, and has been snacking. The cats are thrilled, but its making Reyna nuts. Every time she heard him with those big satellite dishes on her heard, she would go streaking out the door. I hate to hurt her feelings, but she will never be able to sneak up on it, especially not if she keeps barking.

Moans and Groans

After the epidural last Monday, and a week of physical therapy, my back finally seems to be doing better. According to the PT, all the sitting I do is one of the worst things for it. Unfortunately, being active is also bad for it. So that leave standing, which is terrible for my knees. No winning this one. The therapist (who has already labeled me a problem patient because of my activities, by the way) informed me last week that, because I feel better from the shot and want to go do things, I could actually aggravate the disc and make things worse without evening realizing it. My theory on that is, if I don’t realize it, how bad can it be? So I spent some of last weekend raking, and this past weekend cleaning, raking, putting up some fencing and sowing some grass seed. What can I say? It was pretty out, and chores needed to be done. Yes, my back is now sore, but nothing too out of the ordinary. In fact, it is other muscles that are protesting the most. They seem to be complaining because I haven’t done anything with them in over a month and a half. Go figure. My poor knees got a double whammy, tho...not only did I somehow manage to wrench my bad one a bit, Reyna accidentally caught it with a tooth as she ran by me to get her soccer ball. So now I have a big old bruise on the inside of my knee. Serves me right, for being between her and that soccer ball.