Movin' a shed

Yesterday we fulfilled Logan's dreams of moving our shed. Since we moved in he has thought and talked about moving the shed from one very conspicuous corner of the yard to one that is out of the way.

The Before. Everyone showed up at noon. We got started right away.
This is everyone's excited face. Yeah - we can do it!

I thought the first hour was going to be a struggle to get the shed started, up out of the hole. The boys gave a little push and it rolled right out. No problem.
A short celebration and the strategy session to figure out how to turn it 180 degrees as well as push it.

We used two 10' ABS tubes and two 2' tubes. As we were turning it we would pause to reposition the tubes. There were many occasions that we need to weight one end of the shed. One way we achieved this was to have the girls hop inside the shed and stand in the corner that was needed. This was the other method.
Another pause to reposition a tube.
Half way. Pressed right up against the deck. (Check out the new deck colour - Tugboat).

The move team: Logan, Lindsay (who kept Charlie out of the way), Jason (new mohawk and all), Dan, Craig, Jen and myself.

We complete the move at 12:38. From arrival at noon to completion 38 minutes. Wow. I honestly thought that at 2:00 we would be stopping for a beer and talking about how we were going to change our approach, or making a trip to home depot. nothing. It was great!

Almost as soon as we finished the sun broke through the clouds and it got hot.

Out came the beer and the snack on the patio set. And then out came the bocce ball.

It was so intense the bocce that the tape measure was used to ensure all points were awarded properly.

Charlie really liked the bocce balls as well. He chased the one red ball around the yard, pushing it with his paws and teeth - trying to bite the damn thing. He loved it.

A house upside down

As the days tick away toward Christmas we add more decorations and more cheer. I know that I haven't posted pictures of the newly painted living room. But that may not happen for a few more days. Everything is a bit upside down and a mess and we continue to spruce up the house.

We couldn't put up the Christmas Tree until we had painted. Now that that is done we moved onto Christmas in the living room. Tree first.

I picked up a barrel of ornaments from Michael's of red, green and silver. I love my cylinder vases and the ways it can change for the season.

We have had the outside Christmas lights up since Nov 1. We thought that with the weather still being nice we should take advantage.

You may have noticed the amount of snow in this picture. Sunday we had a bit of a blizzard. I believe we racked up somewhere between 5 and 10 cm of snow. It was quite the day.

Charlie enjoyed the snow. We let him out onto the untouched blanket on the deck.
He seems to like the snow. You may not be able to tell.

Christmas Party

Tonight was Logan's work Christmas Party. It was held at Aussie Rules, a great dueling piano bar. I was pretty sad 'cause it was a two show day for me and I was not able to join until after the evening show (10pm ish). The little time I was there was a hoot.

To add to the fun:

There were door prizes. Each of our tickets won.

First a Sony Blu-Ray Player!

And then Guitar Hero III for the Wii.
How Fun. Especially since we only paid for one ticket. The ticket included dinner. As I was not going to be joining till almost the very end of the night they just gave him my ticket for free. So a $40 ticket, good fun, and a couple hundred dollars worth of electronics.
And because we haven`t had a picture of Charlie in a while:

We have hardly any snow at all. This photo is a couple of weeks old. But he loved discovering snow! He really had a good time eating as much as he could. He was locked in the kitchen for many hours that week we had snow. He would stay out there till he was shaking from the wet snow and come in with his skin matted with snow.

Charlie - Super Dog?

Charlie hardly ever barks. He makes monkey type noises when he plays, he arfs at passing dogs, but hardly ever full on barks. Last night Wiggins and Charlie were running around with pieces of the raw-hide bones they were chewing on. They were in the kitchen, out of sight, when Charlie started barking. He continued barking as they ran by us and up the stairs. Charlie returned to the landing and marked at me. After checking on the dogs we figured out that Wiggins had swallowed his bone piece whole and was having problems with it being stuck in his windpipe. Charlie was trying to save his new friend.

So now we feel that Charlie is a gifted little Lassie. However, as we were all getting ready for bed upstairs Logan and Charlie came down to lock everything up for the night. As Logan was about to head back upstairs Charlie jumped onto the love seat, faced the front door and barked. Logan felt that he was looking at the door and looking back at Logan and barking as though he was saying "Fix it. What is it? Don't you see it?" Weird.

Those two puppies had a good week. Charlie especially. He wanted to play with Wiggins every waking second. Wiggins was not so interested. But there were moments.
While we were at Ikea Janet bought each of the pooches a new stuffed toy. Wiggins got a size appropriate mouse and Charlie a cat.


It has been a good week of company. Mom and Dad Thursday to Sunday and Lorne and Janet from Sunday to today. But it is not over yet. Matt (my not so little brother) flies in today for a week.

Garden Update

My little garden is going really well. We planted on the long weekend in May (garden) . That weekend was the beginning of nearly a month straight of rain. I was worried that my little garden was going to get washed out. And really, it has still been raining at least every other day. But look at it go!

Parsley (the chives and basil didn't make it outside, but did well in my window sill garden and the parsley didn't make it)

Carrots Peas - growing like crazy
There are tons of little pods - still really small peas within

We haven't had a picture of Charlie in a while.

And a little video of him running around in the yard.

Charlie's Hair

Remember surfer puppy. With his wild hair. And then we chopped it off for the heat of the summer and I thought he looked stupid.
I just wanted to show that his hair has grown out enough again that he doesn't look so stupid.

And this photo is just funny. For Logan's grad he received a pig dressed as a cop. Charlie was pulling on the pants of said pig and both of us thought (at the same time) that this would be hilarious.

Poor pup is bald

Charlie got a hair cut.

Previously

Now he has no hair. And I picked the longest cut length they do. Logan tells me that he has to look like a dork for a little while - all dogs do when they get their hair cut.

It is certainly a reminder of how small her really is.

The shirt he is wearing says "Danger: Chick Magnet".

Charlie Shot

Chick Magnet T-shirt

Before and After :: Fence

Fence

The fence is 99% complete. You can see the gate leaning to the left of the opening there. It will take a bit of muscle to attach the monster. Attach a few 1x4 caps and it is done.

All we have to do is wait for the rain to stop.

And Charlie - he is getting big.

Charlie Houdini and HO2008-1747

Our plan for little Charlie while we are away from the house has been a Pet Pen.  This is a 16' length of fence that is 2' tall and in 2' sections.  You can create a wall or a square or a circle, all designed to keep your puppy where he should be.  Well that little monkey.  He has figured out how to climb over it.  It is the cutest little thing - he looks very human like.  He did this once outside while we were building the fence.  We saw him climbing but not higher than the first rung.  Then later he was out.  Having not seen him escape we thought maybe through the bush we were using as the other side of the wall.

Today, I left for work and put him in his little circle in the kitchen with all of his accoutrement.  When Logan stopped by on his lunch to let him out - he had let himself out and was upstairs.  He had made his way to his favorite spot in our whole house, the nook at the end of our bed beside the hope chest.  Little turd.  

Our first line of defence is to remove the angles and just pen a straight line across the opening of the kitchen to the living room.  This will give him access to the whole kitchen - but may make it more difficult to climb.  We will see.

In other news.  It may seem like a long time since I have talked about my little business since the new house and new puppy.  But today I sat at City Hall for over 2 hours to get myself a Home Occupation Permit.  Glass Imagery is officially a business.  Up next - the launch of my web site!

Our current projects

All of the rooms in our house need to be painted. Even the hallway at the top of the stairs has stencil painting in the pattern of a quilt.

Our first stop, the guest bedroom. This may seem like a weird choice. Logan has never done any painting before, I have done tons. I figured that this was the best place to practice.

Before I left for Regina, on our Home Depot shopping spree, we picked up a gallon of "Oops" paint. For $9. We both thought that the paint was beige/taupe with a bit of green.

Today we painted the room. It turns out that the colour is actually green with beige. Photos will follow.

Our latest dog related project. We have been having a lot of accidents lately. I feel that some of them could have been avoided had I been able to read the body language of a dog. We decided to try a trick from Andrea and establish a bell ringing system for him to let us know when he had to go out. Now, we know that Jaxson abused the system and had it taken away. And very likely little Charlie will do the same. But in the mean time if it saves a few clean ups I think it will be worth it.

So, this afternoon we bought the bells and hung them on the back door. Before we took him out to pee we used his right paw to swat the bells and then opened the door and took him outside. We showed him twice. Later on Logan went outside to check on something and Charlie cautiously walked up to the bells and gave them a little hit. I let him outside - he investigated - he peed - we celebrated. Tonight, I got home and let him out (using the bell first). About the time I was thinking of going to bed Charlie jumped off the couch and trotted to the kitchen and rang the bells. I let him out - he did not pee. In three total bell rings he figured out how to work the system. Oh well.

Puppy :Day 9

House training has taken a few steps back. The last two days we have seen a few accidents. I shouldn't even call them accidents - he peed in the kitchen right in front of us twice. The second time Logan scared him good so hopefully he will be scared straight. Or at least think twice.

He has been sleeping in his kennel with no complaint.

A couple of firsts. Friday Jason and Auntie Shelley came over to visit. Jason and Logan were playing with Charlie and he discovered that he could run really fast. He found his wheels. Sunday night Logan and I were playing with him outside before bed. He was running from Logan to me, took a sharp turn, up the deck stairs, across the deck and leaped off the edge into the cedar bushes. To make matters worse it was dark outside and it took a bit for Logan to find him.

Today, while I was outside setting up the last pieces of our patio set he was walking calmly around the deck. All of a sudden he leaped off the front edge of the deck without a problem. He landed and then walked around the yard. I discouraged, but I have a feeling it will happen again.

And perhaps the biggest first happened moments ago. He barked. He was playing at the foot of the couch with a stuffed frog and a red ball. He was going between the two pushing them under the couch. I reached under and pulled out the wrong toy and he gave a playful bark. It was a little, quite high arf. It surprised him - and me. He instantly was trying to jump on me for comfort.

Right now he is sleeping beside the lap top with all four limbs on the number pad. What a cutey.

Puppy: Day 6

The puppy of last weekend is gone. He is now a wild dog running around, exploring and being a puppy. When our little puppy was Beau, he sat quietly - including the long drive from Regina to Calgary. Charlie, on the other hand, likes to run around and then under our bed in a circle as fast as he can. It snowed here last night. When I took him out to pee he was a maniac. This morning he ran full tilt up the five steps of the deck, over the couple feet of deck and then leaped through the air the ram square into the door.

He has figured out how to play with a ball and a little stuffed pig, how to get up and down the stairs (up alone, down with encouragement), is figuring out how to get up and down from the couch with a little foot stool. He is doing not bad in his kennel - he likes it when it is day time and he can choose to go in there and chew a bone - is not so keen at night. We even took him to the groomer to have a little puppy clean up - it is designed to get him used to being groomed. They gave him a bath, trimmed his nails and hair in important places - like his eyes.

He is a very good puppy. I think I am very lucky - as a first time pet owner - to have such a good pup. I wasn't totally thrilled with the idea, then I reluctantly got on board, but now I am happy to play with the little guy. He knows he is Logan's dog (he goes looking for him when only I come home), which is fine by me. He likes to cuddle and play - and only once has he left me a poopy mess...

Yesterday when we left for work we caged him in a small space in the kitchen with his kennel, toys and a puppy pad. We stupidly put the puppy pad in line with the door. When he heard me come home he started begging at the fence right on his little poop. In the time it took me to cross the deck, unlock the door and take off my shoes he had poop all over his feet and thus everywhere in his little pen. Super. Oh well. He has been really good with going to the bathroom outside when we are around. A few accidents but they have all been times when he couldn't ask to go out, our fault for playing too long without a bathroom break or leaving him alone. He is just a little puppy and I am happy with his progress and how much he seems to learn everyday.