Just a couple of photos as an update on the house.

My parents have kept Belle at their home for nearly a year now. A whole year of no rules and her own couch. You can imagine the princess of terror she is now. Although my folks are swamped with work, which is a huge blessings and testament to their business sense, they are escaping for a few days. One of their jobs right above their ocean home. I am so glad to see them get away, and possibly relax a bit. But that leaves Belle home alone. So she is here now, and in all actuality she is here to stay. My Dad has been joking/threatening to toss her at us when we final. I don’t blame him at all. Okay, that is a tiny lie, because I do blame them. We work so hard to get the demons out of her, then they let them creep back in.

As a rescued dog Belle has issues. She was starving, covered in fleas and sores, and her front legs and a rib was broken when she was found. We bonded with her as my other dog, Jenni, was in intensive care.  The vet was going to put Belle down (the same day Jenni died) because they could not find a home from her…so after a push from my mother, I took the then 2 pounds-with-her-casts-on dog home. She didn’t bark for a year, a whole year of silence. Then it happened. Belle saw her refection and wasn’t going to let that other dog near us. She bark a tiny bark. We laughed. She did it again. We laughed again and so on. We didn’t think twice about it. Until the next day, Belle had been transformed into a tiny alarm for everything that moves or she thinks may have moved or even existed.

She was so excited that I was driving away with her today that almost peed herself right next to me. She jumped, flipped, and made little screaming sounds. For a now four pound dog she can make quite the fuss. Her and Samson played tag in our yard. Then they came inside where she promptly got in a shouting match with her refection on the glass door, and a leaf that hit the window. After simmering down a bit, and Samson realizing Belle cries wolf a lot, she took a nap. Finally some peace. A least until she decides she owns our bed tonight.

Belle during the nap

The house is finally to the stage where I can start seriously contemplating the landscaping. Obviously, with almost six acres I have my work cut out for me. I walked our property line yesterday, and discovered that we have a lot larger portion on the other side of the creek than I have first thought. At least an acre is over there. For those who aren’t sitting here and/or can’t read my mind, we own 5.66 narrow acres. Our borders are the road, and Sutter Creek (the creek, which runs through the town…with the same name, not confusing at all).  The distance from the road to creek can run anywhere from a foot to about 500 feet. About a hundred years ago (I am not exaggerating, it really was) the property line was drawn with the middle of the creek as the border. As the years passed the creek wandered but the line stays put, so now we have land on the other side. The creek is seasonal, during the summer we can freely walk acrossed and during the rest of the year we need a walking bridge. I cannot wait until to get ours installed in the next few years.

Back to the landscaping.

Here are some of the plants I am eyeing from Wayside Gardens.

Today I have a distinct feeling failure. I check out my list of things to do today. There are three toilet paper holders, four towel rings, one towel bar, two glass shelves, and two showers that need grouting, and I think pphiff, no problem. Problem – back to reality! I have picked out the world’s most impossible toilet paper holder. The-World’s-Most! Two hours later I still have no toilet paper holders hung. I have taken every piece apart, and meticulously studied them. I then put the whole thing back together. It stays for two seconds and then it falls. Fantastic. I am being defeated by a small metal bar that hold paper deemed only suitable for peoples’ bodily functions. Finally, with the help of some very intense glue, we have one holder up.

Feeling completely drained by the toilet paper holders I decide to move on to the glass shelves. Yes, I have a stream of bad luck and I think oh I will just work with the fragile glass. The anchors and brackets went in pretty easy. The shelves are going on a side wall of our master bath, right over my glass waterfall faucets.  Glass hovering over glass, what can go wrong? Step one attach bracket to glass shelf. And then it happens as a am screwing the shelf to the bracket, it slips. My heart stopped. One 1/2 inch chip off the rim of my beautiful faucet. I cannot believe this! I feel awful.

Next up, grouting…

Getting the final stages has meant a lot to me. One of the biggest factors is time. I now have time to get back out at the crack of dawn with Samson. I walk/run with Samson, my mother (an experienced marathoner), and my second mother, Jeri. It is great to get out. For me PCOS has meant hardening arteries, high cholesterol, depression, miscarriage, and being high risk for stroke, heart attack and diabetes. Not fun. While having an inactive thyroid, weight control is difficult at best. I am finally get to a good point though. I have finally lost about 15 pounds, which puts me into a different weight health category.

Running and exercising makes me feel better both physically and about myself. I have now got the dietary needs down. Since I process things differently from the others around me, this was keys. I am so excited about the future.

Oh, this NOVA is amazing! WordPress won’t allow me to embedded the video, but click on the link and check it out.

http://www.hulu.com/watch/63726/nova-marathon-challenge#s-p2-so-i0

About a month ago Samson got a small, scabbed sore on his front right elbow. We disinfected it and it left, mostly. Then Samson went in for his neutering. It was back immediately! It wasn’t healing. Last week spread up through his shoulder and a spot on his leg, right where it hits while he scratches it. It was time for the vet.

He behaved very well, and the vet seems to be having a much better relationship with him. Possibly because he looked so bad. She shaved and disinfected it. It was a staph infection, which is common. We went through the possibilities. Most likely, he got some fiberglass in his skin which became a wound, then he entered the highly contagious vet kennel for neutering and contracted staph. He is now on a oral, and topical antiboic. Plus he got a steriod shot. He already looks better, although he is an awful pill taker.

Don’t worry, it isn’t going to spread to anyone. We actually caught it early.

As you know we picked up my brother-in-law Jeff, and his wife, Amelie a few weeks ago from the airport. They had had their wedding with her family in Germany. This last Saturday we celebration the newlywed couple at my in-law’s home. It was a lot of work, but it turned out great. I boiled 200 eggs at our trailer, and converted them to deviled eggs there. They had a brunch portion, dinner, and a slumber party. Craziness!

The drywallers started in the middle of last week. Today they are done texturing. It will dry tomorrow. Then fine tuning and priming on Friday. I cannot wait. Saturday and Sunday we are serving burgers, dogs (Hebrew Jumbo to be exact), and all the fixings to anyone who wants to grab a roller and help. This means I have to buy my paint tomorrow, so I will be completely decided on interior colors asap.

The goats are so very loud today. They are not going out because I am finishing the fencing, and it is way too hot for them to be tied up. They are covered in the brush of grapes, blackberries, and willow. Does that stop them from screaming with their mouths full? No. Of course not. Part of the problem is they can see the drywallers from their pen, and boy are they letting them know. Really, it is just my three loudest, the twin boys and Shadow. They are so loud, it is insane. They cry when they eat, when they play, they even have little cries when they sleep. I can’t wait until their pasture is done and I can just let them loose. Most importantly, away from me. Then I can love from a far.