Coming right along

Unfortunately, I didn't think to take "before" pictures, but I did save the photos from the original listing website. Here some are for comparison.

We are about halfway done laying the tile in the living room. The tile is completed everywhere else (although the hallway and living room still have to be grouted and sealed).

Mighty man Matt in a heroic pose, since I didn't have a good comparable picture to the one above. But here, you can see the new pain as well as the color we are painting the doors. The previous post has a good picture of the tile we're putting in the living room.

The floor is done in all the bedrooms. You can also see the decorative thresholds that Matt designed.

Blah in the old picture! Especially the chocolate brown baseboards.

Ignore the clutter. I really like our paint colors.

Yucky brown in the kitchen! Looks much nicer now.

Lompoc Dog Show July 25-26, 2009

The show actually ran Thursday through Sunday, but we drove down Friday morning and I only entered Cyrus on Saturday and Sunday. My goal for the weekend was for him to have a good time for his first show. He has a long memory for bad experiences (don't we all?) and I didn't want to start him off with a dislike of the ring. In that respect, we came home winners because I think he enjoyed himself. Bits of leftover prime rib in the ring on Sunday may have helped. He did come home with a ribbon from Saturday, but statistics were with him. There were only five puppies in his class.

There was a grand family reunion, with most of the puppies from the litter attending. Cyrus would definitely like to see more of Layla, preferably where there is sufficient fenced ground for running around like the whirling dervishes they are.

If there was a ribbon for cute, Cyrus would have come in first.

Left to right the dogs are: Kodi, Cyrus, Pearl, Rider, Aria, Strider, Layla, JJ, Solaris, and Quila.

I think this is the best still shot from the ring. He's doing a whippet impression, which is his way of saying, "Mom, the grass is wet and cold and icky." Or, "I don't like the judge" or "I'd rather put my feet where I want to put them" or "This is boring, let's go play with Layla." The whippet impression is very versatile. He uses it often.


Cyrus held it together pretty well his first day, I think. He was a champ about letting a stranger open his mouth and feel him all over. It wasn't until we completed the "down and back", and the judge tried to pat his head, that he decided enough was enough. As we set out for our last trip around the ring, you can see him keep looking over his shoulder... "Is that scary guy still after me? He might be following us!"

New House Updates

Oh, the blessing of knowing men with "skills." In this case, tile-laying skills. Thank you, thank you, to Dad and Aaron for all their hard work (and Mom and Matt for helping clean grout lines, grout, keep up a steady supply of clean water and tile, etc. Don't think I sat back and twiddled my thumbs, I helped clean and grout in the back rooms, until I wore out my knees crouching on the floors). Anyway, the bedrooms are nearly all finished, with a little bit of tile left to lay in the master closet, thanks to the hard work of my dad. Yay, Dad!

Aaron came over yesterday to help start the living room. Between the two of them, they laid more than 100 sq ft of tile in one go. Rock on! The smaller, 12" tiles seem to go faster than the 16" we picked for the bedrooms. It looks gorgeous.

Props also to Matt for the idea for the inlaid white/charcaol border in the living room.

This is early in the afternoon, not long after Aaron arrived.

This is much later in the evening, but still before Dad finished the last of the bucket of Mastik/thinset and we decided to call it a night. There is even more tile set than this picture shows. All I can say is, wow. Also, much better than any stinkin' laminate!

Lovely, ain't it? No dog pictures this time. They had to hang out outside to avoid messing up the tile. Thankfully, Mya is blasee about fireworks (the neighbors were having a huge block party, with occasional mortars going up) if her person is relatively near, Emily can't hear them any more, and Cyrus was willing to be convinced that fireworks were no big deal after I sat out and held him in my lap for a while, whilst Emy and Mya wandered around and ignored the loud noises. Good dogs, all!

Progress

All our free time lately has been going into working on the new house to bring it up to a livable state. Fortunately, the fence is secure and I've been able to bring Cyrus and Mya with me pretty much everytime I go out there to work (Emily loves to have the house to herself...it's nice to nap without the smaller/younger dogs bouncing around all over the place). Most of the painting is done, which makes the place look 100% better right away. Dad's laid the tile in one of the spare bedrooms and is almost done with the tile in the master. In the above picture, Cyrus is supervising our work. He's also contemplating the camoflage opportunities presented by our color choice.

This week, of course, we have mostly been concentrating on the new house. We have most of the interior painted and are well on the way to starting the tile (that will be tomorrow). Of course, I'm trying to shoe-horn in some time to work with Cyrus, who has his debut show in Lompoc at the end of July. Hopefully, we will be in the new house by then. Luckily, he looks just as cute there as anywhere else. As you can see.

Housework just wears those dogs out...

Although, you can see Mya is too dedicated to take her eyes off of Mom, even when she's resting. I think she would rule in agility. Even if she never gets the chance, she is a wonderful dog.

Cyrus earns his keep by helping us dig trenches. Just in case we wanted to lay PVC for sprinklers right here, diagonally across the yard... He makes a perfectly straight trench, about three inches wide. Just wide enough to fit his nose in it. Or a sprinkler line.

New House, New Pictures, New etc.

The new house is an exciting and inspiring thing. Not just to us, but also to our dogs. With Mya's help, Cyrus was willing to settle down and ride sensibly in the car for the very first time, on the way to work at the house. (Working done by me...cuteness and running around was handled by the dogs.)

Cyrus surveys the backyard and is unimpressed. "Hey, where's the grass and stuff?"

I had my first hint of my future wildflower garden when we first looked at the house, thanks to an adventurous California poppy growing in the desert of the front yard. Now I see that I am well on my way to the wildlife garden I had hoped for...sorry for the poor quality shot from my camera phone. However, if you look closely and heed the enlarged corner, you will spot the Swallowtail butterfly, alighting briefly on the gravel.

Just for fun, this is a slightly younger Cyrus, exploring the bathtub at our current house. I love it that he's not hydrophobic.

Finally, what could be better about a new house than chasing Mya? With no furniture, she has nowhere to hide. Also, the empty house has a lovely echo which transforms play growls into the Voice of the Hell Hound! Exciting stuff. Almost as exciting as whatever sounds keep coming through that open window...

Random Images

Cyrus has finally been getting into the car by himself. Well, twice. He doesn't really like the car, and even now he's not willing to get into it every time by himself. We still have to lift him up and put him in. Even so, the last time I took him to visit Jim and Linda, he rode in the passenger seat by himself (as opposed to draped over my lap) and didn't fuss or mess. Progress. He's the first dog I've ever had who didn't like the car. Mya, as you see below, loves the car.

I think someone is either coursing rabbits or running Jumpers and Weaves in his sleep...

This is my first official wildflower at our new house. It was growing all by itself in the desolation that is the front yard after more than a month of no watering. Way to go, poppy! Soon your brethren will surround you.

Bonus video 1: Cyrus and Mya playing a few weeks ago. If you notice, he is actually quite gentle with her. Toward the end, she spots me taping them, and Cyrus flips her ear with his nose to get her going again. Too cute.

Bonus video 2: These are grizzlies my grandma and I saw in Alaska September of last year. Too cool! It's a bit jumpy because I was filming in 8x zoom from a school bus.