Reflections and Progress

There is such a thing as Doggie Return Remorse.  Even if you don't necessarily regret returning doggie after the one-week visit.  He did make trouble. 



Man down

 

Mr. Fox was twice doused in pee
(kindly ignore my at-home footwear choices)

But puppies are always learning.  They need to be taught and disciplined.  And they shouldn’t bite kitties.  But even though D is convinced we’ve done the right thing, I feel like I did something wrong.  Like I wasn’t a good enough doggie mom, or like we didn’t give him enough of a chance.  But the truth is, his behaviors only manifested in the last few days, and then it was time to decide to keep him or boot him.   We didn't have time to see if he'd turn around.  I miss having a dog around though. 



Absent Jack with his liddle tongue



The kitties seem to be happy that he's gone.  Very vocal, and they're chasing eachother around.  Their experience with a dog has instilled this fantastic, adorable (and hopefully permanent) solidarity.  Never before did they willfully sit on the same piece of furniture, or too close to eachother on the floor.  That's why I was so tickled by the photo at the top of this blog.  Truth is, they never had sat together.  But check this out. 

Uber rare, Tandem Kitty phenomenon

And I powered through some more unpacking and sorting while D drove down to Lexington last night to meet George RR Martin at a book signing.  

Recreating the LOR towers with empty boxes. 

The guest room is 95% de-junked and cleaned, just in time for our weekend house guest!

The kitchen is 100% unpacked and put away. 

Before

After.  Not staged, because we actually live here.

The side bed outside has been cleared of twigs and vines as much as I could.  I filled two yard waste bins.  Just waited for yard waste pickup so that I could clear away the remainder.  This was so much easier once the neighbor lent me her giant metal rake.  You can see that there's actual dirt below. But of course, under the dirt, there's more crap buried underneath.  There are piles of effing bricks buried underneath the dirt.  I don't know why or what it is, but they aren't exactly neat or solid constructions, so no matter what it is they all have to be removed. 


Vine Orgy Before



Seemingly drunk and blurry After, with newly found concrete bricks gosh darn it

These people before us, I swear they buried everything they didn't feel like dealing with.  That just seems plain unhealthy to me.