Kennay's New Hair Cut

Around this time of year Bruce starts saying Kenny's hot it's time to shave him, I spend a fair amount of time saying No it's too early, I only want to do it once.  Some M.O. this year,  until he started bringing in ticks. So. Gross.  I wanted shave him before applying his Advantix because it's less messy and because the less hair the easier it is to find the ticks.

He's a hairy beast.  He's also the best dog on Earth, I can shave him solo.  Kenny sit, down, good boy.

Ok time to roll over. Literally this dog lets me roll him over and drag him around the living room to shave him.

Ok we're done for tonight, you were a good boy have a treat.

I still need to do his tail, paws and ears. I'll need Bruce to hold his head still for the ears, Kenny doesn't like the buzzing.

He looks so different!

Poor Kenny

Kenny Puppy has been having some lameness in his back legs, so we finally took him to the vet.  She couldn't find any glaring problems so she recommended doing a set of orthopedic x-rays to check out what was going on in his joints.  This required putting him under anesthesia. Bad news; he had one crappy looking hip and both of his knees don't look great either, probably partial tears in his ACL's.  Good news; he's super cute with the post anesthesia sleepies.   

Ever feel like this?

Kenny makes this face at me every morning when I leave for work.

It does not making going to work any easier.

But he's so cute!

Evil Monkey? T-Rex?

Also known as Chloe the Chinchilla.  And she does things like this.

Which makes me a half an hour late for work. Evil Monkey. Thirty minutes, on the floor begging her to come out while trying to figure out where to put her once I caught her.  That night we went out an bought her a new four story, had to get rid of a side table, monster of a cage.  For our monster.

Working From Home

During the one of the big snow storms we got last month I did some work from home.  We knew the storm was coming and I brought my work computer home so that I would be prepared for our weekly conference call.

And this is what it looks like when I conference call from our office during a snow storm.
Kenny loves working from home.



Sometimes We Get Bored

And we torture love on Kenny Puppy, when he's being antsy about not really having a backyard to play in. 

We also do things like play Civilization V and Catan, procrastinate about fixing the last few storm windows and watch things like season 3 of the Tudors. 

Ok so maybe we've been hibernating but hibernating in a "we just got engaged" love bubble.

1 Year!

Saturday marked one year since we adopted Kenny puppy!  I look at this photo and I could have never imagined that he would be the goofy beast next to me on the couch. How did we celebrate? We took him to the vet for his yearly checkup.  But really, he likes the vet.

Plumbing, by Christine

For Christmas last year, Bruce's parents gave us a Rapid Bath for Kenny.  We've used it several times on the hose outside but, I had some "understanding" issues with the indoor adaptor kit, first I didn't think that we had one, second I didn't realize that it went on the shower NOT the tub filler.  So once I figured it all out I set to hooking it up.
1.Assemble tools, wrench to remove shower head, Teflon tape and diverter (that came with the rapid bath)

2.Use the wrench and remove the shower head, then clean both the pipe and shower head. Then wrap pipe (clockwise) with teflon tape.

3. Attach the diverter, hand tighten. Do not over tighten, especially if the diverter is plastic or you will end up in the plumbing department of Home Depot like I did. (this photo shows the original that I overtightened and cracked the plastic)

4.Wrap both ends of the diverter with teflon tape (if your smart you would do this before attaching it to the pipe over your head) and attach the shower head so that its in straight line from the pipe and the hose for the Rapid Bath to the other.

I love this, it turns giving Kenny a bath from back breaking task to put off to a 20 minute task.  He still doesn't love it but he appreciates that it takes half the time.  It is a little pricey and I wouldn't have bought it for myself, and if you feel the same you can always pick up a handheld shower for about half the price!

One Last Summer Adventure: Part 1

Sitting here in long pants and a sweatshirt it's hard to belive that two weeks ago it was 90 degrees and I was in desperate need of a swim! Wednesday morning on the first of September, Kenny and I were up with Bruce as he was leaving for work.  We packed up and were on our way back to The Pond where my cousin Laura, her two children, and my cousin Andy and his dog Brady were there waiting for us.

And Kenny was excited to be back.  He loves his cousin Brady, he loves to swim, he loves three year old Will who is at his eye level and calls him Kennay (think Jennay from Forest Gump), he loves six year old Elizabeth who talks to him like he's a person, pretty much he loves being at the pond with the family.
We had great take out seafood that night and just before they left Thursday Will wanted to know if they could come to our house "to visit Kennay".

Kenny's New Hair Cut

So the theory on Kenny is that his mom was a boxer mix and his dad was a Great Pyrenees, which are big, white, fluffy, mountain dogs, breed for hearding sheep in the Great Pyrenees mountains.  His long warm coat was great for January but now that the mercury is up to almost 80, the poor guy is pretty hot. So we shaved him.  It took about 2 hours with alot of breaks for love and treats but now he's much cooler. He also looks completely different!

Since I took this we also did his tail!

Channeling the Chooch

Sadly "my" dog reached the end of her life a few weeks ago.  We got her at the beginning of my senior year of high school and she was pretty tightly bonded to me even if I didn't live at home for most of her life, she was still my dog.  Ch.Pinewoods Lady Guenevere, generally known as Guen, affectionately as "the chooch"  (like choo choo train) had lots of arthritis and was generally pretty grumpy the past few years but we did as much as possible to keep her comfortable, she was also very territorial about the house. 

You can imagine how nervous we all were when Bruce and I got Kenny and the next weekend had plans to visit my parents.  After planning a very orchestrated introduction between the two which was delayed by Kenny's hesitation about getting out of his crate/the car, during which time Guen sat in the driveway near my car seeming to ask me "why are we sitting in the driveway its COLD", he got out of the car she sniffed him, wagged her tail, and there was zero issues, they seemed to be connected from the start, she even let him eat out of her bowl with her. It was our Christmas Miracle. One of Guen's favorite things was late night snacks, she would lay underneath your legs while sitting on the couch and prop her head up next to you legs and eyeball your snacks. 

So Monday night I was up very late waiting for an email from my advisor and having snacks, Kenny had been begging, but then he seemed to give up and laydown at my feet, then he did this . . .

I was almost to shocked to cry, but I did grab my camera which for some reason was close.  Its funny how these things happen, it doesn't make us miss Guen any less but I know that she's happy and pain free now.

Dear Puppy, we love you

I brought Kenny to the vet (again) today, he has been the on-going saga of squishy poop. I won't gross you out bore you with the details but at least one night a week none of us get any REM sleep. Good news, its probably not anything serious and I finally found a vet that I am comfortable with. Bad news, there is no quick fix.
Also Bruce thinks he might be able to finish the car this weekend!!
I'm pretty sure it took me longer to get him to sit still, look at the camera, wipe the nose prints off the lense and get one usable photo than it did to write this.

Busy little Bees

I've been spending max time at lab recently, which is actually max time Kenny Puppy can "hold it".  So I haven't done much by the way of projects. But while I'm not "holding it" I'm analyzing paint colors so I can match the paint in the half bath to the tile!

The bright white paint just doesn't do it for me with the tile, plus I think it makes the tile look dirty instead of "aged"

We had Bruce's family over for dinner Sunday night, while I have no good money savers for you (we had pizza) I made a lovely cheese plate on our new cheese slate. I have no idea if we are using this correctly, it was part of a house warming basket from our Real Estate agent.

I also got festive with a candy splurge for our "found" trinket tray.

Finally a photo of Kenny Puppy, under me with his head on my feet which are on the feet of my chair!

"Mooooom stop blogging and play with me!"

Things I Love About Our House

So there is a lot about our house that I want to change and fix and make ours. But there are also a lot of things about our house that we found in the house that I love.
The build in china cabinet, that currently houses all our glassware.

This beatiful milk glass piece that's currently full of leftover Christmas candy.

The puppy with the pink and black nose that follows me around.

And our bathrooms.

Holiday Decorating

Holiday decorating has come to a screeching halt! Everything since my last post is still on the couch. We even decided not to get a tree, but you ask Why Christine, what happened to your Holiday Cheer??? We got a puppy!!!! YaY us! His name is Kenny, he is a 4 month old Boxer Great Pyrenees mix, he's pretty shy about new anything but he's definitely coming around to us and is still inquisitive. We got him through Great Dog Rescue New England and they were awesome! He is neutered, microchiped and all his vaccines are done properly all he needs is a Lyme vaccine and parasite prevention! (Note Bruce's "It's cold out" beard and the lovely paneling in the office)

Not to much to Report

Updates, not to many with the holiday we haven't really been here to much. The house is way to quiet without PeanutButter and I find myself bothering Chloe (the chinchilla) frequently in a paranoid mommy way. And telling her that she is to quiet. She is not excited about the extra attention, which is hopefully short-lived I have my sights set on another pet!

Today is Bruce's birthday and I was really excited to set up his side of the office while he was at work at as a birthday surprise. Imagine my surprise last night when I got home after class to "ok let's move my desk!" Boo, surprise ruined. Back to the puppy search, after spending the weekend with his parents doodle I think we might need a dog.

I have a busy day of shopping planned, lining for the bathroom curtain as the fabric finally came and I need to construct this curtain (as soon as I do that I promise photos) and a book to tell me how to construct said curtain. The Christmas Tree Shop for thermal curtains for the bedroom, Ikea for more shelves for the bookcase in the living room, and target for hand towels to match the bathmat.

Getting busy, to be busy.

So we didn't accomplish much this weekend, it was Nana's 90th birthday party so we were back at home for that. I did remember to get our Christmas ornaments so that I can start decorating soon, mom wouldn't let me dig through her decorations which are still packed away, so we came home with a pretty pathetic amount, most of which are cookie cutters!

We did get the shelf for the bathroom and its already jammed with stuff, I found a cute little glass jar in the breezeway to keep my cotton balls in! However after the amount of baking I did for Nana's party I'm ready to declare . . . I HATE THIS OVEN!!!! It is not mine, it will never be mine, it burnt my cookies and undercooked my brownies.

In other very sad news, PeanutButter, our guinea pig, died Saturday night. She had an infection in her foot and I'm not sure if it might have entered her blood stream and she became septic or that the antibiotics she was on made it impossible for her to eat. I had spent 36 hours force feeding her special food but she didn't make it. I'm very sad, she was a good little buddy came along on the CT adventure and was everyone's favorite tripod (as she only had 3 legs!). The house is a little quieter and definitely a little lonely. So I've spent all day cleaning, unpacking and planning the Thanksgiving prep for the next few days to forget how much I miss my little buddy.