New furry family member Finn

I kinda figured our Pepper girl would be lonely since Chorkie went to live in Austin with our older daughter and Ollie passed away. That's my excuse for cruising over to the cairn terrier breeder's website where we got Pepper almost six years ago. And boy am I glad I did since I discovered she decided to retire from breeding these sweet dogs. As luck would have it, two of her females had final litters this spring. Meet our newest family member, Finn, born on April 19.

 

 

Isn't he a cutie? So much so that I haven't minded my empty nester life being turned a bit upside down to accommodate this little guy's needs... much. Just like childbirth and bringing home a newborn, you forget all of the time and energy a puppy takes until they get past this stage. The transition to life away from mom and littermates that entails pitiful crying and whimpering for several nights. The need to puppy proof the house, investing in several new baby gates to protect our lovely zebra rug on the dining room floor. Taking this tiny-bladdered creature out into the backyard every hour or so to keep him from using my new living room rug for his personal toilet. 

It's a lot of work, y'all, but that precious face makes the effort worth it. He turned ten weeks old on Wednesday, so he'll need to mature a bit more before we can begin the serious kennel training. He's now my constant shadow, and Pepper has been really patient with him. The little fella stays busy trying to gnaw on my furniture, locate roly poly bugs on the back patio to eat, and fetch his favorite toys. Since he's still a baby, his motor runs down throughout the day and he flops down for naps. Sometimes he does the dream paddling and appears to be remembering nursing, so he makes little smacking noises and his tongue sticks out.

The younger daughter joined me on the drive to the breeder's ranch up in the northernmost part of the hill country to fetch him. While there, we got to see Pepper's mother Trudy (see below). She's an old girl at eleven, but is in good health and seems to enjoy her grub. I can relate!

This post will serve as a warning that you'll be swimming in puppy pics and anecdotes on my blog for the rest of the summer. There's nothing sweeter than a baby animal. And they're always doing cute things. Oh Lord, I'm praying for strength of purpose, mindful consistency and patience as I weather the next few months with our growing Finn.

Fall Wall

I got a call last week that the rest of my fall landscapes were framed, so went to fetch them. With our decorator out of the country traveling, and me not wanting to have all seventeen paintings sitting around for another week, I decided to give it a go with hanging them. 

The husband and I did a good job of hanging my recently framed vintage Southern Living magazine covers from when I was a kid in the late 70s and early 80s. We had very little money back in the day, but my mother always carved out enough for an annual subscription to this magazine that was always on the coffee table during my growing up years. I can recall flipping through to admire the pretty pictures. I even read some of the articles. It was truly an inspiration to me, seeing the beautiful homes, food and decor on the glossy pages and imagining how nice it would be to enjoy those things one day.

Hanging those three was a piece of cake, so I think I let that go to my head and figure seventeen was the next logical step. <insert eye roll here> First thing I did was place them on the floor to try and get a feel for arrangement. And of course that brought it home to me how at times like this our decorator is worth every penny of her hourly rate and then some. After working with her for the past 20 years, and five houses later, I've learned some things along the way. But lest I get cocky, I always run across instances like this where I need her eye to pull it all together. 

I rearranged these pics for a solid hour. Walked away for a while and then came back for another look. Next I sent out pics to several folks for their thoughts. Then I decided to just go for it the next morning. I think it looks presentable, all things considered. Though honestly, it's clear the whole grouping should have been about 6-8" higher up the wall. You make your best guesses and give it a shot. And be sure that the decorator is available to hang all of the upstairs living room pics!

Fur, feathers & fond memories

Last weekend we were out on the back porch swings to catch a breeze late in the afternoon and I decided to water my planter filled with succulents. As I reached to turn on the outdoor kitchen faucet, I looked down and got a case of the heebie jeebies when I spied this furry fellow in the bottom of the sink. I've gotta admit it gave me a fright.

As I've mentioned in a few other blog posts, cardinals always remind me of my mother and grandmother. They've been everywhere lately. When our daughters went to do a second tour of the wedding venue to make sure it was "the one" the oldest preferred, our younger daughter snapped this pic of a cardinal she spied. I love that cardinals also remind our girls of their sweet Mimi. She would have been thrilled to hear about all of the wedding plans starting to slowly take shape.

Today would have been my granny's 101st birthday. I have so many wonderful memories of her. And I get an almost daily reminder of her and mother. Our new property has lots of cardinals, just like the house we sold and moved from this spring. There's a pair that nest outside the glass block windows of the master bath in a mountain laurel tree that I hear and see most mornings. When the girls were both here last month for Memorial Day, a cardinal sat on the fence and seemed to be watching us for the longest time while we were grilling supper. These beautiful birds continue to be a lovely reminder that brings a smile to my face while tugging on my heart strings. 

We went up to the river house for the day to hang out with friends recently. A few miles before our turnoff, we spied a herd of axis deer. I think this nonnative species is much prettier than our local whitetail population, and that includes their impressive horns. I hear they're also pretty tasty, but I don't have any firsthand knowledge of that!

Taking a turn around Cibolo Creek

Last year we had a near record drought, and so many of our local rivers and creeks became more of a glorified pig wallow. Thanks to our recent rains, it's looking much improved these days. Back when Ollie was younger and we lived in town between England stints, he and I walked many a mile on these same roads and he loved every minute of it. With the passing of our Ollie boy, I've started taking Pepper girl to town for walks along the creek with me.

Initially leery, it's obvious she's really starting to enjoy it. A favorite part of the walk is being on the lookout for squirrels to run up trees. She sees cats, too, but they're nowhere near as much fun because they aren't scare of her like squirrels. She's intrigued by ducks and geese waddling down near the water, but seldom wants to pursue them. Alas, we are forced to play a game of dodge the duck and geese poop on the pathway closest to the water, doing a lot of zigging and zagging to keep her feet and my shoes from getting nasty. You'll see in the video above that we often run across random eggs laid on that stretch of our walk along the creek.

Pepper and I make a big loop of about two miles that ends our walk at main plaza, where we pass by the gazebo and doggy water fountain for her to get a drink. I hope to increase the length of our walks as she improves her endurance and acclimates to the summer temps. Since our exercise tends to be finished before all but the coffee shops are still closed on Main Street, I enjoy some window shopping in the cute boutiques and stores that line our picturesque hill country town. It's a lovely way to start my day.

In memory of our sweet Ollie boy

In the spring, our precious cairn terrier Ollie was diagnosed with a large liver tumor. We've spent the past few months loving on him as much as possible because we knew our time was growing short. I prayed to the Lord that He would keep Ollie's pain at bay, and that God in His mercy would give us a sign when it was time to say goodbye. And so He did.

Born on September 24, 2011, he became a member of our family right after Thanksgiving. We considered several breeds before settling on a cairn. I read a book on how to pick a puppy, and so we were blessed with a lovely boy that we enjoyed for over eleven years. 

Born to a multi-generation cairn breeder in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk County England, Ollie was destined to be my buddy while we lived abroad since I wasn't teaching. We walked many a mile in Surrey together, Ollie and I. With his laidback personality he was a favorite at the local doggy play days. 

 

 

 

 

 

Ollie was a well traveled fellow, flying across the Atlantic with us three times for our two stints in England. He was a pretty fearless little guy who never met a stranger, human or dog alike. However, the one thing he absolutely did not like was fireworks. I blame that on the overzealous folks on Guy Fawkes celebrations when he was a youngster. 

Our youngest daughter grew up with Ollie since we got him when she was still in elementary school. As a matter of fact, she's the one who taught him his most famous trick - sitting flat on his bottom like a meerkat to beg for a bit of table food. He was quite adept at playing the cute card with this move, and was still doing it up until a few days before he passed.

Ollie didn't mind being an only dog, but he was fine with his longterm housemate Pepper the cairn, plus our older daughter's Chorkie for a few years. Then there were mother's pugs Max and Ruby that lived in our backyard for years while mother resided in her guesthouse out back. Ollie put up with their panting and shedding over the years.

His longest running canine companion was Pepper, who joined our family in October 2017. Initially afraid of him, our little gray cairn girl quickly realized he was a big old pushover who was all bark and growl when she got too rambunctious, but had absolutely no bite in him. 

He truly was the best dog in so many little ways. They carve out a place in our lives with their sweet personalities. And thus they take a little piece of our hearts with them when we have to say goodbye. Farewell to our little squirrel chasing fellow who loved to go walkies and never met a french fry he didn't eagerly wolf down. My own Mr. Migglesworth.

 

 

Rest in Peace, Ollie boy

Sept 2011 - June 2023

Updates & decor winding down

I'm hoping we'll get our final piece of custom cabinetry installed in the downstairs powder room by the weekend so I can close the door on this last bit of updating. Oh sure, we've been waiting an extra two months for the cabinets to be completed. Wah-wah. Our silver lining on the delay is that it's all soft close and beautifully made. We've loaded up most of the new garage entry cabinets with stuff we had temporarily placed in the guest bedroom downstairs, so that was nice to finally get things shifted into their proper spots.

My new floor lamp arrived a few weeks ago. Talk about a nice big shade!  I ordered one that was a sister to those already in the downstairs living. I've about decided that corner will be the best place for the skinny Christmas tree I'm waiting to order from Balsam Hill as soon as it's back in stock. It's never too early to start thinking about holiday decor, y'all.

A couple weeks ago I trekked out into the boonies to collect our cuckoo clock. I didn't mind because the drive was pretty. Plus I like that I'm giving my business to a retired local clock repairman who works out of his house and does an excellent job with reasonable prices.

Late last week I ordered several lights for the barn. The exterior paint is about finished. We're just waiting for the window and door overhang metal to arrive so it can be put in place. I'm really digging these lights, seen below. I think of them as farmhouse, but the place where I buy lights listed them as warehouse style. The copper versions I chose were a bit more expensive, but I think they'll look really good as they age in the elements and develop a nice patina.

Thanks to our recent rains, the 23 pallets of Bermuda sod we put down have greened up and appear to be taking root. This crepe myrtle in the dog's side yard is so heavily laden with blooms that the branches are sagging a bit. This time of year in the Texas hill country tends to be feast or famine in terms of precipitation. I'm just grateful the Lord has blessed us with rain for all of our lovely flora and fauna.