Travel Wall

It dawned on me today I had never posted a shot of the finished travel pics wall in the remodel. This is one of my favorite things in the house right now. The pics come from family travel on three different continents. It's a bit of a conversation piece... in case we ever get the patio area put back together and can actually start entertaining folks.

Falling back to shorter days

It's the beginning of November, which means two things. It's time to turn the clocks back an hour to end daylight savings time. And <insert high pitched squeal here> it's the wind up to Christmas decorating. 

We kicked off November with attending the husband's annual meetings and retreat. The weather was hot because Texas seems to have the global warming down pat. Seriously, temps in the 80s the first couple days of November? THIS is why I want us to buy a second home in the Smoky Mountains once we hit retirement age. Four seasons, fall foliage and cooler temps - what's not to love.

The retreat was nice, as always. My favorite part was a hike where we got to visit the site of what is believed to be an old Indian campground that is recently thought to predate the Native Americans by centuries. It was humid and misty, so I looked like a frizzy wet poodle by the end of the hike. Danged Texas weather.

Above is a little watering hole you'd undoubtedly miss if you didn't know it was there. Below is the Indian (and earlier) campsite - a good place to hunt arrowheads where many have already been found. Below that is a nice little lake we passed, one of several, on our hike.

Before we hit the road for company duties, I kicked off the week working on our front gate wreath. My mother lent a hand since it's a pretty big undertaking with all of the rolling and twisting of the deco mesh and wired ribbon. This year I'm loving the fun and whimsical lime green with the traditional red and white. It's taking shape and I think the finished product will look nice. I taught myself this wreath making method via a You Tube video. Mother's front door red winter cardinal burlap wreath was my guinea pig first attempt and she's pleased with it.

Finally, finally our replacement recliners for the family room  arrived on the boat from Norway and got hauled out to the house for delivery Tuesday. The old Archie Bunker cloth ones are gone, replaced by this lovely cream in the pic below. I'll be enjoying the last week of my blue, green and silver pumpkin decor before Santa Claus comes to town the following week  The husband doesn't know it yet, but he'll be spending a week from Saturday hauling boxes of Christmas decor from the workshop into the garage, my staging area for Holiday Decor Prep 2017.

Ring around the feeding bowl

I bought Pepper one of those puzzle bowls to force her to slow down. She inhales her food as if she hasn't been fed in days. And then tries to take Ollie's food from him. Thankfully, this bright blue feeding bowl has solved those issues. Every time she eats, she goes round and round, trying to gobble up every last bite of dog food.

Rasslin' is still a favorite activity several times a day, especially since the backyard is a work zone and won't be dog friendly for another month. So they chase each other around the house and put on a canine WWE show for my entertainment. Here they are in one of the beds on either side of my desk chair this morning, being (relatively) good doggies with their morning playtime.

Farewell to the Flagstone

It took at least a day longer than the contractor expected, but the mismatched patio with poor drainage that caused puddling in our garage when it rained is now gone. You can see where some of it is still present in the yard - just needs a ride to the dump. 

Here's a pic of Pepper pup last night, who hopped up into the recliner for a bit of a nap. This was after big bro Ollie boy led her in a search and bark squirrel mission at the french doors leading out onto the all torn up patio area.

This and That

Yesterday the football team wrapped up the last game. As much as I enjoy a good game, I prefer a climate controlled viewing location. So bring on basketball season! Here is a pic of the teen and her dad in our ugly backyard before demo kicked off on Thursday. Since it's October, she's obviously prepped for the breast cancer awareness pink out game. Then there's a short video below that.

A couple weeks before that was the homecoming game and dance. I'm always amazed at how the high school girls look like extras on the set of "Sex and the City" when they put on a dress, heels and some makeup. 

Pepper pup is doing fine. She went for her spay surgery on Monday. Knowing the Cairn hooligans would be back to wrestling like maniacs when Pepper should be taking it easy, I boarded her a couple extra days. She's still wearing her cone for another day, but she honestly doesn't seem to mind. And it's not slowing down her ability to eat treats, gnaw on her toys or romp with brother Ollie. 

Our grad school girl had midterms last week, so I (not so coincidentally, lol!) sent her a halloween goodie box of snacks and a mini zen garden for her and the roommate to enjoy. This is a screenshot of her Snap showing it.

At this stage in the game, I have to mention a bit about kicking off phase 2 of the remodel. The dogs were on and off concerned about the jackhammering and bobcat cement busting noises last week that will continue into tomorrow while the contractor's guys bust up all of the existing hardscape around the pool, between the house and cabana. Ollie boy is more frightened of loud noises than Pepper pup, so he stayed close to me. She was busy looking out the window at the ruckus and playing with her toys. 

Here is a final pic of the elusive black squirrels I often spy in our neighborhood. I finally had my phone on me when I saw one recently and got a kinda fuzzy pic of it next to the neighbor's car. They just seem so exotic and cool compared to the usual red and gray ones we see playing chicken in the road and tormenting the dogs with their antics.

Fluff 'n Fold

The remodel house really feels like home now. I'm just down to some final touches to be truly done with decorating. This week I created and ordered a 16x20 canvas print for the laundry room above the area where I store dog food in pretty glass and stainless steel canisters. With teal colored scoops. And Ollie's own personal pet portrait painted by an artist living in Oregon that I found through a friend where I was teaching several years ago. I'm all about personalizing our living spaces these days.

I realize it's not super clear, but you get the idea. The quote I used was discovered from a series of books written by Yorkshire vet James Herriot with parts of this poem as the titles. If you haven't read them, at least the first one, then you must add it to your literature bucket list. I laughed and cried and thoroughly enjoyed them. The pictures in the collage are from our time spent living or traveling abroad in England, China, Turkey, Ghana and Greece. The iguana pic from Turks and Caicos was quite striking with its vivid green body and surrounding foliage, but the ugly guy got beat out by the British snail.

Feisty Britches

This pretty much sums it up around our house these days. Pepper, our 6 month old Cairn, is either chewing (and ingesting) something she shouldn't. Or rasslin' with big brother Ollie. In the bathroom. On the family room rug. While on walks along the side of the road. She's a little spitfire.

 And she's also a food gobbler. So twice a day I'm sitting on the floor in the laundry room next to her bowl, feeding her 3 pieces of food at a time that she hoovers up whole. She'll chew the rhinestones off my favorite pair of flip flops, but she won't chew up her dog food before swallowing. 

Then there's mother's pugs, Max and Ruby, like nothing she has ever seen before. Pugzillas from another planet, no doubt. They snuffle and snort and bark at her, particularly Ruby. So Pepper tucks her tail and tends to stay away from them. Until they can play nice with the baby, they aren't allowed in the main house.