Sweet December

Whoa, where does the time go? The past month FLEW by. Probably because November is the busiest month for my job. Add a new puppy to the mix and you can bet my nights lacked sleep.

Let's try and catch up on the important stuff. I named the new pup Knoxville, "Knox" for short. His first two weeks were the hardest. Unlike my other dogs, he didn't pick up on our sleep schedule after the first few nights. I was up two, three, four times a night with him. The explosive diarrhea didn't help. Luckily, he gave me fair warning and I got him outside in time.

He has yet to sleep past 7 AM. If I'm lucky, I can get all the animals fed and all the poop scooped before 7:30. Then the dogs occupy each other while I get to sleep a few extra minutes.

"Black Friday" and "Cyber Monday" came and went, along with about a week and a half of working 10 or 12 hours every day. Exhausting when you're up all night with a crying puppy, but I made it through.

We celebrated Thanksgiving Eve, our potluck tradition, and then regular Thanksgiving. I could eat turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and biscuits every day. As much as I love Turkey-Day, I'm excited to have it out of the way, and for the real "holiday season" to begin.

I was so eager, I hung Christmas lights outside the house the day after Thanksgiving. We put up our tree and interior decorations the following week. I still may add some more here and there, but for now I'm content with the hall deckings.


I do have some exciting dog mushing news to share! The Dick Dalakian Memorial Race on November 26th was our first race and the Pine Barrens Dryland Race on December 3rd was our second. We participated in the bikejor class -- and I'm proud to say, we took first place at both events! These were both "fun" races and not extremely competitive. However, I'm still very proud of my dogs. Dexter has come a long way from being, well, not a sled dog at all. And Denali continues to impress me every day.

Our next race is the Fair Hill Challenge this weekend in Elkton, Maryland. We'll be competing in the two-dog sportsman bikejor class. This will be our first time at this race site and our first two-day race, so I'm a little nervous. I'm confident in the dogs' ability, just hoping we don't run into any problems. I've heard quite a few horror stories about this trail's difficulties. I guess we'll have to wait and see! I'm also looking forward to a mini get-away in Maryland. You can bet your ass I'll be treating myself to some crab, even if we lose.

After Fair Hill, I think our racing season will be pretty much over. I'll be picking up our sled at the event, so the next challenge will be learning how to use it (assuming we get some stinkin' snow). I may attend some snow races, but I doubt I'll be confident enough to participate just yet. Of course, we'll still be training on the bike (and I'll probably reintroduce the rig) while the cold lasts. Long live winter!

Product Review: Natural Pet Warehouse

I recently ordered some doggy items from Natural Pet Warehouse. I was primarily looking for Bug Off Garlic, and they sell the 2.5 pound jug at the cheapest price I could find. It's supposed to work wonders for controlling ticks and other nasties, so I figured it was worth a shot. A 2.5 pound jug of the garlic powder cost the same as one dosage of Frontline, which I don't really like using (chemicals). If it holds up, my next order will be for the horse-sized jug. I've heard good things, now I just have to put it to the test myself. It takes a few weeks to get into the dogs' systems, so for now, they're still covered under their Frontline. The real test will be next spring, when the tick population explodes. So, for now, my Bug Off Garlic review is "to be continued..."



My next purchase was an antler for the dogs to chew. I ordered the "jumbo" size, which really isn't all that jumbo. However, I've read that this "Antlerz" company is a bit off with labeling their sizes, so I already knew what I was getting. No matter what size, the dogs LOVE antlers. I'm going to have to order another one, because there's quite a bit of jealousy surrounding the antler. I highly recommend these for strong chewers!



The last two items I received were a surprise. Natural Pet Warehouse was nice enough to send me two toys for the dogs to sample. One is called the Hol-ee Roller; the other, a "Dogs in Action" Squiggly. The Hol-ee Roller seems to be the favorite so far. I keep putting it away in their toy basket and it keeps appearing elsewhere around the house. The Squiggly, or DNA as I like to call it, has been chewed quite a bit as well. These kind of toys are perfect for my dogs. They will quickly destroy edible treats and tear apart plushies and ropes. Tough plastic chews, antlers, and bones are really the only toys that last.



Here's a quick tip if you decide to order the Hol-ee Roller -- stick a big biscuit inside! Dexter is a master at getting treats out of toys, but it took him awhile to free this biscuit. The flexible, chewy toy caves inward when he tries to stick his muzzle towards the biscuit. He really has to work to get them out. Definitely good for a rainy day and bored doggies! Just be aware you'll need a relatively large biscuit -- or a small Hol-ee Roller -- depending on your dog.



As you can see, the dogs are happy customers. I highly recommend Natural Pet Warehouse. They're really affordable and they carry products you may not find elsewhere. Plus, they're all around nice to deal with! That always scores major brownie points for me.

Furniture, Moving, Animals

I’ve been meaning to make this post for a few days now, but haven’t had time. After two weeks of sanding and refinishing furniture, packing up everything I own, and moving to a new town — things are finally starting to slow down.

First, I’ll start with the furniture refinishing. I followed the advice of The Frugal Girl (How to Paint Wooden Furniture) and decided to paint my desk and dresser, rather than buying new ones. They were always very beat up looking — well, for as long as I remember. They were previously owned by my uncle when he was growing up (he’s in his 60’s now), and he built model airplanes on them. So there was plenty of cuts, dings, scratches, and glue marks. Despite how ugly they were, I always loved them. They’re very modern looking, and really simple.

I decided to give them one last chance by repainting them. If my endeavor came out poorly, I could always just get new furniture anyway. Worth a shot, right? Here’s how the desk looked beforehand:

So Rob and I sanded, sanded, sanded, and sanded some more…

Until finally, things started looking like they were ready to prime.

So we primed and primed until my wrists were sore.

Painting took two coats over the span of two days, and involved me getting covered in paint. So there’s no photos of that step. However, you do get a somewhat crummy picture of the final product, located in my new room!

Now, onward to the rest of the house photos. These are from my first day officially living at the house — so I was doing a lot of cleaning. A lot of things have since been moved around, and I’m currently waiting on some art pieces to arrive. There’s a lot more stuff I plan on buying (throw pillows, curtains, clocks, plants, more art) but I must wait for my funds to replenish. I’ve done a LOT of heavy spending just to get everything in place, so over the next few months will come the fun, interior-design-y part.

This is our uber-floral kitchen. Part of me hates it, because it’s overwhelming. But part of me loves the kitschy-ness of it. We may opt to take the wallpaper down and just paint the whole thing white, but that won’t be for awhile. For now, it’ll be known as my Kitsch-en. (PUNS!)

Please ignore the garbage bag on the floor — we’ve since got an under-the-sink can, but need to install the slide-out tray part. The counter has room for my blender, microwave, coffee maker, toaster, bread/cheese displayer, crock pot and bread maker. Had to ditch the microwave oven (cry).

Here we have the living room — looking messy. I was in the middle of steam-cleaning our new (pre-owned) couches. Apparently I’m immune to doggy smell and didn’t realize they stunk.

Lots of odds and ends have since found homes and are no longer being displayeded on our bookshelf. The TV is now on the TV stand, but will soon be replaced with a new HDTV.

I’ll have more photos of the rest of the house, plus decor progress to share soon. I also need to get some gardening supplies and rip apart the backyard, but that’s a whole ‘nother monster.

Last but not least, I’ve got my animals here. Perry is happily housed in the living room, where he’ll once again be a sociable bun with company. Chase, the ferret, has been situated carefully in her new high-rise style apartment. I let her free to roam throughout the day, and Dexter has been very gentle with her. I realized after she got loose in my previous house and Dexter found her for us, that he wasn’t going to hurt her — he had every opportunity to, but he didn’t. So now they’re allowed supervised play together.

The cats alternate between closets and beds, staying hidden most of the time. They’re still unsure about everything.

Princess has gotten over her fear of Dexter, but still hates him. Matilda is afraid of Princess, but food overcomes all her anxieties. All in all, I think my pack is settling in quite well.

Rest in Peace

Yesterday, my parents put Mali to sleep. The past year or so, she’s been fighting through ongoing kidney problems. This past week, she fell ill once more. We learned that she had also developed heart disease, which combined with her kidney problems, would have been almost impossible to treat. We didn’t want her to suffer any more, so we let her go.

Run free, little white-boots.

Pet Post: The Cats

I fear that if I make a separate post about each and every one of my pets, my blog will ultimately become incredibly boring. Or one of the blogs MC Frontalot talks about in his song (see: I Hate Your Blog). So to spare you all the constant pet-postings, I have decided to combine the cat post into one.

The oldest cat in the house is Malakai. We took her in when she was a few months old in 2003. She's very skiddish and overall not too friendly. I sometimes go weeks without touching her -- she only allows it when she feels like it. She recently had some kidney problems, which caused her to have seizures from time to time. She's made a full recovery, and continues to be the bratty little boss cat of the house.

Next oldest is Mama. Real original, I know. Yet another stray that showed up at our door step when she was around a year old. We brought her inside when we noticed she was very pregnant. She gave birth to five kittens in July of 2006. She's a very unusual cat. For along time she followed Malakai around and tried to be buddies with her. Mali only recently started to put up with her. She's also a bit skiddish, but loves getting pet. Just don't make any sudden moves and she'll love you forever.

Kirby, Princess and Gremlin are the remaining three kittens. The other two, "Alien" (now Thomas) and Sheba (now Pita), were adopted. These three each have completely different personalities. Kirby is a loveable oaf. He's pretty easy going, though not too bright. He's my sister's cat more than anyone else's. Princess, on the other hand, is my baby. She's got a weight problem (that I intend on fixing when we move out). She's the most affectionate cat I've ever had. She loves to cuddle and "hug". Last we have Gremlin, the little demon. She thinks she's the boss, and loves patrolling the house looking for trouble.

Our newest addition, Matilda, is probably a few months younger than the "kittens". My mom started feeding her in the winter of 2007/2008, and was finally able to bring her in just as the weather got frigid. Since she had five cats already, Robert and I took Matilda to our apartment at school. In the long run, she ended up back at the house with all the other pets, but it was a good opportunity for her to adjust to in-door life.

A quick story: at one point, we lost Matilda. The window screens in our old place were broken or non-existent, which lead to Matilda falling or jumping out one of our living room windows. About a week went by with no sign of her. Some friends told Robert about a dead black cat a few blocks from our house, and we feared the worst. Then, a day or two after the horrible news, who should come running home -- none other than Matilda! She saw Francis (our roommate) and followed him in, eager for some dinner.

OK -- that's all for the cats. I still have the ferrets, rabbit and dog to discuss... but I'll leave them for a later date.