More Puppy Pics

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Puppies

I need to help a new client find homes for six puppies. If my blogging pals would be so kind to ask around or even repost this clip with my contact info (I will provide that via private email) I would really appreciate it. They need new homes! Her neighbors are about to kill her:)

Aknot

I finally got a good shot of the third kitty:)

Okay Travis here is my dream car.

Iconoclast

My mother has always called me an iconoclast.

From Wikipedia...

People who engage in or support iconoclasm are called iconoclasts, a term that has come to be applied figuratively to any person who breaks or disdains established dogmata or conventions. Iconoclasm, Greek for "image-breaking," is the deliberate destruction (or defamation) of important symbolic images (or icons) recognized within a culture, religion, or society. An act of iconoclasm usually implies that the activity was public, rebellious, and originating from within the respective group.

The first time she called me an iconoclast was when I got Christmas cards with Elvis in a Santa hat. I don't even remember what the card said. I remember being rather proud of the label. Afterall at the time I was a teenager trying to be rebellious and it felt cool. Over time I have come to realize the label is true.

Not in a FU sort of way but more conventions never felt necessary or right to me. I felt it keenly recently at the wedding of a friend. While I am completely on board with getting or being married, all the trappings of the wedding seem silly to me. Now let me say that this is not to say I felt any disdain for her wedding, it was lovely. I just can't see myself doing those things. I am easily bored with convention and tradition

She held to all the old traditions. The white dress, the first dance, the cake (although she broke slightly with cheesecake, kudos:) and all those things you expect to see at a wedding. She and her now husband do all sorts of Norma Rockwell type activities...dance lessons, singing around the piano, big family dinners. My sister too we have to have Turkey on Thanksgiving, Ham on Easter chocolate on Valentine's day. Her Christmas tree is the same as the tree we had when I was growing up.

Sometimes I feel strange surrounded by these people. I could see myself never being married or being in an unconventional relationship (I'll keep those details to myself). I don't really like things and acquiring wealth has never been an interest of mine. I don't believe in God. My mother asks if things are appropriate to wear to church and I am dumbfounded...why does she care?

I guess what it boils down to is that there have to be people like this bride to keep old traditions and there have to be people like me or nothing would change.

Green Porno

Ahhhh hmmm ummmm interesting?

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid18011345001?bclid=17841335001&bctid=18005808001

Shower

Mark is close to being done with the new upstairs bathroom. We can now take civilized showers. I am completely impressed with all that he has done so I had to post a video and show off his work. I hae to say I have never had a shower this luxurious before and I don't now how I will eer go back

I've got a blogging block. Any suggestions?

Lost and Found

There has been an unexpected side effect to living in a house that is being remodeled, I lose things. Nothing really has a permanent place in our home so my belongings are in a constant state of flux. Most of them are still in boxes and plastic crates.

I met Mark in November of 2006 and by the following July he started remodeling the house. I moved all my stuff in last August from a storage unit. The problem is that the rooms are inconstant. What was the bedroom one month is the office the next. He finishes a room and everything that was in that room leaves and goes to a different room. Things that don't belong somewhere are there. For instance for a long time we had the dining room table in the bedroom.

The consequence of this is that no thing has a "place" so if you set something down you run the risk of it disappearing. In order to clean house for a guest or party you cannot put things away in their proper places because there are no proper places. Stuff gets stuffed into the nearest drawer or box never to be seen again. Or a room that was one thing quickly becomes another thing and you lose track of your stuff.

I have lost track of several bras. Strange...why bras? I know they are here because I generally don't take them off outside the home. It's not like I'm at an appointment and just get...comfortable. People tend to frown on that kind of behavior. I've lost probably three or four ear buds for my phone and a couple for my I-pod. Plus twice now the chargers. I have coats I haven't seen for months and shoes that seemingly walked away unassisted. My flatware is missing three spoons, a knife and four forks. Pillowcases, my health insurance information, DVD's and makeup, it's getting more and more frustrating.

We now have two mostly finished rooms, the master bedroom and dining room. I find myself jealously guarding the neatness and state of these rooms. I'm very careful to put everything in the "right" place in these rooms. I do wonder if someday all my lost belongings will finally reappear and I will have five ear buds for my phone and my bras back.

What If God Disappeared?

Very funny!

Sunday

So today to placate me Mark took Lola and I to Rattlesnake Lake for a romp in the snow. Then we had to take EVERYTHING out of the dining room AGAIN to varnish the woodwork...sigh. I will admit the varnished wood does look good:)

Snow, Public Restrooms and My Computer keyboard

Do you ever have one of those days when everything annoys you? When you just want to throw yourself on the floor and have a full on two year old temper tantrum? I'm having one today so I'm gonna bitch about it.

Firstly...Snow? What the f*&k? I realize that weather people are not God but was this predicted? At all? Because it really messed up my day. I can't begin to describe how much I HATE snow. I hate it with an all consuming passion. I know it isn't particularly rational to be this rageful about the weather but I am. When I see it coming down my entire mood changes. If someone decides to be cute and funny and sing "Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" I could very happily hit them and walk away with a smile. I think it's because I'm very very very inept driving in it. People say "Oh it's not me it's the other people I worry about" Well meet one of the "other" people. I even bought a Subaru to try and cope with my snow driving phobia but I drove out today and came home again. I just can't do it. "just drive slowly" oh shut up. Mark thinks I'm being irrational and maybe I am but I just can't do it (nothing but agreement in the comments section please I may explode or never speak to you again if you disagree)

Okay so next...Public restrooms. I train and walk dogs for a living and frequently have to pee on the road. Since I'm not a boy and can't literally pee on the road I have to utilize public restrooms. Again what the F*$K? What is it about leaving home that turns some into nasty pigs? What is so difficult about flushing? I realize the handle may be nasty but please be a part of the solution people. You can wash your hands when done. I can't tell you how many times I've gone into a restroom with say four stalls and all had unflushed toilets. Gross! Next girls what is wrong with your aim? Do you pee all over the seat at home? I won't even mention what else I've come across on the seat but needless to say it's nasty.

Okay last (and this one is totally my fault but I'm cranky) my computer keyboard... I frequently search out and cook new recipes I find on my laptop. So my computer comes in the kitchen and sits next to me on the counter while I cook. Invariably I get crumbs in the keyboard. Today I must have gotten a lot of crumbs in there so every keystroke is either accompanied by a little crunching noise or doesn't work at all. It's buggin me. (See! I left that typo in deliberately)

Okay done....is it wine o'clock yet?

This post is a good example of why you shouldn't blog when extremely tired:) I read this again this am and coldbarely make sense of it

So Mark believes he is the Wizard of Oz now. He is installing a home automation system. It's really very cool. There will be touch pads in every room of the house controlling lights, heat and music. Different rooms will have different lighting, temperature and music. The system will know when someone walks in a room and turn everything on. Bright for day, dim for night. We will be able access the weather and traffic at a touch before leaving for work.

So cool but he's driving me nuts. He's upstairs right now programming the lights. He's turning the Tv and lights on and off at will. Dimming and brightening at will. One off another on. Tv on and off, loud and soft. He is driving me nuts but I just emailed him in the bedroom and asked him to turn on the lights down here. That's pretty cool:)

Mr. Mouseman

Well I almost didn't post this because of the tampons visible in the center cubby in my car but what the hell. Surprise I'm a girl!

Our mouse problem has returned. I spent a good hour the other day cleaning the rements of a mouse party (involves lots of poo) from under the kitchen sink. Yes I was careful of Hantavirus. I sprayed the whole business down with beach water first. We don't kill creatures we aren't going to eat so our problem is more difficult what with the remodel and all.

Sigh... this is going to be my life for the next couple of months.

I Like Your Booty (But I'm Not Gay)

Mark's newfavorite song from Aqua Teen Hungerforce. Love the Squirrel!

Arnie & Gizmo

These two dogs were going to be featured on new page I'm designing on my website for the dog walking portion of my business. The owner wrote a cute little blurb about how much they like me and how they enjoy their walks. My job was to get a good picture of these little buggers.

The story with these boys is that they are rescues. The bigger cream colored one was the dog of an AIDS patient.When he could no longer care for the dog....Gizmo is his name and he's 17, the girl part of this couple brought him home. He had to have most of is teeth removed, endured a nasal fistula, eye infections, a prolapsed trachea ....I could keep going but it was bad. They called me to walk him three days a week because he's also incontinent. Which I do at a much lower rate than my other dogs because they were so nice to take this sickly old dog home.

So several months later Arnie joined the party from a Chihuahua rescue. Losing his sight, with a broken jaw from removing all his teeth (BRUSH YOUR DOGS TEETH!!) and incontinent too. Where Gizmo is so sweet, Arnie is nasty. Gizmo daintily takes treats from my hands, Arnie snatches them angrily. He had his jaw wired shut for a long while so I didn't know his most obnoxious trait.....biting

It's not scary or painful...usually. He does have about three teeth lurking in there and if he angles his head just right he can pierce the skin but just barely. His jaw strength is not what it used to be so it turns into a big pinch. Not pleasant but doable.

My routine is to go get them out of the pen they spend their days in and walk them for as long as they can stand it. Gizmo is always happy to see me, Arnie isn't. So after being bitten a couple of times I asked the owner to leave a towel hanging over the pen. Now I throw the towel over him and lift him out. Lately I've discovered I can stuff a treat in his mouth and while he's chewing get him out.

But today I realized dogs are capable of spitting out treats. The little bugger got me again. Still I will continue to go walk them and bear the toothless bites. I figure if you get to that age and you are a troll like this Chihuahua you have a right to a slight attitude.

Kristin's Fault!

Sorry Kristin but you got me thinking about if I've come into contact with anyone truly evil in my lifetime. I came up with only one person.

When I was 24 I had a boyfriend who was 22. I met him on Halloween at Spinakers on Shilshole Bay. I was a Grecian Goddess he was a Cowboy. He was big, cute and played shortstop for the Husky Baseball team. It turned out he lived on a few short miles from an apartment I shared with a roommate by Juanita bay. I was smitten. It really didn't last all that long, barely a blip in my life except for one lastly thing he left me...a cataract on my left eye.

When I look out straight ahead it's kind of like looking through a frosted shower door. I didn't even know this had been the lasting effect of this person until a couple years later when my eye doctor asked me if I had ever been hit in the eye. I said "of course not" but then it hit me (scuse the pun) I had.

It snowed a lot the winter of 1992, late too at the end of March. This person came trudging through the snow to see me. I was thrilled. We had a nice evening and then he proposed something I wasn't so thrilled to comply with....I refused, he tried to insist, I refused and ordered him out of my house. So he hit me hard in the face. I had never been hit before and have never been hit since. It was painful and shocking. I marched to the front door, threw it open and screamed for my next door neighbor who gallantly ran out in his underwear. The man left, trudging back through the snow. He called several times but I never spoke to him again.

I was mad but brushed it off like you do when you are very young. Now I would report it then I did nothing.

About two years later I was watching the TV on my couch and a teaser for the evening news popped up with his picture. I stayed up late to watch to see what he had done. It turns out he murdered someone who had been molesting him since he was fourteen. (If you know who this is please don't name him in the comments section) The trial started which I followed closely. It turned out this man had a position of trust in this boy's life and abused it terribly. Despite my anger at what he had done to me I felt great compassion for the poor child he once was. I called his parents and offered my condolences. I think he did go to jail but it was found that this man had documented what he had done to this poor long ago child and he was granted some leniency. I heard he got help with his anger issues.

So even though he hurt me I wished that I had said something when it all happened. Maybe it's very self-centered to believe I may have changed what ended up happening. I think this person needed help and I'm sorry now I didn't do something.

Spooky!

I've talked a lot about the remodel of this house but not about the way the house once was. Apparently it started off its life as a fishing cabin. The first picture above shows what that part of the house looked like. One room cabin with a wood stove, a bathroom, and a loft for sleeping. We are right above the river so it was once an isolated spot for river fishing.

Then according to the neighbors a woman with ten children lived here...holy moly. I don't know how. The house was built in the 40's and was about 800 square feet. They must have been packed in here like sardines. In the 70's someone added another 700 square feet. Whoever did it did so in a very haphazard way. They basically slapped another house up next to it with another loft and staircase. The left exterior windows up either looking at a wall or looking out into the space below. You couldn't get from one loft to the other without going down one staircase and up another. You can see it in the first picture of the house before.

So Mark started the remodel and put a new floor in below the windows, broke through the two sides and took out the spiral staircase. He had never washed those windows between the two sides...too high. What we found when we got up to their level 30 years after the remodel was someones face pressed into the glass. You can see it in the third picture.

I haven't washed it off. I wonder who it was? Are they still alive? Who were they pressing their face up to? Did that person laugh? Sometime that wall of windows will become merely a wall and the long ago face will be gone. Until then I'm going to leave it up and wonder about this person who made the funny face

The Ting Tings -

One of my new favorites. I think it reminds me of the songs I liked in High School..

They call me Bee

Moving Day
The floor is done!

The fireplace works!

We need a chair rail still but the walls are painted, wainscoting sealed and stained.

We moved some furniture in and will sleep her tonight! I can't wait to have everyone over!