Comfort for all

Can you guess what we now have? Comfort for us any time of the day or night...plus sleeping in on weekends without loads of guilt for HE and SHE! Comfort for HE and SHE too....if any of you knew them before you know how much SHE loved her old futon...it was sooo hard for her to leave it behind. SHE didn't stop smiling for days. One of the first jobs when SHE got here, besides getting me my new friend of course, was to order a couch. It came in last weekend, ahhhh, no more complaining of bars poking her behind.

No particular order:-)

So...finally got those pictures up. SHE's so sick of looking at screens by the end of the day it takes a bit of effort to plant her butt in front of the computer come evening. Given the fact that beautiful weather has finally arrived again leads to prolonged procrastination. It's gorgeous 'Fall' weather here, stays light until 'only' 11:00 though, sigh, its so easy to get used to the light. A bit tough to admit but Fall's precisely what it is! Despite the fact that, for you lower 48 folks, its the height of summer:-) Anyway, we're keeping busy here. Grizzly got in trouble the other day because he left the yard and harassed a jogger. SHE and HE had a nice note in the mailbox when they got home. (Welcome to Alaska too...because it was truly a 'nice' note) I imagine in CT our ears would have been burning after reading it! Anyway, SHE spoke to the note writer and promised to do better keeping Grizzly in the yard, and training begins in earnest to get that new boy into the swing of things...being welcoming that is! SHE was appalled at his behaviour and apologized profusely. Nothing SHE hates more than being harassed by uncontrolled dogs when SHE goes for a walk! HE's been busy rigging up some contraption in our doggy room....we'll try pictures but no promises just in case!

more pictures...

Pictures

We have been having lots of fun lately exploring our new plot of land and SHE got some great pictures...but it keeps crashing when SHE tries to upload. There's one of me visiting our new compost heap-yum yum, one of HE working on updating the chicken coop. Rumor goes we may be getting some new fun 'toys' to play with a bit sooner than we thought. There is Grizzly and I exploring some interesting plants on our land. SHE heard there is a mushroom identification class SHE might take next year. Wonder if we could eat these ones! Then there's this really neat footprint and something it leaves behind in the last photo...hopefully SHE'll get the pictures up soon for you!

Goodbye Uncle-HE

So days became might quieter starting on Wednesday. Suddenly we were left all alone all day with no one to play with. SHE says that Uncle-He left to fly back to Vermont...and soon to start his next adventure. He's suppossed to be looking into a program in the Ukraine. Learning how to teach english. He just has to prove he can speak it first;-) HE and SHE seemed sorry to see him go, but understand...when you're young, footloose and fancy free...might as well find the adventures where you can!

Friends

We had some fun visitors this evening. After 3 days of rain it was nice to see sun peak out and have little kids to explore the yard with. HE and SHE and Uncle HE had 'The Neighbors' over for dinner. They brought some of their yummy goat cheese and some more goat milk. HE and SHE don't share that with us...but we did get some yummy leftovers thanks to the kids. (kids are so good about leaving tidbits on their plates:-) Someday we hope to visit 'The Neighbors' at their place and get to make the acquaintance of these 'goats'. We think they would be much fun to play with. Wonder what they would think of us!?! 'The Neighbors' once again provided HE and SHE valuable household information. They discussed how to build a cabin (a cabin seems to be a must have on your property in Alaska). As long as lots of nice people come stay in it, and by nice we mean bring lots of treats for the dogs, we would be happy to have another building to explore. 'The Neighbor' was also helpful in solving the little furnace problem...how to shut off the outdoor water valve when the faucet just turned and turned and turned...and never turned anything off. HE could just picture the fun a burst pipe downstairs would be in the middle of -50 in January! 'The Neighbor' handily read the faucet which said 'frost free' and apparently the problem is solved! There is also a couch coming soon (wonder if we'll be allowed up on this one??) and 'The Neighbors' kindly volunteered the use of their truck when it arrived. (Notice: we are still not happy dogs riding in the back of a truck with our tongues hanging out!) Back up a bit...they were gone late Friday night and once again came home full of all sorts of yummy smells. They had apparently been to the auction at the fair. They talked about scary things like how 4-H kids raised animals and then auctioned them off while the auctioneer talked about how good "Dinero" would taste on the table. (Hope we never run into one of these '4-H' kids!) (actually SHE says SHE used to be a 4-H educator...and the kids aren't at all bad...quite good for kids actually. And if you're going to eat meat, at least knowing it had a good life is the way to go. In my opinion, as long as you share it with me, any meat is fine:-) Saturday SHE went shopping again, returning with lots of crinkly bags. We got a new water dispenser out of one of them...fresh water any time we want, just lap and lap and lap. Uncle-HE is apparently leaving us sooner rather than later. But more on that later once we find out what happens when....So all in all, we're happy with our dog's life here in the far north! (especially because SHE unpacked our treats...though that pesky Grizzly had a bit too much fun with my egg....SHE thinks a tug of war might have taken place...and the egg is no more)

Sleepings warmer

A couple shots of me and my new buddy. Nights are much warmer. SHE says so too, especially now that her bed has arrived! There's been lots of movement around the house lately...men brought stuff in and today HE and Uncle-HE loaded lots of cardboard into the car and took it away. They brought back a couple pieces of wood too...hanging out of the Honda. Wonder how much longer they'll overburden that little car. I see lots of trucks with happy dogs hanging their tongues out, ears flapping in the breeze. Maybe I'll be one of them before too long so we'll all fit into the Alaska resident category better:-) HE and Uncle-HE put lots of new wood on this structure. SHE calls it the foundation for her 'new' greenhouse. At least now when we walk out on it, we don't get yelled at and it doesn't make creaking noises and my paws don't fall through. And no, we don't know why the original residents built it out over the hillside on this structure. We are waiting to see what the sun does through out the year to see if there will be a major revelation as to why this was the perfect place. We still get yelled at though when we nap in our new sandbox...can't figure out why she goes insane whenever she finds us in it!?! Garden, what's that? Grizzly likes the little posts in the corner. That dog sure can chew wood. Anyone ever need bark stripped from logs ought to come see us. It'll be done with pleasure. I remember I used to like a nice stick now and again when I was a bit younger. Those chair legs back in New Haven were pretty good until SHE sprayed them with something. Getting yelled at a couple times for that too cured me of chewing on things other than my sanctioned nylabone! Grizzly's not all civilized just yet...puppies!

Working girl

SHE's started disappearing alot again lately....coming home a bit pooped. Says she's a working girl again. At least now I have a whole yard to run in and company to play with. Between Grizzly and Uncle-HE, I'm never bored. SHE seems to like her new job. A bit slow going and SHE says SHE definitely doesn't want to look at a screen when SHE gets home. They spend way too much time in front of those strange things anyway! They have no smells, sometimes interesting noises but boring! THEY were really excited last night. HE said that they'll get to sleep in a bed again Friday night. SHE seemed thrilled too, as did Uncle-HE. There's suppossed to be a big truck visiting the yard sometime today. WooooHooo I heard mention of dog toys too. Wonder if I'll have to share. I'm finding a bit more time to sleep nights. The sun disappears a little bit anyway. Not that I have difficulty sleeping in most any situation, but a bit of dark can be restful.