Cabana is Home...

...to stay! I feel such relief and peace about our decision. She may not be the "perfect" dog for us, but we love her so much. In the end, I couldn't bear to think of not having her in my life anymore. I can't wait to teach Cabana to play fetch with tennis balls, take her to obedience classes for further training, and give her Frosty Paws and other previously forbidden treats.

Part of the reason I was hesitating to keep Cabana was that I kept imagining her in a new home with a little boy, maybe about 8-years old, who'd play tug with her, run circles with her in the yard, go on expeditions through the wilderness. I could see her being endlessly entertained by a little boy because every time we see children in a store, Cabana is so enthralled. She was so sweet and gentle with my nephew who visited this summer. But--there was no guarantee that she would be going to a home with an 8-year-old boy or that she'd love him more than she loves us.

There might be a dog out there who fits our lifestyle better, but there also might not be. I'm happy to never know. I do know that I would have compared every subsequent puppy to Cabana. This one isn't as smart as Cabana was, or that one chews things up when Cabana never did.

I'd like to explain my not feeling "completely relaxed" with Cabana from my earlier post. I tend to feel overly responsible for people (and pets). Because Cabana was in training, I was always thinking about her future blind partner. I'd think maybe I should be putting her on tie down more often or take her to restaurants more frequently so she'll be used to that, etc. AND for the past 6 months, I've been waiting for Cabana to go into season (Martha was right about watching the pot--it never boiled)! I worried constantly that if a determined big male dog decided to get frisky with Cabana, I may not have been able to stop him. Plus, Cabana is my first dog, so everything is new to me.

As Cabana's new owner, I am fully committed to giving Cabana the things she needs. There's a big off-leash dog park near my girls' high school that I've been dying to take her to. After her spay and recuperation, I plan to take her there frequently, so she can play with other dogs until she's exhausted. If she needs a 5-mile walk or run, hey, I need the exercise, too! And my husband is a marathon runner--he'd be happy to take Cabana for runs, too.

When I picked Cabana up from the puppy sitter's this morning, she was SO excited to see me. She eagerly hopped into our car, and snuggled up against my hand as I petted her in the back seat. She was so happy to come home. There's no doubt in my mind that Cabana feels our love. Our home is her home, and she is our dog.

P.S. As you can tell from the new header, I plan to keep blogging about Cabana.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr

Of course the hot water heater and the boiler picked the same day to crap out.

The hot water heater is dead, but the boiler is repairable. Leaky pump or something.

I was under the (erroneous it seems) impression that a hot water tank should last longer than 12 years. Goodbye giant jiffy pop:



I can has hot water please?



50 gallons and set to 120° Just about boiled myself with the first shower.

It was the red thing near the topish left that died on the boiler. Something widget garble thingly sprocket derbble technical stuff. Translation from Hubster. "Booster pump fucked":



The Hubster has it covered:



Soon, soon, soon there will be heat again.

But in the interim; Usually a freezer. Today a workbench:



FYI, I'm currently in long ski undergarments. What? TMI?

Well thbbbt to that.

Swish, Woosh, Swish, Woosh

Buh bye!



Hello!



It's gonna take me a year to figure out all the buttons & settings.

Gurgle, Gurgle, Whoosh!

9:15 P.M. update: F.I.X.E.D!

Turns out the whatzit was a titch too short, so the hubster used a nurble to extend the flangoid. In any case: das Wasser ist hier.

~~~~~ Original Post ~~~~~

Well I was going to post something proper tonight. But the main water line broke (maybe), and now I'm only thinking about the potential lack of water for a few days.

Wonder how gross the showers are at work?

In any case the hubster was in the shower when the water pressure died. He went outside and noticed water flowing freely from under the car where the main water shut-off is.


(For dramatization purposes only - not actual break. Like we could afford a back-hoe)

He's now outside draining the water shut-off hole thingy to check out the damage. If we are lucky it's only a connector - Please, please, please, please, please!

All Is Well....

Brat survived her tutoring with no problems. She was very dopey last night and mostly slept.

Here she is with daddy, showing off her stitches.



And this morning sharing breakfast and back to normal.



Also the new yard (to go with the new deck) is mostly done. A few picky bits to finish, but already 500% better!

This is what the old carport / deck looked like just before we ripped it down:



Here is a repeat shot (from earlier blog) showing the new deck, but with the yard not yet started:



And here is the yard now:



I'm so happy :-)

New Deck...

So here are a few pics of the new back deck. The floor has since been stained brown and the rest of the structure will be stained a dark green and wine / burgundy colour to match the front porch:

What A Mess!

So of course when I'm at work all day the dog gets bored, bored, bored.

She has roughly 5000 toys, but does that keep her happy, NO!

She has a training pad holder


That we put newspaper in and lately she has taken to ripping the *)#*R$#& out of the newspaper and throwing the scraps all over her pen.

This is what her pen should look like: (Minus the crate, we've taken that out. The pad holder is behind the crate in this picture)



And this is what it looked like @ 7:19 tonight:


Sigh....

Haven't been writing much lately because... because... Well I haven't felt like it... So there.

But that's probably just as well. With the current excitement level in my life you would at best get an breathtaking account of what I had for dinner (tonight - McFood!) Or perhaps the joy that is summer television (oooooh, a Simpsons I've only seen 56 times)

And here is a strange phenomenon that only ever seems to happen to me. I will - out of boredom - watch some stupid sitcom that I've never seen before. Deciding I hated it I'll set out to never watch it again. 6 months later - again out of boredom - I'll decide to give the show another chance. Guaranteed it will be the same stupid episode I watched the first time. How can you give something a 2^nd chance when the 2^nd chance is the same as the 1^st chance?

<unrelated bit>
We are getting a new back deck and downstairs bathroom. I'll post the exciting pictures when done. Can you wait?
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