Puppy Photo of the Week

I know you are probably all thinking, There's that blogger, Heidi, in her fuzzy pink bathrobe again!  Is that the only thing she owns?  Well, I really enjoy the early morning hours, and I will wear one of my fleece pajama sets and bathrobe as long as humanly possible.  When I return home in the evenings, I cannot wait to get it right back on!  Here is a shot of Momma, in her pink bathrobe, of course, and her Milton enjoying a little quality time during a quick break from grading.


Milt is after that Squeaky Crocodile

As today is Presidents' Day, I have the day off  (Jeff too!)!  The Milt likes when his Momma and Daddy Dog are home on an unexpected weekday.  It is quite the holiday for both of us!  You better believe I will be luxuriating in the bathrobe for a good long stint.  I hope a lot of you are too!  

Milton's Fortress

First and foremost, Happy Valentine's Day!  Make certain to eat some yummy chocolate and sniff a rose or two.  Jeff and I are not celebrating today (more on that later), so I will write about that next week.  For now, here is our weekend adventure!

Pop and Momeaux arrived back in town this past weekend, which means stuff got done.  In particular, Milton's fortress was begun. Pop came to Dallas anticipating completing our entire fence in one weekend with his apprentice's help, of course.  Little did he know that our current fence posts were rotted away, so instead of utilizing the originals, he would need to construct entirely new posts, then the framework, followed by the planks.  Well, wood was purchased, cedar to be exact, and the project was underway.

A few of the materials

Pop and Jeff attacked the far back fence first, which left our house exposed to the alleyway and Milton free to roam.  Hence, this led to a tethering of the Milt to prevent runaways.

Good boy

North side exposure

The men worked hard on the outside, while Momeaux got to work with her needle and thread on the inside!  She sewed many a beautiful creation.

Foyer bench cushion

Lace to "hide" a bedroom door

Kitchen seat cushion

Dining room curtain tie-backs to match our dining room set

Momeaux working away with her granddog at her feet.  She is actually sewing green sashes for the other windows.

Getting back to the 8-foot fence, Milt kept the men company outside for the majority of the days.  Jeff likes to hook Milt's leash to his belt (odd, I know!), while he works, to teach Milton how to follow along, so he will be better on leash.  I wish I thought to take a picture of that!  Here is Milt, instead, with a pile of brush.  Lots of yard work was also accomplished, by Momeaux and me, under the guise of fence building.  It actually was necessary to rake out a lot of leaves and cut back an overload of honeysuckle to prepare for the new structure.

Always in on all the action

Wandering around

You might recall that two weeks ago, Jeff and I raked and raked, along with the Milt, and heaped it all on the side of the road.  Our garbage bags of leaves were rejected, however, because it was not a Bulk Trash Day.  Well, Monday was, and we had twice the trash to share.  Thankfully, this time it was actually collected.

Lots and...

Lots!

Well, the back fence was begun on Thursday and partially finished late Monday evening.

Burning the midnight oil

Our fence is not only beautiful, but it smells very nice too!  We still have more to accomplish in regards to the remaining fence perimeter, but the back of our fence is looking good.  Jeff will continue to work on it, and Pop might return again to provide further assistance!  I, for one, am learning that "Patience is a virtue," of which I lack.  Nevertheless, I am quite thankful for Momeaux and Pop, the best in-laws a girl could have!

Myth Busted

One of the main incentives that inspired us to purchase a goldendoodle was the "fact" that doodles do not shed.  A doodle is part poodle, so there should be enough poodle genes mixed in to prevent that annoying side effect of dogs.  Since Milton is an F1 (cross between a golden retriever and a standard poodle), we were aware that he might shed a "little" unlike a F1b (cross between a standard poodle and a F1 goldendoodle) who supposedly does not shed "at all."

When we acquired Milton, we lived in an apartment for the first six months.  We vacuumed a tremendous amount, but what we sucked up looked like an awful lot of dirt (He's a dirty dog.) combined with an awful lot of my hair.  Jeff and I never saw Milton's blonde hair on the carpet, rarely on our clothes (unless we wore black), and certainly never on the tile floor.  Foolishly, we assumed that our doodle was a non-shedding one.  Now that we live in a house with hard wood floors, we have changed our sentiments. 

Fur ball

Fur balls

These are the fur balls that roll across the room at any given moment like tumble weeds.  These light clumps of fur tend to collect behind doors, under beds, and around tables.  They are certainly "dust bunnies" for as you go to sweep or suck them up, they simply hop away from you.

Here are the remnants from a recent vacuuming.  Yuck.  I know. 

Grimy, kind of impressive

Is our goldendoodle's fur and dust habit a deal breaker for us?  No, of course not.  Compared to the average shedding dog, Milton's shedding is "practically" non-existent.  It is really the dirt that gets under our skin.  To have a cleaner home, Jeff and I certainly need to be more vigilant with the brushing and bathing of Milt. 

Fur clump from recent brushing - reminiscent of sheep wool!

Milton is a tough dood to keep up with in the cleanliness department, but we certainly are trying!

The Milt

Puppy Photo(s) of the Week

Is your dog ever really, really bored, and you need a cheap thrill?  Well, grab an old cardboard box (We tend to use our Amazon.com leftovers.), put a few tasty treats inside, and then tape it up nice and tight.  Now let your doggie at it!

 

Chances are he or she will be amused for a solid 15 - 30 minutes, just like our Milton.  I wish I could say this diversion lasts longer, but I can't...!  Happy Monday, everyone.  I hope the weekend was a pleasant one!

New Household Rule

I am angling for a new rule in our household!  Jeff is still staunchly opposed to having Milt in the bed, but I attempting to shift the "No Dog in the Bed" rule to "No Dog in the Bed on WEEKNIGHTS."  This past Saturday night, we went out with friends to a party, and when we got home, both Jeff and I hopped into bed.  I encouraged Milt to jump up on our bed, and Jeff did not throw too much opposition my way, which was a good sign.  We snuggled in with Milt between us, and, let me tell you, my Jeffery was wrapped all around that Milton.  Our doodle certainly is a charmer, but at 60-lbs in our double bed, he eventually hopped out because he was too warm and really couldn't find an awful lot of good space.

Big guy in the bed

Midway through the night, Jeff got up to sleep on the couch due to a tender tummy (He ate a big, ole hamburger at that party, and I am surprised I felt as well as I did after consuming a fried bologna sandwich!).  Of course, I cajoled Milton to get right back into bed with me, and it was the perfect space for a Momma and her dog.  Wouldn't you know it, but Jeff tried to return to bed in the early morning hours.  He was not as tolerant of the Milt dog this time, especially when the Milt got into scratching himself with a little bit of licking and biting while we were trying to sleep.

Blinking back sleep

Well, I began to doze off, and then <BOOM> I heard a thud.  Milton was lying in a heap at the foot on the bed on the floor!  How did that occur you might ask?  I have ascertained that Jeff gave him one swift kick to claim the bed back as his own.  I told my husband that there are dog protective agencies out there that would come down hard on him for something like this, but he just blew me off.

Thank goodness Milt dog is the forgiving sort.  I think he'll make his way back into bed this Friday again, especially when his Momma helps to pull him up!

Add It to the List...

With a house built in 1929, there is always something that desperately needs some sort of renovation.  Jeff and my catch phrase has become, "Add it to the list," because we absolutely need to keep a running tab of all the home improvements that must be done to make this house, well, liveable.

Rather than weekly dinners out at fun restaurants, our life has become weekly, bi-weekly, and even tri-weekly trips to Lowe's and Home Depot to buy all those "fun" supplies for the home.  Both of these stores, due to their hardware nature, allow dogs inside, so the Milt is a good tag-along.  If I need to make one of these trips, I always time it for a day that the Milt has stayed home, so he can come along for the ride and keep his Momma company. 

Siting pretty

Testing out rugs

 Well, what are a few of the things on our to-do list?

Flapping in the breeze

All spread out

Why ever am I drying all of my clothes outside, you might ask, especially since Pop spent 20+ hours enlarging our wash room last weekend?  Well, after all that hard work, our dryer has ceased to work.  It up and died on me Friday night just when I needed it to dry a whole heap of clothes.  How did this tragedy occur?  We believe the dryer was broken in transit during our move, and I still hold out hope that it is a voltage problem that we can look further into this upcoming weekend.  Until then, we are letting it all hang out, all over our porch.  Trashy, I know.  At least it's not our front porch.

Another big ticket fix-it item is our fence.  It has multiple gaps and holes that we think Milt is a little too big to squeeze through, but with the proper motivation, anything is possible.  Actually, in the area shown below, our doodle can navigate the tiny crawl space between our dilapidated fence and our neighbor's to run the gauntlet up and down pretty far back.  Now that's a problem right there.

Upcoming Weekend Project

Pop, our "Handy Man" will actually be back this upcoming weekend to construct a brand new fence with my Jeffery.  This fence has been a top priority for Jeff, especially for security reasons.  It is a little too short to keep out intruders, and let's face it, anyone can simply squeeze on through.  The gate into our driveway is also a chain link fence that swings back and forth, directly by our bedroom, so we are a little bit leery of it as well.  Fence building, in particular the 8-foot one Jeff and his dad plan to resurrect, will undoubtedly be a tremendous project, costly in time, labor, and money, but we got to do it.

Next this is my pet peeve that I would really, really like to see fixed.

Attic

That is our pull-down staircase entrance to the attic that is absolutely not flush with the ceiling.  I have declined to enter the attic because Jeff has sighted multiple cockroaches (two to be exact!) up there.  I have spied a rather large one (I bludgeoned it to death again and again and again) just under this pull-down apparatus, so I am quite confident that cockroaches can fly down from above.  This is a top priority for me but a low one for Jeff.  Growing up in Louisiana, Jeff is a lot less squeamish than I am at the sight of the nasty, little buggers.

One thing that we did get accomplished this weekend was an awful lot of raking.  We have a giant pecan tree in our backyard that sheds a boatload of leaves.  I suppose these leaves were shed back in November, but we have a lot of other things to do around here!  Sunday night we piled all of our 15 or so bags down by the curb for pickup.  When I arrived home from school that afternoon, they were still all piled there.  I guess our sanitation workers only take what is in our garbage bins.  It was not quite as rewarding hauling all of those full bags back to the backyard, to wait for "Bulk" Pick-Up Day, as it was hauling them down to the street...

Leaves galore

In the thick of things

While raking, our dood always joins in the fun!  After we raked the leaves out, Milt discovered a lot of cool dark dirt underneath!

Digging Away

Someday it will all be done.  I am beginning to lose my patience though, slowly but surely.  At least the Milt is always good for a little levity in whatever situation.  That is if he's not adding to the problem destroying stuff.  Oh my... 

Puppy Photo of the Week

Milton was waiting and waiting to get his paws on one of those deer femurs that Pop brought him last week!  Saturday was the day when we finally let our goldendoodle have it.

Tasty treat

Since we pulled the cold bone out of the freezer, Milt really was not quite certain what to do with it at first.  He licked and licked at it.  When the meat finally started to warm up, our boy got his chompers firmly on it, and he ended up eating half the bone!  We finally had to yank that away for safety reasons.  Milton certainly is a fierce, little carnivore!