Doodles ready for dinner

They look so serious because they're very hungry. I can't seem to feed them enough since we switched to grown up food!



And they look so serious here b/c they're about to have a bath...

Some of the many ways doodles snuggle

In the living room...




In the car...



And holding hands...

COUNTERTOPS!!!!

Well, here it is, folks. The new countertops/bar. What do you think?
It's still not entirely done, as you can see. The window and the wall around the trash can still need to be finished. Also, something to be continued that isn't visible in the pictures: the outlet we're getting installed at the end of the peninsula! (So excited!)

But, really, what do y'all think?

Truly before

These are the pictures I have from when we first looked at and then some from when we closed on the house. What a long way it's come!

Way way before

A little of what it used to look like. I'm going to dig up the real "before" pictures, from when we first looked at the house.

Happy Birthday, Abby!

Today is Abby's birthday, so we went to PetCo (the more ghetto of the two big pet stores--we like Petsmart much, much better) to pick out a gift. Abby was super distractable, so she didn't pick out her own toy, but Buster helped himself to a treat from a display located foolishly near the floor. We bought Abby and Buster each a new basted beef bone, which they were very happy about. Abby also got a new plush toy.




To celebrate how grown up she is, we'd like to publicize Abby's vocabulary to date: sit, down, stay, release, heel, let's go, come, shake, wave, high five, off, up, load up, crate, chair, drop it, take it, put it in the box. We're very proud of our little doodle.

More at the park

Afternoon in the park

Well, it was an absolutely beautiful day today; it got into the mid 70s, so we made some time to take the dogs to the park. It was really blustery, but lots of the trees still have their gorgeous colors.

Buster's name=Buster

So the name Buster is going to stay. I wasn't a big fan at first, but once you get to know him, it seems to fit him. He came with the name, so keep it he shall.

Doodle geometry:

Buster's learning to love his crate.

Recent doodle tricks

We taught Buster "hug" because he was having a lot of trouble with jumping up on people. Since we've taught him to do it as a command, he's doing a lot less unwanted jumping up. We taught Abby "wave" because it's hilarious and cute.

Well, not so much with the camera work, but Chris has been on campus for ridiculous lengths of time every day, so I have only so many options.

The obedient doodles (more videos!)

Abby and Buster playing (video!)

P'oodles

New from Team Elision...Piles of doodles! The cuteness is mounting in our home. As are the odd camel noises. Yes, Abby's looking pretty scraggly these days. She's also in need of a bath. But even so, it's an awfully good looking pack.

As an aside, we are welcome to name suggestions. "Buster" seems to be sticking, but we're still on the market.

A shout out to my lady Kate

Many, many thanks to my best friend Kate for giving me fair warning and adequate blank space so as to prevent me from being assaulted by traumatizing information and/or pictures. If I were able to access the comment link, I would have posted this comment on that post to testify to all that read her blog, but, alas, that would have defeated the entire purpose. There are many true measures of friendship; one of them is recognizing that your best friend is, always has been, and will likely always be frantically terrified of stretch reptiles, and surprise viewings of them not infrequently make her cry.

Love,
Cat

Also love from Chris and the posse, because now they don't have to deal with me being totally freaked out for the rest of the week.

Buster?

A few pictures of the new hound:






















He came from a rescue, apparently neglected, but seems to be happy, healthy and adjusting rapidly to life in the pack.

Ta da! (Part I)

Well, it's not 100% done, but the cabinets, stove, fridge, and dishwasher are all installed. Obviously, we lack countertops, we need to finish the window, a couple of painty things here and there, and so forth, but the biggest parts are pretty much complete. Many more pictures to come as things develop.

















This part still looks pretty grim, when isolated from the rest of the kitchen. But, as you may notice, I switched the door of the fridge so it opens into the room instead of against the wall. I'm very proud of myself. Once we repair the window and patch and paint the wall behind the fridge, this part will look super snazzy, too.










Our new spice cabinet and lazy susan. "Are those fancy wood trays?" (you might ask). Why yes. Yes they are. They were standard with the model, so we didn't have to decide to get fancy wood trays, they just appeared.















Oh, yes, and it turns out that with real cabinets, we can fit almost everything that used to be to the left of the sink in one wall cabinet. Look at those mixing bowls! The dinner plates! It's truly incredible.

Wall cabinets are up!

Naked kitchen

Well, today's the day! The contractors just finished up the wall cabinets and floor repairs, and they're putting the base cabinets, sink, stove, and dishwasher in place today. I believe they're coming Monday to finish installing the base cabinets. I'll post pictures of the finished wall cabinets in a couple of hours!! Amazing!

A last shot of the naked kitchen:



Some of the wall cabinets just before they go up!

The chair ergonomically designed for dogs

The white chair (aka, Abby's chair). We've been putting her in it when the contractors are in the kitchen and we don't want her to go bother them. They're actually very nice about her, and except for certain tasks, she can come in and say hi without causing trouble.

JR had just been nearby, so Abby's especially happy in this one.

Hoping to catch a glimpse of the kitchen

This was hilarious. She's not in motion here. She'd been in the chair for about 20 minutes, and had been making the occasional humpback whale noise. She ever-so-slowly put her foot down, then sat like that, looking occasionally over at me, for at least 5 minutes, at which point she had to get all the way back up in the chair. It was so, so, so funny.