More puppy adventures and mis adventures amid the house changes

 

Front of house, the paver patio under the bay window.

South side of house, river rock fill, with stone edging wall.

View of the paver patio from the front door entryway.

Now all I have to do is find the right furniture to put out there, and the time of day that is best for using it.  Since the front of the house faces West, in Summer the best time to enjoy that space is before 10 a.m.

The deck on the West has its best time in the evening.

Ember's reaction:  what is this stuff?

Her little life is being further disrupted by the utility guys having placed flags and painting lines in the grass, to mark where everything is buried.  This is to help the irrigation guy Nate when he comes to fix what's fixable.

Wednesday's highlights for Ember:

First professional grooming.  You, like I, might have wondered what does a lab look like after a professional grooming?  Pretty much like a lab before a professional grooming.  But she smells better, and her nails are shorter, and her coat is a bit softer.  The take aways:  she did not attempt to bite the groomer, she held her pee and poo all the way 'til she got home to her own back yard, and the only part of the grooming she was dicey about was the ear cleaning.  She even let him blow dry her somewhat!

Wednesday was also Ember's first time meeting her "aunt Dottie", the retired music teacher who is a cat person.  My family is good at making sure rules are followed, so Ember had three people reminding her to keep her paws on the ground, not just me!

The three sisters took Ember for a walk to meet Jerry, our senior sister's gentleman friend, up the block.  

The reason for the visit to D's house rather than the normal Wednesday Walk with Alicia and me was that our grandfather's registered historic iris varieties were all in bloom at once.  She is the custodian of these iris.

We had a little temper tantrum on the way out of Jerry's house.  Little Ember had reached her limit, and she started nipping on her Mommy.  I handed Alicia my purse and picked up the puppy and calmed her down.  Then we finished the walk.

The sad news was that Ember's tummy didn't take the return trip well, and she lost its contents about 2/3 of the way home.  Fortunately, it did not land on the freshly groomed puppy, on her harness, or her leash.  I brought her inside, settled her in her den, then came back to the garage to clean up the floor and door of the car, all of which were rubber mats or plastic molded pieces.  Easy.

She was hungry very soon thereafter.  This is her normal "car sick" pattern.

The overnight was a challenge because the landscape guys had sprayed the weeds between the patio and the back yard.  They said keep the puppy off the weeds for 24 hours.  This meant leashing and keeping her either on the patio or taking her 'round the front of the house through the gate to the back yard.  Bottom line:  we survived several tussles over leash and harness, but here it is Thursday night and we're both still breathing!

The challenge for Memorial Day weekend?  Utility flagging!  Do these folks have ANY idea how tempting those little flags are to a puppy?

It means that Ember will have to be kept on leash in her own back yard until the sprinkler system is installed.  Probably beyond that, because on one of our walks, we encountered someone's sprinklers "on", and Ember was a bit freaked out.  Oy, she's getting the full treatment with these house projects!

The man who left the markings told me he had some "iffy" readings on the Spectrum lines, he's not sure he has it well located, there's a range, some of which is quite close to the power lines.

This is very close to the patio.  We survive ONE night without being able to use the step down from the patio to the back yard, I wonder how long we will be able to survive with the flags in place.

In other Thursday adventures:  mom had to finger fish what I guessed was a piece of chewing gum someone had left on the sidewalk out of Ember's mouth on our morning walk.  This triggered a bout of nipping and leash resistance on the far side of the block.  Mom had to show Ember that "Mommy's bleeding" several times on Thursday.  Ember was always sorry and licked the wounds.  And of course, Mommy always forgave her. 

Enough for one blog!  Life is good.  Spark on!