Adventures in Paradise

Bittersweet

If all goes well, this will be the last post I make that is tagged "Taming Tipper", because I dropped her off for a two week trial on Sunday afternoon. She's lived with me for three months and both Harvey and I have gotten rather attached. In fact, after TWO failed applications (both withdrawn before we could even really start the adoption process), I had pretty much decided to keep her. Then, just as I was headed out to San Diego to visit the Brown Shoe, another application arrived. This time it was from a couple that I had met at an Art Fair in Old Town Alexandria.

I tried to bring Tipper out as much as I could, to get her shown off and hopefully adopted. Mostly I got lots of comments along the lines of "What a sweet girl, but..." which I totally understand, because I've said the very same thing more than once. This couple scratched Tipper and commented how much she looked like one of their dogs, but regrettfully said they already had two at home, so...

Then they came back and found us again. Then mentioned that they only lived a few blocks away from the plaza and would I be willing to go over to a quiet park area nearby and let their dogs meet Tipper. Well, yes. Yes, I would. The three dogs got along fine, Tipper walked well with them in a group and when the woman took Tipper for a walk she did fine, at least until she couldn't see me. The good thing about that is that they got to see the separation anxiety up close and it didn't phase either of them. They seemed serious.

I knew they were going out of town around the 4th of July, but then I didn't hear from them for the rest of the month, so I figured they'd decided that three dogs was just too many. Nope, they just got busy and once things slowed down, they sent in the application. When I brought her to their home yesterday, Tipper's Petfinder picture was stuck to the fridge, which gave me warm fuzzies. I took some pictures and while I won't post the family photo - three dogs and two humans - I'll show you Tipper in her new environment.

They have a lovely house that is totally dog friendly, down to the fact that the door to the back yard is open all the time, with a screen that the dogs can pass through any time they want to go outside. Dog beds everywhere, sheets on the front room sofa and guest bed so that the dogs can hang out and watch the street outside...and a second home in rural PA that has a full acre fenced for the dogs to run and explore. Sounds like doggy heaven, doesn't it? It would have been so unfair of me to keep her instead of giving her a shot at this life. And the rescue is short of fosters, especially for the large and medium dogs, so stay tuned.

And for those who think I've altogether quit with the crafting:

Koolhaas in Rowan Calmer (Boy I wish I had this in more colors, because I'd like to make a slew of chemo hats for my friend in this yarn. Why did Rowan discontinue it?) This one is too small...I have to go down two needle sizes when I knit with Calmer in order to get a decent fabric, but either the small size is child-size or else something weird is happening...anyway, not to worry. It will go into the Team in Training box at National Children's Hospital, where each child gets a small gift every day to brighten their days. I'll probably make a few more similar things as well. I've got some Calmer in powder blue and I plan to make the larger size this time. And maybe try it on before I start decreasing...oh, the things you forget when you have lost your knitting mojo.

And I have started pulling fabric, too. I have two friends with kids due between November and January that will get quilts. Neither of them read the blog, so it's safe to post here. This is for the November baby, I think. We discussed colors and I have been considering a warmer palette, but this has lots of fall colors without being a one-season trick, I think. The solids are best guess right now, I may pull a few deeper ones, like a brown or orange.

I Need a Vacation

I need a vacation from my vacation. See, technically, I spent half of June and all of July on leave - that's paid vacation time for those of you who don't speak military jargon. I was able to take 45+ days because despite the fact that we get 30 days a year, many of us don't use it. And if you go over 90 days on the books (That's three years of leave accumulated), they take it away at the end of the fiscal year. This year I was facing the loss of 12 days, and up to 30 days next year. So when I found out that I couldn't report to my next job until August 26th so that the guy I'm relieving can get credit for completing a full tour, I started looking at my options.

I knew I was moving, so I got some work done, starting with the most important rooms...the kitchen

And the sewing/knitting/guest bedroom. Or at least the yarn and fabric stashes....

The yarn is organized by weight, in contrast to the fabric, which is organized by color.

Nobody who knows me will be surprised that blue and green dominate my fabric.

And then, there's what I did with my afternoons, wrangling a group of rising 6th and 7th graders into something resembling an actual circus performance.

This is part of the finale rehearsal...still trying to figure out how to get the wiggly boys on the left into something resembling balancing on each other. (They're better as comic relief.)  Performance is Wednesday afternoon - after a full week of no pratice. I'm nervous, but in the end, these kids have done somethng they never thought they'd do, be it juggling or acrobatic balancing. I'm pretty proud of them.

The marathon training continues apace, but with the limiting factor of irritated achilles tendons in both legs, a result of the move, not the training. And Tipper now has "sit" and "down" and we're working on "stay" and "come". She's had several applications submitted and then withdrawn, which makes us all sad. Maybe not Tipper. She's pretty happy where she is.

This is after she methodically emptied her crate onto the ground in front of the TV and the crate. She then settled in for a nap on the bed. When I was dressed and ready to leave this morning, she followed me down and settled into the bed. She's been doing really well, in fact I haven't crated her the last couple of days when I leave. I had stopped crating her, but then there was a spate of rug peeing, so I had to go back for a while. She's doing well.

The separation anxiety seems to be cooling off; when I sat outside for dinner tonight (strangely cool weather in DC the last few weeks) she wasn't interested in joining me outside. I tried, but she just went to the door and pawed to go in. Works for me. Me and the wine stayed outside.

The Before

So, I've talked about the paint on the new house and my plans...here's the before:

Living Room - notice the light fixture. It's meant to go over a table and it's set really low. Enough that even I can't walk under it (So it's less than five feet off the ground.) It's one of the light fixtures that has candle-shaped light bubs and someone painted faux candle drippings down the side of the columns holding the bulbs. Seriously. In this pic, the floors have already been refinished, but the walls aren't painted. And obviously the light needs to be changed.

This is the corner of the Master Bedroom. It's the other room that's getting a massive transformation, at least color-wise. It's going to be the same dark gray-blue that my bedroom in San Diego was, or similar. That one was called "Scatman Blue" and the new one is Behr's "English Channel".

The kitchen area. I guess the best way to describe this living area is breakfast room or something, but it's going to be just an area for people to hang out when I entertain. The picture in the middle is where we pulled my color palatte for the house - blues, purples, and shots of citron/lime with pure white trim. And that light fixture is going, too.

In doggie news,

Tipper has figured out the treat ball and now it's the first thing she checks. Hey...she's playing with a toy!

Long Week

So, I graduated from the National War College on Thursday, and we celebrated at a relatively new restaurant in DC, a seafood place called Azur. My friend D and Mom were with me and we split a whole bunch of the appetizers instead of doing a full meal.

The dessert...D's hazlenut and chocolate dessert was not worth the calories (and was eventually removed from the bill...hopefully also the menu in the near future) but my strawberry "salad" was good. Mom's "cotton candy of the day" was a hit though - mom speculated that it was guava, D thought it was mango and I didn't even venture a guess beyond "tropical fruit". Turns out that it was pineapple. Yummy. But with all the eating, there had to be some payback, right?

On Tuesday I took mom to the trapeze school and introduced her to aerial fabic (aka silks). She's flown on the trapeze before, but she's got inner ear issues so upside down isn't really a good thing. There is a lot of upside down work in fabric, but you can avoid that in a first lesson, so that's what we did. I think she had fun. Probably more fun than on Saturday morning when I woke her up at the "crack of dawn" (her words...we didn't leave the house until 7:15) to join my Team in Training group for the weekly long run.

She looks pretty good at the turnaround point - 2.5 miles of five for the day. (Better than I did, which is why my picture from the midway point isn't up here.)

I don't look awful at the finish though, despite the big hill at the end. The big purple shirt just isn't flattering on me - to get it big enough to not be constricting across the shoulders, it's huge everywhere else. It's one of the side effects of circus arts - shoulders, lats and arms that don't fit the fashion norm. (Can't wait to get into my new house and set up the sewing machines!)

Mom looked pretty good at the finish, too! (We won't talk about her group getting lost and taking a completely different route back than the rest of us...we'll just be glad that they made it back safely.) I'd say my training is going really well, but we're only at the 5 mile long run mark, and since I know that I can run 13, that's the point where I'm going to be watching. My hip is slowly improving with weekly chiropractic adjustment and bi-weekly accupuncture. And strength training. Lots of strength training. I have until October to be completely healthy, so I'll just keep plugging away. And again, I'm running with Team in Training, which raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If you're interested and so inclined, here is the link to my fund raising page (I am SO close!)

Tipper...so happy to see me after my endless trip to the restaurant restroom that her tail cleared an arc in the pine needles on the ground.

Pardon the Imposition

Guess who would like me to close the crate door after dinner has been served?

Mom arrived in town at an uncivilized hour last night/this morning thanks to a mechanical problem in San Francisco, followed by a weather delay based on the weather here in DC. Still, I hauled Tipper out to the airport at midnight to meet the flight. We walked through baggage claim and the parking lots - and she walked great the whole time. She even laid down in the office where Mom had to give her info to get the bag she left behind on the first flight. Then Tipper spent the night in Mom's bedroom, door closed so that my curious kitty wouldn't trigger Mom's allergies too much.

I left Tip with Mom twice and she apparently did pretty well in that no rugs were harmed. She did pace a lot though. Still, after an evening romp in the local playground and the above pictured dinner, she settled down pretty happily...

The picture is hard to see, but that's an incredibly relaxed Tipper snuggling on Mom's lap while we watch The Daily Show.

More Good Things

Tonight Tipper gets to meet mom. It's a little more complicated than intended since there were mechanical issues with one flight and while she got herself on another one, it's coming into a completely different airport. No big deal, just an adjustment in plans. And meeting in a busy parking lot is less than optimal, but still do-able. Since mom gets in late, I've already set up the air mattress, complete with loud mechanical inflating noises. The good news? Instead of peeing on my rug to express her discontent (I did take her for a walk immediately before for a reason...), she headed into her crate. Granted, she's still in there, I suppose waiting to be sure I'm not going to make even more loud noises first. Still, progress. And there's this:

Yes, there is actual physical contact there. I started snuggling with Tipper on the chaise and Harvey joined us after some thought. Tipper never even turned her head away and shortly after Harvey joined us, she relaxed and rested her head on my leg, as you can see here. A few second later, Harvey decided to shift positions and laid down with her head on her flank - and again, not a single doggie twitch. Yay! Although, they are getting along so well, I could be in trouble.

This is what happens when Tipper is at day care. Tim said Harv wandered around looking for Tipper for several minutes before he settled down in front of the crate.

And this pretty girl is Mercy. they think she's a Weimeraner/Catahoula Hound dog mix and to say she's timid is an understatement. The rescue asked a couple of us who live near the day care to take her for walks because she's not just timid, but a flight risk as well. I made a pre-move Goodwill run this morning and stopped by the day care to meet her on the way home (thankfully before the skies opened up AGAIN). I ended up just sitting with her in the store for a good five minutes before she relaxed enough that I felt like she's trust me enough to walk with her. Not food motivated, and not into toys, but since the dog park was empty, I let her run free and boy did she love that! I ran a bit with her and she'd be a great running partner for someone. I'm told that the temporary foster in North Carolina had done some agility work with her and she did really well.

Oh, and I do still do some stuff with fiber...

I took my cousin to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Fesitval this year, and as usual I walked away with a Bosworth drop spindle. (Doesn't matter what else I look at, including Goldings...I leave with a Bosworth.) I also got some pretty orange silk hankies and have been slowly playing with that in the evenings. I remain an uneven spinner, but I got enough that I can play. This is the second batch.

Sigh of Relief

Despite a rain-delayed arrival, Brown Shoe's introduction to Tipper went really well. We met on the street near a local restaurant that does take-out. I'd ordered a pizza, so after a few minutes of introductions, with Tip refusing treats from him, we walked to the restaurant. Tim did the walking (and I discovered that my control-freak gene comes out when it comes to dog handling, as it did much of the weekend) and waited outside with her while I went inside. The alone time was good - she stopped yanking at the leash to get back to me and settled down into a calm sit. (That's my second big triumph with her - whenever we're walking and I stop, she sits without needing a command. Nice for city streets.) She took treats from him shortly after that.

Saturday we brought her to day care while I did some discussion with my friend's husband, an architect, and then headed out to a baseball game. I could have left her crated, but that seemed to be a bit too long. We did have to skip out of a post-game concert, but that wasn't a huge inconvenience. Overall, not only was it successful, but I think Tipper was perceptibly bolder than she has been - she spent a lot of time exploring the living room while we were sitting there. I really think she's a man's dog, even though she adores me.

I don't have any new Tip pictures, but took a bunch at the baseball game, including this one of my friend's little girl taking care of a boo-boo she "found" on BS...

When Mom Cleans

The broom isn't nearly as scary as the vaccuum, so the process can be closely monitored (and when mom turns her back, Harvey can go lay down on the pile she swept into place). Even Tipper wanted to supervise - from slightly further away.

Tipper is mostly doing great, but as Jessica pointed out in my initial fostering post, it's going to take time. Every time I think we've made amazing strides I discover some new quirk that needs to be addressed. She is as scared of my umbrella as she was of the buses going down the street. So now I'm going to be the crazy lady walking the dog on sunny days with an umbrella in my hand. And she really doesn't like strangers in her house. I mean REALLY. She was truly unhappy when the Comcast guy walked into the house, I'd say scared unhappy because while she growled and woofed, she did so from the safety of the top flight of stairs. Eventually, she went into doggie jail - but not before she peed and pooped on one of my rugs. Sigh.

This is going to make the next few weeks a bit of a challenge. BrownShoe (the boyfried/significant other/whatever) has transfered to San Diego but is going to be in town over the weekend. My current plan is to meet him while we are on our evening walk (he doesn't arrive until late, so the timing works) and have him walk with us for the last 15 minutes or so - she's fine with strangers outside. There will be lots of treats, too. That way, by the time we get to the house, he's not a stranger any more. Does that make sense?

And on a positive note...how can you resist this cuteness?

 

 

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

What happens when mom needs to open both top and bottoms doors and the animals would like to explore?

Yeah. Animal jail. Neither of them were too excited, but for different reasons. Harvey resented being confined, and Tipper wanted to know how I could jam her in with a cat. I'd like to say it ended well, and it mostly did, until the very end. I think Tipper's excitement at my return freaked Harvey out and now that blanket is in the wash because cat pee isn't pleasant at all. But Harvey isn't the only one who had an accident today. It turns out that Miss Tip's reaction to the vaccuum is to pee on the rug. So...she'll be crated for that in the future. (I'd held off on vaccuuming until I knew she was comfortable with me and after three weeks, I think I picked up a full dog from my rugs.)

The reason the animals had to be jailed is that I'm going to be moving this summer, and I just got the keys on Saturday. Today I loaded up my vegetables and hauled them to the backyard. I brought Tipper and Harvey over with me to do some swatch painting and plant potting/placement. Tipper made herself comfortable on the middle floor - sometime in the next couple of months, there will be furniture.

These are the two candidates for the focus wall in the living room where Tipper is hanging out. It will be the long wall across from all the windows. This room gets an amazing amount of light thanks to eight floor to ceiling windows on the other three walls, (east, west and south exposures), so I'm thinking a deep color will be okay. The paint swatches are on pieces of what are essentially contact paper that will go up on the wall this week. The one on the right is called "Quixotic Plum" and has a lot of gray, while the next one is either "Dewberry" or "Majestic Purple". I'm inclined to think it's "Dewberry" because the third, not pictured, one (that I'm pretty sure is out of contention) is very purple.

The yellows I painted on the walls themselves - this is the inside of a set of built-in bookshelves on the ground floor, which houses a half bath, utility room, and open kitchen/living area. The colors look fairly close (and aggressive) in the picture but the one on the right is much less bright than the one on the right. I may go for another shade lighter, but the impact will be lessened by my books and other stuff, so maybe not.

Continual Improvement

Right now I have two animals in the living room, Harvey torturing himself with bird watching at the window and Tipper snoozing in her crate. The first is pretty standard, the second is a new development. She's decided the crate is pretty okay - there's a hoof and an Everlasting Treat Bento in the crate and while the treat may have been the impetus for her hanging out in the crate, she's content to relax in there now. And I'm content to let her.

Tipper has made some big strides in the last few days. I picked her up from day care the other day and she was so excited and full of energy that I decided to see if I could turn that into play. She had played a tiny bit of chase with me in the day care the day prior, so I took her to the dog park behind the day care to see what we could do. The other two dogs would have been happy to have her join them chasing a ball, but as usual, she had no interest in the toy. But when I started to run around the park, she was thrilled and played chase for a solid five minutes. (I was post-workout, so I may have tired out before she did...)

Today's adoption event was good, but hot.

Most of the dogs settled down really quickly into something similar to this. But Tipper had a lot of interest and happily most of it was from people who would have been good candidates - with second dogs and experience with anxiety. One woman even took her for a walk, took a card, and is planning to "work on her husband" this week. She's such a sweet girl that she would have found a home much sooner but for the anxiety. We're still working on that...