Charlie is home!

Yesterday we went to Portland, TN and picked up our precious little Charlie.  It’s been a little crazy around here ever since!
We had his area all fixed up for him.  A crate to sleep in, a pee pad to pee & poop on, his little bowls for water and food.  Then a larger pen around everything else.
He was asleep in his carry on bag when we got home and he continued to sleep in it for an hour after we got home.  When he woke up I showed him his pee pad and he used it,  Yea, Charlie!  We played some, then he ate some lunch and went back to his pee pad to poop.  He was on the pad but the poop fell off the side.  But he definitely tried!  Yea, Charlie!
He doesn’t care for his new crate at all.  So I’ve removed it from his pen for now.  I’m leaving the pad so he’ll have something soft in there.  He won’t go to sleep while I’m holding him and he doesn’t care for going in his pen when the gate is closed.  This is a problem!  What I’ve found is that I can take his canvas carrier upstairs and put him in it on my chaise lounge, right beside me and he doesn’t mind being in it and will fall right off to sleep.  Sometimes we just stay upstairs,  other times I close it up,  carry him downstairs and set the whole carrier into his pen and open the carrier so he can get out to potty when he wakes up.
Last night when we put him to bed in his pen I still had his metal crate in there.  He whined and cried and yelped for about 20 minutes.  I didn’t hear him again until after 3am.  He was really upset and I was worried his sugar might get low so I got up to give him some of the syrup they had given us to give him if that happened.  He had closed the door to his crate and couldn’t get in so he was on the cold floor.  He cried for 30 minutes in my arms.  I couldn’t get him calmed down.  Finally I brought him upstairs and put him in the carrier next to me and he fell asleep.  I took it down and put it in his pen and went back to bed.
When the alarm went off this morning, all was quiet out in the kitchen.  When I got to him I noticed that at some time he had gotten up and pooped on his pee pad.  Yea, Charlie!  I was surprised since he had been so upset.
And that was the way we spent Charlie’s first day and night with us.
Hoping for less crying tonight!

Puppies, Puppies, Puppies

I’ve wanted a puppy ever since we lost Toby in April of 2013.  I had just retired January 1, 2013.  Then  I thought if we didn’t have a dog we might travel.  I’m kind of slow....it’s  taken me this long to realize that we weren’t  going travel (except for a few trips to the gulf coast).  We’ve sold our cabin and gone back to camping where every other camper has at least one dog.  I always loved using Toby as an excuse to take a walk in the campground.
I went back to work part time in September of 2014.  I decided at that point that it wasn’t fair to get a puppy and leave him home alone while I worked.  Then a couple of weeks ago I had an epiphany!  If I got 2 dogs they could keep each other company while I worked!    Randy agreed to take them out to potty when he comes home for lunch so they won’t be alone too long.
I found a breeder in Portland, TN.  I watched her videos on Facebook and was smitten with her Yorkies!
We went down and saw the puppies and there was no doubt that I wanted them.  As it turns out one of the puppies was born on Memorial Day, the last one available in that litter.  His mother is P.J. and his dad is Fritz.  The other was born 2 weeks later.  They can’t come home until they are 8 weeks old and 32 oz.  so I will get Charlie first, then two weeks later we’ll get Jacks.
The day I picked them out I had already decided on Charlie’s name,  but when it came to Jacks I wasn’t prepared.  Then the breeder told me that his daddy’s name was Jackson and his mama is Emma.  I made a quick decision right then to name him Jacks for both of our daddies.  I’m not sure what my dad would think of their names,  but it’s keeping his name, Charles Jackson, alive in my puppies.  I really don’t think he’d mind.
I’m sure there will be lots of posts in the future about the puppies.  If things go as planned I’ll get Charlie on Friday and then Jacks two weeks later.

Charlie & siblings

Jacks

Charlie and his siblings

Puppies coming home soon!

 Charlie 7/12/2019

Jacks 7/12/2019

 Emma, Jacks’ mama, Jacks is in blue collar.

Jacks 7/6/2019

Charlie 7/12/2019

CABIN REMODEL

We have been in the midst of the porch remodel for about a year now.  We've had trouble finding the time to be over at the cabin to get things done.  Randy finally got the electrical finished up and passed the inspection.  Last time we were there, a few weeks ago, we went into Lowes and found ALL of the window blinds that we wanted.  I had tried to order them, but couldn't find all of the sizes at one place so they would match.  We were really surprised when we made a trip into Lowes in Glasgow and found them all.  We had to trim the edges so they would fit inside the window frame like I wanted.  While at Lowes we picked the flooring and it is there waiting to be installed. After we got home, I ordered the blinds to fit the doors and they were delivered this week. 

As far as furnishing our new porch, we planned on keeping our Lazy Boy Outdoor recliners and moving the green love seat from our living area to the porch.  We had discussed a chairside table to go between our recliners but they were either too formal or too out-doorsey.  Today I stopped by a new furniture outlet here in town and found exactly what we had been looking for.  It has a top to set drinks on, then a shelf to hold our I-pad and Kindle Fire, and then another shelf that we can put a basket to hold incidentals.

Here are a couple of pictures.  The shelves have all of the colors I wanted to include on the porch - tan (the color of the recliners) , green (the color of the loveseat), and blue (for the lake).

 

Over the weekend, I went to American Freight (not my favorite place) and found the sectional that  I wanted to put in the living area where the loveseat is now.  It's pretty small, but that is exactly what we needed for the area.  Randy still needs to go out and find a recliner to replace the little burgundy swivel rocker that he has been sitting in.  (This was an inheritance from my mom).  We'll bring that home and put it in our bonus room.

I want to wait to see how much extra space we actually have before I decide on side tables for the living area.  I think the new little table I found today will give us something to copy style from so it'll flow from the porch to the living room.  I'm sure Randy will be able to come up with something!

I'm looking forward to spending some time at our cabin this fall!!