Tricks...and Treats!

Halloween is a great time of year for children of all ages. Time to dress silly, collect and eat candies, do silly tricks so you can have your treats. This is Russell's favorite part of Halloween, asking kids to do a trick if they want a treat. He asked me to wear the Fish Head in return for setting up the X-pen. Picture attached to prove it. By the way, the Fish Head is a toy for our dogs, which is meant to be a little refuge for them to play hide and seek in. They will love playing with it. This past week, we took Cooper to his first training class. It was a lot of fun and it was a good way to start the bonding process until we bring him home for good on November 9th . He seems to be very food motivated. We actually were thinking that his name should be "Willdo", he 'will do' anything for food! Cooper is a very intelligent Havanese and he did very well at training. He is a happy dog. We cannot wait to see him again this coming Wednesday for another class. The hardest part for us is to leave him behind after class, but November 9th is just around the corner. We could have had him sooner but there was too much to do in our house which demanded our full attention. Once we have Cooper with us, we will be able to devote all of our time to him. It goes without saying that we are also anxious to get Maxie home on November 16th. I held her in my arms last Wednesday when we picked up Cooper at our breeder's home. She is amazing. Nathan and Darlah took her to the vet for the first time this past Friday. This was her first car trip and she did very well. She now weighs 3 lbs 8 oz, had her first shot and her microchip inserted. Russell and I also attended a dog behaviour seminar and it was very informative. We are glad we did it as we learned a lot.

On the log home front, things continue to progress although we have no pictures this week. We are going to Huntsville this coming Wednesday and we will also meet with Matt and Ali and get a progress report.

Our Mississauga home is now puppy proofed. Today, we bought the last few things that we needed such as gates, X-pen and more toys. We learned that the more toys dogs have, the less they will be tempted to chew on things. We also bought collars and leashes. Although dogs are not truly colour blind (they see color, but their chromatic acuity is significantly less than humans), it took me 30 minutes to decide on the colour of those leashes! I could not make up my mind. Russell was being very patient while I was choosing the perfect colour for Maxie and Cooper. Of course, we bought the matching collar and leash. Lesson learned, marketing targets humans not dogs!

So, that's an update of what we've been up to this past week. Never a dull moment, that's all I have to say. It's all good. I attach a link to a very short video of Cooper's first training class for those of you who are not on Facebook. I cannot stop watching it. There will be more videos of our dogs down the road.

Have a good week everyone!

The Foundation and more...

Another great week at the Yard and Lot! We visited Matt and his crew last Friday to get some action shots. Once again, we were impressed by the progress. So much happens behind the scenes and we are only able to share a glimpse of it. I attach a great picture of Matt, always upbeat, in his element and jovial no matter what - you can tell he loves his work, it is his passion.

We also visited our Lot and we were also impressed with the progress. We knew the foundation was to start last week but we didn't expect to see the forms already set, concrete poured and now the forms being broken down for the next phase - foundation walls. This time, we were able to really get a sense of the size of our home and where each room will be. Totally amazing!

On the dog front, a lot has happened also. We have started to prepare our home for the arrival of our two dogs. Each room in the house is being puppy proofed, making sure that nothing will get in their way, as we intend to give them full run of the place. We bought all the necessary gear: x-pens, donut beds, Sherpa bags, bowls, toys and more toys (Kong toys are great!). As per my last blog, Cooper will come to us first. According to our breeders, Nathan and Darlah, Cooper is quite the handful, extremely intelligent, a very spirited Havanese, BUT he could 'own us' without the proper training....hmmm...so what does this mean?? Nathan is currently taking his own puppy Roxie to Family Dog Training, at the Who's Walking Who school in Ajax. He strongly recommended that we take Cooper to the same class, even though Cooper is not coming to live with us for another two weeks. This will give Cooper a great head start. So, starting this coming Wednesday, we will be going to class with Cooper, in Ajax, and this will be for the next 5 weeks. In two weeks, he comes home to us, but in the meantime, we will start the bonding process with him once a week. We are very much looking forward to this, as this will be a totally new experience for us.

Also, on Friday, Russell and I will attend a Behaviour class at Scholars in Collars school in Burlington. This class is for the "would be dog owners" and it will teach us what to expect from our dogs in terms of behaviour. Once we have both dogs at home, we will take them to this same school for more training, starting early December. Like Nathan and Darlah, we also believe in teaching by positive reinforcement so this training will be beneficial to both the dogs and us.

On the Mississauga home front, we got a lot done this week. We painted the laundry room and painted the basement floor. Most importantly, we dejunked in a big way! Our basement is now a refuge to only a few items.

So, this was another good week in more ways than one. Attached is a video taken last Friday, hope you enjoy it. We do! Have a great week everyone!

Puppy love x 2!

Today, we visited with Nathan and Darlah of Talemakers Havanese. The purpose of this visit was two folds: first, to meet our gal puppy Maxie for the first time, which was born on September 5. As mentioned in a previous blog, the puppy stays with the breeder for 10 weeks, in order to be conditioned, socialized and vet checked for shots and microchipping. Today was the introductory visit with Maxie. Although we had been following Maxie's progress on Darlah's blog, and knew that she had won our hearts, we instantly fell in love with her when we saw her in person today. She's a spunky little thing, takes no guff from anybody, and is very strong. We decided to name her Maxie for her maximum attitude, which will blend nicely with ours :-) She will come home to us on November 23.

The second reason for the visit was to meet another puppy, a 5 1/2 months old, boy. We instantly loved him and decided to add him to our Family. His name will be Cooper and he will come home to us on November 9. We had originally planned on getting a second puppy in the New Year, so we are just a few months early, but with the benefit of having a second puppy that is a few months older than planned. We also had a different name picked for this puppy but for many reasons, we decided to name this one Cooper. He is very much like Gary Cooper, the famed movie actor, tall, a bit rough and tumble with chiseled good looks. So, now we wait the arrival of our two dogs with much excitement.

On the log home front, lots of progress was made this week. The lot is now ready for the foundation, which will start this week. The well should get started in a few weeks. As for our home itself, the height of the log walls is now 70 inches. Matt and his crew will start the roof in a few weeks. All is going well, although the weather has not been cooperating too much.

We got some good work done in our Mississauga home, and more to do in the next few weeks. We also started buying a few "dog things" such as gates and a few toys. It's all good. We now look forward to having Maxie and Cooper home.

As promised in my last blog, click this link for our latest Huntsville video. Enjoy and have a good week!

Fall Potpourri and Thanksgiving wishes!

Thanksgiving Monday, what a beautiful day and weekend it has been! Last week was also great on all fronts, with lots to do, which is why this post is a potpourri of various items. I want to start by saying that, when I retired, I truly thought I would find the time to write at least two posts per week. Although this sounds totally cliche, I do not know where the past two weeks went. I am busy in a good way, finding time to do things around the house, time for myself and most importantly time for Russell and I. Being retired is everything I had hoped for, and more.

Last week, we landed on the supplier for our log home flooring. The floor will be done by Nostalgic Wood, located in Mount Forest. Our floors will be made with engineered, reclaimed 150 year old hemlock barn wood. They will be beautiful. We also visited an appliance store in Collingwood and started getting a good idea of what we need to get. Specifically, we want an AGA stove, which is why we chose the Collingwood store, close to Huntsville for delivery, and it carries that brand of stove. AGA stoves are beautiful and the style will fit nicely with our log home.

We also bought two new leather couches at Rawhide International in Markham. The colour, Monte Cristo Wine, will be a nice complement to our wood floors.

Finally, we visited HD Threshing Floor Furniture in Cambridge which makes heavy duty harvest tables and accent pieces made of reclaimed wood (hemlock or pine) from barn threshing floors. This is where my retirement gift from Russell will come from: harvest table, side board and chairs. Beautiful furniture for our new home.

Last week, I also learned how to "cut and paste", I returned my company car and got a new pair of glasses. So it's been busy!

On the log home front, it has also been busy. The blasting of our lot is now complete, with the removal of the huge bolders to take place this week. Those bolders will be set alongside our cliff. Beautiful granite bolders. We went to Huntsville yesterday to take a look and we could not believe the amount of granite that was blasted. The expression "you need to break an egg to make an omelet" is an understatement when it comes to the mess that is being done to our lot before the foundation goes in. The building of our home is also progressing very nicely. I will post a video later this week but needless to say that we are impressed by the progress. Matt and his crew have been going at it at a nice pace and the weather so far has cooperated.

While visiting all those places, we also enjoyed the beautiful Fall colours. The leaves seem so much nicer this year, very bright in colours.

So, today is the end of a beautiful Thanksgiving weekend. This week, we will start a Fall cleaning in our house, getting it ready for selling next Spring and for the arrival of our puppy in November. Tomorrow, we are also starting a liver cleanse for a few weeks. Fall cleaning all around! It's all good!

On that note, enjoy the week and look for a video to be posted by end of week latest.

The S...word was spoken in Huntsville.....

.....it Snowed in Huntsville yesterday, first snow showers of the season....something to look forward to when we move there next year! It was cold and windy, but that didn't stop us from walking around downtown Huntsville and checking out the progress on our lot. We also stopped by Matt's yard and we were very impressed by the work done on our home so far -- click this link to the video. We could easily see the layout of the house and where each room will be situated. We then met with Matt and Ali and had a very successful meeting. There are still a few items that need to be ironed out but for the most part, we are on track.

We had a good week otherwise. We went to Mount Forest to check out a potential floor supplier. The drive there was actually quite nice and we took in the Fall colours. We will be doing more of the same this week. Many of the suppliers that we are contemplating are located in the Collingwood/Orangeville area.

The weather is looking good for the upcoming week so we will do some work outside and get some fall planters in. I love this season and everything that comes with it. Until the next blog, have a great week.

And if you'd like one more peek at 31 Forest Hill Lane....check out this HUNTSVILLE Video Production web link - think you will enjoy it!