All is Well!

This past week has been exciting in many ways. Let me start with the building of our log home. The forms for foundation walls were erected on the foundation footings. Concrete should be poured into the walls this week, assuming all hunting has been had... Most importantly, our water supply has been secured: the "Well" has been drilled to a depth of 365 feet in pure Canadian Shield Granite, with an amazing flow rate of 6 gallons per minute! This is quite amazing considering that the average flow rate is 1 to 3 gallons per minute and no well driller will guarantee a flow rate in excess of 4 gallons per minute. We are very happy with this as there is absolutely no way to predict what the flow rate will be. It can vary from one lot to the other. This, for us, means luxurious shower times with simultaneous toilet flushing!

So, all is on track with the building of our home in Huntsville. Matt and Ali came back from vacation last Thursday. It looks like they had a great time. During their absence, more progress was done on the actual log home, as witnessed by us today when we stopped by. Everything is going as planned and we are getting closer to the day where we will move to Huntsville.

Of course, the biggest event for us this past week was the arrival of Cooper, our first dog - a Talemaker Havanese. We picked him up on Wednesday and he has been a joy for us even since. He is such a wonderful dog, well behaved, socialized, trained and so more fun to be with. Most importantly, he brings us so much love and happiness that words cannot describe how we feel about him. I could go on and on but I will not. Instead, I plan on starting a blog just for the dogs, in the next few days. This coming Wednesday, we are picking up Maxine, so we will have our hands full until Maxine, like Cooper, adjusts and settles into her new home. Both Maxine and Cooper will get along just fine, they already know each other and Cooper will be a great big brother. Cooper, at the moment, is getting our full attention, 24/7, and this will continue when Maxine comes home. Both dogs will be well loved, no doubt about it. At the moment, Russell and I are overwhelmed with how we feel about Cooper. He is everything everyone could hope for in a dog, and more. We know we will feel the same about Maxine. It will be even better to know that Cooper has a buddy to play with. But, like in real "human" life, when a second child is born, the first child may become "jealous" so we will need to be mindful of this, especially since Maxine will be so much younger than Cooper . We are confident that we will manage very well.

As I am writing this blog, Russell is playing retrieve with Cooper. He just loves this game. Did I forget to mention that Cooper loves eating...he eats his meal in less than 60 seconds. His favorite TV channel, which happens to be ours, is the Food Network. Who would have thought???

So, all is "Well" with the newly extended Duncan family. Until my next blog, I wish you all a good week. Once my "dog blog" is up and running, I will give you the link. I plan on updating the dog blog as often as possible, maybe daily.

Anne, Russell & Cooper