02 - 12 - 2012....a very special date!

Today is Russell's birthday.  Russell got his first doggie birthday card from Cooper.  So cute!  I took the picture below of the two of them, cuddling, as they often do.  One of Cooper's favorite things to do now is to sleep under the kitchen table with his head on Russell's foot as if it was a pillow.

This past week was a good one.  We went to Collingwood to purchase the appliances for our new home. We bought them at Foleys.  They will be very nice.  We drove there on a beautiful sunny day with Cooper.  When we got there, Russell went in to ask if we could bring Cooper  (we never want to assume that we can so we ask first).  There was no hesitation on the part of the store manager and he even had a supply of dog biscuits and a water bowl.  Cooper received the royal treatment and was in heaven!  We understand why some stores would not allow dogs in but it is nice when some do.

We finally have Hydro at our lot in Huntsville.  I will not go into all the details as to why it took so long, what's important it that we have it, finally.  It will be needed once the log shell is erected on the foundation in a few weeks, so we were getting quite anxious for that to happen. Next is getting Maw Bell into the act with some live telephones lines.

On the log home front, all is going well.  Our house doesn't look so much like a house now as Matt started to take down the logs, getting everything ready for shipment to Huntsville.  I attach two pictures taken by Matt last Friday. He has built the eyebrow dormers, named Mr. Perkins, and the adzing of the logs continues.

We enrolled Cooper for another round of training, this time it will be for four weeks.  This course will not only be to continue training but to provide us with a routine of mental exercises that we can use on its own or blend with physical exercise.  Cooper is a dog that is full of life and likes to keep busy!  The better equipped we are to meet his needs, the better off we will all be.

Yesterday was super cold but we went for short walks anyway.  Cooper truly loves the snow and he was being crazy, jumping all over.  He has a new winter coat and it works well and is easy to put on and keeps him warm.  We did get the K9 Top Coat and it fits him well but we are keeping that coat for extreme cold weather (as we are bound to get in Huntsville).  During our afternoon walk, we ran into one of the two great danes that lives on our street. Her name is Willow.  Huge dog and she truly looks like a giant next to Cooper,  but both dogs seemed to get along quite well.  It was actually quite nice to watch.

Late afternoon sun beams down on our home in the Davidson Yard in Washago

This week will be somewhat busy.  Tomorrow, we meet with our interior designer who will help us with some of the decorating details for our new home.  Patricia has helped us decorate our house in Mississauga and we look forward to getting ideas from her for our home in Huntsville. Tuesday, being Valentines' Day, we will be taking Cooper to the groomer for a full bath and nail clipping. Russell and I will have lunch out during that time. Then Wednesday, 8 am, we take Cooper to the vet for his neutering. We will look forward to having Cooper back home later that day.   I mentioned in an earlier blog that we got him a soft e-collar, which he will have to wear for about one week after his surgery.  It turns out that it was a bit too small and we couldn't find a bigger size. So, on Friday, we made it our mission to look for another soft e-collar.  We bought two kinds and we will see which one works best.

That's it for this week's blog.  Today will be a nice relaxing day for us, and we will celebrate Russell's birthday all day long!  Have a good week everyone.

Eyebrow dormer, one of two that Matt has hand crafted...he calls this Mr Perkins