Is it a dog, is it a bear... or is it a wolf?

The answer is...wolf prints. We were in Huntsville on Tuesday and saw the attached fresh foot print right outside our deck....Russell took a picture and as soon as we got home that night, he went on the Internet and looked up various animal prints.  No big deal, it's just good to know who we are dealing with!

Once again, Matt's crew had an amazing day, temperature in the upper 20's, not a cloud in the sky. The snow has all melted. Because the leaves are not out yet, there was no shade so the heat was almost too much.  Good progress was made and most of the roof structure is now up. We also met with Matt's brother, John, who will do our fireplace, to discuss the design and stone layout.  We will go back to Huntsville in a few weeks.  In the meantime, we finished the interviews with the real estate agents and, in the end, we chose Royal Lepage as our realtor. Our house will be on the market as of April 1.  We spent the balance of the week sprucing up the outside and inside of our house.  Ben, our gardener, mulched our flower beds last Wednesday. It looks really nice and fresh, the daylilies are already 6 inches high, all of our ornamental trees are budding.  I put pansies in all our pots to add some colour.  Russell started up the pond. So the outside is ready for showing, so is the inside.  We do not have to do much to "stage" our house for showing but still, there are a few things that we need to do. No doubt that the "For Sale" sign will bring mixed emotions.  We have been in this house for 18 years, so lots of memories, but we are ready for a new beginning.

Last Thursday, we took Cooper to his Trick Training Class.  He really had a good time. He can do the "Spin Right/Spin Left", and we are now working on "Play Dead".  He also learned how to jump through a hoop, but he already knew how to jump through a hurdle so jumping through a hoop was a breeze!  I often wonder if Cooper is wondering why Russell and I are so busy around the house. I know that dogs don't think that way but I wonder just the same..... If he only knew that he will be living in a brand new house soon!

Yesterday morning, we had ducks in our pond for the first time ever.  We used to get them when we had a pool but they haven't been back since we've had the pond.  So we took Cooper outside, very quietly, but the little noise that we made was enough for the ducks to fly off and for Cooper to get quite startled by the sound they made when they took off.  It will be interesting to see if they come back.

This week coming will be busy. We are meeting with our real estate agent on Tuesday, with her photographer, to get pictures done for both an on-line virtual tour and the write up of the house.  On Wednesday, we are meeting with Patricia, our interior decorator, to discuss fixtures, etc,  for our new house. We have another training class for Cooper on Thursday.  My parents will be coming over on Friday, for the weekend. We are looking forward to their visit, so is Cooper.  On Saturday, we will take Cooper to the grooming salon for a nice bath with all the trimmings! During that time, we will all have a nice lunch somewhere in Port Credit.

Wolf paw prints

Tower entrance view from Northwest looking Southeast

That's it for this week's blog.  Have a good week!