Eight weeks away..

The countdown for the move to Huntsville has begun.  In eight weeks, we will be packing up the house and moving to Huntsville.  We are at the point now where we just want it to happen.  This has been a year long project and we look forward to resuming a normal life.

This past week went by incredibly fast, probably because of the holiday Monday.  The weather was spectacular, although perhaps a tad too hot for Cooper.  He spent a lot of time just lying down on the front or back porch, cooling himself on the flagstones.  He drank lots of water and we went for shorter walks.

We had dinner with our friend Margo on Thursday night.  It was nice to see her again.  It looks like she will be our first guest in our new home in Huntsville in August!  Friday, we took Cooper to Fur Babies for a bath.  There is so much pollen and stuff falling from trees that it gets caught in his hair.  Russell and I had lunch on a patio while he was being groomed.  We picked him a few hours later and he was, as usual, so fluffy and smelling so good!

Friday was also a bittersweet day.  We sold the Corvette.  We realized many months ago that the Corvette would not adapt too well to Huntsville, with gravel roads, especially with a car that has been lowered.  So we decided to sell it.  We sold it to a retired man from Goderich.  We wish him many happy rides. So, it was a bittersweet moment as the Corvette was Russell's 50th birthday present.  We had our good times with it and it is now time to do something different:  we plan on buying a pontoon boat once we are settled in Huntsville to cruise the lakes.

On the log home front, progress continues.  We went to Huntsville today to check things out.  The cedar shingles are being installed on the roof and the logs have been blasted and are ready for staining.  The blasting is to bring the pine logs back to their original colour.  But what a mess the blasting makes.  We didn't expect to walk on about one inch of dust inside the house.  Needless to say that we didn't put Cooper down until we were on the deck area, where we had our lunch.  It was a great day nonetheless and it is always good for us to see progress with our own eyes.  On our way to our property, we saw a fox cross our road.  Another reason why Cooper will never be left alone, even in his fenced in dog run!  Speaking of dog run, the highlight of our day was to discover the Freedom Dog Park, which is 5 minutes away from our new house.  The best part about this outdoor leash free park is that they have an area for small dogs only and even a fenced-in pond for swimming.  We don't even have that in Mississauga!  We were so happy to discover this place, but Cooper was even more happy.  He had fun even though he was the only dog at the time but it gave us the opportunity to practice his recall in a leash free environment - he did awesome recalls...bounding through the tall grass like a jack rabbit.  On our way home, we stopped at our mailbox just for the fun of it.  Russell unlocked it and sure enough, we had mail:  the local newspaper called "What's Up Muskoka". Interesting reading!

So, today was a good day.  The weather was quite nice and warm.  The Muskoka region, like Mississauga, is in great need of rain and there is a fire ban at the moment.  Not a whole lot of rain in the forecast unfortunately.

Anne and Cooper in the soon to be screened porch!

Cedar shingles going on the roof...awesome smell of those shingles!

Cedar shingle supply...it will take 51 squares to cover our roof...that is lots.

Inches thick dust from the bead blasting of the pine logs pre staining.

Front porch taking shape!

That's about it for this week's blog. I include a few pictures taken today.  Hope you enjoy them.  I wish you all a great week.

The tradition continues....

For the longest time, Russell and I have had this tradition to smoke baby back ribs on our Big Green Egg smoker every long weekend of the Summer, starting with the May 24 weekend.  This year, even with a doggie, we continued the tradition.  I must say it was actually quite fun to watch Cooper take in all the smells of the smoking ribs for about 3 hours.  He did quite well, sitting on the back porch, pretending to sleep, but smelling the ribs cooking. Cooper tried to get close to the smoker a few times but decided that it was too hot to lick...At the end of it all, the ribs were delicious and Cooper didn't get to taste them!

As we were having dinner last night, we were reflecting on a lot of things.  One of them is the fact that, even if we are retired, it is important for us to try to separate weekends from weekdays just to make those weekends even more special.  This is not to say that we are rigid about not doing weekend things during weekdays ...being retired does give us the flexibility to do things when we want! We could have done our ribs any day of the week but we chose to do them last night just to make the weekend a little more special.

This past week was busy as usual.  The main even was our little Cooper's first birthday on Thursday.  We had a great day.  I bought a balloon and a birthday hat, and even a birthday cookie.  It was a challenge to keep the hat on but we managed to take a few pictures.  Cooper will do anything for a treat!  We went to a park for a nice walk then sat on the front porch for a while and watched the world go by.  Later that day, we watched Cooper chase little ants.  Although he managed to catch a few, more often than not, the ants got away before he got to them.  It is really funny to watch as Cooper tries really hard to chase and catch them but his hair gets in the way and he looses sight of them!  One day, I will try to catch this on video.  Although Cooper is now one year old, he is still considered a puppy, probably for another 6 months or so.  This means that he can still get away with a few puppy antics .....I quite like being able to say that he is still a puppy, it's like an excuse for him to do silly little things that only puppies can do....

Russell went to Huntsville solo on Friday.  He was able to get the key to our mailbox, which will be situated about 2 km away from our house.  Russell met with Matt for an update then met with Johnny K. who will give us a quote for doing the landscaping work.  We received one quote already and we should be able to make a decision later this week as to who will do the work.  The tubing for the radiant floor has been installed.  It looks very impressive as you can see from the picture.  The hole for the recessed hot tub is ready. The cedar shingles will be installed starting this coming week.  It will take about two weeks for the roof to be completed. Ali started staining the windows.  The plumbing and electrical are all roughed in.  So, all and all, things are moving along.  While in Huntsville,  Russell noticed that there were very few black flies on our property.  The main reason being that we are 500 feet about street level and the breeze helps keep the flies away.  The view of the lakes is spectacular any time of the year, but even more so now.  I include a picture taken on Friday.

While all this work is happening in Huntsville, we keep purging here in Mississauga.  This year, I am not planting flowers since we are moving in July.  The pansies that I planted in the Spring are still nice and add a bit of colour to the backyard.

This week will be rather quiet.  A friend is coming over for dinner on Thursday.  It will be nice to see her again.  The weather promises to be nice so we will spend a lot of time outdoors.

Tubing for radiant floor heating.

Ali staining a window.

Screened porch and the opening for the recessed hot tub.

View of Lake Robinson foreground and Vernon beyond.

Anne & Cooper celebrate the Coop's first birthday!

Hope you are all enjoying this long weekend and the beautiful weather.  Have a good week everyone!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all moms out there, including moms to loving pets!  I got big hugs and kisses from Cooper when I woke up this morning. It is rather dark outside, looks like rain, but hopefully the sun will shine later.  Either way, it will be a good day!

This past week was crazy busy and we accomplished a lot.  On Tuesday, we went to two places with Patricia, our interior decorator, to choose our dining chairs as well as the fabric for our Muskoka room furniture. All will be beautiful.  I cannot wait to see how everything will come together in our new house. On Wednesday morning, before heading out to Huntsville, we took Cooper to Nathan and Darlah's place for boarding for one night.  This was Cooper's first time away from us overnight.  He did very well, surrounded by his furry friends during the whole time.  I think he missed us but we probably missed him more.  We were due to pick him up around 4 pm on Thursday but we wrapped up early and picked him up at 1:30.  He was truly happy to see us, so were we.  Once we got home, Cooper slept for two hours straight, then had dinner, then slept more.  While at Nathan's, he was truly the party boy and played and played and played non stop, so he was due for some serious downtime.

We had a productive trip in Huntsville.  We met with two landscapers and are now awaiting their quotes.  We met with Matt to discuss a few things and we finalized the height of all outdoor lighting.  Patricia will place the order for all lighting tomorrow.  The outdoor lighting will be "dark sky compliant" which means that the lights will not interfere with the night sky and all its beauty.  While in Huntsville, we also attempted to get our mailbox set up but it is not as simple as going to the Post Office and getting it done.  There is some bureaucracy involved and this will take a few days.  Enough said about that.

There is good progress being done on our house and I include a few pictures.  The windows are installed and they are really beautiful.  The hardware is black iron and of very good quality. We are just a little over two months away from moving.  Time is now just flying!

The rest of the week was quiet.  We took advantage of the nice weather and went for some nice walks.  We also sat on the back porch and just chilled while Cooper was playing.  His game now is to chase little ants.  He has been successful at eating a few....Speaking of eating, yesterday we went to Jack Darling Park in Port Credit for a walk.  It was nice and many families were enjoying a picnic.  We indulged ourselves in a small ice cream cone.  Cooper got to have a few tiny licks of the vanilla ice cream....he seemed to enjoy it and was happily licking his chops!

Last week, I finished my blog by saying that we were going for our first ride of the season in the Corvette.  We did, with the top down, Cooper's hair all over the place.  It was fun and it looked like Cooper was enjoying it, sitting on my lap the whole time, until.....he woofed his kibble.  We did not anticipate that the motion of the car, with a 400 HP motor, would cause Cooper to have motion sickness.  So, we stopped in Bronte to clean up the car (lucky for me, but not for Russell, the mess was on Russell's seat) and give Cooper some water.  For him, it was as if nothing happened.  We went for a little walk and he was back to his old self.  Of course, we had to drive back home but all was well.  So, we are not sure if this will happen again, but there is only one way to find out....the next time, though, we will be prepared!  I attach a picture of the Coop and me taken after our ride.

This coming week will be more quiet but there is a big event on Thursday:  Cooper's first birthday.  I have things to do to prepare for this....Check out some pictures in next week's blog!

Doors in dining room and great room....leading to the deck.

Eyebrow dormer.

Tower/foyer entrance taking shape.

Anne & Cooper in the Corvette.

That's it for this week's blog.  Enjoy your Sunday and have a great week.

Lost PawZ has been found!

Yesterday, while out for a walk, we noticed a rubber dog bootie which had been placed on the edge of an electrical box close to our home. It was a red bootie, a PawZ to be precise. These booties come in different sizes, red being for Cooper's size.  Those are the boots Cooper wore in the winter and he lost two of them during our many walks:  one was found by us across the street where we live and the other one was never found until yesterday.....  No other dogs in the neighbourhood wore these booties during the winter so someone must have found it while raking grass or something.  The person who found it probably doesn't know where we live but has seen us on our many walks in the area and thought about placing the bootie where we could see it (the electrical box is one of Cooper's favorite spot to do his business). This sounds like a nice story .... but it makes me feel good to think that someone may actually have wanted us to find that bootie yesterday.  So, the story of the lost PawZ has been pawzitively resolved....

Another week has come and gone.  Lots of email exchanges with regards to the building of our log home, lots of decisions that have to be made but it's all coming together.  Matt's brother, John, started building the fireplace.  Most of the windows were installed and the roof is almost ready for the shingles. The final drawings of our kitchen, pantry and bathroom vanities were approved. We are going to Huntsville this week to meet with a few landscapers.  We will also meet with our plumber to go over the fixtures that we need.  We also need to go to the post office to set up the mailbox and finally we want to check out Happy Tails, which is a daycare for dogs, highly recommended by Deerhurst. So lots to do during this trip. We will be away for one night.  During that time, Cooper will be staying with Nathan and Darlah, and their dogs, at Talemakers. This will be his first time away from us for an entire day and night.  He should be fine, although I suspect he will miss us (at least I hope he does).  The big question is:  how will we be without him?  No doubt that we will be thinking of him but we know he will be in good hands.

Speaking of Cooper, he graduated from Level 3 Obedience this past Thursday.  He did very well and the teachers told us how impressed they were with the progress they have seen in him since he started his training a few months ago.  We will continue his daily training at home and perhaps find another course for him to attend once we are in Huntsville.  His recall is much better to the point that we decided to try something yesterday:  after our walk, Russell stayed with Cooper at the end of our driveway while I went to the front door.  I then called him and Russell let go of the leash.  Cooper immediately ran to me.  We felt it was safe to do since he was running towards our front door as opposed to the street.  We would never let go of the leash otherwise.  Many dog owners let their dogs off leash on our street.  Some dogs have a perfect recall, some don't.  It is a big risk to take unless you are absolutely sure that your dog will come when called.

The weather is starting to warm up and it feels good.  This afternoon, we will go for a ride in the Corvette, the first time this year, and the first time with Cooper.  It will be interesting to see how he reacts to the noise and the wind with the top down.

View from Southwest corner....doors on, cold roof system being installed.

Decorative trusses in Muskoka room.

John Davidson working on fireplace.

That's it for this week's blog.  I hope you enjoy these few pictures of our house in progress taken this past week.