Dorm Dog

CP comes home on Sundays for laundry and a home-cooked meal.

JP thought it would be fun to sneak S into the dorm when we took CP back to school. While S didn't seem to mind,CP did; he was not amused.

Mousefeeder

When we saw this little guy on our birdfeeder, it all became clear how the mice we've been plagued with are getting their food. The birdfeeder is now out at the back fence. We love the goldfinches, but not at the expense of having mice in the house.

Car vs. Maple: Maple is Victorious

I was napping on the sofa on a Sunday afternoon when I was thrown awake; I thought S had jumped on my chest. I got up and went to the garage to throw out some recycling and then I noticed a bunch of people standing across the street with a car that wasn't where a car should be.

A girl rounded the corner and was going too fast or not paying attention and failed to stay on the road. Judging from where she left the road and how high up on the tree she hit and how far the broken pieces of her car went, she was probably going 40 mph. She was wearing her seatbelt and her airbag went off, so she was OK (lucky, too!). What I thought was the dog jumping on me was really a tremendous crash.

Since we've been here, this is the third car vs tree accident on this corner in addition to as many car vs. mailboxes plus our lamppost. 

Couch Potatoes

S has figured out that sleeping on the sofa is an OK thing to do with any of us, even W, the cat.

It's hard to believe that he ever slows down to the point of sleeping, but between his manic awake times, he's always good for a nap.

Honored Again

GP hit the honor roll again @ LSW. This time he got his academic letter. 

Stripes on Lion

Last weekend, GP played at Duffy's with his new band, Stripes on Lion. They sounded pretty good!

Dog Eared Dog Tag

SP doesn't like his dog tag.

B-Day Ride

For his b-day, GP took his friends in my car downtown to the wing place in the Railyard so they could all eat the Atomic Hot wings. It's fun watching them finally get out and do things on their own. 

Fuzzy Belly

W enjoys getting a pet in my lap on Saturday mornings when we update the blog. He is so nice to pet! Despite his immense coat, he does not shed.

Growing Up

S & W are coming to an arrangement where they somewhat get along. Especially at nap time.

JP has a dog-protection blanket across the entire sofa, except for the corner.

S is a tight-leash walker. He loves to go for walks every day. This morning he found a golf ball; it's the best toy he's had.

Puppy Kisses

JP missed out on puppy kisses while she was gone. The good thing is that it doesn't take long to get caught up.

Newest Husker

GP received his acceptance letter to UNL this week. He's planning to study computer engineering.

GO BIG RED!!!

Low and Wide

We traded in a guitar and picked up a sweet 6-String bass. It's HUGE! and Heavy! It has one string lower than a normal bass, and one string higher than standard for a four-octave total range. GP is fired up to slap and pop it, and I'm looking forward to playing some Bach cello pieces on it.

Homecoming 2018

Helpful Puppy

JP went to IL for a week and a half to help out Nana. It rained all day, every day for the first week she was gone. The threshold on the back door to the deck was soaked and letting water through, so we installed a new seal on the bottom that has a drip shield. S was a good helper. He got all my tools away from me so that I couldn't hurt myself. He also added some holes to the brand new tube of silicone so that it would come out easier.

When the work was done, he helped me clean up.

And he found some loose threads in the deck rug and pulled them out for me.

Earlier this year, I installed some drip irrigation on one of the berms for JP. There was some extra tubing that I left so that we could route it somewhere else. S found it and chopped it up into nice small pieces for me. He is so helpful!!

Cute Puppy Pics

S is growing by the minute. He was housebroken in three days. JP so far has taught him Sit, Stay, Paw, Leave It, and almost has Down nailed.

W tolerates him. Mostly.

Nothing like herding a ball around the back yard.

Both cats are doing OK with S. He wants to play. W does not, and V wants to play, but she can't let herself have that much fun. Every time they start playing, I get my camera out, and that puts an end to it. 

1st Day of the Last Year

GP was excited for his first day as a senior. He's loving his truck and driving it all around town. 

Suite Dorm Room

Friday, we moved CP into his new dorm room. This year, he's on the top floor in a four bedroom suite with three other guys. They each have their own rooms and share a living room, bathroom, and kitchen. It's really nice!

A Day in the Life of a Puppy

Being a puppy is such hard work. There are so many holes that need to be dug. Fortunately, he likes to dig in the gravel of the sun deck, which is relatively clean and easy to smooth out.

A normal day consists of 30 minutes of up time followed by 60 minutes of down time. So far, we haven't had a lot of interaction between the cats and their new friend other than a few territorial squabbles. He's learning respect.

No Coast Derby Girls

GP's band, Mamabird, played Saturday night at The Icebox for the halftime entertainment for the No Coast Derby Girls roller derby game. We have never seen a roller derby match, so it was all new to us. At first it was confusing and lame, but as we began to understand the rules and strategy, we really got into it.

The guys sounded really good in the arena. They were worried about acoustics with the concrete walls and floor, but I think the natural reverb added to their sound. The video is part of one of their original compositions.

New Puppy

This week while I was in Indianapolis, I started getting texts from JP & GP with photos of a cute little dog. When I got home, he was here to greet me.

He's a 9 week old Shiba Inu that goes from crazy to full sleep and back again every 30 minutes.

More pics to come!

Squirrelly

It's hot! says Squirrelly, our backyard squirrel. He naps like this on branches and the fence.

Boots

Here is Boots, Nana's new kitten.

Pulling My Chain

This morning we installed a six-foot chain on JP's new roller blind above the front door. She was having to pull out a stool every time she wanted to adjust it - now it's super easy.

Snowball Bush

This year the roses are on life support due to beetles, but the hydrangia has really gone to town this year. We need to add some stakes or a tomato cage to help keep it upright.

Pretty Guitar

I traded in a guitar that JP didn't like and got a nice pretty one that I can keep in the living room. When I brought it home, GP's eyes popped as he opened the case for the first time. I didn't get to play it for an hour.

New Strings

CP has been wanting to play his bass, but it has had issues with the Rocksmith game. I've always passed it off as technique, but we started looking into it and discovered that his bass needed some attention. After setting the intonation (way off) and neck action (not too bad) and installing some nice new flatwound strings (silky smooth), it sounds like a champ. We ended up going through two sets of strings - even though it's a short scale instrument, short scale strings don't work on it due to the strings running thru the body at the bridge. He played it for hours last night.

Cabinet Speaker Cabinet

The cabinet we ripped out of the laundry room had some nice oak doors and trim on it that was too nice to use as firewood in the firepit, so I turned it into a speaker cabinet. I had a set of four matching 6.5" speakers that have been waiting for a home and I used the mesh from one of our deck chairs that had split. It came out nice, but it's HEAVY! There's a reason that stuff isn't made out of solid oak.

Shrubberies

JP took the boys to IL for a long weekend. I stayed behind to work and relax. Saturday morning I pulled out the boxwood that has been growing for the past 12 years. JP has been complaining about them for a while, so I made it so.

The boys put down some fresh mulch, and JP planted some new purple flowers in the blank space. It really opened up our front walk.

New Window

Last year, the arched window above the door cracked the inside pane. We've been trying since then to find someone to repair it. One of the things about home repair is that with each project, you learn the tricks to fixing things. The thing I learned when we replaced the big rectangular window above the door was this: hire someone to replace big windows.

JP contacted the window company and found that the glass was still under warranty, so we got a new window no problem. Six months later, Elmer the window guy come to replace it. He started getting into it and then realized that our replacement window was the wrong size. The glass company had shipped us a window for the upstairs bedrooms. Three weeks later we had the correct window and Elmer returned and installed the new window (before 8:30 AM!).

We went to The Home Depot yesterday to find a new blind (the old one died) for the rectangular window. Should be here in two weeks.