The Grovester

"Shedding" from our neighbor's palm tree after a recent rainstorm.

My friend Amanda recently mentioned she hasn't seen any pics of Grover on the blog lately, and this is why.

Hey look Mom, instant playtoy!

The furry monster is constantly playing, jumping, running, hopping... pretty much a blur in our household.

One of the many reasons why I mistakenly call him Lola.

Like, ALL. THE. TIME.

For Elizabeth

I think it's safe to say Elizabeth qualifies as my longest-standing friend (I can't say oldest, since I'm older than her - mwahahaha!). Her family and my family grew up on the same street, we met when we were 5 yrs old and walking to our first day of kindergarten, and she and I still keep in touch today.

Anyhoo, this is for Elizabeth, since she commented on my last post that she's happy she's not itching to get a new puppy or have a child of her own.

An excerpt taken from an interview with Moby (thanks Dad!):

SO GET A DOG I travel too much. And I’m content to deal with the good side of other people’s dogs and the good side of other people’s children. Then I don’t have to pick up poo. I like children when they are rested and happy. When 8 o’clock rolls around, and they are crying and need to be fed and they’re throwing knives at each other, I’m happy to be childless.

I think it's safe to say parents like children when they are rested and happy too. ;-)

Because we like to spoil ALL of our kids

When we installed the doggy door many moons ago, we had also intended to build a little "deck" or landing for the dogs to hang out on and so it would be easier to get into the house (since our house is raised). But, we were lazy and slow to kick off the project and it never got done. My dad even helped me do research on composite decking materials, which we bought and had sitting out in our side yard FOREVER, waiting to be used.

We decided to make it large enough for a bigger dog like Odin to feel comfortable standing on to get into the house, and also figured it might be a nice area for Lola to sunbathe on.

Sadly, we didn't make it in time for her to enjoy.

Odin, however, has been driving us C-R-A-Z-Y with his skittish personality regarding the door. At some point, a few months ago, he decided that the "blind" jump up and through the door into the house was just too much to take, and refused to use the door to get into the house unless there was an absolute emergency; like someone at the front door to bark at, or perhaps mealtime that Mom or Dad was dishing up.

Otherwise, he'd sit outside, at the doggy door and just BARK BARK BARK to be let back in the house. We'd have to go and hold the door open to coax him back in or let him in through the den sliding glass door. This might happen in the middle of the day, or perhaps, at 3am in the middle of the night.

NOT cool. ESPECIALLY not cool when you own a friggin' doggy door.

My dad had a break between projects this week where a couple of his workers had some "downtime", so I asked if he could bring them over to our place and just build the damn thing.

And BLAM. One day in and out, and it's all done! It's absolutely beautiful. A breathtaking piece of work - for a doggy deck anyway. One of the finest, most fancy ass doggy decks you'll ever lay your eyes on, this side of the Mississippi.

THANK YOU AGAIN DAD, FIDEL AND TOMAS! :)

A "before" shot - not exactly before because there was nothing in the dog run prior to today, but you get the idea. Here's the framing work they laid out first before building the rest of the deck.

A close up of the framing. What a beauty!

Installing the deck on top of the frame. Fidel is on the ground making sure it installs correctly and is level while Tomas is on top adding the weight to keep it sturdy. Dad, as always, is overseeing another one of his many masterpieces. ;-)

Logan was also building a masterpiece of his own kind. A pile of gravel.

And digging and moving gravel around....

The finished product. A fancy ass doggy deck!

Logan and Odin doing the final inspection. Odin immediately ran in and out of the door a couple of times. WHEW. Of course, the real test will be at 3am tonight. ;-)