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We Can Haz Dog

In May, we adopted a beautiful little 8 year old beagle named Daisy.

We’d been haunting adoption / rescue organizations for several months, trying to find a dog that fit our needs. We were close to adopting a greyhound, but something at the last minute pushed us away. A lot had to do with our history with our last adoption… so we were very nervous about getting our next dog.

Daisy was the last unclaimed dog at an open adoption event down in Forever Home Rescue, in Medfield, MA. The folks there were surprised – it’s rare for a dog to not be adopted during their open houses. Daisy was extremely shy and best described as timid. Anytime she meets someone new she immediately goes down on her belly, and sort of ‘shoulder rolls’ over, putting her head on the ground, whining faintly. She wasn’t the bouncy happy dog that most places present for adoption, so when we arrived, we were concerned. “Is.. she okay?” Adopting an older dog is something we had considered, but we weren’t sure what it would like bringing in a new member of the house who has had a long and busy life before meeting us… would she be able to adapt to being with us?

But we took the plunge, and we’re so happy we did. Daisy has turned into a wonderful member of the family. Every day she gets more comfortable, more expressive, and more dog-like. She’s been with us two months, and in the last day or two, she’s started hopping up on the couch next to us without us needing to coax her or lift her up. She’s snuggling in next to us when she wants companionship, and is just being a great dog.

That’s not to say there haven’t been challenges. She came to us with some serious medical issues that required immediate surgery, several rounds of medication, and a lot of care just teaching her how to be a real dog. She’s definitely had several litters of pups, and her body shows she’s had some other rough times. But every day, she gets a little happier, a little more engaged… it’s been a great journey.

Welcome to your new home, Daisy!

A Busy House Day

I guess it’s getting closer to spring. We spent most of today moving furniture, cleaning, rearranging stuff, etc. The house has been really crowded since M moved in and between her stuff and my old furniture we were just tripping over everything.

So today was “get the stuff out we don’t use”. It was a carefully choreographed process of…

Friday get the storage unit ready to receive furniture.
Saturday morning move everything from the attic and second floor that’s leaving out to the front porch.
Go get the truck from Uhaul.
Get awesome neighbors to load up the truck, follow us to the storage place and Tetris the furniture into place.
Return the truck, tidy up, and fall into a death like sleep for 2 hours
Get up and go to a cohousing meeting
For evening entertainment, assemble the new kitchen table and chairs (smaller and better suited to the space).

Now we’re finally collapsing into bed after a damned busy day. But? It felt good. We worked hard, and made the house better without going crazy doing it.

Win.

Next? Tuesday we get a washer dryer. We’ve never had one in the house and while I lived by myself, it was ok taking things to the common house. But now that there’s three of us, we really need local equipment. Yay upgrades!

Living in the Future

Today, while hanging out at home, I realized I was out of coffee. Being part of the Keurig Nation, I happily order San Francisco Bay One Cups on a regular basis (these cups have far less plastic than the standard K-Cups, and the coffee is delicious).

As I was reaching for my laptop to order some more, I remembered that Alexa is supposed to be able to do online ordering. So….

“Alexa”
(bading)
“Order more coffee”
“According to your order history, I found two matching items. The first is San Francisco Bay One Cups, 60 count. it is $31. Would you like to buy it?”
“Yes”
“Okay, ordered. It will be delivered Sunday August 6th”

Aaaand done. I checked the order history later on, and sure enough, there it was.

I did make a note to my partner, who was listening to this interchange.

“So, that’s pretty cool. Um, so, please don’t ever do that when the nine year old is around.”
“Hm? Wh… oh.”
“Alexa, order a pony!”

Etc.

Sunday Organizing Time

I’ve always been something of a pack rat. Before I moved to a small house, I’d have crates and boxes and shelves full of things I’d probably never use, but was cool to have on hand. Old computers, video games, all that stuff.

Now I live in a small house, with very little storage space, and I’ve had to be a lot more frugal with what I keep around. But, keeping active with electronics projects, drone stuff, and the like, I’m down to ‘things I need to have on hand to get stuff done’. That ended up beign stuff stored in my downstairs bathroom, on wall mounted shelving. Unfortunately, these shelves were getting cluttered and ugly, so Something Had To Be Done.

An emergency run to Five Below netted 6 rigid cloth storage boxes and 6 metal half-bins. Perfect! I cleaned out the old shelving, threw away a bunch of things I’d never need (Why did I have 30 or so ethernet patch cords and ungodly numbers of Mini USB cables?), and sorted what was left into useful categories. Photography, power supplies (I have tons of these), etc.

And, I have lots of spare space now! Next step will be painting and finishing the rest of the bathroom, now that it’s not such a clutter haven.