It's no suprise...

that we LOVE our puppies.

I mean if you haven't caught that by now, I'm concerned for you ;)

Without going into too long of a story, let's just say they have some naughty behaviors that have been affecting our daily life.

So after trying to figure things out on my own (since taking Hank to training classes) I decided to again enlist the help of an expert. But in our non-metropolis area I seemed to keep coming up short on lists of resources.

Sure there are companies somewhat by us, but after researching them a bit and talking to folks, I just wasn't too thrilled about what they have to offer...or their methods.

Enter: Bark Busters.

I had heard of them before, but then I talked to some of the staff at the animal shelter I volunteer at who RAVED about them (and have both professionally and personally used their services).

So I made a call and poof! She came out to our home this past Sunday.

We (Matt, me, Hank, and Stan) all met with her, talked with her, and started working on our "grocery list" of items needing correction.

The appointment lasted just over 3 hours and we were ALL exhausted afterwards, but it was SOOO good! Numerous times throughout the training session I kept thinking (and commenting) that this information is so very basic...but it didn't mean it was easy.

By no means was she teaching us physics or magic tricks, but all the elements that went into everything: each dogs' body movements, ear tilting, eye staring, whining, our timing, our voice tones, the words we used, the rhythm of movements and commands...was a bit much.

But I have great faith that it will all work out and through our daily practice over these next 3 weeks (until our next home appointment) we will all communicate better and the puppies will understand do's and don't's much better!

And for your viewing pleasure: Mr. Hankers working on "sit" while waiting for breakfast. (I love when he does his "people" sit!)

Wordy Wednesday

Hank: part dog, part frog

Trim Work

Earlier in May, I heard some stuff getting moved and bumped around. I came out to the upstairs to find this sitting in my dining room:

Apparently it was a good day to get trim work done. Yeah!

Our little "supervisors" weren't too happy about being kept away from the action and the trim that Stanley insists are really tasty sticks!

So One Day I Came Home (part 2)...

to find Matt like this:

"What'cha doing honey???"

"Putting up new shutters"

"Huh? Why?"

"Well because these are blue and look better than the white ones did"

Oh ok. (I really am this laid back about stuff like this)

Next I learned that "we" were going to add an accent border between the white shingles we added a couple summers ago and the light blue siding

I actually think this turned out really well. Yeah hubs for having great ideas and just going with them!

So One Day I Came Home....

to find this:

Apparently "we" started a project today

Not knowing who was at my home and cautiously saying "hi" to 3 men standing in my driveway, I went in search of my husband. So I asked what was going on in the front yard...apparently we had decided that edging our driveway and adding landscaping was our next project (um, ok). And being who he is, my husband knows a guy who happens to do this and who also happened to do it for a good deal. So why not?

Me: "what goes in the plastic tarps?"

Matt: "rocks"

Me: "what rocks?"

No sooner had I asked that then a dump truck pulled up and there were our rocks

I'm sorry neighbors, we had no where else to pile all this stuff

Although we truly do pay the people who come work at our house, Matt always insists on jumping in and helping. Whatever, it gets done faster.

So nice and "finished" looking!

They even added landscaping around the shed, which is great because before this it seemed to just sit there awkwardly in our lawn. But now...

It fits in great!

And even our new front porch (from last summer) got trimmed up and new solar lights!

And all the while, our own "handy helpers" kept watch

P.S. this post is SUPER old (like April old), notice the bare trees. I apologize, but just recently found some pics I hadn't blogged so look out for some oldies but goodies to show up.

Yard Work

Earlier this summer I had an unexpected day off of work...someone drove their car into our electrical system and the whole campus was "lights out". Anyway, after driving 45 min to work I didn't feel like sticking around to see if they got the power back on so I went home.

To my surprise I found Matt home also. Apparently he decided to take Fridays off this summer (oh the joys of working for yourself). Well we decided that as long as both of us were home we might as well tackle some outdoor landscaping that we had been putting off.

Matt gets to do the "manly things", ie: use power tools and equipment (which is really ok in my book) and I take on most of the "gardening", ie: hacking away at our shrubs and trees.

 Before: notice how overgrown and overlapping everything is??

A huge thistle grew up right over one of the bushes I cut out last summer! That thing hurt like... 

And after! Yes, they look scrawny now, but they fill back in really fast

And this bush was my nemsis this year (yes, each year I have a lawn issue that I dub "my nemesis". Last year it was the pokey bush in front of the house...which ended up getting totally removed instead of just trimmed).

A little bit ago Hank spotted "something" run into this bush and has been desperately seeking it ever since (such a determined terrier). Well I had had enough of him crashing into the bush and after multiple conversations with Matt about what it was (he argues that it was probably just a little mouse...I hold firm that is was something like a raccoon or opposum) I decided to include it in the annual trim. I forgot to take just a single before pic, but you can kind of see how overgrown it was in 1st pic on the way right side.

And yes, it still looks this sad and pathetic, but after trimming and cleaning out all the loose needles underneath, Hank no longer goes sprinting to that spot in the yard and crashing into the bush and fence and that was my goal.

And this is most of the stuff I cut down.

A few years ago Matt built this awesome bonfire pit from blocks that were randomly laying around from the previous owners. Trust me when I say it's huge (as in at least 4 feet in diameter). And since this time the weather has either been waaay too hot or it's been raining, neither of which is good for starting a bonfire that will likely reach the top of our house again (yep one year we burned our neighbor's Christmas tree, with their permission, and the fire was as tall as our roof line. But it's ok, the neighbor is a fire fighter so it was all good).

Wordy Wednesday

Getting Stanley to walk on a loose leash has always been a struggle. But on this morning's walk I was determined to not get pulled on. He did really well, but apparently has his own thoughts on being made to walk next to me:

Oh how I love my little Stan Man! Happy August!

4th of July

Unfortunately this year the 4th of July fell mid-week and both Matt and I had to work the next day. So we opted to go see fireworks at a local river town...on the 3rd of July.

For the 4th we were invited over to Matt's parents' home. Where we were joined by his brother, his gf, and our niece. There was TONS of food but...one little (or rather not so little) grease fire broke out on the grill, hence the baking soda and fire extinguisher!

(Can you tell they're brothers?!? Both refused to just smile! grrr)

The word of the afternoon was "swimming"! So we got Lillie's tutu swimsuit on and headed outside where her pink princess pool was waiting! Although the weather was HOT (notice the temp gauge) the pool felt good...even when Lillie was "swimming" and getting us wet.

All the swimming worked up an appetite so we headed inside (for some much needed a/c) and Lillie "needed" corn..."corn, corn, corn please!!"  Love that little girl!

p.s. all photos were taken on my phone

Berry Picking

My in-laws have a HUGE garden...I mean they have 2 HUGE gardens! One morning a few weekends back, my mother-in-law and I were talking and she mentioned they were picking raspberries and asked if I wanted any...well sure!

So I loaded Stanley up (Hankers had to stay home because there is no fence at their property and I really didn't want to deal with 2 dogs on cables, barn cat running around, horses here and there, and the heat, etc...) and headed over...the whole 5 miles from our home.

Well the raspberries were delicious and Stan got to spend some time with people he doesn't see a lot and of course one of his favorite puppies (Dexter)!

And of course the barn cat needed to make an appearance...

and run right in the dogs' lines of sight...

and then stop and take her sweet time...

but eventually she mosey'd on into the grass

The morning was already proving that it was going to be a very hot day, so we headed inside for a nice treat...of ice cubes

Wordy Wednesday

Earlier this summer was my friend's dad's Surprise 60th Birthday Party. It was a gorgeous day for a celebration of this man's wonderful life!

Taylor's Falls Hiking

This summer my cousin, Taylor is living down in the Mpls-St. Paul area while she is interning at the MN Zoo. Her weekends are Sundays and Mondays. We have been trying to get together every few weekends and on June 24th (after the Back to the Fifties car show) she came over to our house for dinner and a sleepover.  :)
The next day (Monday) I happened to have off of work (I had a floating holiday to use) so we packed up Stanley and headed over to Taylor's Falls to do some hiking. It was a beautiful day and was a great opportunity to get some use out of my new camera lens.