Canaan Valley 2014

This past weekend was the annual Troop 688 family ski trip to Canaan Valley, WV.  After all the snow and cold here this winter, I was really looking forward to this: then it became 60 degrees for the few days ahead of the trip.  My timing just stinks sometimes.

The drive up went well; leaving after school meant we got there around 8 and had time to relax.  David used his evening to connect with some friends and go ice skating, demonstrating what the concept of "awkward" looks like:

Saturday was skiing for David; we hardly saw him at all all day.  Sarah took a lesson again on the snowboard, and while she did that I got in a few runs on the "loose granular" (read: icy) trails.  Then she and I spent the afternoon together on the training slope, rehearsing what she'd learned.  As you may recall, last year Sarah also had snowboarding lessons, then wiped out in the afternoon.  Not so this year!  Instead, she did really, really well, and didn't push herself beyond her comfort zone.  See how well she boards this slope:

David only has two more years to go as a Scout on these weekends, and despite the 52-degree weather I don't think he'd trade it for anything.  Sarah's still circumspect: enjoyed getting back on the horse again and doing well with the snowboard, but I don't think she'll be clamoring for lessons apart from this annual exposure.  But at least we got to spend a weekend together, and even though I didn't get a lot of skiing in myself, for hanging with her, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Bathroom Remodeling: Progress, Just Past Halfway

Over the MLK weekend, we began the renovation of the master bathroom and started tearing out the 25-year-old relics.  At this point, we're more than halfway to our new bathroom, and despite the two days lost to the snow this past week, we're in pretty good shape to wrap up at the end of the month/beginning of March, as planned.

The new shower pan and the framing for the new shower and tub hint at how the closet door on the left has shifted a couple of feet to accommodate the new space.  This was about a week in; you can see the plumber has been by to set up the new tree for the shower.

Demolishing the soffit overhead of the vanity made plenty of room; the electrician has pre-wired for the new outlets, including one within the tower where Mary can store the hair dryer tucked away.

Tile has now begun to go down, and by this week tile is largely finished: the floors look great, and the tub-surround is beginning to take shape.

The scope of the shower is really beginning to emerge now that tile is in place.

A close-up of the tile in the shower, and the niche.  Still to be added are the accent tile throughout.  But on the whole, we're very pleased with how it looks, and at this point, are incredibly anxious to get into out (and out of having to traipse down to the kids' bathroom instead)!

Fergie's First Puppiversary

This weekend we celebrated our first puppiversary--one year ago February 9, we visited the Humane Society dog farm and brought home our Fergie.  In many ways it's hard to believe it's been a year already, and in many ways we're still coming to know each other as more dimensions of her personality come out.

The weekend began with an appointment at the doggie spa, for a bath and a nail trim, after which she received this neat black bandanna with pink Xs and Os for Valentines' Day.  But the real treats were on Sunday when she got her presents: a new tug-toy (a bottle of "Houndz Ketchup") and a replacement for her beloved Wubba.  As you can see, above, the new Wubba is a fast favorite and has already been swung with wild abandon.

By having been with us for a year, she's now lived more time with us than with either her first family or her time in the shelters.  By June, she'll have been with us more than those other two experiences put together.  And as time goes by, we see more of her emerge: the new vocalizations and the devotion.  It's been a year already; we can't wait to see what the future holds.

Gerb, 2011 - 2014

There was sadness in the house today: this morning we found that our second and last gerbil, Gerb, had passed away.

Gerb's sister Isabella had preceded her by almost seven months, but while Bella's passing had been a rather sudden affair, we could tell the end was coming for Gerb.  We brought them home from the pet store in late March 2011, so we figure she lived to be three--which is pretty darned old for a gerbil.  Since becoming alone in July, Gerb had taken to preferring to curl up in a ball in a big pile of shavings, her own little nest.  Gerb had never been one for the exercise wheel, but found her own ways to stay busy: since her sister's passing, Gerb managed to gnaw a hole in the back of the plastic gerbil cage.  Fortunately the cage sat within a larger tub, so despite gaining her freedom from the main cage, she was still confined ("Dammit!" I'm sure she exclaimed on getting free, only to find a second tub waiting for her).  Still, you have to admire the stick-to-it-iveness.  She also would consent occasionally to being picked up--moreso than when Bella was alive--and only a few weeks ago had a chance to get out and explore with me again.

Gerb l-o-v-e-d her pumpkin seeds.  We could offer her one through the metal bars of her cage, she would come over, seize it with her teeth, and begin to tug on it; if you held on, she would actually brace herself against the bars of the cage and tug harder.  Silly gerbil, always after her favorite snacks: her favorite season was early November, when the jack-o-lantern seeds were quite fresh.  We've now a bag of seeds with no one to munch them.

You could always get Gerb going with a paper towel tube.  Placed in her cage, it would soon be set upon by those gnawing teeth; sometimes, watching TV, we could hear the sound of her starting to work on a new one and it always brought a smile.

We knew something was wrong Sunday when a fresh paper towel tube got only halfway gnawed, then abandoned.  That had never happened before.  Monday, she was visibly weak: scarcely moving from her nest, and trembling.  She didn't try to run away when we would reach in to pet her softly--another thing without precedent.  But most troubling of all was, she wouldn't touch her pumpkin seeds.  Sarah succeeded in feeding her one, but she only half-nibbled at it, and let it lie.

This morning we learned she hadn't made it through the night, and is now at peace.  Tonight I broke through the frozen ground out back next to her sister.  We found a small box; Sarah, then David, took turns holding her one last time, then we gently laid her in.  Sarah and I put some of her bedding around her, like her nest, and a little strip of her paper towel tube.  David added a couple of her pumpkin seeds, and we closed the box.  David handled the honors out back, tamping down the soil firmly to protect his gerbil.  He confessed he had shed a tear at school that day for thinking of her.  She was a good pet.  As we said with her sister: Rest in peace, little gerbil, and thanks for the memories.

Bathroom Remodeling Kickoff

Almost exactly one year to the day after the Home and Remodeling Show where we first met with Ted Daniels of Daniels Design and Remodeling, work began today on what will become our new master bath!

I've chronicled before the torturous path it took to get us here: the process of finding a contractor, then setting up financing, then having the closets redone first…and then the planning, the drafting, the selecting of fixtures and tile and marble…it's all been a long time coming.

But this morning, Bobby and the crew were here just after 7am, and we took one last look around what had been the master bath at Overlake Manor for the last 25 years:

The shower, about to be expanded another couple feet;

The tub, no longer to occupy so…much…floor space!

 The too-low vanity, the soffit, and the Laura Ashleyesque stenciling, all to be gone…

The plain 4x4 tile, the carpet in the bathroom (!) and the to-be-relocated closet door…all to be changed!

Over the coming weeks we'll chronicle more about how this project is coming along, but at long last, the first sledgehammers have been swung, and the work has begun!

 This…is a puzzled Pums.  What happened to the room?

Everything old is…gone!