The start of summer

It's been pretty quiet here lately here in good ol' Wisconsin.

Last week, I went to State College, PA for work. It's a really beautiful place, especially for visiting a factory. Those two things rarely exist together. For once in my life I didn't take any pictures, and probably because I was too smitten with the rolling hills and countryside. It reminded me of parts of the east coast and made me incredibly homesick for my home away from home. I guess I was too busy day dreaming for most of the drive. Guess that means we'll just have to go back to Rhode Island this year... twist my arm.

We spent Saturday hiking around in Willow River state park, which is a couple miles away from our house. It's a great place to camp (which we'll have to do at some point), hike, see some waterfalls, and get a little work out.

Sunday was spent working on the yard - mulch, flower beds, weeds, weeds, and more weeds. Here are some before and after shots. It's slowly getting there, but it looks so much better than it did. This whole side of the yard didn't have grass before, or a flower bed.

We also built a doggy gate for the front porch. We've been using a wooden baby gate, but the baby gate wasn't quite long enough, so we had to fold up towels and place them in between the baby gate and the porch... it was getting a little too hillbilly-ish and kept falling down, so we figured out a better solution. It'll be painted to match the house, once we eventually get around to painting the house. 

We ran 12 miles last night... followed by ice cream. And a beer. You better believe I thought of both of those during our entire run. We've both been training for our first half marathon, which is next weekend. I should rephrase that. It's our first NORMAL half marathon (not a Tough Mudder). I will not miss jumping into a pool of ice water, being shocked, or crawling under barbed wire. Jerrod, on the other hand, willingly signed himself for another 13 miles of torture and will be running the Tough Mudder with his co-workers in July. He's insane. I'm sure I'll go to cheer him on, but no, one Tough Mudder is enough for me.

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend and thank you to everyone who has fought for our country.

Spring time

Finally. Minnesota/Wisconsin was pretty late to the game this year :)

We have a bunch of surprises popping up in our yard. I've counted at least 7 bleeding hearts, 6 huge lilacs, tulips, and tons of other things that I can't identify yet. It's kinda fun! ... as long as I don't kill all of them with my thumb of death. Here's to hoping I pick up on that green thumb soon.

Meet Terd Ferguson. 

He's a baby Robin that lives in our yard... And leaves a trail of bird terds everywhere he goes, making it easy to find him. Hence the name. We're assuming that he got a little gutsy and left the nest too early since mama and daddy bird follow him all over the yard. I like his hair. It must run in the family... daddy bird has a mohawk. 

Happy weekend!

Hope everyone has a great weekend and a wonderful Mother's Day! I wish I could be spending mine in Ohio with my mom. <3

Yeeeehaw!

I stopped by Nashville for work this week... For about 24 hours. But 24 hours is long enough to stop at the legendary Tootsie's honky tonk on Broadway! The warm 80 degrees and sunshine wasn't bad either :) even if it was just for a day. 

A week of good things

This week has been full of good things like celebrating a few weddings, birthdays, Mother's Day this weekend, and the birth of my new "niece", Emma Katherine Hussey! 

I'm so excited for Whitney & Jason. She's so sweet and I can't wait to meet her! Wishing Germany wasn't so far away! :)

Just call us the dog whisperers...

It was a very rainy weekend here in the twin cities... Which I think is pretty rare, which also means everyone (the doggies) were especially cooped up. After a day of corralling the beasts, I decided it was time to brave the cold rain and get out of the house.

Our "front door" is actually the back door since our alley is around back. I walked around front to grab the mail, then walked back to the garage and found this old, portly little guy. He just trotted right up to greet me as if it was on his doggy list of things to do that day.

I continued to walk to the garbage can to drop off some trash... he followed me. I looked around the alley to see if anyone was looking for him as he sat and patiently waited... on me. I saw he had tags on and his house was on the street behind us. I hooked him up on a leash and we went for a stroll. 

As I turned the street corner in the rain, he slowed down to a nice moseying pace as if he was enjoying the freezing cold rain. So refreshing. I later realized that we walked a block in the wrong direction, which is why he was dragging his feet. I guess his Minnesota nice way if saying "we're going in the wrong direction". 

As soon as we turned around, he quickly picked up pace. He didn't even need a leash. He led the way a few blocks down and trotted up the front steps to his house and waited at the door. I'm pretty sure he just wanted to go for a walk with a new friend. :) 

“You guys like to be really busy, don’t you?”

I can’t tell you how many times we heard that sentence this week, haha! Just a few nuggets (definitely not all) of our weird week included: a big scare with Bear and a trip to the ER vet, Easter, buying a new car, selling my old car, dealing with some potential buyers who were totally nuts (craigslist of course…), ripping up our yard, and getting a new foster dog. Well, I guess that was actually in ONE weekend.

Last weekend started with some car shopping (for me!) and found the perfect car - my Mazda 3. We had to leave right after the test drive to take Bear to a routine vet appointment for some vaccines. After the vet appointment, we went to dinner to talk about the car and then decided to buy it, which was really exciting! 

My new car :)

We stopped home to grab some things before heading back to the dealership and Jerrod goes “We should bring Bear! He’s been cooped up in his kennel all day”. After I insisted to leave him home, I finally caved and Jerrod put Bear in the back seat. He noticed a bump on his nose, but we didn’t think much of it. We made it about a mile down the road and Jerrod noticed that Bear now had 4 big bumps on his nose. 15 minutes later, his entire face was swollen, his eyes were swelling shut, and we found ourselves rushing to the emergency vet. Jerrod carried Bear into the ER and poor Bear didn’t even look like the same dog. He was wheeled into the back room and of course, his tail was still wagging… typical Lab.

Turns out he had an allergic reaction to one of the vaccines he received hours earlier, which was completely terrifying. After some shots of steroids, a ton of Benadryl, and a half hour later, Bear was eating treats from the technician and seeing pink Benadryl elephants in the lobby, but we were able to take him home. He’s finally back to his normal self. 

I can’t believe how lucky we were and I’m so thankful that Jerrod, for some odd reason, insisted we take Bear with us to a dealership, of all places.

The rest of the weekend was spent ripping up our yard and selling cars. I removed grass, broke up dirt, made a couple flower beds, planted grass (where it should be), and moved stones for a little path way. Now we just need some more dirt, mulch, and some plants. 

We also got a new foster dog, Roxy! She’s a shelter puppy, very skinny, and she was obviously abused, so we’re learning all of her quirks and things she’s afraid of. #1 thing she’s afraid of - BATHS. Lesson learned, do not bathe a new foster dog by yourself. Have you ever seen a dog climb up a wall? I have. Our entire bathroom floor was covered in a layer of water, there was dog hair 5 feet up the wall, I used every single towel we own and they were all dripping, I was soaked, she still has soap probably on half of her body, and I’m pretty sure the neighbors 3 doors down heard this dog screaming. Not my best idea.

See? She looks cute, even half covered in soap. :)

She had a little bit of a rough start with Bear. Bear’s the most submissive, care free dog there is. Doesn’t care who’s in charge, doesn’t care who has his toy… just could absolutely care less. Roxy has been abused, surrendered to a shelter, and only knows to guard everything that’s hers. So imagine dopey, oblivious Bear just waltzing in… it made for a rough first day or two. They get along so well now and they’re always playing tug-a-war together. I think he gets along with her the best out of any fosters so far.

People always ask us how we are able to foster. It’s a lot of time, a lot of work, and a TON of patience. 

I honestly can’t explain how rewarding it is. When we got Roxy a few days ago, she would pee out of fear if you walked toward her with her leash or if you raised your voice at all. She was just terrified of everything. Now, she wags her tail at her leash, she knows how to sit, lay down, come, and she’s learning manners. She now knows her name. She no longer barks out of fear at people outside. She doesn’t guard her toys. I gave her a new bowl of water this morning and she patiently sat and waited for it to be put on the floor and as I was kneeling down, she gave me a kiss on the cheek. She just quietly observes everything we do as if she’s never seen it before… and maybe she hasn’t. There’s just nothing more genuinely thankful than a dog. It’s so rewarding to see that tail wagging instead of tucked under her stomach. 

So. Here’s to hoping that this weekend is a little different than last! Happy Friday!