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Entries in pets (713)

Monday
Apr032006

Laundry at our house

mooselaundry1.jpgWhat's worse than  dog hair  being attracted to freshly laundered and static filled clothes from the dryer?  The entire dog being attracted to freshly laundered clothes just out of the dryer.  Here you can see Moose hone in on the warm clothes immediately, then hop from one pile  to the next so as to remain on the warmest one possible at all times.

 

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Monday
Mar202006

Progress in the nursery!

Saturday started 9am with a Koney Island breakfast with mom and dad H and Curtis, after which Cortney and mom H went shopping while Jon and dad H started painting.  It's a good thing, too, because it ended up being an all day job.  jonpainting.jpgThe first coat went really well, and while it started drying the boys finished the laundry room renovations and fixed the dryer and screen door while the girls cleaned and organized the kitchen, then mom H made a wonderful picnic style lunch.  After lunch the guys did a little touch up then started on the second color.  But once on the wall the second color was not at all what we had intended so the girls headed back to Lowe's to try again.  After a very enjoyable dinner at the pizza place down the street the guys covered the first coat of the second color with a first coat of a third color (anyone else confused?) before mom and dad H headed home around 8:30.

Every cloud has a silver lining.  Sunday afternoon the two of us did some final touch up on color number three, cortneypainting.jpgbut very little was needed because where the second second color didn't fully cover the first second color (confused again...) it created a charmingly whimsical feeling that we didn't want to cover up.  After removing the tape and moving the furniture back into place, the room looks perfect - unfinished, but perfect!  The night didn't finish perfectly - try as we might the brackets for the new window shade did not go in easily, only to find out that the shade had been cut wrong at the store.  So today we have to exchange the shade, hope the brackets stay up, and put up the valance rod, but at least we have arrived at the final stretch.

We aren't quite ready to completely give the surprise away, because it's not quite done, cookienotpainting.jpgbut there are more hints in the work pictures here.  We do want to note that there are key workers missing from these photos - those being mom and dad H, who we cannot thank enough - so we included one of Cookie instead, who worked about as hard as she is here.  :o)

Monday
Mar062006

Why is Cookie so embarrassed?

Cookiehidingbig.jpgCookie is a trick cat - mostly in the mornings.  When the heat comes on around 6am you can hear her squeeze in through the bathroom door, then shut it behind her to keep warm.  She then waits for us there  so that she can bask in the heat of the hair dryer (if we don't share she yells until we do).  When Cortney is brushing her hair, Cookie paces the counter, arching her back until she is rewarded with her own brush strokes.  She waits until we are gone to roll in the water on the bottom of the tub, then paws the linen closet open so that she can dry herself on the towels. 

But this morning she took things a bit far.  After her preening ritual it would seem that she decided to dress herself also, and made her way into the top drawer of Jon's dresser.  When Jon went to shut the drawer, he heard...a cat.  We couldn't see her, so we opened the next drawer down, which was accompanied by a quiet "thud," as she fell down one more level.  We repeated this with each of the remaining three drawers until she was safely on the bottom, then removed the final drawer, revealing a sheepish blond kitty.  That is why she is embarrassed this morning.

Saturday
Jan212006

Cookie's having a ball...

More effective than a dog whistle, and nearly as effective as the sound of a can opener, we have a new cat calling technique.  In doing some spring cleaning this weekend (hey, it might be January, but it was over fifty degrees) we found a package of unopened cat toys.  They don't look interesting (they are pink and yellow plastic balls with small bells inside) but there is just something about these balls.  Cortney took one from the package, preparing to toss the rest of them, and dropped it on the ground on her way to the kitchen trash.  There was a rumble somewhere in the basement, followed by a stampede and the emergence of a cream colored whirlwind that, for the following minute or so, engaged itself in play with said ball.  And it works every time - drop the ball from a standing position and no matter where in the house she is hiding Cookie will be there in a matter of seconds.  She may not play with it for long after that, but at least now we know we have a fail proof way of locating our cat.cookieplaysball.jpg

Tuesday
Aug302005

Didgeridooin'

didgeridooin.jpgJon has been practicing the didgeridoo and working toward circular breathing. Perhaps squeezing the cheeks with a free hand would help? Not so much. But it was worth a try. As always, Cookie was completely unphased by the vibrations, while Ollie freaked out without constant reassurance that something terrible was not coming his way. We're still not sure if Diamond could hear it at all, as she seemed quite happy to sleep through it.

 Michigan football countdown: 4 days to go!