Memorial Day Parade

Our Memorial Day parade was on Sunday and we didn't even realize it until Ed saw the police cars closing down the street. Our neighborhood is a great neighborhood to live in -- we can walk to a lot of places and the parade route went along the main street just 4 houses down from our home. We took Harley and Ava to the parade.

We walked down to World Travel which was a little bit of a goof on our part. Ava and Harley love visiting World Travel because Robyn always gives them cookies. Of course, she wasn't there because it was a Sunday. So we stood in front of World Travel watching the parade go by while Ava and Harley occasionally looked in the front window to see if Robyn had miraculously appeared.

Both Ava and Harley seemed to like the parade until the rifles were fired. Ava recovered much faster than Harley. After that point, Harley just really wanted to go home. When the parade was over, we headed home -- I had Harley and he didn't want to wait for Ed and Ava at all. Normally the two doggies like to walk together but Harley really just wanted to go home. When he left for The Seeing Eye, he wasn't afraid of thunder or the vacuum cleaner but now he is.

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Under Construction...AGAIN!!!

We've decided to add a third floor to our home for more space...okay, I'm just teasing. Hopefully we will never need to remodel another home as extensively as this one again.

We are getting landscaping and a patio done. So here is our home the way it looked right before Memorial Day weekend. We've been on the landscapers "to-do-list" since mid-April but we've had a lot of rain. We're excited that they are finally able to work on our home and fix our landscaping. A lot of things broke or just simply look out of place after our renovation.

I love our rhododendron "tree". Ed trimmed it into a tree for me years ago and we've been encouraging a more tree-like look rather than the traditional rhodo bush. But the landscaper has never liked it and he wanted to take it out a few years ago when he initially landscaped the front of our home. Now the rhodo is looking really sad since half of it was chopped away to make room for our bay window. The landscaper will finally get his wish and he can take it down.

We have a dogwood tree in the corner of our home too that will need to leave as well. It is being replaced by an ornamental plum. The dogwood was also turned into a lopsided piece during our home renovation.

And we are very excited to get a patio! The addition we put on the back of our home basically covered what used to be our backdeck. When the foundation for the new basement was dug out, there was dirt everywhere and our backyard lawn was fairly destroyed. Poor Harley and Ava couldn't go out unless it was extremely dry and hardpacked out there.

The landscapers worked over Memorial Day weekend and we're hoping to have a finished patio soon! It's looking really nice out there and we can't wait!!!

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In Through the Cat Door

When we remodeled our home, we moved our washing machine and dryer from the basement to upstairs. We actually have a little laundry room instead of a laundry closet. I wanted just enough space to fit the washer and dryer plus a litter box and bowls for cat food and water. And of course, then you have to have a cat door for the cats to get through.




Ava has been trying very hard to fit through the cat door which is really just a nicely finished hole in the wall. It took her awhile to realize the opening was even there and where it went but once she realized there were two food bowls on the other side, she has become very determined to get through. I keep telling her it isn't a very flattering view but she really doesn't care.

She can actually get her whole head through -- it's a good thing she has shoulders or she would probably get through enough to get stuck. It reminds me of when Winnie the Pooh got stuck in Rabbit's Door. The day I took these pictures, Ava just poked her head in enough to see if there was any food in the bowls.

The contractor we hired has built lots of homes but they told us we were the first ones to request a hole in the wall for cats. Right after they finished our home, one of their next jobs asked for an inside cat door too!

Happy Birthday Gusto!!!

Gusto was the first puppy we raised for the Seeing Eye Foundation and he was our Cinco de Mayo puppy because he was born May 5, 2004. He arrived at our home at the end of June and he was a bundle of gusto! He definitely lived up to his name.

We had a birthday party for Gusto when he turned one. The Herdeen family came over and Gusto got to play with his friend, Max. They are pretty close in age but definitely not in size.

The Seeing Eye trainer who trained Anita also trained Gusto with his blind person. She said she hears from him every now and again and that Gusto is doing well.

Wow--it's hard to believe that Gusto is five already!

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