The barn in the backyard

Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was our shed. But after 2 months of stop-and-go work, we finally finished it. Because of its color and shape, we no longer call it a shed, but affectionately refer to it as "the barn." Thankfully there's been no talk of adding anymore animals to the property. Which is a good thing because there's so much stuff packed in "the barn" that there's no room for anything to live in it (except for snakes and spiders.)

Staycation's over

Lexie, Duchess and I have enjoyed a few weekends away from the people while they were away from home. While they made recent trips to Charleston, S.C. and Lubbock, Texas, Lexie and I had a staycation (with Aunt Kerri attending to our needs) and Duchess made weekend trips to Nana's house. The Charleston trip was to celebrate Gramps and Cheryl's birthdays. Gramps turned 399 (in dog years) on July 21 and Cheryl turned 252 (though she tells everyone she's only 203) on July 25. The most interesting tale we heard about Charleston was the ghost tour they took. There's this one house, Poogan's Porch, that's now a restaurant. Poogan is the name of a dog who used to live there and now haunts the place. He's not a scary dog ghost, though, more like Casper was. The trip to Lubbock was to meet up with some Army buddies of Wes'. After two weekends away, the work around the house has started to pile up. You should her Cheryl's laundry list of chores - which does include laundry. Oh well - breaks over.

Day 4

Today is day 4 on a building project that was supposed to take 2 days. Here are a few things I've learned about construction:

1. Measure once cut twice. (Or is it cut once and then measure twice?)

2. Allow less time then you think you'll need from start to finish. (Or is it more?)

3. Factor in more than one trip to the hardware store.

4. Don't wear a Home Depot T-shirt when the hardware store you're making trips to is Lowes.

5. Have plenty of cold beverages on hand.

6. Women can swing hammers, too.

7. Shingles can be a virus, but they also go on the roof.

8. Speaking of the roof, don't be afraid of heights.

9. A radio helps the work day go faster.

10. There's a big sense of accomplishment in doing it yourself.

Day 2

Day 2 on the building construction site yielded a floor, four walls and this blue tent-looking thing for a roof. It also yielded one blue and swollen thumb, a few balls thrown and fetched in between hammering and one little white fluffy thing of a dog getting a leftover chicken bones out of the trashcan. Duchess, being little and white, is not allowed in the construction area. She, instead, is in charge of the home site. Trashcans, though, prove a distraction to her. Once she was through with the one in the kitchen, her face wasn't so white anymore and even this morning she still has this distinct odor about her. Day 3 of the building project involves shingles, which I hear are painful, so I may help Duchess with home site duty. Wonder what's leftover in the trash can?

What was I thinking?

My new nickname is Bonehead Bax. My people started calling me that last night after I rolled in a pile of wet cement. Wes and my Gramps are building a shed in our back yard, and Lexie and I are helping as much as we can, even if the people don't know they need the help. We helped Wes move the post-it notes he was using as measurements. We relocated a glove. And inspected the hammering process up close. Last night when I rolled in the cement all I was doing was checking to make sure it was the right consistency. What I didn't realize was fur and cement don't mix. Cheryl said I looked like I had a gray mask on one side of my face. She freaked out a little bit, but then just started laughing hysterically. She helped me take a shower under the water hose to rinse it off. It reminded both of us of that story about the pig who ran away from home because the farmer's wife cleaned the farm and his mud hole. It so happens that that pig found wet cement that he thought was mud so he sunk deep down into it, only to have it do what cement does. Thank goodness no one had to call the rescue folks to get me unstuck like they had to that pig. The building process continues tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.

A pig's pen is his castle

When I was a pup, Cheryl would tell me this story that her mother told her when she was little. It was about a pig who lived on a farm and loved to sink deep into his mud hole. One day the farmer's wife decided to clean everything on the farm, including the pig's mud hole. The pig missed his mud so much that he ran away from the farm. But, he got scared of "the real world" so he came back home. The farmer's wife missed the pig so much while he was gone that she let him have his mud hole back. I felt like the pig in that story yesterday. Every room in our house got a cleaning, including my and Lexie's sunroom. The cleaning stirred up so much dust I'm surprised it didn't show up on the weatherman's radar. With all of that dust came multiple sneezing fits from both me and Cheryl. Not only did the room get scrubbed from top to bottom, but some furniture got moved around, while other furniture disappeared. It was enough to make me think about running away, until I curled up in my nice clean bed. I may not like where it's at now, but not sleeping on sticks, stones and crumbs made for a restful night.

Walking wounded

My buddy Buck is injured. He ripped his toenail half off his foot. My person Cheryl and his person Kerri had to help him hobble to the vet's office. While he's on the mend I've advised him to milk his injury as much as possible. Apparently he even has his brother Frisk waiting on him hand and paw.