Wednesday, January 16, 2008

other things

It might be hard to believe, but there are other things going on in our lives... than the new barn!!! I know I have kept that as a main focus in these past few blogs... because it's so exciting for me!!! AND just to show you what a difference a day makes, here's the barn yesterday... after the big snows that we got on Monday... hard to believe that just days ago, the field was totally open (and fairly dry) and here we are, back to winter!!!! The progress on the barn will be slow over the next few days, as the men are back into "detail" mode... seems like there are a "million" little things that they have to do and then it gets into something big again. For example, they now have to trim out the ends of the rafters and get them boxed in before the roof itself can go on. So of course, what is seen now are the rafters waiting for roofing, but the other part has to be finished up first... so, the barn will have "this look" for just a little bit.

In the meantime, though, Ed does manage to get other projects done around the house... moving Titus into his (hopefully) final tank has been one of them. We got this 120 gallon tank for him a few months ago... actually we were looking at a 75 gallon tank and the manager of the store begged us to take this one off her hands. It was a "special" order that the person never picked up and after tripping over it for a while, the store just wanted it gone. They "gave" it to us for nearly the price of the the smaller tank, and I am quite certain, that Titus will live happily in this one for a long time to come.... at least he BETTER!!! I have to say he is so much happier in this big tank and has been even more entertaining than before. He has a ton of room for swimming, hunting for fish, and re-arranging things the way he likes to have them. It's taken him a little time to get used to this new tank, he wasn't too excited about his new "sunning" rock, but I do find him up there more often in the past few days. Ed wasn't "happy" that I didn't give him enough time to completely finish the base for the new tank.(he has plans to make it more like a cabinet with doors and shelves).. but, I really wanted it up and running, so he did what he could in the time frame given. And that's ok, I am just happy to have it.


And even though we had that great warming trend, when the days are cold, the wood stove chugs merrily along, and the cockers once again.... try to claim their spot on the doggie bed. This particular day, no one was giving up a space and so it was one big "cocker crowd" on the bed. Dancer had been looking for a spot, but stepped just outside of the picture after realizing that no dogs were going to move for her!!!!

In my moments of "spare" time, I am working on a couple of quilting projects and a cross stitch or two. Over Christmas I was in a real knitting mode, making several pairs of mittens for the kids and myself, but now I feel like doing something different, and have had a few projects pending. The snowy Monday we had was just perfect for all of that, and "they" predict more winter weather for Friday, so I might sneak in another day of it. So, between "barn building", teaching dog classes, "projects" and how know what else comes down the line... I have to say, the winter is flying by!!! Half way thru January... February is short and March is knocking on spring's door..........