Who is eating your dog food now?
We have lived in our current house for 2 years. One day a couple of friends and I were out for a run and there was a yellow plastic sign in front of our house - sloppily handwritten it said "Fixer Upper for Sale." I looked at my friends and said "You can't tell Kristin about this." Between the four of us we had noticed this house and commented on the house. We wondered if anyone lived in the house. It was a fairly classic Craftsman house and we all thought the house could be a pretty cool house but is was lacking a little love and caring.
I had spent 11 years loving the house we were in and was not interested in a fixer upper. In our first house, we had poured a new basement floor, added a back door, added an attic master bedroom suite and had custom built in wardrobes added. We had redone the kitchen and re-stuccoed the outside of the house. We landscaped the yard and put in two patios. We had a hot tub and every single room had been painted. It had central air and room for Gromit and Chewie. It was perfect or so I thought.
My friends told Kristin about the fixer upper and of course she had to look at it right away. We drove by and stopped to look in the windows but I refused to get out of the car...The three of them peeped in the windows and Kristin contacted the seller. She made an offer the next day that was accepted and the rest is history....After two years I have come to love this house, but it took some time for me to let go of the other house....and our old neighbors....and the fact that I wasn't going to get the summer off from house projects, we were in fact embarking on one new huge house project...
I have a love hate relationship with old houses - comes from living in an old house my parents fell in love with when I was in 4th grade. The house had 5 bedrooms and two huge porches. We had a dog named JoJo when we lived in this house. It had a big fireplace, a huge kitchen and a very, very scary basement. It had character and room and was a cool house. One day my Mom went to grab a bag of dog food from the box of food that she kept on the stairs to the basement. Now JoJo would only eat a dog food called Special Cuts - it looked like raw meat, fake white marbled fat and all. Anyway, she reached in for a bag and the box was empty. She didn't think much of it and replaced the box with a new one. The next day when she went to get a bag of food from the practically full box of food, it was again empty. Something was awry here and JoJo was not eating the dog food....
We soon found out how the food was disappearing. My bedroom was next to the bathroom. My father was shaving and JoJo who adored my dad was watching him shave. Suddenly, JoJo jumped up and raced into my brother's room. I don't think I'll ever forget my dad looking at me with half the shaving cream on his face and we silently followed JoJo and watched as he scurried under the bunk bed and was lunging at something. All of a sudden out he came from under the bunk bed and scurrying in front of him was a RAT - I had a 5 second delayed scream. They raced out around the second floor and then back in - my dad woke up my older brother because apparently he was able to sleep through my scream. We all left the room and shut the door. My grandparents were coming to visit and when they called to confirm plans my mother told them of the excitement. My grandfather showed up ready to help catch the rascal. He came to the door in waist high waders, a butterfly net, a bee keepers hat and a sponge mop. They did catch that rat but there were more in the basement - ugh! I would hear them in the walls at night. We did eventually get rid of the rats but I was not sad to leave that house!
So here I am living in another cool house that has been fixed up by a contractor and Kristin. We do not have rats. We did have a mouse in the house. I don't think our doodles are much interested in mice. The reason I found it was because it had died in the piano studio. It smelled and a friend's dog Hale-Bopp helped me sniff it out. It was on the floor in plain view and reach - just lying there...huh I thought - the cats and the dogs in this house are just not interested....Kristin took care of the mouse.
So we know that dogs actually eat the dog food at our house. Chewie often eats most of the dog food. He eats his bowl and then moves Gromit by nudging him and sticking his face in Gromit's bowl. Gromit just has space issues and can't stand Chewie being that close to him while he is trying to eat.
I have caught Tiace taking a nugget or two out of the dog food bowl. It seems only fair since the dogs clean out the cat food dishes daily. The nugget barely fits in Tiace's mouth and she has to work pretty hard but must be worth it because she has done it more than once.
So far we don't have a lot of surprises about who is eating the dog food at our house, but if we do get surprised - I am out of here!
I had spent 11 years loving the house we were in and was not interested in a fixer upper. In our first house, we had poured a new basement floor, added a back door, added an attic master bedroom suite and had custom built in wardrobes added. We had redone the kitchen and re-stuccoed the outside of the house. We landscaped the yard and put in two patios. We had a hot tub and every single room had been painted. It had central air and room for Gromit and Chewie. It was perfect or so I thought.
My friends told Kristin about the fixer upper and of course she had to look at it right away. We drove by and stopped to look in the windows but I refused to get out of the car...The three of them peeped in the windows and Kristin contacted the seller. She made an offer the next day that was accepted and the rest is history....After two years I have come to love this house, but it took some time for me to let go of the other house....and our old neighbors....and the fact that I wasn't going to get the summer off from house projects, we were in fact embarking on one new huge house project...
I have a love hate relationship with old houses - comes from living in an old house my parents fell in love with when I was in 4th grade. The house had 5 bedrooms and two huge porches. We had a dog named JoJo when we lived in this house. It had a big fireplace, a huge kitchen and a very, very scary basement. It had character and room and was a cool house. One day my Mom went to grab a bag of dog food from the box of food that she kept on the stairs to the basement. Now JoJo would only eat a dog food called Special Cuts - it looked like raw meat, fake white marbled fat and all. Anyway, she reached in for a bag and the box was empty. She didn't think much of it and replaced the box with a new one. The next day when she went to get a bag of food from the practically full box of food, it was again empty. Something was awry here and JoJo was not eating the dog food....
We soon found out how the food was disappearing. My bedroom was next to the bathroom. My father was shaving and JoJo who adored my dad was watching him shave. Suddenly, JoJo jumped up and raced into my brother's room. I don't think I'll ever forget my dad looking at me with half the shaving cream on his face and we silently followed JoJo and watched as he scurried under the bunk bed and was lunging at something. All of a sudden out he came from under the bunk bed and scurrying in front of him was a RAT - I had a 5 second delayed scream. They raced out around the second floor and then back in - my dad woke up my older brother because apparently he was able to sleep through my scream. We all left the room and shut the door. My grandparents were coming to visit and when they called to confirm plans my mother told them of the excitement. My grandfather showed up ready to help catch the rascal. He came to the door in waist high waders, a butterfly net, a bee keepers hat and a sponge mop. They did catch that rat but there were more in the basement - ugh! I would hear them in the walls at night. We did eventually get rid of the rats but I was not sad to leave that house!
So here I am living in another cool house that has been fixed up by a contractor and Kristin. We do not have rats. We did have a mouse in the house. I don't think our doodles are much interested in mice. The reason I found it was because it had died in the piano studio. It smelled and a friend's dog Hale-Bopp helped me sniff it out. It was on the floor in plain view and reach - just lying there...huh I thought - the cats and the dogs in this house are just not interested....Kristin took care of the mouse.
So we know that dogs actually eat the dog food at our house. Chewie often eats most of the dog food. He eats his bowl and then moves Gromit by nudging him and sticking his face in Gromit's bowl. Gromit just has space issues and can't stand Chewie being that close to him while he is trying to eat.
I have caught Tiace taking a nugget or two out of the dog food bowl. It seems only fair since the dogs clean out the cat food dishes daily. The nugget barely fits in Tiace's mouth and she has to work pretty hard but must be worth it because she has done it more than once.
So far we don't have a lot of surprises about who is eating the dog food at our house, but if we do get surprised - I am out of here!
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