Project Basement

This fall it will be 6 years living in this house.

Since we moved in, our basement (and garage) have been the dumping ground for various things.  There are boxes that we haven't even opened since moving day...or things we tossed in there because, "maybe, we'll find a use for it some day."...or things that we just don't want to deal with, so what do you do...you throw it in the basement.  

Well, the time has come...spring cleaning is in full effect over here.

Welcome to my basement...while I'm in the midst of cleaning.

I know...scary.

 The bags of trash and donations are endless.  It feels so good.

Since Ryan is a rep he has tons and tons of samples, the idea is to give him a proper area to store his work stuff.  This should have happened long ago.  But hey, better late than never!

Lately, the weather has taken a turn, and we've been getting rain everyday, so it's perfect timing to lock myself away in the basement and clean it out.  But it's so easy to get distracted...yesterday I discovered all my old year books...so of course I had to flip through them!  But slowly, but surely, we'll get it done.

And speaking of spring cleaning...our dogs have gotten their yearly groomer visit.

This time I had all their fur shaved off...I love it.  I should have done this long ago!

Especially with all the rain, it's so much easier to wipe them off before they come inside.

Unfortunately, the first two nights after the groomers we have discovered dog barf in the living room.  They definitely don't act sick or anything...they're hyper as usual...so we're not sure what's up with them.  But either way, I don't like cleaning barf first thing in the morning!  So since then, they've been outside at night.  We'll keep an eye on them.

Hope ya'll are having a grand Tuesday!

Dogs and chickens don't always mix.

So these are our dogs, Etta and Belle.

Etta is in the front...Belle in the back.

They're Brittanys, so naturally, they are waaaaay into birds.

And occasionally, they even get one now and again...and  I'm pretty sure it becomes their best day ever when they do.

They don't eat them, they just enjoy catching them...and then running around the yard with them in their mouth...most likely thinking how awesome they are.

Well, earlier in the year our neighbors got chickens...8 of them to be exact.  They decided to put the coop against our sharing fence.  Our dogs know they're there, but really can't do anything about it....they just stare at them longingly through the slats.  

All is well...and had been for the past 6 months or so.

So the other night while we were putting the kids to bed Ryan noticed Belle sitting in the front yard!!  In a panic (because our dogs are known for taking off) he opens the front door to get her back in the yard only to stumble upon a dead chicken laid out right against our front door!

Turns out, one of the chickens didn't make it back into the coop before it got dark.  So, in an effort to roost, she decided to perch herself in a precarious spot on our fence.  Belle saw that and probably wasted no time...the evidence (feathers) were everywhere in that spot.  And with her charging the fence she broke a couple of boards out allowing her to escape our yard.  Our neighbors yard however, is not all the way fenced so Belle was able to get into our front yard and leave us a little gift on our porch.  I think she was pretty proud of herself as she politely waited in the front yard until we finally opened the door.  Our reaction however, was probably NOT what she thought it was going to be.

We felt so bad telling the neighbors what happened.  And of course this particular chicken just so happened to be their best egg layer.  Darn.

Now, I know that some dogs can live very cohesively with chickens...in fact our Black and Tan Coonhound shared a backyard with two chickens in my childhood home.

I have never actually done this, but I have heard that a quick way to train your dog NOT to hurt chickens is to catch the dog immediately after it kills one and then use the dead chicken to whack the dog several times yelling and screaming "NO, NO, NO, NO...!!!".  

They'll never go near another chicken again...actually, they'll probably never go near you again either since they'll think you've gone completely nuts...that's the downside.  Plus you may scare your neighbors...so I don't actually recommend this method.

So...long story short...dogs are naughty.

Have a great weekend ya'll!

Back on the bike.

Since the end of ski season I've been trying to stay more consistent with exercising...whether it's walking/running, biking or yoga...doing one of those things at least five days a week.  And so far I've been pretty committed, which kinda surprises me a little.  

My goals are: Not to suck so much for the weekly mountain bike races (starting very soon), and to lose 5 pounds (which by the way, I've been at this pretty hard for several weeks now and I'll have you know that I have NOT lost a single pound yet).  But whatever...I know that I'm probably stronger now than I have been in a very long time!  And since I've started road riding a bit more I'm kinda falling in love with it again.  I've started going on rides by myself which is kinda difficult for me, but once I'm out it can be very therapeutic.  And it's so pretty here!!

South Fork Canyon.

Riding this morning with my little brother, Jeffy.

He has quickly become my new riding partner!

Eventually Ryan and I will be able to ride more together too, but for now we have to kinda tag team the little ones. 

 The horses up South Fork.

Oh and if anyone was wondering our dogs survived their first grooming experience and I have to say they look like slightly overweight show dogs now!  It was pretty awesome...except for the part that one of them (pretty sure it was Etta) had diarrhea  in the back of Ryan's car on the way home...not so awesome.  Luckily it was on a grimy blanket and they didn't tromp around in it...but seriously...not cool!

But look how pretty they are....Awwwwww!

Happy Monday ya'll!