More Projects

It's been an eventful few weeks. I finished my second draft of my book! That was pretty awesome, but then I suddenly found I had more free time while some friends of mine are reading it to give me some feedback.

So, we've been working on other projects. Aside from working on massive amounts of cherries, we've found other things to keep us busy.

Kevin's room has a fun mural on it. A while ago, I went through his room and patched all the holes up. We were intending to paint the rest of the walls, but I've been meaning to restore the mural for a while. I didn't remember to take the before picture until I was halfway done, but you can still see quite a few white patches all over.

I wasn't sure how well I'd do, since I haven't done a restoration-type project before, but I was pleasantly surprised. I was able to match the colors on nearly everything except the sky, but I like the way that turned out too. You can't even tell I did anything in the other areas, which is the best kind of restoration. 

We also have raspberries coming in! We don't get many from our few bushes, but we're getting a few. They don't last very long. They're pretty popular in the house. I haven't really been able to do anything with them yet, because they disappear too fast.

It's nice to have free fresh fruit though.

The next project that we started and finished on Monday occurred in the front yard. When the appraiser came to our house, he suggested that we put shallow window wells outside of the front basement windows. We've been thinking about it for a while, but it wasn't until this week that I figured out how I wanted to do it. We made our own wells (because we can't afford the metal kind yet).

I think they turned out quite nice. Now we just need to plant flowers and our front flower garden should be on its way! Also, if there is a random flood, the water shouldn't be able to come in our windows.

The most recent project involved our puppy, Siff. She's a Norwegian Elkhound, so she's been awfully hot lately, with almost no signs of shedding her large coat.

It's no wonder she's been loving the water!

Look at that beautiful coat!

So, today I decided she needed a haircut. She's pretty excited about it, even though she now resembles a sheep.

 My clipper blades are dull, so I cut her entire coat with scissors. I think it turned out pretty nice. I got it mostly even, and she's so soft now. It's like touching a cloud. She's been panting a lot less, and she seems much more comfortable.

It is going to take us a little while to get used to her new looks. Arkhon groomed her for a while after I finished. I'm not quite sure what that meant, except that he loves his little sister.

Today was also Arkhon's birthday!

He turned two, and so for the only time during the entire year, he got to sit at the table (just while I took a picture).

Allopex suggested I give Arkhon a party hat. So I did.

I made him a rabbit cake out of a dog biscuit I have. Then we bought some canned dog food and spread it across like frosting. I also stuck two dog bones in for candles. He and Siff sure enjoyed their cake.

Weirdly, we didn't want any.

Arkhon got a couple of presents, but I think the cake was his favorite part. 

It's been nice to get so many things done. It's weird that our boy dog is two now. It seems like it's been forever since he looked like this:

Now, he looks like this:

He's such a good boy. He listens really well, most of the time. Occasionally, he gets too excited and his ears switch off, but when he hears us, he always listens. He and Kevin are best friends, and he is so tolerant and patient. It's crazy how time has flown.