Willow the Acrobat

Karl and I had some fun tormenting Willow by throwing snow balls at her this past weekend.  Her reaction when she actually caught one is too funny to even put into words.  

I'm continually amazed at how she manages to be going two different directions at the same time.

Part dog, part kangaroo...

 "What? Do I have snow on my face?"

"Hmph.  It's not like I'm eating it or anything..."

Willow's got the right idea

Poor Willow is the biggest wimp when it comes to the cold.  Apparently, sitting on the couch, smashed in between Karl and I, still doesn't keep her as warm as she wants to be.

Instead, she sleeps on top of the furnace vent.

Yes, there is a vent under there.  Hard to see considering someone is hogging all of the warm air.

I must admit, it is pretty cute when her ears are flopping all over the place from the air blowing...

Our little black bear

Isn't she just precious?  As cute as she is, Willow is darn near impossible to photograph - makes me all the more appreciate of the few good ones I can get!

I wish I had the luck to get a picture of her doing something stupid - like when she ran out into the snow on Sunday and face planted right into the ground.  Oh puppy, I'm sorry I laugh at you but I just can't help it sometimes!

I agree with Willow!

The hotel IS boring!

At least we have some beautiful birthday flowers from Karl to enjoy!

No news yet on a potential place to live... Hopefully tomorrow?

Two Spoiled Dogs

 When we left the cabin a few days ago, it was just starting to rain again.  This made our boat ride home absolutely FREEZING.  Had to bust out the winter coat in August – what a tragedy!  Willow, on the other hand, still has her summer coat and shivered the entire way back.  We covered her up with Karl’s extra jacket, but it only helped a little bit. 

I decided to make her a little jacket until we see if she is able to grow enough fur to keep warm, especially in 30 below temperatures this winter. 

It’s a little difficult to use a dog as a model, but I think it turned out pretty well.  I love how the front looks like a preppy sweater wrapped around her neck – goes perfectly with the argyle print!

With fleece on sale this week at Joann’s, I decided to make new doggie beds for both Willow and Luke.  Willow’s was kind of gross, and only came with us so she could sit on it in the backseat of the car.  Luke’s poor bed can hardly even be called a bed, as it has no cushion at all. 

I wanted to buy foam cushioning for the inside, but it was going to cost an arm and a leg.  Instead, I went with a queen size mattress pad, which I was able to cut into pieces and layer to make a nice fluffy bed.  I sewed a zipper on one end so the cover is removable and washable.  Easy project, and made me feel a little more at home with my sewing machine back in action!

Looks like they both like their beds!

The Cabin in the Wilderness

We were finally able to make it out to the cabin this weekend in seemingly the only 24 hour window of no rain.  We launched the river boat at Deshka Landing in Willow (yes, Willow went to Willow) and took the Big Susitna River to the Yentna River.  

Mt. Susitna, commonly known as Sleeping Lady

This was Willow’s first boat ride, and she seemed to have great fun.  

The cabin is truly in the middle of nowhere, and the only things you see (other than wildlife) are a few other recreational cabins.  We did pass a fish wheel along the river, which is used to count the number of salmon heading upstream.  We stopped to chat for a moment, and watched them catch five salmon in the few minutes we were there. 

Fish wheel in action

Once we made it to the cabin, Karl and I took a big risk and decided to let Willow off of her leash.  In the four years we’ve had her, the only time she’s been free to run is when she’s managed to break out the front door.  I was a little worried that she would run off and get eaten by a bear, but she stayed close by.  

Think she was improvising some camouflage?

She slept like a rock that night as she spent the entire afternoon tearing back and forth at about a hundred miles an hour.

 Karl also decided that it was time to teach me to shoot a gun, as being at the cabin is probably the most likely place that I will run into a bear.  After a few tears, I learned that my arms just aren’t long enough to shoot the gun Karl gave me to try.  We tried the next day with a gun with an iron sight instead of a scope, and I did much better. 

Watch out broad side of a barn!

My shooting still sucks, so I would probably be better off throwing the gun at the bear.  Karl has promised to take me somewhere where I can shoot at a target instead of just at a tree on the other side of the river.  We'll see how that goes...

Poor Puppy

I was clipping Willow's nails this morning, which she absolutely hates.  This usually involves putting her muzzle on and Karl pinning her to the bed.  We then hope that we can get 4 or 5 nails before she goes ballistic.  Either I was cutting too far up her nail or she squirmed at the wrong moment, because we ended up with a blood spurting nail.  Obviously, bleeding all over Karl's dad's house is probably not a good idea, so we improvised a bandage.  She looks cute, right??

She is in need of some good snuggling until her foot is better!

Going to the Flea Market

Karl and I are planning to go to Trader Jacks (a local flea market) to sell all of our odds and ends that aren't worth enough to list on Craigslist.  I'm (surprisingly) off all weekend, so I'm hoping to dig through all of our stuff and start boxing up what we plan to sell.  My goal will be to come home with absolutely nothing, because anything that makes it back into the will likely have to be thrown out.

The hardest part about getting things packed is knowing that we will have house guests in the weeks leading up to our move.  Karl's brother and his girlfriend, and probably his niece will be staying with us for at least several days over the 19th to the 24th, and Karl's dad will be with us from the 26th until the day we leave.  Makes it a bit harder because I need to leave extra bedding out, as well as so most of our cookware. Karl and I would be perfectly content eating spaghetti and ramen for the last two weeks, but we'll probably end up eating more legitimate meals if there's other people here.

We also ordered a big pack of Spacebags, and as soon as they come I plan to take down all of the curtains and pack up my stuffed animals and such.

Slowly but surely!!  I am really hoping to be as completely finished as possible before the holiday weekend, so I can use all of that time to visit with friends and family before I go.

In other news, Willow's harness and muzzle fit perfectly.  She absolutely hates the muzzle (not surprising), but seemed minimally content with the harness.  Let see how she likes it after 80 hours of wearing it in the car!

Keeping the Puppy Safe

Traveling across the country with a dog is going to make this adventure even more interesting.  Luckily, Willow loves the car so I'm hoping that will translate into only being a little aggravated with being stuck inside it for 8 days.

We ordered a doggie seatbelt for Willow yesterday to hopefully keep her from falling off the seat or getting hurt.  In 4000 miles, it's pretty likely that we'll have a sharp turn or two, or have to stop quickly.  Definitely don't want Willow going face first into the window!  We'll see how well she puts up with wearing this...

Bergan Dog Auto Harness (Amazon)

Speaking of Willow getting aggravated, the muzzle we ordered will sure do it if the harness doesn't.

Guardian Gear Lined Muzzle (Amazon)

Willow doesn't play very nice with other animals (although she loves people and kids to pieces).  I'm nervous about rest stops and campgrounds along the way, because there is the definite potential for lots of other dogs to be around.  People don't seem to have any interest in keeping their dogs leashed, so I want to make sure that we avoid any unpleasant encounters.  Hopefully it will be a non-issue, but I think it's better to be safe than sorry in this instance.  I really like that it's black, so it won't really look like she's wearing anything from a distance.  I don't want people to think I have some crazy aggressive dog that is going to eat them and their children, because that is the furthest thing from the truth.

Karl got another free trial of Amazon Prime, so we got free 2 day shipping.  I hope we ordered these things in the right size, otherwise we'll be in a rush to send them back and get new ones before we leave!

Willow's new friend

Or not so much... This little squirrel has tormented Willow for the last two years.  When I took this photo, I swear the squirrel was laughing at Willow from his safe perch in the tree!

Please ignore the excessive editing.  I'm having way too much fun with Photoshop, and the squirrel had a tendency to blend in with all the rest of the brown.

Off to label more soap before bed - I'm telling you, if I had started labeling through Photoshop two months ago, I could have saved myself so much time!