5 to 10 a day, en francais

5 to 10 a day, en francais
Originally uploaded by Julep67

As a child growing up in Ontario in the 1970's, I recall that we didn't take French until grade 5 or 6. I think kids start much earlier these days. In high school I took it in grade 9 (I think it was my homeroom class actually) and then didn't really bother with it until grade 13 (there were extra seats available on the trip to Montreal and I liked shopping as much as the next 18 year old girl so I went on the class trip with some friends). Because we live and work in a city where French isn't a requirement, my huge lack of formal education hasn't really held me back from doing stuff. When we travel in Quebec, I'm able to navigate pretty well and I chalk it up to learning about French language via cereal boxes. That may sound like a joke but I seriously think that exposure to bilingual labels on stuff helped me.

In other news, our yard is really looking good. We (I say we because I did a little and Mark did a lot) worked in the yard almost all weekend. The deck is almost completely finished now and the yard is cleaned up and ready for sod. Hopefully next weekend, we'll be able to finish up completely (did you know that you can't buy sod in Kingston on a Sunday afternoon? - we didn't). It's all very exciting, seeing it come together. My plants are even growing, neat huh? We've been in the house for 4 years and we're finally getting the back yard the way we want it. I think that we're both appreciating it a lot more because of all of the time and work that has gone into it. I still would have enjoyed it if happened quickly, but I don't know that I'd feel as proud of the work as I do now.

bathing beauties

sun bathing
Originally uploaded by Julep67

the dogs and I spent a fair chunk of time hanging out on the deck, in the sunshine, over the weekend. I took their bed outside Sunday and Monday so they could get comfortable.

Mark and Andy spent a big chunk of their time working on the deck. Sam and Gracie and I did our best to stay out of their way and not interrupt the terrific railing installation which was happening.

The deck looks amazing now. There is only one more section to finish (it's the end piece of the deck, installing a privacy panel) and it'll be done. Mark even got some of the landscaping done so things are coming together.

Our next step will be getting some sod and planting grass in the corner where the gazebo was last year. The dogs are really enjoying how the yard has opened up to them. Mark could hardly get Sam to come in last night. I think Sam would have been completely happy to have slept outside last night (although given that there are skunks in our neighbourhood at night I don't think it would have been a good idea).

Although it's not even the end of May, I seriously think we've spent almost as much time on the deck this year as we did the whole of last summer. It's going to be a great summer / deck season this year I think!

hanging on the new deck

hanging on the new deck
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Last night the dogs visited the vet. It was the first time we had booked them both in at the same time and we had a discount applied to our bill, I guess, because we brought them both in together. It was tough though because it was about a million degrees in the exam room and Gracie had blood work done and got micro chipped so Sam had to wait with us in the tiny little hot room for what seemed like forever.

They were both pretty good sports about getting their shots. Both were told that they are in good shape physically and that's always good to hear. Talking to other folks in the waiting room about the various ailments some pets were in for, I felt really lucky that our dogs are fit and healthy.

I'm having another busy week at work. This is our really busy time of the year but it should only be like this for another couple of weeks and then things will get back to normal. I don't mind the pace actually but the time just flies by like crazy which is never a good thing.

We've been busy at home as well. Mark continues to work on the deck and it's looking good. He started assembling the railings on Sunday. For the moment, they are just tacked in, in spots. Either next weekend or the one after, he'll put the posts in and affix them properly. I'll feel better about the whole project once the step railing is in but it takes time. By the end of the month, I think it'll be done and by that time, it'll have warmed up enough for me to finally paint our shed. We want to plant some grass seed out back too but that will have to wait until the construction is over.

In the meantime, we're enjoying the yard, just as it is right now.

friday fog

rewarding Mark
Originally uploaded by Julep67

the fog rolled down University Avenue in a crazy, almost movie like way this morning. then, as quickly as it appeared, it was gone.

strange.

for the first time since the deck extension was added, we had a rain storm last night. our gazebo is now on the extension, which is just outside our bedroom window so the wind howling and the rain pounding was amplified by the canvas top. I think it disturbed the dogs a bit, I know it kept waking us up. It's such a more pleasant sound though, than freezing rain hitting the window. I'll not complain.

Gracie particularly, is digging the new deck. She's realized that she can be outside but not get wet during the rain and is one happy girl. I'm not sure when the railings are going up, we still need to buy them. It may not be until the long weekend but in the meantime, Mark and Andy put up a temporary barrier which will prevent wrestling dogs from rolling off the edge.

When it's done, it's going to be amazing. At the moment, it's merely awesome.

i love this face

on the ferry, heading home
Originally uploaded by Julep67

If Sammy didn't like to play out on the deck when I was leaving for work every morning, I think I'd never leave the house.

Speaking of our deck, I'm really excited about the plans Mark and Andy have made for it. We're going to remove the old deck boards, reinforce the frame and put new floor boards in. The guys are also going to add a 10' x 10' extension to the deck. It'll be about a foot higher than the rest of the deck and we'll put our gazebo on it (we'll be reusing some of the wood we purchased to build our little gazebo platform last year).

Originally, we'd planned to put this off for a while but we decided that we would take advantage of the cash back deals that the home improvement stores are doing, as well as the tax credit thing that the feds introduced. We should be able to do this relatively inexpensively if we do it this summer. Sammy will have a lot nicer space to roll around on all summer once it's done.

Today I'm at work and am freezing. My hands cannot warm up. We tried to get by without having to turn the heat up in our office but about an hour ago we had to break down and do it. These old hot water rads take forever to kick in though so it's just starting to feel like heat as I type this.

I think that after the weekend, we were fooled into thinking that it was actually going to stay warm and things like furnaces and sweaters can be pushed out of our tiny pea brains for a while. How wrong were we!? Pretty wrong it would seem. I'm trying hard to not complain though. As long as the snow stays away, I'm a happy kid.

fountain face

early morning at the dog park
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Ugh. My face is all drippy today. My nose and my eyes are dripping like crazy and I had to break down and take some of my fake drist*n stuff this morning because my headache was back.

It's hard to tell if this is a cold or allergies actually. I've spoken to a few people who have the same symptoms and don't normally suffer from allergies so I'm thinking that this may be more of a cold thing. Hopefully it'll pass quickly, I'm tired of it. The weather is getting too nice outside to be stuck inside, feeling lousy.

Speaking of outside, we had our yard de-pooped this weekend. Normally, we take care of poop clean up ourselves but over the winter, it's not easy to do. Firstly, the snow kept falling and covering it up, and then it would be frozen to the ground. Last year, we hired a local company to de-poop us and we had them come back this year. it took them less than an hour and Mark reported that they took away between 25 and 30 pounds of poop. Gross huh?

Now that things are cleaned up back there, we hope to get raking soon. It's still a little too wet in spots but maybe by the weekend it'll be okay. We've got plans to do some modifications to our deck again this year (last year we moved the steps). It should be cool when it's done, once it warms up a bit, we can start on that. The big project we have to figure out before can start on that is removing a small stump from the yard. If anyone has any tips to share, I'd love to hear them. Stump be gone, I want my extended deck!!

it's official

in the new gazebo
Originally uploaded by Julep67

Sam is officially feeling better. This afternoon, he had a nap with Mark. After the nap, he started chewing on stuff and barking at nothing again. He's back!!

He's been really quiet and sleepy for the past few days and I know that part of that was the drugs working their way out of his system. I expect that he'll still be a little less than normal for a few more days but he's up to his old tricks again so I think the worst is over.

Speaking of worst, this was a very cold weekend. Today was particularly chilly. It got damp in the house to the point where I had to turn the furnace on for a few minutes. Bananas!

Fortunately, we were able to get the yard cleaned up and put back together (for the most part) yesterday. Things are really lush and green after all of the rain we've had and honestly, we probably would not have accomplished as much as we did if it had been really warm outside but still, I shouldn't have had to wear woolly socks and three sweatshirts outside this weekend.

on the leash

on the leash
Originally uploaded by Julep67

and on the mend!

For a guy who never had a leash on before we picked him up at the end of March, he's been wonderfully patient and very obedient all weekend. From the time we picked him up on Friday morning until this morning, he was wearing his harness and leash (well we took the leash off when he was sleeping but all waking time was with leash).

He's been sleeping a lot since his surgery but his incision looks good. Nice and clean actually. So long as we can keep him from licking it too much it's pretty good.

While I've been playing doggie nurse-maid, Mark and Andy constructed our new gazebo-holding-platform in the back yard. It looks great. We were able to sit out in it this afternoon during the rain and we didn't get one drop on us.

It sort of feels, sounds and smells like being at the cottage so we're really enjoying it. Given how chilly and wet the weekend has been so far, we have been able to get a surprising amount of outside stuff done. Most importantly though, Sam's healing nicely and should be back to his old tricks (although hopefully with less chewing on furniture) later on next week!

attempting take off

Andy and Sam
Originally uploaded by Julep67

I love this photo of Sam, it looks like he's going to fly away from Andy!

We've been experiencing a little bit of summer weather over the past few days and it's been lovely.

Over the weekend, we were really busy, Mark got the extension done on the deck with help from Andy. It looks great and it feels massive now. He also got some of the holes in the fence filled in so now Sam cannot get out of the yard (unless he does figure out how to fly!).

My machine at home's been offline for the past few days. Mark has it up and running as of today. I've not missed it much though, not like I thought I would.

Anyway, it's way too nice outside to be spending much time inside these days!

kitchen door after

kitchen door after
Originally uploaded by Julep67

what a difference a little bit of paint makes huh?

the whole corner of the kitchen is brighter now. I'm really looking forward to doing the front door now cuz it looks soooo good.

yay!

fugly door

back door before
Originally uploaded by Julep67

gross huh?

Both it, and the front door need a coat of paint. I only got this one done today because there is major construction going on in front of our house and I didn't want the dust and crap which is flying around to get into the paint.

I'm not sure why we let it go for so long but I tell ya, it's going to be so nice when it's done!