A Year in Review
Hey furfriends! It's that time again, at the end of every year I like to do a year in a glance post just to see what kinds of fun we had and to see how far we've come since last year.
I hope you enjoy it!
Our First Canicross Trip!
Dz Dog Dad wrote his second guest post for our blog, and this month we did our first canicross adventure with the pups! They did great for their first time. We also enjoyed some snowshoeing and played reindeer by pulling a sled containing our niece and nephew.
January was also Dante's first flyball tournament! A sport we've sadly had to quit since our move, did you know their are NO flyball teams in Southern Oregon? I'd have to start my own team, which isn't out of the question but building a house is our current priority. Hmmmm...maybe a 2018 goal?
February -
This month was the first month into our investigation of Dante's nose. It all started with a bad bloody nose that wouldn't quit for several hours. This led to a doctors appointment, which led to xrays and eventually a specialist. We also started prepping our house to sell it due to Dz Dog Dad's new job!
March -
Caution Mom At Work!
End of February and the beginning of this month was all about our house; prepping and staging it to sell. Being a business and marketing major I decided I wanted to sell our house as a "For Sale By Owner", we did our own staging and photography, listed our home, and researched our way through the paperwork. It paid off! We didn't have to pay an realtor fees, and our home sold for our asking price within 18 days!
This month we (the pups and I) also went on our first back road adventure and it was a blast! After being bored of being cooped up inside due to our famous Oregon rain, Dz Dog Dad got the brilliant idea to pack the car and blaze our own trails, this is something he loves to do but we hadn't gone with him on one of these trips yet.
We came across a tree blocking our path and had to change routes.
But we took the National Forest Service roads all the way from Eugene to Reedsport! It took us all day but the drive to the coast was beautiful and we played in the sand!
April -
April was mostly spent packing up our house, so not much to report! Just a lot of playing Sunny Fun.
May -
In the midst of packing we still had to have some fun to break up the stress, so while Dz Dad was away the Dz Dogs and myself went on a fun trip with my mom in law to Spirit and Moon Falls!
These falls are pretty close by to each other but they are two different short hikes and were absolutely gorgeous!
May was also the month we moved, which was bittersweet. This was Dz Dog Dad and my first house. We lived there for 3 years, we had waited to get a dog until we had a house which led to Tex-Anna our first rescue dog and then later Dante & Ziva. The house was perfect for meeting our needs and had a medium sized fully fenced backyard for playing in. It was also the start of our fostering adventures, something we're having to take a break from since we don't have the space or time at the moment. However, it's not out of the question for the future when our new home is done.
It was such a wonderful house, we were more than happy to share it with some an amazing new family hoping that they can have many happy years in it as well.
Since our home sale happened so quickly, although we had been looking for months at this point we still hadn't found ourselves a new home in Southern Oregon. So temporarily Dz Dog Dad lived with some friends in Southern Oregon so he could work, while myself, the Dz Dogs & Cats moved in with my parents. Thank goodness for amazing family!!
Some Tired Pups after house hunting with Dz Dad for a weekend.
June -
Know what day it is? It's demo day!! I love demolition, growing up my dad had his own custom cabinetry business and my family built our own house when I was in middle school. Well my parents just finished building both their and my grandparents dream home. It's not a duplex but it is split - my parents have their half and my grandparents have their half. The only shared part is the entry/mudroom, and the laundry/pantry between them. It's a great way to give each of them their space and privacy while allowing my parents help out if my grandparents need anything. But since they built the new home on the same property as the old house it was considered a "replacement build" which meant at completion of the new one - the old one had to be tore down!
And since we were living there too, I got to help!
Still house hunting, our weeks were a bit nutso crazy. Monday through Thursday Dz Dad had to work in Southern Oregon or in our big city of Portland Oregon. So while he worked I did demolition work on my grandparents old house. Thursday night Dz Dad would then either come stay the weekend with us at my parents, or we would travel to see him - all the while doing as much house hunting as we could fit in.
*Since we had been house hunting for months at this point, we switched over to the idea of building our own home and were also open to the idea of finding a bare piece of land. At this point we had no houses - they were selling like hot cakes before we could get to them! We had put an offer on one property that fell through, and now we had an offer on a second piece of property but were dealing with some annoying owners.*
And not to forget, Dante who never dug a hole ever with us discovered moles!! That funny story is here: Digging To China
July -
With all of the house hunting and traveling we were doing, I learned how hard it is to travel with 2 large dogs in the heat of the summer. But it also gave us a chance to scope out our new area and find all the dog friendly spots and places to play!
And then in July we finally moved to Southern Oregon to be closer to Dz Dad. We still hadn't found a house, but we purchased my parents camper trailer and moved onto our friends property. They had full RV hookups so we were set! Being super hot in Southern Oregon though I didn't trust the air conditioning, so whenever I had to go somewhere for more than an hour the dogs had to join me. It was definitely a challenge but we made it work!
We also discovered life in the country gets rather dark at night....and without Dz Dad things can get scary! Don't worry though, we've since become much braver!
Things That Go Bump In The Night.
Things That Go Bump In The Night.
Our first official adventure in Southern Oregon was to the South Umpqua River with a cousin of mine, it was sooo much fun! Since it's so much hotter in Southern Oregon the water is a great way to cool off.
August -
19 More Days! Remember that property we found and put an offer on back in June? Yup, we still hadn't closed on it - not any fault of our own! The bank was a pain in the behind to deal with, they kept changing their requirements and things they needed from us but at this point we were not giving up. We had a builder and home plans, ready for action and pushing to close.
Not having any demolition to do, most of our days were spent with family or at the river which was a blast! Heat Exhaustion & Prevention in Dogs
Dante also got his first bee sting, which was totally uncalled for I should add!
Dante vs. Yellow Jacket as it turns out, their are tons of yellow jackets down here! We destroyed several nests around where we were staying, and put out three different traps that filled up every couple days. It definitely felt like we were waging war!
Semptember -
Ahhhh...the life of a country dog. I call them my stupid city dogs for a reason, they have NO CLUE as to how dangerous it is out here. With no fences recall is super important, and we wear bright colors so that they are easily identified as dogs.
Being surrounded by farms and lots of farm animals it is important that Dante and Ziva be good around and leave the animals alone, if a dog is harassing someones livestock the owner of the livestock has the legal right to shoot the dog. I know that sounds a bit extreme, and I can't think of a recent occasion where it happened but it's something to be aware of and a good reason to use leashes and maintain control of your dogs. Other dangers non human include things like rattle snakes which can kill a dog, bee stings, large wildlife - deer have been known to attack dogs to protect their babies, but also predators like cougars/coyotes/wolves/bear, oh and their is poison oak...which doesn't cause any harm to dogs but will make humans swell up and itch like crazy! After dealing with our fair share of it, Dz Dad and I worked extra hard to try and keep the dogs out of it - so after Dante ran through a giant patch he earned himself a B-A-T-H.
All of our long waiting on our property to close, also taught us the virtue of patience. What's Going On With That Cup?
We visited Diamond Lake for the first time with the pups.
And finally the long awaited closing on our new property and the beginning of our new blog documenting our home building adventure! "What has 12 legs, 4 wheels, and barks?" Two Pits In A Pod of course!
October -
After 4 long months we finally closed on our property in September and then after setting up the water and electricity We Finally Moved onto the property in our trailer! A BIG THANKS TO OUR FRIENDS who let us stay on their property during this process. What a relief it was to finally have a place to call home. A lot of people think we're a bit nuts, but we're having fun and although it's a small trailer it is all ours, it's on our land, and we're together as a family! I'd say we couldn't ask for anything more except our house to be built. I do miss my kitties though, my mom is currently keeping them for us until our home is done.
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| Cheers to the future! |
Happy Howl - O - Ween! I also discovered a dog friendly pumpkin patch! It's always fun finding new places to take the pups.
November -
Oh that's right, we've been dealing with injuries...Dante's nose never really got better after several treatments. Then he managed to cut a pad on his paw, and Ziva broke a nail really bad resulting in an infection that is still healing...My Big Brindle Baby & Health Update
And of course we had a wonderful Thanksgiving visiting our family for the weekend! Happy Thanksgiving!
Oh that's right, we've been dealing with injuries...Dante's nose never really got better after several treatments. Then he managed to cut a pad on his paw, and Ziva broke a nail really bad resulting in an infection that is still healing...My Big Brindle Baby & Health Update
And of course we had a wonderful Thanksgiving visiting our family for the weekend! Happy Thanksgiving!
December -
Finally we made some progress on Dante's nose! In our *fingers crossed* hopefully final chapter of The Nose Saga, we met with a new specialist and we ended up doing a CT Scan and rhinoscopy. Turns out he had a tooth up their that never came in! And I should mention the x-rays that we did back in February never caught it. So for future knowledge, if I EVER have a dog who has a missing tooth and I don't know what happened to it? We'll be doing a CT Scan! It'd be far cheaper to just do a CT Scan and determine if their is an issue rather than spending a bunch of money on vet visits, medicine, xrays, etc.... rather than dealing with a nasty infection later. Dante is now Hopefully Healing but we're still on meds to make sure everything gets knocked out.
And Ziva's nail? It's being treated for it's infection as well and is finally starting to look a lot better! Hooray! Health Update #2
After how expensive December turned out to be we tried to take it kind of easy for Christmas this year and spent Christmas eve with my grandma here in Southern Oregon, and then drove up for a quick overnight trip to see family on Christmas day.
We hope you enjoyed our Year in Review!
We're praying that this next 2017 will be less injuries for the pups, no more nose issues for Dante, and of course hoping that our home will build in a timely fashion.
See you next year!
What an action packed year, 'cept we did not like the injuries! Happy New Year!
ReplyDeleteYour Pals,
Murphy & Stanley
Happy New Year Dante, Ziva & Mom & Dad! Loved your year in review!
ReplyDeleteWishing you a Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteAstro
Beautiful pictures to highlight 2016!
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