Alive and well --

I've just been too busy to deal with a blog for quite a while. Mark's sister's husband's relatives have been staying with us (along with their three Westies).  They got here on 12/20. Vickie left yesterday to head down to Florida for one of her work gatherings, but John and his brother and his brother's daugher Leah are still here -- as well as the dogs, of course. 

On the plus side, those dogs have been staying upstairs most of the time. We have a gate at the bottom of the stairs to keep Boo from going upstairs since he's gotten old enough that he can't go back down safely.  But since one of their Westies has hip problems and needs to be carried up and down the stairs, I ordered another gate to put up on the top of the stairs so they can all stay loose up there and NOT fall down the steps.  Amazon is great! . . . that thing got here in just three days.

Here are Vickie and John and their niece Leah
on their way over to another family get-together.

Vickie and John stopped over in Knoxville, TN on their way down here from DC and had lunch with Leah and her husband.  He had to stay home, but she came on down with them.  Vickie will be flying home from Florida eventually, but John is planning to drive back over to Mississippi on Monday where Bruce and Bonnie (Leah's Mom and Dad) live, then he's driving on up to drop her off at her home in Knoxville on his way home to DC.  Whew!  I used to drive up to Ohio all the time, but anymore it's just too much of a drive for me these days.  I can go with Mark so we can switch out driving or else I'll fly if I'm going alone! 

Well, once they're all gone away, our dogs will be happy. They've been kept in our bedroom all the time (except for Boo -- he gets to be with anyone at all since he's such a calm boy).  But Gigi is NOT happy about never being allowed to visit with those dogs she hears barking upstairs.  I did get her one of those super-soft memory foam mats for her crate and she does seem to be VERY happy to sleep on that thing.  I first put a comforter in there, but she chewed it up and ate the microfiber lining! Gees!  But so far she hasn't chewed up that mat.  (Fingers crossed!)

And speaking of Gigi, remember that dog door she ate? . . . well before Mark headed offshore he managed to install a new (metal) dog door and she's been much MUCH better about that one.  We did have to put some heavy duty window film across the screens on each side of that dog door, though, because initially -- until she figured out how to go in and out -- she would jump up and try and come through the screens instead!  Gees!  Always SOMETHING!

Here's that old dog door that she ate the bottom off of.

So here's that new dog door - with those covers over the side windows.  ;-D
That horse gate there against the wall on the left is there to keep her from destroying those metal covers over those windows, as well.  She had broken two of those metal covers so before she managed to get through the screens as well, we tucked the curtains in behind the metal covers so she can't see out, then put that gate up there to protect those windows.  She has been leaving them alone, thankfully.  (Instead she races out that door now and tries to get the gate between the two dog yards open instead.  Sigh.)

Well, I've been sitting here now for almost an hour -- time to go feed the horses.   Merry Christmas, everyone!