Badgers, Wolverines, and COSMO the Magnificent

First of all, please excuse the font weirdness in the post.. I dunno what the heck is going on with it. Hope it is not too distracting.

It has been kind of a mixed bag of things going on lately. My knee is still sore and I am wearing a brace around… but I ditched the crutches because they are awkward to maneuver… but then again so is a twisted knee. duh Becca. The only thing really different this time is that I seem to have a bruise down the back of my knee along the calf muscle area. Not sure what that is about but it does not hurt any worse than when I have done this before… Anyway…

We have been doing so many different things, tying up loose ends on bigger projects and starting on new ones. All with the goal to get moved in which may happen in a week or two! Really! I keep saying that but really just a week or two!

For an example of the detail jobs we have been doing, I had started putting the knobs and pulls on the cabinets. However, some of the pilot holes were a teeny tiny fraction off so David had to redrill them. He finished installing them and now all the pulls and knobs are on. I love them!

The cabinets are great! They are knotty alder with a lighter very slight cherry kind of color. I wanted a touch red but not a lot of red. The grain and the knots in the wood are very pretty! I even started putting my dishes in them! Might as well unpack them! They have been in boxes since March and that is an easy job to get out of the way… with the added bonus of making me very excited that we are getting nearer and nearer to being in the house!

I also moved my hippy chimes to the patio downstairs to a new temporary home.
They sound pretty with the wind coming up off the lake:

and we have been watching the grass pop up between the straw on the hill facing the lake.

Ya kinda have to look closely but it is there! We put that down not only to get some grass growing but to help hold the soil on the hill.

Froggy got moved up the hill near the house. Right now he is on a rock in the east side garden area of the house, over looking the driveway. He likes his new spot and has a good view from the top of that rock... also keeps the dogs from peeing on him. That's always a good thing. I had Dickie Bird put that rock there after he placed that bigger one on the west side of the house.

After a difficult battle that I won't go into here because it pisses me off, we have picked and chosen through the laminate flooring we purchased and have started to install it. It has been some work let me tell you... but it is looking o.k. Here it is halfway done in the loft bedroom:

As one always does when you build a house, we have adapted and changed stuff around a bit. We will still use the laminate in our loft bedroom, and will try it down in the office and guest bedroom. We had to pick a different tile for the guest bathroom and will probably have to end up doing a different treatment on the floor in the main living room area. The changes came about because of a problem with the laminate and the decision of the company to not assist us. We will be dealing with that later.

Anyway... the main living floor which consists of the living room, the kitchen, and pantry. We had originally planned on using the laminate throughout most of the house... well.. that is not going to work.

SO.... we are considering flooring on that level with the same stuff we used on the ceiling.

Pine wood floors.. yes yes yes we know.

Pine is soft.

But we think it will be nice looking... here are a couple of example of pine floor. (We plan to have a matte finish not glossy) and once we get that kitchen area floored we can move in!

Yep.. move in... in a week or two! ;)

The dogs have been troopers,
except for Cosmo who has turned into part wildabeast and part wolverine

who keeps embarrassing us by his ferocious behavior towards man and beast. No one here probably believes us, but he really is a truly lovely boy who just wants to be near us.

Us and no one else... ever ever ever... mine mine... and no one else can get near!!!

Poor boy, he is just confused and tries to rule the pack around here… the home pack here at Jerry's house that consists of:

Chuck a ridgeback, greyhound or afghan hound cross and Beau a Newfoundland/lab cross

and a lab / german shepherd cross. Speaking of her... here is Ms. Delta getting a play stick:

Notice the resemblances below?

Cosmo on the left... wolverine on the right.

He has all the big dogs giving him a wide berth. Not so much because he is so tough but because he is a tenacious snippy little bastard who will just not give up!

He has no fear. Imagine that... a Jack Russell /fox terrier cross with no fear.

Hmmmm. Anyway, he continually goes after Beau… the Newfoundland lab cross who really is the pack leader and is normally very gentle with Cosmo until Beau has had enough.

At first Beau would just step on Cosmo with his great big paw and hold him down… he was like:

'Dude.. that's just wrong. What is your problem?!'

Except probably since Beau is not a west coast dog but instead is a Midwestern dog he probably really said:

' Ooooo.... What is wrong with you?!... Hay?'

However, the last time Cosmo started in on Beau, Beau took Cosmo by the scruff and gave him a little shake down. I have to say, it did not matter so much. Cosmo STILL bared his fangs (not hard for him to do as they stick straight out on their own) and growled ferociously and snapped and snarled... while Beau slobber was dripping down his neck.

I have seen them all sitting in a room... all three big dogs huddled on one side, together and then Cosmo on the other staring at them all. He controls Delta, who is the biggest dog around here, with just a look. If Cosmo is sitting on the couch and is in a grumpy mood when she walks in, she looks to him and he must give her the doggy secret evil eye or something because she will drop her head and slink back out. Geez. Most of the time they get a long pretty well although she does always defer to him.

Maybe this is a closer resemblance...

That one thing is a badger by the way... a friendly little fellow. See him smiling? Ummm.. the first one... without the blue collar.

I was thinking about Cosmo and his behavior the other day and put it down to being a terrier. I just happened to see this commercial on t.v. the other day and it made me think about how he acts with these big dogs. It sure fits and Jack Russell/Fox terrier owners would probably all agree. He just does not get it... that whole size thing does not matter to him.

And finally a couple of sunflowers that I planted when spring finally came around a few months ago. I got the seeds from Lynette as a moving present. I was not sure they would make it but they sure are cheerful. This one I planted at Jerry and Karen's house. I will put some in at our house next spring!