Den & Dogs

Walls painted Great Barrington Green from the Benjamin Moore Historic Colors Collection

Paint, Restoration Diary, , ,


Simon

Yesterday we got a male corgi puppy. We are calling him Simon. At first Lulu, our 4.5 years old slightly spoiled female corgi, seemed to accept Simon. They even briefly played together.


Lulu and Simon

Once she realized that he was staying she changed her mind. She is showing her teeth at Simon any time he comes near what she considers her territory – which is almost everything. Of course, the cats are less than thrilled and we are getting the cold shoulder.

What does that have to do with our den? Not a whole lot except that all the above is highly distracting. The woodwork in the den has been bleached, stained and varnished. Paint is on the walls. I picked the color on my first try this time! Real progress. The color is Great Barrington Green from the Benjamin Moore Historic Colors Collection.

The walls above the picture rail and the ceiling still need to be painted.

Comments { 4 } February 11, 2004

My Child?

Restoration Diary, ,

When you are married, of a certain age and childless by choice a strange thing starts to happen. It sneaks up on you slowly, over time so that you don’t recognize what is happening to you.

Suddenly, it’s Christmas time and you find yourself also booking a ticket for the dog because it wouldn’t be fair for her to spend Christmas at the kennel. It is cold in Salt Lake City, of course, the dog will need a coat. It becomes a little clearer as you realize there isn’t enough room for your clothes because the dog’s Christmas presents and four different dog coats fill most of the suitcase. The dog almost has a different coat to wear for every day you will be on vacation.

You decide that blue is the dog’s color and get her a matching collar and leash in the shade of blue that will contrast best with her fur. The dog has a special dog seatbelt that will keep her safe in the car. The dog has a basket overflowing with toys that she never plays with. You rotate out the toys to better grab her interest.

You start taking her to dog parks so she can have playtime and become socialized with other dogs. You insist that your husband speak to her clearly and not in baby talk so that she can learn more words. You decide the dog needs a larger more comfortable dog bed and start searching online for one that is down filled.

It doesn’t dawn on you that maybe it is a little odd that your dog has a middle name and you use it when the dog is in trouble. “Lulu Bell Chiu, stop chasing that cat this instant!”

It becomes a little more obvious when your family starts sending you Christmas gifts for the dog, although you did send them her Christmas list. Once your Mom starts referring to the dog as her grandchild and has her photo up on the refrigerator next to pictures of her human grandchildren the truth is hard to avoid. Lulu has become a surrogate child. Lulu seems perfectly happy with the arrangement.

My conversations with friends and family usually include the inevitable question, “How’s Lulu?”

Looking down at the framed photo of Lulu and my husband on the desk, “She’s fine.”

“What has she been up to?”

I’ve come to terms with having a dog for a child but a house? We spend a lot of time planning and saving for our house’s future. We want to make sure the house reaches its full potential. We have taken numerous photos to document all the stages in the house’s development. When friends pass around photos of their children we pass around photos of our house.

Questions about Lulu have been replaced with questions about the house. “How’s the house?”

“The house is fine.”

“What has been going on with it?”

“We are thinking of giving it a middle name.”

Comments { 6 } February 25, 2004

Happy Easter!

Holidays, , ,


Simon & Lulu

Wishing you a Happy Easter from 1912 Bungalow.

It has been a big week at our house. Simon slept through the night and didn’t make any noise to go outside until 8:30 a.m. (FINALLY!) instead of his usual 6 a.m.

We left him out with us instead of keeping him in the bathroom with a baby gate and no accidents or destroyed property. The only bad thing is that Lulu doesn’t like Simon to sleep by her so she keeps sneaking into bed with us after we are asleep.

Comments { 3 } April 11, 2004

Where Have We Gone?

Hello! Are you still there?

Restoration Diary,


Lulu and Simon because I know you miss seeing them.

We have received several emails from folks wondering why we haven’t posted in a while? What is going on with the house? Have we decided on a paint color yet? Are we ok? Did we take the bars off our windows and something happened to us? Just what is going on with us anyway?

Well, we haven’t posted in a while because both David and I have been busy with our work outside of the house (our real jobs) for the past few weeks. But, we are still making some progress on the house. We are upgrading the wiring in the house from the original knob and tube wiring so that we can install an air conditioner in our attic. We had a few record breaking hot days last week that made me realize what I was in for once we hit July. We will also be able to insulate our attic after the wiring upgrade is completed. Our house currently has no insulation.

I hate to admit this but no, I haven’t decided on a house color yet. I have grown tired of my favorite color. I guess I have looked at it for too long. Many homes in our area are painted a similar color to the one I had selected, so now we are looking into woodsy green/olive/brown colors. We have it narrowed down to about 3 solid contenders.

Comments { 2 } May 12, 2004

Lulu, we will always love you.

Our beautiful pet corgi and restoration buddy has passed away

Restoration Diary, ,

Written by David:
I remember the first time I saw Lulu. It was about 8 years ago at the pet store. Heather had seen her there previously and thought she was the wierdest looking puppy she had ever seen with short legs, big paws, big ears and a missing tail.

I wasn’t really sure that I wanted to get a dog but after driving around and talking about possbile pet names we decided to go back to the pet store to see her again. I asked one of the pet store employees if they could take her out of the cage and they handed her to me. She was so tiny and her fur was so soft. You could just tell that she had a great little personality. Lulu won me over and we took her home that day. She became a part of our family.

Lulu was the sweetest dog with such a great personality and calm demeanor. I used to take her to work with me everyday and she would just hang out in the office and contently lay by my chair as I worked. She was much loved by everyone who came in contact with her because she was so quiet and well behaved.


She loved to go on walks at the beach and at Runyon Canyon. She would always go on ahead a little bit then stop and look back making sure we were following her. She would also herd us together nipping at our heels making sure we stayed together as a pack. Lulu’s been a big part of our life. She was there through the wedding planning and she was at the door and happy to see us when we returned from our 2-week honeymoon in Tahiti.

Lulu was with us when we moved from our apartment to our house. She’s been through all the restoration process living with us in the sawdust and giving cheer to all our various contractors. Lulu also got to travel with us over two different holidays – one year going to visit my parents in snowy Utah, and another time she got to visit the farm in Indiana.

She was always so sweet, happy and healthy. That’s why it was such a shock to us to find out Thursday night in the animal critical care center that she had a tumor that had burst and was bleeding into her abdomin. Lulu was even just at the vet a few days earlier because we thought she might have back problems and there was no indication then that there was anything else wrong with her.

Thursday night Lulu went into shock because of the tumor and the doctor said that her vital signs were so low they were worried that they might not be able to keep her stabilized through the night for emergency surgery the next day. So we were faced with a decision that we didn’t want to make: either try to put her through surgery and see if they could remove the cancer cells and to see if the cancer had spread, or to put her to sleep.

Surgery is no guarantee which we have found out in the past putting one of our cats through two major surgeries trying to remove a cancerous tumor – which turned out to be unsuccessful. We didn’t want to put Lulu through all that pain and suffering. She was such a sweet dog. So Thursday night we made the hardest decision to say our final goodbyes as she gently fell asleep and through the tears I whispered in her ear “We love you baby girl.”

We miss her so much. The house isn’t the same without her.

Lulu, we love you.

Comments { 16 } February 4, 2007

Cat on a High Bungalow Roof

Nothing Important,

Last night I spotted a dark gray cat perched in the very center of our roof. He looked like a Medieval gargoyle, waiting, keeping a watchful eye on the neighborhood, hoping to catch a pigeon for his dinner.

Comments { 0 } May 1, 2007

Alternative Cat Perch

Restoration Diary,

Jack's favorite new sleeping spot.
Jack’s favorite new sleeping spot.

The bathroom sink isn’t hooked up and hasn’t been operational since we have lived in the house. I’m glad the sink finally has a purpose.

Comments { 5 } October 19, 2007

We Just Had an Earthquake

Rockin’ and Rollin’

Nothing Important,


Winston’s first big earthquake! He wasn’t a fan.

I was ok when the quake happened, but now I’m kind-of freaked out and feeling anxious. Delayed reaction. I’m always disoriented when the shaking starts and never quite sure if what I am feeling is actually an earthquake or my imagination.

I was braced in a doorway thinking, “I wonder if this is going to get worse? This might be the BIG ONE,” just as casually as if I was thinking about what I need to buy at the grocery store. Strange how the mind works.

This earthquake seemed to last longer than most quakes. It was what I call a “rolling” quake, the whole house moved in gentle waves like a sailboat being rocked back and forth across the surface of the ocean.

David felt the quake at his work in Santa Monica. We are both fine and our house also appears to be fine…nothing broken, nothing cracked…except for my nerves.

Comments { 4 } July 29, 2008

When Animals and House Projects Don’t Mix

Bad Kitty!

Restoration Diary,

Look who decided to walk across the still wet cement floor, leaving tiny paw prints in his wake. The Project Supervisor, otherwise known as Jack and more recently other names that I won’t post here, decided that he needed to look out the bathroom window now, right now.

The bathroom door is being stripped in the backyard, so I put up a barricade to keep Jack out. It is going to take more than my feeble attempts to stop him. Now that he is successfully inside the bathroom he refuses to budge. I am reduced to opening cans of cat food outside the bathroom door, but he is having none of that.

He is lying underneath the window on the still wet cement, safely out of reach, and I swear he is laughing at me.

Comments { 4 } July 21, 2010

One More Thing to Love About the Bathroom

As if we need more!

Bathrooms, Restoration Diary,

The bathtub is just the right size to give two corgis a bath and the sides are high enough that they can’t jump out.

Comments { 12 } October 1, 2010