Old photos

I was going through an old memory card the other day and found photos I had never edited.

Dog in a basket 🙂

This is love

Colorado I adore thee

Kevin bacon and eggs on Halloween

Dogs in the snow

Our dogs are so cute playing in the snow that it almost …. almost …. makes me tolerate winter.

And my husband is pretty cute, too. 🙂

I might be a bit biased but …

My little family is the cutest. 🙂

There is nothing on earth I love more than coming home from work to my husband, two adorable dogs, and cute little house. Bliss.

The emptying of the iPhone photos

American Archaeology, AKA the American Pickers place, in LeClaire, Iowa

Danielle, who runs the place, and the inside of the American Pickers' place

The lighthouse in Clinton, Iowa

A view from an overlook in Eagle Point Park in Clinton, Iowa

Creepy soap dispenser at my grandma's house. Haha. Any guesses as to what that animal is supposed to be?

Sweet Netta-B in one of our flea-market find chairs

Rufus cuddling on the couch with me on a sick day

There are no words for how much I love game day at Pittsburg State University

Go Gorillas!

Library in the distance

Rufus and I watching the Pitt State game on TV

A boy just needs to run

Rufus is showing up more and more in my blog. Hmm.

This weekend was absolutely beautiful – mid to high 70s on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday, we took the dogs to a huge open field to run. I don’t know who enjoyed the games of fetch more – my dog or my husband.

My favorite shot of the day - stick high in the air, Rufus mid gallop, Matt following through.

Such handsome men in my life

The girlies

Homes that are truly for the birds: how to

So the daily blogging thing comes and goes on here, as you may have noticed. Work has been crazy, life has been crazy, the house is a mess, the computer was under repair …. and to be honest, what I really needed for awhile was to disconnect from the world a bit. I love being connected. I love people. But sometimes, between Facebook, Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, news feeds, Google Reader, work emails … the amount of information is overwhelming. Sometimes, I just need to disconnect for a bit and recharge.

What better timing and chance than this beautiful Easter weekend? Two full days of sun, warm temperatures, warm soil and a relatively free schedule. I buried myself in the garden, and enjoyed alfresco lunch with my long lost husband who has been overwhelmed with work and grad school. Weeding, pruning, planting herb seeds (slow bolt cilantro, three kinds of basil, dill, tarragon, thyme, rosemary, oregano, lavander), green onion bulbs and wildflowers. Building a partial fence around our back garden so the dogs can’t destroy it now that our backyard is fenced in. Where they previously ran rampant and destroyed, is now a beautiful black iron fence and even better, green things are returning to the garden! (Still much work is needed, so please only look at the fence :))

One dog was particularly glad to accompany me with so much time spent outside:

Back to the main theme, though: birdhouses. I was inspired when reading the April 2010 edition of Country Living and looking at the stunning gardens that were featured. One included four birdhouses, of different shapes, painted the same color and installed on stilts amidst the garden. It was beautiful. I decided I had to have birdhouses, and then about fell over when I saw the price (especially as I was wanting 5 of them).

So, I was determined to semi-make my own. Sure, you could make your own entirely from scratch, but this is much easier.

What you will need:

4 unfinished wooden birdhouses, similar sizes, with different shapes. I found mine at Michaels, where there were about 8 designs to choose from, and all sold for $4.99 regular price. (Though they were on sale for $3.99 when we bought them)

1 can Rustoleum (or similar brand) primer

1 can Rustoleum paint (I used 2 cans because I wanted 2 different colors)

1 can Rustoleum clear gloss sealer paint

1 tube water resistant epoxy glue

2 packages 72-120 inch adjustable closet rods (we found some at Home Depot. For $13, you get 2 6-foot-long poles that can be easily driven into the ground. This was much cheaper than the $15 birdhouse poles we found at WalMart, and saved us about $19 per birdhouse)

Large black trashbags

Layout large black trash bags, forming a safe place to spray paint. Put birdhouses on top of trashbag. Spray first with 1-2 coats of primer paint, thoroughly covering bare wood. Let dry for 45 minutes. Then, spray 2 coats of desired paint color, with 2 minutes of drying time between coats. Then, let houses dry an additional 30 minutes, and spray 2 coats of clear coat, with 2 minutes in between each coat. Let dry for an additional 1-2 hours.

Position poles where you would like your birdhouses to be, with the open end driven into the ground, and the plastic-capped top facing the sky. Your soil and location will depend on how far you want to push down your poles. Mine are implanted 1 foot into the ground, leaving 5 feet of pole out of the ground. With bird houses, the structures measure about 5-feet 8-inches.

After you have your poles positioned where you want them, mix water-resistant epoxy and apply to the plastic capped end of the closet rod, and to the underneath of your birdhouse where it will be attached to the pole. Attach to the pole. It can take up to 5 minutes to set, so stay near the pole for 5 minutes to make sure the house affixes. Repeat with all houses, and voila! You are finished!

(Pardon the terrible lighting in these photos)

Is this the same dog?

Our Goldendoodle, Rufus, hates to be groomed. For such a big, noble dog, he’s a complete wimp. And, he has fur like a buffalo – so he needs regular grooming. His hair was getting hopelessly matted, so he went to the groomers for a spring ‘do. Tell me: would you have guessed this was the same dog?

And after:

The camera freaks him out - can you tell?

It doesn’t even look like the same dog. He seriously used to look like he weighed 100 pounds – and now looks like his 65 pound self. I wish I looked like I lost 35 pounds after a good haircut.

And while we’re on the subject of dogs, Netta was snuggling with Matt the other day. It was pretty much the cutest thing ever.

And OK, this is a lot about dogs – but this is my blog I guess so it makes sense. 🙂

This is what my lap often looks like when we are watching TV:

Loyal friends

There are two animals in this house that are quite happy I have been feeling under the weather.

Netta, the Cairn, has been permanently encamped at my feet on the couch.

And Anna, the Springer Spaniel, permanently encamped on the floor right by the head of the couch.

Are there any better friends than dogs?

Rufus in the snow

Rufus, our just over one-year-old Goldendoodle, lives for the snow. He is never happier to be outside than when it is snowing – something I only wish I could relate to.

This weekend I decided to capture the hilariousness in the snow. Check it out.

Do I have something on my face?

Trying to eat the camera

Pounce!

Oh, hello there.

Anna and Netta are not so enthusiastic about the snow. I couldn’t get Netta to get off her dog bed to go outside.

Anna went outside, but was horrified