We're officially moved in

We officially have all our stuff at the new house, although we haven't put any of it away.

On moving day we thought we could just put the dogs outside in the backyard to play while we unloaded, but to our surprise Einstein and Sophia ran in the front door to see what was going on.

We discovered someone had opened one of the gate on the side of the house and the two trouble makers took full advantage. Lady stayed in the backyard like a good girl.

So after that short adventure they all went in crates in our bedroom while we moved in three U-Haul loads of boxes and furniture. Einstein isn't normally crated, so he thought we were torturing him and wailed all day.

Once we let them out, the dogs kept running all over the house smelling everything. It was like they were trying to make sure that all our stuff really had come to this new place.

Eistein vs. garage door

I've often said that Einstein doesn't care where he's going as long as he gets there fast. Well, that desire almost got him crushed yesterday.

My husband was working over at the new house, removing five layers of contact paper from the kitchen shelves. He was a using a solvent with a potent orange smell, so he brought the shelves into the garage to work with the door open.

At some point in the lifetime of the garage, the motor on the door opener was jury-rigged so it comes down fast and hard. There is no sensor that makes it go back up if something runs underneath it or it encounters tension (like if a dog gets caught underneath it) on the way down. Needless to say, it was marked "defective" on our home inspection.

Einstein, not wanting to be apart from Adam, pitched a fit at being locked out of the garage. So Adam closed the garage door and opened the door that is attached to the house for Einstein to come in and join him.

Well, the garage door wasn't all the way down when Adam opened the door from the garage to the house and Einstein bolted for the tiny opening at the bottom. Adam described it as an Indiana Jones-like moment as Einstein slid under the door at the last possible minute before getting crushed, although he did get bumped on the butt. One moment sooner and he'd have been rushed to the vet.

Adam rushed back outside, where Einstein was running back and forth in the driveway. Adam called out "treat" and Einstein, always motivated by food, came running back to the house.

Everything turned out alright, but I'm glad my in-laws' housewarming present to us is a new garage door, complete with safety sensors and a new motor. It should arrive in two weeks. Although I did remind Adam that he still needs to be careful because if the door had gone back up as Einstein ran under it, then he would have had three dogs to catch and get back into the house instead of just one.

A peak at the new house

My in-laws came out last weekend and helped us get the house painted. We never would have gotten it all done without them. Our move in date is one week from today and we can't wait.

We didn't bring the dogs over until the painting was done, but on Sunday there was one closet left with wet primer on it and Sophia of course found it and has a streak of white on her ear now.

Here are some before and after shots.

Living/dining room before


Living/dining room after


Master bedroom before


Master bedroom after


Second bedroom/sewing room before


Second bedroom/sewing room after

And here's some video of the dogs checking out the backyard for the first time.

The dogs have a new backyard

Sorry I've been MIA on the dog blogs recently. We've been quite busy house hunting, but we've finally found one and we close on Wednesday. I waited to reveal the official news until we got through all the inspections and FHA appraisal because I wanted everything to be pretty certain before writing anything.

The dogs are going to love the HUGE backyard. It's already fenced in, although we do have to make some minor repairs to the gate and to a couple of loose posts. We're pretty excited and I think the dogs will be too once they see their new stomping ground complete with trees which will likely mean lots of squirrels to chase.

One item that I think will not be coming with us is Lady's favorite chair. It's dirty, smells like dog and I never liked it in the first place. To take it's place I'm going to make her a nice comfy patchwork dog bed cover. When it's done I'll put it over a waterproof lining that I bought at PetSmart almost a year ago and stuff it with cedar chips. They're supposed to be quite comfy, smell nice to us and ward off fleas.