Tuesday, April 09, 2013

Whew!

I'm sitting here on my tiny patio in the evening sunshine after days of rain. It's cool enough that long pants and a sweatshirt feel just about right.

It's been quite a week. Well, not even a week as I officially arrived in Oregon at 10pm last Wednesday.

In the past six days, I bought a car, a lawnmower, a bed, a used couch, curtains for all of the rooms, dog towels (absolutely necessary here), two dressers, two used lamps, a pair of mud boots, and some used dishes (excellent score at Goodwill on those). I emptied my PODS storage unit and it will disappear from my driveway this weekend. My ebox arrived today (precious computer but sadly no internet for it until next week, and some kitchen stuff) and it has been emptied. I also spent a good two days just cleaning the place. The house is starting to feel a little more comfortable for us all.

I mowed the grass in between rain storms. The yard looks pretty horrendous--the previous tenants were more interested in tending their multiple garden plots than in tending grass. The dogs probably won't help matters much. But it is our yard now--and Azza loves it.

Quite a few of you have asked me how Azza is adapting. I'd say that she has exceeded all of my expectations. The trip over here is hopefully just a bad dream for us all. She is not showing any more or less anxiety than normal for her, and if anything, she wants to play much more often. She also likes to hang out in the yard by herself. She doesn't do much, just noses around and chews up sticks, but she'll ask to go out there regularly.

We've found a really lovely morning walking route up and around a nearby hill that takes us about 45 minutes at Harry pace. Our walks are a bit slower than I would like but I let the old man set the pace. I've been walking the dogs even in the rain so I'm sure they will be thrilled when their new coats arrive next week.

HellBeast was a bit of a concern. He didn't eat for about four days. I was worried that perhaps a bit of flipflop was stuck in his gut; this would have been quite painful with all of the airplane travel he was doing. But a couple of days ago, he bounced back, dragging the strainer out of the kitchen sink onto the floor, chasing Tsingy around the house, and loudly begging for his breakfast.

Here's a funny picture I took a few minutes ago of HB watching us through the back door. The reflection is weird because the door is double-paned.




Here's a video of the girls playing. Azza is not running at her top speed because she wants to make sure that Mimi keeps up with her.



YouTube Video


8 comments:

Anne said...

That video is hilarious! They must be just loving their own yard! Looks like they're taking full advantage of it.

And, yup, with all that activity and rain it will be a mud hole in no time. You might need more towels!

So good to see you're all settling in. Nice that all your stuff arrived too. Now you can cook me dinner in two weeks!

lilspotteddog said...

Pork it is!

BC Insanity said...

Nice to see the pups all settled in and finally to see Azza. She's such a gazelle.
So now, should I tell Bix to pack his bags? He he.

Anne said...

Pork and Beer!!!
Maybe we can BBQ!

lilspotteddog said...

And Anne, I don't think I'll have a grill by then. But my pork preparation skills are quite expansive.

Anne said...

I'm happy to take part in your celebratory eating of pork in public, regardless of how it's prepared!

payingattention said...

The video is great - I love the happy tail in the foreground. The next post shows HB lying around with the dogs. Does s/he always do that, or was it sun desperation?

lilspotteddog said...

I never had direct sun that came into the hovel in Dhahran (I only had two small windows). So HellBeast has never had the opportunity for a sunny nap with the dogs. However, he frequently curls up with Azza on a dog bed so there is plenty of precedent for this.