In the Meantime--Saving East Nashville's Pets

At the same time that we were helping with the election, we were fostering and training a slew of four-legged strays.

These lucky pups have all been adopted by wonderful folks in Nashville:

Dotty

Bo

Bess

Here is our latest, little Neko the puppy.

Our MIA Explanation

Dan and I got very involved in some exciting political developments in East Nashville. We helped remove our sitting city council (Metro for Nashvillians) representative.

I provided my PR and marketing services to the campaign, which took up every weekend and evening for quite a while.

Here are a few photos and links:

http://www.newschannel5.com/global/story.asp?s=11496863

http://nashvillecitypaper.com/content/city-news/hollin-bests-murray-unofficial-recall-returns

http://www.wsmv.com/news/21625769/detail.html

And We're Back!

We've been MIA for a while--I'll explain more later about what took over our lives for a while.

But we're back, picking up where we left off.

We fixed the fence after it was smooshed by a falling tree.

Then we finished the deck.

We took some time off from all of our house projects because 1) it was tiring and 2) we had lots of other stuff going on.

Tree/Fence Situation Still Unresolved

We are still in communication with Nashville to determine how best to proceed with the toppled fence situation. Public Works said it was Metro property, Metro Legal said it wasn't. We are appealing with Metro Legal by providing them more evidence and estimates for repair.

Here's a better picture of the tree on top of our fence a couple of weeks ago:

Public Works came out today to take down the rest of the tree, which was rotting from the inside out. So, we're still waiting to fix the fence and to replace my beloved cypress...

The deck continues

This was the update I was hoping to post--we're making progress on the last part of the deck. We had to build the part of the deck that attaches the back door to the rest of the structure in a different way because of zoning rules. We couldn't build a "permanent structure" at the edge of the property line, so we are building this part as a "temporary structure."

I was hoping to post good news...

I was getting ready to post an exciting update about our progress on the deck and our other house projects. But then the storm came today.

And now our back yard is destroyed. A tree from across the alley from our back yard crashed down on the fence and my brand new cypress trees and crushed them.

The good news is that the tree was not on our property, so there's a chance we aren't responsible for the damage. We will know more tomorrow. Here's the damage:

Community Action at Work!

Dan and I are in the crowd of red shirts at last night's Metro Council meeting. The video quality is so bad, but maybe you can see us in the second row on the far left side. Me with a red shirt over my long-sleeved white collared shirt. Dan in his Lee College tshirt.

Go East Nashville! 

Inspected & Approved!

After installing stairs over the weekend, we got the deck inspected this morning and it was approved! We are still making some tweaks. We aren't 100 percent finished, but we're almost there!

What will I blog about when we finish the deck?

I don't know what I will blog about when we finish the deck. We finished the main deck this weekend. Now we need to build stairs and get it inspected. After the inspection, we'll make a few more changes. I know it looks like the deck is sinking on the right corner. It's not. Our yard is so uneven it makes the deck look lop-sided. We have started collecting furniture for the deck. We need a stack of plastic chairs now, so if anyone has any tips on where to get them, let us know!




Turns out the whole thing is over 500 square feet!

Deck Updates

Dan and I are still hard at work on the deck. We layed the deck planks on about one-third of the entire deck this weekend. Almost all of the pieces are screwed down. We plan to finish by my birthday weekend, so we can celebrate with some neighbors.

Dan's Birthday Bash

We've been celebrating Dan's birthday for a couple of weeks now, so it's time for the recap:

Friday, March 13 was Dan's official 30th birthday. We got people together at Rosepepper  and had some delicious margaritas and cheese dip. As if that wasn't enough, we had cake from Whole Foods and drinks afterwards at 3 Crow Bar. 

Here are some highlights:

Dan enjoying his birthday margaritas. 

Dan's friends from VU Sociology.

Our Mizzou friends Cara and Jack.

Our neighbors Kendra and Toby.

My coworker and her boyfriend Mary Brenna and Cliff.

Dan's birthday cake.

Former and current employees of Lovell Communications.

Dan solemnly swears to enjoy his cake!

Dan's birthday pose.

Our friend Laura, who we know so many ways...

Another Foster Dog

We've been in charge of another foster dog for the last couple of weeks, Bo. He is a monster and we'll be glad to see him find a home (where he doesn't destroy things).

He does have one very redeeming quality, though, he loves to play with Hubble.

Deck Update--Long Overdue

Our update on the deck is long overdue. We have been making GREAT progress, and with the time change on our side we can really get things done.

Check it out:

Next, we nail in all of the joists you see here. Then, we lay the decking! Woohoo!

Another Project

Dan and I have to be "do it yourselfers" if we want to do anything to our house. That's the way it works with things need to get done and you can't pay someone else to do them.

This time, we decided to replace the kitchen floor. It has been creaking, popping and generally not sticking to the layer underneath it. So we ordered some new flooring and ripped up the old stuff Friday night.

Then the fun started. Turns out, there was been a leak in the dishwasher for months, maybe. The wood under the flooring was all wet and starting to warp.

We have been actively drying out the floor (thanks to three borrowed fans) and are waiting for the water to all come up. It will take another day or so, but it's getting there.

So, we have no kitchen for about a week. We have a microwave and a fridge, but that's it.

Here is the progress:

This time it was Hubble...

What's a weekend without a trip to the emergency vet AGAIN? This time, it was Hubble.

Apparently, the dogs got into the composter some time yesterday. We noticed the lid was off Sunday morning and put it back on as soon as we noticed. It hasn't been closing well these days due to a previous attempt to pry it open by a neighbor's visiting pet. We thought we got it covered up before anything bad happened. We thought Maddie got into it, so we poured peroxide down her throat to make her vomit anything that she may have eaten. But we never suspected that Hubble would be on the wrong end of this deal.

Luckily, it's winter so there's not actually any compost in the composter. It's just leaves and food waste until it warms up. Apparently Hubble got into the coffee grounds that had been pulled out of the bin.

At the time it was scary, but now it seems comical. If you know Hubble, you know he's pretty high energy anyway. Imagine Hubble after popping a couple of doses of speed. He couldn't walk straight and just vibrated with his eyes and ears twitching constantly.

Once we got to the vet, the worst was over and he was fine. We just had to keep him hydrated so he could process the rest of the caffeine. I felt so bad for him. He about had a heart attack at the vet he was so jittery. He followed me around the rest of the night he was so scared of whatever was happening to him.

Poor guy.

My own LOLcats

This is my own version of LOLcats with my friend Whitney's cat. Maybe you'll see it on the site.

More Bruges

Ah Brugges, how we would have liked to stay. Brugges is a little piece of history with its cobblestone streets and Medieval architecture. It's a beautiful little town. Again, our goal was to drink as much beer as possible while we were in Belgium. If you are not already aware, Dan loves beer. And I love Belgian beer. So this whole stop was a win-win for both of us. We saw a sight, has some beer. Saw a sight, had some beer. Here's a little taste:



This is the oldest pub in Bruges. It has been in operation since its opening in 1515.


Here is a dog sitting on a bar stool in the bar. I don't know why this was cracking me up so much, but it was.