Spring is here!

It has finally warmed up outside and we are really enjoying the nice weather.

We get to hang out on the porch a lot, take the dogs on evening walks, play lots of frisbee.

Little man came to stay for a week while Frank and BJ were out of town. He insisted on sitting on my lap anytime I sat down and sleeping in our bed. We enjoyed having an extra snuggle bug. He even got playful from time to time.
 

We are hoping to do a few yard works tasks in the coming months, the first was to move the garden box to a spot that is actually sunny all day. We have tried it in multiple places but our back yard gets so little sun that it hasn't been successful. Trey spent a day this weekend swapping the azaleas with the garden box and we are hoping it will bring lots of goodies this year! It's also nice because now we can look out the kitchen window and see what is sprouting up. 

Sunday we went to Mom and Dads for Easter dinner and the dogs got Easter baskets :) Vegas hid behind the couch with her new toy so that no one else would try to steal it. 

We also went outside in time to see the International Space Station flying over head! It travels at 17,000 MPH. Crazy. 

Watch out for Copperheads!

A couple of weeks ago Tyson got bit by a copperhead :(

My parents had taken Tyson and Vegas out for a walk around dusk and since it was hard to see, didn't see a baby copperhead in the middle of the road in their neighborhood. Tyson just walked right over it but since it was a baby it was scared and bit him on the toe. Babies also inject more venom than adults because they don't know how to control it. So after heading home and realizing that it was rapidly swelling they headed to the emergency vet and we met them there. 

They gave him an IV for pain meds and light sedation, kept an eye on it and ran some bloodwork. Basically they wanted to check that his blood was clotting properly and functioning normally, and luckily it was. Anti-venom is actually very expensive (like $600 a dose) and since they felt that he was dealing with it well (and it wasn't on his face or chest, close to the heart, easy access to the bloodstream) he didn't need it. So after a few hours there, we were sent home with some more pain meds as he needed and our sweet, loopy boy.

His foot was swollen halfway up his leg but by the next morning he didn't even know he was hurt! We were very lucky that he has healed well and only got bit on his toe. Apparently dogs are very resilient and can heal pretty well. 

 Swollen foot

 Comparison... can't see any bones in front one bc of the swelling!

my poor boy

I'm glad we went to the vet and now understand more about snake bites and what to do for them. Veterinary Specialty Hospital has been great to us over the years and were that night also. So watch out for Coppperheads... who knew one would just jump up and bite you in the road! 

A New Doggie Door!

We have been discussing wanting to put in another doggie door off the porch for a while now. We just weren't sure how to accomplish that. We have a doggie door from the kitchen to the screened porch, but then have to leave the porch door open to let the dogs go in to the backyard, slightly defeating the purpose of having a screened in porch. 

We are going to make one last attempt and helping our poor grass in the backyard (basically the dogs running path + very little sun = dirt). We were going to sod that area, but need to keep the dogs off of the grass. So Trey was talking about putting a ramp out of the other side of the porch and fencing off that area (making the back yard much smaller for the time being). Then came the question of how to do the ramp. We were at my parents about a week ago to get the trailer (to use to pick up the sod) and I mentioned it to my mom as we were standing on the back porch. She pointed out the steps that my dad and I built years ago to give me a landing/starting point for my old zipline through the woods. So we took it somewhat apart (enough to get it home), replaced a few boards and then my parents came over to finish helping. 

Dad and Trey had to rig it a little bit, since the new location is on a slant, but they made it work! 

Vegas enjoyed having them in the yard working. 

So step 1 was complete.... stairs! We pulled the (already falling out) screen out of the corner of the porch so they could sort of temporarily get through there, but next needed to put in an actual doggie door. 

My parents had an extra doggie door at their house that they removed to put in a larger one when their dogs got old (and couldn't pick up their feet well). It is the same size as our doggie door in the screen door so we decided to use it! Trey had to put in some extra wood for support but did a great job and now our screened in porch is actually closed off! 

 Complete!

 The dogs testing it out

You can see the sod that we laid and faintly see the chicken wire fence to block them from it. The piece of wood on the side of the landing is to keep them from jumping off the steps and in to the fenced in area... it won't always be there and look so classy.

Busy Spring Weekend!

We had a very busy but fun weekend. It was gorgeous weather, so great for lots of outdoor fun. Friday night we grilled out with some of Trey's co-workers. 

Saturday was the spring football game. During the quarter change they honored Russell Wilson and put his number on the wall of Vaughan Towers. 

 Russell on the field

 His before being uncovered

 The unveiling 

 There it is!

 "Please stay off the grass"

After the game we headed to Falls Lake Holly Point campground to go camping! I will post more about that tomorrow :)

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early to the sun and birds chirping. We broke everything down and packed up the car to head downtown to see Allison and Christy running in the Rock n Roll Half/Full Marathon. 

 Allison did a great job on her first half marathon! 

 About 45 minutes after Allison finished the half, Christy got to the finish of the full marathon. She finished 26.2 miles in 3 hours, 8 minutes! She was the 3rd place female. She has been training by running an insane amount of miles each week and I am super proud of her for getting a new PR. 

We had to check out the "after party" concert area to pick up the plaque that Christy got for placing. 

After the race we went to get brunch at Busy Bee. I had their Juevos Rancheros.... oh. my. gosh. So good. You must go try them! 

After we got home from the race and brunch Trey laid sod! We have a large dirt area in our backyard from the dogs running out the door to the other corner and all of their playing, and the lack of sun that we get there. We have tried to seed it before, successfully gotten tiny little sprouts only to have the dogs demolish it again. So this time we are putting down sod (Bermuda, it's dormant that's why its brown right now!) and keeping the dogs out of that part of the yard until it is secure.

 In order to do that we have added a new doggie door, the start of it is pictured below:

Vegas is excited for her nice back-scratching grass.