Tag Archives: Doggie Palace

Before and After

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Before and After

(First shots of the almost-completed Doggie Domain!!!!  Two months in the making, soon to be painted, skylighted and sliding-glass-and screen-doored, but finished enough for habitation.  Inaugural night!!!)

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And After:

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What is wrong with this picture?  Well, Diego is in Frida’s bed and Morrie is in Diego’s bed (and cage) and Frida is outside, waiting to be let in to sleep in her bed in the guest bathroom!!! They all stubbornly refused to readjust themselves until mom got tough.  Kids today don’t appreciate what we go through for them!!!!  But, it’s wonderful not to trip over their cages in the hall and not to have to remove Frida’s bed to my room every time company comes. ( And not to wake up in the middle of the night wheezing because I’m allergic to her.)  Poor babies.  Wish they could all sleep with mom, but fear mom wouldn’t be around long if they did.

Doggie Domain #4: Much Ado About Nothing?

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                        Doggie Domain #4: Much Ado About Nothing?
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Probably no one in the history of the world has made so much out of a 6 1/2 by 7 foot room, but for some reason, I am fascinated by this change in my world.  From every door I look out of in the back of my house, from my terrace, my entrance hall, my pool, my bedroom––the view is altered.  Tonight when I got home late from my three hour “Thriller” practice, a new art center opening and dinner out with friends, I opened the door to see what progress had been made.  Before I’d left, I’d taken this picture, which I love:
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But now, tonight in the dark, I opened the door onto what had begun to really look like a room and I felt my entire life shift a bit.
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All three dogs came running up to stick their heads in the door and for the first time, Diego and Morrie came rushing into the house through the new room.
IMG_6743Frida, however, merely stuck her head in the door, looked around,
Version 2and departed.  Whistles, offered treats, calling her name–nothing worked.  She absolutely refused to enter through this new route!
IMG_6747So while Diego and Morrie settled into their cages,
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Frida’s bed remained empty until I opened the bedroom door for her.  Just 5 feet distant from the “new” portal to the house, nonetheless, it was familiar––an accepted and recognizable part of her life.  She entered.  All was right with the world.

Doggie Palace 3 (Hereafter to be known as Doggie Domain!)

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Well, the walls are 1/2 up and it is laughable how tiny this room is for all the hoopla that has gone on.  I’m showing pictures of the week’s work below. I must say, they do things right in Mexico.  These men have been working so hard with only one break a day and are so professional and precise.  Here is their work in pictures so far:
IMG_6531I was surprised when they started chipping away at my stone patio.  Little did I know!

IMG_6571A day later, they were waist deep.  This little room will probably be standing when the rest of the house is rubble.  Long after I’m rubble, hopefully.

IMG_6589I heard a truck drive up and went out to see what new was happening in my neighborhood.  Oh!

IMG_6597Soon, men were walking by with those big stones on their shoulders. They weren’t interested in using my wheelbarrow.
IMG_6681And in the street, they were mixing up concrete. IMG_6690Which this poor guy carried back two buckets at a time!!!

IMG_6694To fill in the spaces they’d just chipped out with a pick axes and mortar and chisel!  IMG_6700Father and son decided to look busy when I asked if I could take a picture.  This doesn’t look too staged, does it? Note those nice new foundations which we all know go down at least a meter deep into the earth! Chino tells me that they construct their own castillos because the welded ones don’t flex in case of earthquake.  These are wired together so they can move a bit and the structure doesn’t crumble during tremors.IMG_6701We have walls!!  Well, the beginning of walls.IMG_6705The only injury so far was my toe–cut on a shard of rebar. Some alcohol, Neosporin and a bandaid corrected most of the damage. A pedicure will take care of the rest.

IMG_6710Morrie inspecting his new domain.  The minute the men left for their lunch break, he must have gone in to stake his claim.  You’ll see his addition in the dirt in front of him. I removed it! Trust Morrie to wreak a little mayhem even before the walls are fully up.

IMG_6716All in all, now that I see the size of this new room, Doggie Palace seems a bit excessive, so I have altered its name to Doggie Domain.

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Pounding Headache (Doggie Palace, Day 2)

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Pounding Headache

Two men with sledgehammers pound concrete
I wish that they could find a beat.

One taps and taps with peckish meter
while the other is a beater!

Tap tap tap in jerky hops
While bam bam bam just never stops.

I know I am unreasonable,
My complaints are treasonable.

Construction can’t be done in mime,
I only wish they’d pound in time!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/saved-by-the-bell/

Doggie Palace, Day 1–Share Your World, 2015, Week # 41

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Doggie Palace, Day 1–Share Your World, 2015, Week # 41

Okay, for those (like me) new to Cee’s “Share Your World” Challenge, I first have to answer four questions and then tell you what I’m grateful for this week.

First, my answers: 1) I like rhythm and blues. 2)The worst thing I ate this week was an appetizer that ended up having tuna in it. Yech. Hate fish!!! 3) I would like to be famous for writing or art or both—simply because it means I did a good job. They are both nice ways to be famous because no one really knows what you look like so you can be anonymous and noted at the same time. 4) What this sandwich could really use?  Some barbecue sauce!!! (I’d eat the stuff on ice cream if no one were looking.) And 5) the thing I am grateful for this week is all the fault of this little dog:

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If you’ve been following my blog for long, you already know Morrie. He is famous and infamous by turns, but his most current claim to fame is that he has expanded my dog family beyond the limits of my house.  Since his proclivity for chewing–shoes, cords, toilet paper, furniture, crayons and books as well as anything vaguely edible, means one more large sleeping cage, and since all three dogs now have to sleep inside, thanks to the nightly barking chorus Morrie has augmented tenfold, it has become necessary to add a room to my house.  There simply isn’t room to pass two large cages in the hall. (Diego was crate trained and must be in a cage with door locked to sleep, by his own preference, and Morrie can’t be trusted out and about.  Frida is the only one who sleeps unconfined, except by her large cushy bed which is presently in the guest bathroom.)
IMG_6520This is Chino, the builder, showing me where the overhang of the new canine quarters will end.
IMG_6525This is his son, Merced, and Guillermo, the other brawn of this project, and Diego, who will function as ladder quality control.  I see evidence of his inspection on the stones of the patio beneath it!

IMG_6529Here is Merced, using hand tools and plenty of muscle to cut through the stone and concrete of the patio to open up room for the foundation.
IMG_6536And here he is showing the water pipe that was burst within the first hour of labor this morning.  Much activity as we tried to get the water turned off, called Pasiano who came to turn it off, called Chino who called a plumber who came this afternoon.  So now you know the answer to why I brushed my teeth with Coca Cola this morning.

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Merced and Guillermo.  I tried to get them to set up an umbrella, but they insisted laboring in bright sunlight is no problem!

So, I’m about to go celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving with friends. What a perfect ending for Cee’s final question of what I’m grateful for.  I’m grateful for Merced and Guillermo and all these pesky dogs who are soon to be housed in a place I won’t easily trip over them.  And for the pesky dogs and all of you who furnish an audience for my complaints and thanks alike!

http://ceenphotography.com/2015/10/12/share-your-world-2015-week-41/