Weekly Mileage #177 and Our New Puppy!

Tuesday Sunshine had an orthodontist appointment and the kiddos had their music lessons.

I'm working on shop products again, starting with the buckets. I'm working on 5 at a time, which has been eye-opening and resulted in some changes in how I will put together future buckets. I need to cut down on production time, so any time-saving measures I can employ are good.

Wednesday it wasn't raining, so I power washed a bench and the roof of the RV, then replaced the rotten vent covers. I was afraid it would be a huge pain, but it was quite easy to do (for once!). Since I power washed first, it was wet and dirty, but I figured that was better than sitting on who-knows-what that was on the roof. 

what it looked like last week

more holes and cracks appeared, just from touching it

clean and shiny new cover

We finally gave in and bought a new dishwasher. We'd hoped we could put it off till we re-do the kitchen, but it's gotten to the point where it wasn't even washing the dishes. It had a good run, though. I think it was original to the house, so it was about 22 years old.

Thursday I rode my bike before going to the chiropractor and running errands. I'd worked on my buckets on Wednesday, but then decided to change up the handles from what I'd originally planned. So Thursday I tried a few different options before deciding on what I wanted to do.

Friday morning it wasn't raining so we had a socially distant playdate with our friends. We brought Oreo (more on her in a minute!) along and she did pretty well.

I finished my batch of 5 buckets and immediately started thinking about what I wanted to work on next. I want enough to have on hand when I list them in my shop, but I also want to get going on tote bags, so I don't want to do too many just yet.

Saturday I started working on a batch of 10 buckets. Doing a bunch at the same time is much easier when it comes to stopping and starting. Assembly lines are more efficient and I can pause in between each step if I need to.

skipping the edges of the handles so they have a slight rounded edge

I sit down, cut a bunch of handles, trim them out, coat them in neatsfoot oil, then set them aside. Then I get my tags engraved and cut and then coat them in neatsfoot oil and set them aside. Then I cut all the canvas pieces. Then I sew the center seam on all of them. The longest part is sewing the leather strips to the canvas and then the bottom to the rest of the bucket.

I'm not done with this batch, but I did make good progress on it.

And now for the buried lede:

Over the weekend we adopted a 5-6 month old puppy named Oreo! We found her on our local shelter listing, but it took about a week for them to get back to us, so we weren't sure if we'd get the chance to meet her.

her listing photo- not a great one, and definitely doesn't show her personality

They're currently doing appointment-only visits, so we couldn't just drop in (this is a larger shelter than the two we visited last week).

Anyway, they finally got back to us, so we went to meet her and take her for a walk on the grounds. She'd actually been adopted around the middle of July, along with 4 litter mates, but she was returned at the beginning of August because of "high energy". While she does have energy, it's not consistent, so we can't figure out what exactly the complaint was.

RIP phone charger....

She does like to chew stuff, so the house is more tidy than it's been since the boys were born 😂 Shoes are put away, toys are off the floor, counters are cleared off... it's great!

Her paperwork said she's an Australian cattle dog (also known as a blue heeler) cross, I'm guessing because of the markings on her chest and feet. However, going off her ears and face shape, she looks a lot like a miniature black lab. She doesn't have the stocky body of the blue heeler. Maybe she's got some whippet in her as well?

Ocean wasn't super thrilled about her at first- our neighbors with the Great Dane moved more than a year ago, and we really haven't been around any dogs since then. We'd forgotten that he is hesitant around dogs. He's doing better, though she thinks he's a puppy and keeps trying to play with him like one. But overall, her issues aren't too bad, all things considered.

she thought she heard something...

She does seem to be mostly house trained, though she's had a couple accidents.

We don't have a fenced yard, so multiple daily walks are a new thing, so everyone is getting more exercise than they usually do. Once it cools down a bit, I'll start taking her for trail runs a couple times a week. We've had two weeks of daily rain, so the trails are way too wet to even attempt a run right now.

I'm definitely glad we didn't do this earlier. While she's not a young puppy, she does need constant supervision since she likes to chew on things and investigate all the places. It's just like having a toddler around again. I would not have had the energy for this when the boys were younger. It's debatable that I have the energy now, but with Jeremy home most days and Sunshine more than old enough to help, at least it's not all on me to take care of her. The boys want to help with walks and stuff, but she's got a strong pull and can bowl them both over.

heard another sound outside... and she's knocked the blinds and lamp shades askew because she thinks the table behind the couch is the perfect spot to sit and watch what's going on outside (not a lot, unless you count the squirrels)

She's a sweetie and seems to be adapting well to life in our family 😀

Weekly Mileage
Thursday- 10.0 miles biked
total- 10.00 miles

2020 totals

27 hikes towards #52hikechallenge
0 kayak miles towards #365milechallenge

164.19 outdoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
22.50 indoor foot miles towards #365milechallenge
230.0 bike miles towards #365milechallenge
416.69 miles total