Category Archives: My Life

Pupdate: Yakira in Florida

Posted on by

Yakira by the pool at her new house

Yakira arrived safely in Florida on Tuesday after an uneventful flight across country. She seemed to handle traveling in cargo without any distress. She was quickly sharing wags and kisses with her new family. It feels good to know she is exactly where she belongs. Yakira also known as YaYa greets Sharan with licks on the face. She is loving going for walks and they have snuggled on the couch for naps. Yakira’s happy energy is the perfect addition to her new household.

Yakira and Sharan

Yakira and Apex after a romp in the backyard

Candy Window Update: Wreath

Posted on by

wreath for over the door of Snoopy’s doghouse

I couldn’t bring myself to brave the cold garage and work on Snoopy today so I decided to do the wreath that goes over the door of Snoopy’s doghouse. Small parts like this are kind of fun because I can get them done in a day. Yeah for feeling like I got something done. This was also fun because it is the first piece of the window with lights in it. I love lights glowing through candy. To me it has such a Christmasy feeling.

wreath with lights on

I finally got some photos of the doghouse added to the post from a couple of weeks ago.

Related articles

 

Pupdate: Yakira at our house

Posted on by

Dune, Emma and Yakira by Karen Fuller

I know dog posts are supposed to be on Fridays but you will have to indulge me this week. We got Yakira here safe and sound late last night. I guess it was actually early this morning. It has been so much fun to have the three girls (Yakira, Dune and Emma) here today. They have been great together. Emma is especially smitten. Dune no so much but they are getting along great. Sometimes Dune is a bit jealous and sometime Yakira wants to exert her own brand of dominance.

Yakira got to see three of her favorite people. My friend from college, Lisa and a fellow puppy raiser, Karen stopped by. Yakira also visited our neighbor Virginia. All our pups have had a special place in their hearts for Virginia but Yakira even more so.

Karen who is between dogs took Dune home with her for a puppy visit for the next few days. I miss Dune already and boy the house is quiet without her, even though we still have two dogs here. I didn’t realize how much energy Dune brings to our household. She is kind of like Banta in that.

We will be up very early in the morning to get Yakira to the airport and checked in at least two hours before her flight. It has been a treat to have her here. I can’t wait for her to get to Florida and start her new life there. She has a bright future ahead.

Pupdate: Yakira, Dune & Emma

Posted on by

Yakira’s first Halloween

The biggest thing this week on the puppy front is having the plans in place to get Yakira to her new home in Florida. Her journey starts tomorrow when a generous puppy raiser will pick Yakira up from Guide Dogs for the Blind.

Sunday morning they will drive her to Ontario, Oregon where we will meet them. It will be a super exciting moment to see Yakira again. We will head home as soon as we can get back on the road. Dune and Emma are joining us on the trip so it will be fun to have these three girls all together in the car.

Monday, we get to spend the whole day with Yakira just hanging out at home, having fun and taking lots of pictures. I’m sure a few of Yakira’s friends will stop by to see her too.

Tuesday morning we take Yakira to the airport for the last leg of her journey to Florida. She will arrive late afternoon to a very excited and loving new owner and an amazing extended family. I can’t wait to hear about her new like and see photos of Yakira and Apex together.

This week Dune had her first official eval. It went pretty well. She had some trouble with not wanting to lay down for our CFR (Community Field Representative) and her toe nails need trimming.

Emma is a fast growing, happy little puppy. She got all her shots last Friday and so now has lots more option socializing. Emma is a wonderful combination of calmness and confidence.

 

Candy Window Update: Raspberry Pi

Posted on by

Raspberry Pi Board from Wikimedia Commons

Today I thought I’d update on what Bill is doing for the window this year. The core piece is a Raspberry Pi board like in the photo above. What does a computer board have to do with a candy window display for Christmas? I’ll try to explain. There are three sets of Christmas lights in the design: one on the Christmas tree, one on the wreath over the doghouse door and two strings of the large lights that drape over the roof of the doghouse. The plan is to use the Raspberry Pi board along with some other hardware to control how the lights go on and off. We are keeping it pretty simple this year to test things out but hope to do more complicated things with lights in future years.

We are playing around with having the lights synced to music from “A Charlie Brown Christmas“. This is new territory for us but I’m excited at the possibilities. In the worst case scenario we can have the board turn the lights on in the evening and off at midnight or so. Hopefully we will get succeed in doing lots more than that.

As far as candy gluing goes I’m now behind the schedule I made for my self for getting my this years candy window done. Yakira’s career change has distracted me. The plans for getting her to Florida are mostly in place so I’ve got to get back on track.

 

Joy Jar

Posted on by

P1040284It is amazing how one little change in my life can thow me off kilter. It didn’t even wait until Emma arrived, just news of her arrival. Well she is 16 weeks old and six weeks have gone by since her arrival, so I’m trying to repent and get back on my goal of weekly Joy Jar postings. I haven’t just missed my weekly postings, I’ve been missing my nightly writing too. It isn’t that my life hasn’t had joy, I’ve just been procrastinating, I guess. But I don’t want to give up on my goal to fill my jar with joy each week through the year, so I’ve got to jump back in and fill in the best I can. So here is seven weeks of joy as best I can remember.

  • going to the state fair
  • a new leather belt
  • seeing a King Fisher
  • photos of Zodiac
  • new printer
  • blue skies
  • my continuous ink supply system
  • story prompts
  • printing on chipboard
  • super price for my printer
  • finishing walking the Jordan River Parkway Trail
  • starting up “Nature Club”
  • getting an “E” pup
  • cute Emma
  • photos of Banta
  • smart Emma
  • Book Club
  • planning with Karen
  • family time
  • sleeping through the night
  • autumn
  • no accidents
  • chatting with K & R
  • going to Tarzan
  • singing
  • sharing Emma
  • General Conference
  • Snoopy’s doghouse done
  • Bill’s help with the candy window
  • Sunday afternoon naps
  • getting a photo of Zulu (Zodiac’s sister)
  • my old printer lasting until I got the new printer
  • Dune off house arrest
  • Dune on a better relieving schedule
  • finding a great place for Yakira
  • no nighttime potty runs
  • good poop from Emma
  • warm autumn days
  • walks with Dune and Emma
  • Dune and Emma playing together
  • snuggling with puppies

Pupdate: Yakira

Posted on by

Yakira at six months

It was kind of strange today, realizing that it has been a week since we got the news that Yakira had been career changed. The first few days after that were kind of crazy. We had decisions to make about her future. Since Yakira was a guide for less than a year it was our responsibility to decide what should happen. Saturday morning the perfect placement for Yakira came to light. Yakira is going to live in Florida and join Apex’s extended family. Apex’s handler, Sue was chatting with her mother about Yakira and the inspiration hit that Yakira would be the perfect companion for Sue’s mom. Sue called us to find out if it was possible and we said yes and agreed that it was a great idea.

We have spent the last week trying to figure out the logistics of getting Yakira from Oregon to Florida. Not an easy task because there are no direct flights making it too long for Yakira to go by cargo. 18 hours in a crate is just not a good idea. So the current plan is to get Yakira to us in the next week or so and then send her by direct flight to Florida. There are a few possibilities and if those don’t work out we will drive to Oregon to pick her up. I’m excited to have Yakira stay with us for a day or two between the legs of her cross-country trip. I’m just as excited for her to get to Florida and get adjusted to her new family!

 

Yakira Update

Posted on by

Yakira

We got news today on Yakira. She will not be reissued as a guide dog. I’m sad about that. We wanted to have them look for another service organization for her but her official paper works says she was dropped for scavenging instead of the puddle issue she was returned for. They are doubtful that another organization will take a risk with the scavenging history. I don’t understand the scavenging because she has great house manners, so it might be stress at being back in the kennels. We will probably never know. We could bring her home and keep her or place her with someone. Guide Dogs for the Blind will also place her with someone on the long waiting list for career changed dogs. I never dreamed that of all the puppies we raised this would be Yakira’s path in life. This is the downside of being a puppy raiser.

Candy Window Update

Posted on by

Snoopy’s Doghouse

Still plugging away on Snoopy‘s doghouse. I’m getting close though. I didn’t get any work done on it last Saturday so the roof didn’t get finished until this week. The last step is the trim which consists of around the door, the eaves and the edges of the roof (can’t think of what that is called, or maybe those are the eaves and the other is the soffit). Anyway, I digress. Around the door is done, both gable ends are done. I have a little piecing to do on the soffit on one end and about 2/3 of the edge of the roof on one side.

I’m excited to be almost done with the doghouse. That is a big chunk of the window.

Candy Window Update: Snoopy’s Doghouse

Posted on by

my work space in the corner of the garage

This week the candy gluing started in earnest. I prefer to do the parts that I use silicone caulk as the adhesive out in the garage. That way the house doesn’t get stunk up and I don’t have to worry so much about having adequate ventilation. But first I needed to make a space in the corner of the garage for me to work. It is amazing how much stuff accumulates in the garage over the course of a year. I’m really happy with how I was able to fit an old table into the corner. It has created a great workspace.

Since then I’ve been gluing red Aussie style licorice to Snoopy’s doghouse all week. I’m just about done with the walls. I should be able to finish them tomorrow. Then the roof covered with cinnamon bears is next on the list. Last step of the doghouse is the trim. I’ll work on that next week. Which should keep me on schedule.