Gone

These last couple have weeks have been all about people being gone.

Boyfriend Jon is working harder than ever this summer. Since i leave for work before 7am and he's starting to frequently get home between 8-9pm, i hardly see him. To give credit where credit is due. Boyfriend Jon took on some extra chores to help out and i've been seeing random bouquets often, so i know he's thinking of me as much as i'm thinking of him.

It's weird having my live in-best friend gone all the time. It makes me thankful for Kira-dog to make sure i have company even if she just ignores me when i talk to her. He finally walks in and flops on the couch just in time for me to announce i need to head to bed so i can get up again for work. Often our only interactions are a few emails during the day, and a brief summary of our days before bed.

But what we lack in interaction during the week we more than make up for on the weekends. Boyfriend Jon has been serenading me with his ukulele, following me to family functions, going with me to the dog parks, and even trying to bake something together.

Allow me to segue into our "I Love Lucy-esque Malasada Blob Fiasco". We decided it would be fun to try to make Malasadas (Portuguese doughnut that is so popular in Hawaii that the day before lent is known as Malasada Day). We probably should have known that we were in trouble when the recipe called for 9 teaspoons of yeast, 12 eggs and 5lbs of flour.
But we pushed on in ignorance...having to get creative with my kitchenaid to fit all these ingredients in the bowl. Then came the blob as all that yeast got to work and it spilled over the sides of the largest aluminum pan we could find at the grocery store.
It was at this point Boyfriend Jon started singing the "i love lucy" theme song making us both laugh hysterically. Plus the dough was sticky, gloopy, and got all over the place as we tried to drop clumps into hot oil without burning ourselves. The end result was pretty tasty, b
ut we had at least 100 malasadas for 7 people.

There's another person in my life who is gone. Leila Ball, whom i always called grandma, passed away last week. Even though technically she's only my cousin's grandma. So....grandma in law? But since we spent our childhoods together, i and my brother Johnny got rolled into the Grandkids group. The news was expected since she was 90+ with cancer and having a very rough time of it. While i will miss her gentle voice at our family gatherings, i'm glad she's no longer in pain.


And finally there's another missing piece of my life. My father retired and decided he wanted to travel the USA immediately after. So they've packed up and left my childhood home behind headed for Idaho, Yosemite, South Dakota, Georgia, Virginia, and New York. For a month and a half, my parents...who are totally homebodies and rarely leave a 5 mile radius...are completely gone. Out of state, incommunicado, gone.

I like to think i don't rely on them very much, but knowing that Boyfriend Jon scoffs whenever i say that....it's very weird to know they're gone. My brother will be house sitting soon, but i went over last night to check on the house and was overwhelmed by this creepy feeling of a dead silent house. Coming from a 6 person family, that house has never in my life been that quiet. Sure I've been over there when there's no one home, but even then, the furnace or AC is on, my mom's computer whirring. Perhaps it was just my imagination, but the profound silence creeped me out!

I'm certain that myself, my siblings, my cousins, and Boyfriend Jon will all adjust just fine to the sudden changes, but the suddenness of so many things being gone
all at once really hit me last night, standing in the silence and heat of a house that no one calls home right now. It feels like something big just happened yet i know it's no big deal.

After 2 Months with the Porch Potty

So following up the design and construction of the Porch Potty for Kira, here is how it worked for us.

Good stuff!

1. Kira now uses the Porch Potty on her own. It only took about 2 weeks before she understood that that was her home potty, and that the green stuff downstairs was ok to pee in too. Now we have no more issues with her bathroom needs. 
2. We added a dog door insert for a sliding glass door so that she could go out there without us. 
• A bunch of cheese, treats, and throwing her precious dog toys outside, or putting her outside and walking away while calling to her eventually got her to push her way through without problem. Don't give up on this training. 
• This was safe for us since the walls of our patio are solid and there's only a tiny gap underneath that she can't possibly fit through. If you're in an apartment where its safe, i highly recommend these. We got ours second hand from craigslist for 70$ as opposed to the 150+ or retail. 
• We had to remove the heavy plastic flap for something more lightweight. It wasn't as air tight, but now she has no fear of the clank the other one was making. 
3. The cleanup has been a breeze with the latest set up. 

The Refining Process (things we changed):

1. I had forgotten to go buy the kitty litter in my initial design when we set this up. So instead, we put pee pads underneath the tray for the sod to drip the pee onto. This worked pretty well until it rained...more on that later.
2. We started with Sod from my parents back yard. Unfortunately Kira decided that this was a tasty treat and proceeded to try to eat the sod. 
3. We then switched to a commercial sod that was low cut and not as easy for her to pull up. While she didn't eat this as much, it was comprised of a clay like dirt that held onto the water (pee) very well and quickly developed a stench.
4. So then we got some second hand Astroturf. and cut it so it fit inside of the tray. Yes, it drained just fine.
• I cut the astro turf so i could tuck a little edge underneath, then used a heavy duty staple gun to secure the turf to the plastic tray. Make sure you get all the stray threads/corners clipped or tucked under. 
• This was around the time that Kira figured out how to escape her pen and we tried leaving her alone during the day. Let's just say....the first several rounds of astroturf....didn't fare to well against a bored puppy. 
• So we stopped leaving her out and now we've had the same astroturf in place for over a month. 
5. Back to the pee pads. It's pretty easy to tell when the pee pads need to be changed. They started to smell through the astroturf. And also, living in the great northwest means rainstorms hold more water than puppy pads can hold. From experience i can tell you it's not fun lifting up the tray to find an inch of pee infused water. 
6. So we finally got some odor control kitty litter and put that on top of some pee pads under the tray (kitty littler is dangerous for dogs to eat so make sure you have a barrier between the two). Now we just scoop out the clumps every few days and add a little more kitty litter when it's getting low. Really i think this was the best solution after all. Can't believe it took me over a month to go get some silly kitty litter! 

The final "perfect" solution: From top down. 

Astroturf, secured to tray with heavy duty staples along the edges. 

plastic soda tray

Kitty litter

pee pads/plastic 

wooden tray frame

Maintenance Routine:

Every couple of days we scoop out the clumps and flush them. Adding more kitty litter if needed. 

Once a week, I take the tray with the attached astroturf into the shower and run water on it for a few minutes to clean it off.  

Next month, i plan to spray it with some detergent to give it a good cleaning. Should last a long time.

If I didn't have a dog...

Today Kira is 6 months old. What did we do for this milestone? We took her to get spayed, chipped, and her teeth cleaned. The surgery went well and she's recovering at the vet's until i pick her up tomorrow. But still, that's 28 hours without my dog!!

Boyfriend Jon dropped her off this morning and sent me this text: : "She's been dropped off. Didn't even look back when the Dr. took her. Said they'll call in 1-2 hours to let us know how the surgery went."

Of course this led to all sorts of jokes revolving around "It's all fun and games until someone gets put in a cone!"

As i continued my day at work, i had to keep reminding myself that Kira wasn't where she normally was.

And by lunchtime, i found myself remembering what it was like to not have a dog...and feeling so sad that i thought i had a full life back then. Just 4 months my life has totally changed to the point where just a few hours without her makes me feel like a fish out of water.

If I didn't have Kira...

• There would be no nose art on my car's windows which drive my window OCD crazy
• I wouldn't have to put away the car seat covers which take the place of having passengers
• My car wouldn't have a faint odor of wet dog from our many trips to the dog park
• Boyfriend Jon and I wouldn't head home every single day at lunch to find what new piece of her bathroom she's torn to pieces because we're gone. 
• I wouldn't have to include the status of every bowl movement in each conversation with Boyfriend Jon
• I wouldn't have to fight to get her off the couch when i'm eating something
• My favorite tv shows and even conversations wouldn't have to compete with her INCESSANT squeaky snake!
• I wouldn't have nail and teeth marks all over my body from the jumping, pawing, and missing the toy and accidentally biting my fingers when we're playing.
• I wouldn't have an area of my home that smells like a urinal.
• Our floor wouldn't be littered with dog toys, rawhide bones, tennis balls and bits of fluff from who knows what. 
• Boyfriend Jon and I could get amorous without her intense desire to investigate!!!!!

But at the same time, If i didn't have Kira....

• I wouldn't have a co-pilot who whines and paws at me until i put down the window for her to stick her head out so she can channel her inner BAT DOG!!!!
• I wouldn't have someone to warm my feet when i'm curled on the couch.
• I wouldn't have someone who was bat shit crazy ecstatic that i came home (ok, Boyfriend Jon does a pretty good job of this but he just can't wiggle his butt quite that fast)
• I wouldn't have someone come and lick my hand clean when i'm sick or not felling well on the couch.
• I wouldn't have so much pride at all the commands and tricks Kira has learned in just six months without professional training. 
• I wouldn't have video after video and picture after picture which make me laugh even when i'm in the blackest moods

I guess once you go wet noses and fur, you can't go back. I can't wait to have my pup back home where she belongs. 

Details of DIY Drainless Porch Potty

In my last post, I showed you my concept for a porch potty for my little dog. But as we all know, sometimes things work better in theory than in practice. Thankfully, this doesn't seem to be one of those times.

I forgot to get a before picture, but this pile of wood used to be a pallet i salvaged from a dumpster. The results were a small sheet of plywood (2'x3'), 3 two-by-fours (3' long) and what i'm going to refer to as remaining scrap. (might have gotten a little over zealous with the disassembling) 

If you decide to go the salvage route...it's very helpful to have two people, crowbars, and hammers with the claws on the back. My dad and i disassembled this pallet in about 10 minutes.

This is the supplies i gathered: The soda crate in front is only 1.5" tall (when laid flat). But if you get a more common style that's taller, you may need to change the size of your wood tray or cut it.. 

IMPORTANT!: just because it's called a 2x4, doesn't mean it's actual measurements are 2"x 4". It's actually more like 1.5" x 3.5". This link explains WHY. 

STEP 1: Cut down the Plywood down to size

I have a table saw available. But you could use a circular saw, a saws-all, a jig saw...basically just get it cut down to size. I originally was going to have the crate sit INSIDE of the wood tray walls, so i took the measurements of my tray and added 1.5 inches to each side for the width of the 2x4. 

STEP 2: Cut the walls down to size

Remember, i'm using all salvage wood. So i had to adjust the raw pieces before cutting them to length. 

Since the crate i got was so short...i decided to "rip" the 2x4s (cut along the grain aka...longwise) down to 1.5" by 1.5". And just in case you're wondering...yes i actually did all the work myself. Dad just sat back and took pictures - which may explain some of the shaky, tilted or unfocused pictures to follow.

Then i cut the walls to length. 

STEP 3: Dry fit assembly

No glue or screws or nails yet. You just want to make sure everything fits together. 

For this, i used what's called "butt joints". The end of the wood butts up against the side of the wood to form a joint. Had i wanted to make this a little nicer, i could have cut the corners at 45 degree angles and "Mitered" the joints. But this is for a dog and she happens to enjoy butts :)

It was at this point that my dad and I noticed something interesting about our crate: There was a lip on the edge!

So the design changed slightly: We moved the walls in slightly so that edge of the crate sits ON TOP of the walls at the lip instead of INSIDE. To do this, we cut the plywood and the wall pieces down just a little bit and moved the walls in and added a piece in the center to help support the middle of the crate (that's the little square in the middle: i cut off a small end of the scrap from the walls and glued it to middle of the plywood tray)

Originally, i was going to have at least 5 of those support pieces, one in each corner and one in the middle...but the lip on the crate took place of the corner pieces. The point of these was to keep the crate off the bottom of the tray where kitty litter/pee pads will collect the pee. 

STEP 4: Sand.

You don't want the plastic to get punctured, so you'll want to sand down all the splinters and sharp edges. 150 grit sandpaper should be fine. You can do a higher grit count if you're using nicer wood. But honestly, there was only so much i could do with a scrap pallet. 

STEP 5: Final assembly

I coated the bottom of the walls with glue and clamped them into place.

Then to secure it, i flipped it over and got out a trusty nail gun. You could do this with screws or regular nails, but...air nailers are so much fun!!!

Space the nails about 4-6" apart all the way around. 

For good measure, i screwed the walls to each other as well. these, were 4 inch deck screws and i pre-drillled the holes to prevent splitting. 

STEP 6: Finishing

I ran the sander along the edges again, and filled in some of the gaps with wood filler then set it up to dry. 

At some point between the point that last picture was taken, i added short square feet to the bottom to keep the tray off the deck so moisture wouldn't get trapped. Those were just glued and air nailed down. But unfortunately none of the pictures i have shows them. 

I suppose i could have waterproofed it, painted flowers on it or attached LED lights to it... but I just used a can of spray paint my dad had in his cabinet and let it dry. 

Then I took the whole kaboodle home, up 3 flights of steps (really this wasn't bad, it was maybe 15 pounds of material) put a pee pad on the bottom (until we get kitty litter), laid the crate in and covered with grass i stole from my parent's back yard. 

Drum roll please!!! 

Kira wasn't really sure what to make of it at first. Apparently it was good enough to eat because we spent the whole first day trying to get her to stop eating the grass. 

The second day, had the same problem. 

We'd let her out there, she'd try to eat it, then refuse to pee on it even when we shut her out there and waited. The minute we let her in, straight to the pee pad. I started to wonder if it just wasn't going to happen and this was a big waste of time and effort. 

Finally I did something a little different. 

Since i usually get up first around 6...i'm on morning potty patrol. I let her out of her crate to go potty and she runs right over to her pad and goes immediately. So this morning, i picked her up, and carried her outside and put her right on the grass patch. She wiggled for a minute, but then squatted and went potty on it. I praised her, gave her treats and a long belly rub. 

And my little Wigglebutt pranced her way back into the house very proud of herself. 

I'm setting a reminder by May to touch back to this topic and give you an update. Cover what worked, and what didn't, what issues we ran into and how we went about fixing them. 

I hope this is helpful to all the do it yourself dog people out there. 

DIY No-Drain Puppy patch for Apartments

Shameless i'm in love with my dog plug->; 
Besides the normal adorableness of simply being a puppy, shes silly, smart, and learning all sorts of new things. But she's not yappy at all! I'm serious...she almost never barks, is good with other dogs, people and even children. No food or toy aggression except when she forgets your hand is not part of her toy collection. Really, Boyfriend Jon and I have a wonderful dog and she has really become part of our family.

Probably the most impressive feat is her bowel control. She not only never messes her crate, but figured out the pee pads in a few weeks, and now at 5 months only has accidents where she's slightly off the pee pad. But we started noticing a slight problem. She's SO good at holding her pee, she won't go when she's out for a walk. We have to stay out there and wait for her ability to hold it to run out. Otherwise, she makes a mad dash for the pee pads when we get back home. We've tried rewarding and praising her whenever she does go outside but the message doesn't seem to be sticking. The obvious solution would be to make the grass her exclusive potty. But we live on the 3rd floor and I'm not walking down 3 flights of stairs first thing at 6:00am in winter in the northwest. Not happening. Period. Exclamation point!

So Boyfriend Jon and I started brainstorming solutions to this problem.

The obvious solution seemed to be get a potty patch, porch potty, patio potty, piddle patch, deck dumping ground. whatever you want to call it.

But what i came to realize is that those things are either too small or outrageously expensive!

AS SEEN ON TV!
I don't know about you, but almost all of those items i've seen on tv are cheap, fall apart or less than functional when used in real world situations. It's a great idea in concept, but i doubt it will work well in real life. Also, i don't really want to have to deal with a resivoir of pee.
CUSTOM BUILT FANCY VERSION
300$ for a potty that has built in sprinklers to help keep the odor down? I personally don't have that kind of money to flush.
SOD OPTION!
I've seen lots of diy mini sod gardens. Great idea! But in order to not create a sespool of fermenting pee-mud, you need to drain them. Which i'm pretty sure my downstairs neighbor wouldn't appreciate.
ASTRO-TURF
Similar to the sod garden, this idea uses astro-turf in place of the sod. While great idea in theory, you run into the same problem as sod...you need to have a drain of some kind  Also...it's nearly impossible to find a rug size piece of astro-turf. You either have to buy enough to cover your entire living room, or several tiny squares which makes it cost-ineffective.

I took all the great ideas the internet had to offer and refined them to suit my apartment where i can't drain it off the side. I think a lot of people have this problem. Probably the best idea i saw belongs to some fellow Seattlites. So if you're looking for one with a drain...here's their concept. So i'm going to take a lot of their idea and tweak it.

So, being a prolific do it yourself-er, here's my plan to get around gimmicks, sespools, cost, and having to walk downstairs at 6am to wait out my dog's ability to hold it. Please forgive my pencil sketching being hard to see but the concept is this:

Basic concept is a layered box.

• Layer 1: Wooden Tray 
• with sides to contain the leaks This should be about 2-3 inches tall. It's just to create a frame for the whole thing. Since my grid is all one piece, i'm considering putting small chunks in the corners and center to help keep the second tray up and away from the kitty litter. I'm also going to put some small feet on the bottom to prevent rain water from getting trapped under it
• Layer 2: Heavy duty plastic 
• to protect the wood
• Layer 3: Kitty litter! 
• the idea of having to clean out a liquid resivoir doesn't appeal to me. This was totally Boyfriend Jon's idea and it was quite brilliant. 
• Layer 4: A grid- 
• I found a discarded soda crate bottom for support and to create a barrier between my curious pup and the toxic kitty litter. I plan on fitting this inside of the tray with just the handles showing. The point of this is to keep the sod up and away from the kitty litter so the litter doesn't suck moisture out of the sod.
• Layer 5: Screening 
• Run of the mill screen from an old screen door my dad has had lurking in the back yard since i was....10? Maybe this is unnecessary but i figure it will help keep the sod and kitty litter separate.  
• Layer 6: Either sod or astro-turf. 
• I plan on experimenting with both and seeing which is better but since my dad has an abundance of moss infested lawn, he's generously offered to let me take whatever i want for free. So free sod? yes please.

Although I'm a sworn dog person, i must say that cat people have found a superior way to manage a cat's urine. Clumping and odor neutralizing technology (in theory) is a great way to maintain this design without running a drain onto my neighbor's patio.

I was able to scavenge a wood pallet for the wooden tray, the soda crate, the plastic, and the screening. I know i can purloin the sod from my dad, but home depot sells a 2x4 foot section for just $3.50. So really, even without scavenging too hard, this design can be made for less than any of the internet options. And it can be sized to any breed.

(Helpful hit for new DIYers - major hardware stores will cut their wood to size for you usually at little to no cost. so you can make it long and narrow, square...whatever works for your living space)

I realize this is just the design, my next post will include pictures and dimensions for those that need a little more detail.

I return and +1

The end of last year was brutal for me. NaNoWriMo was a chore. But i did finish, then promptly put away my writing and refused to so much as look at it since then.

But i couldn't put my entire laptop away. There was something very important to research. Something that i dove into headfirst and relentlessly pursued. Something that i hadn't realized just how much i missed until I started that research.

Boyfriend Jon and I got a puppy. This is Kira. A miniature Schnauzer at 8-10 weeks old.

Kira has made such a change in our lives in a very short span of time. Our normally clean floor is littered with toys and strands she's pulled out of her rope toy. The tv competes with squeaker toys and we have big celebrations revolving around poop and pee. 

My sweet dog Rusty was put down last year and it was devastating. I missed him every single time i went into my parents house and he wasn't sitting in sphinx pose at the top of the stairs. Miss Molly the Wallet Theif while adorable...isn't my dog. It helps...but it doesn't fill the void. And i will always miss Rusty. 

And life moves on. And now there's a new spot that's quickly developing in my heart for this bundle of energy and adoration when we come home and her little tail wags furiously and she stands on her hind legs to greet us. She sits at my feet while i'm working at my desk on various projects occasionally draping her toys over my feet to let me know she wants to play. 

She's been a member of our family for just over a month and although i dread the thought of walking her at 6am in the middle of winter...i wouldn't give her up for anything. 

And since there's no such thing as too many pictures of puppies....