Brrrrr ---- preparing for the upcoming weather!

All of the local weather stations are chock full of warnings about what is coming....  for now its blustery winds and temps in the 20's.  But soon the temps will fall, and we will be in the 20 below range.  With wind chills in the 40-50 BELOW range.  Frostbite in 10 minutes or less.

Boy oh boy this is going to be an interesting Packer Game tomorrow!  Those 49'ers arrived last night and are practicing today in the 20 degree temps are gonna think "this ain't so bad" heh heh heh.  Sure glad enough sponsors bought up the extra tickets so our televised game on the local stations wouldn't be blacked out.  I am proud to say our bank (Associated Bank) bought up a whole pile and gave them away during the pep rally in downtown Green Bay yesterday afternoon!

On the dog topic, last night we decided to try to let little Finnegan sleep upstairs in our bedroom like Duke does.... on the floor by our bed.  So far for the last 3 weeks he has slept in his dog crate in the laundry room. His crate is always dry overnight with no accidents.

I brought his padded doggie mat up to the bedroom last night and laid it next to Duke's blue rug. I pointed to the mat and told Finnegan to "down" and he laid on it and wagged his tail.  Then Duke did the most wonderful thing... he came over and laid next to Finney on the mat!  Awwwww

So either it was to be a buddy and be close... 

or was it to assert the fact that Duke is Top Dog 

and can lay any where he dang well pleases?

Later on Duke moved over to his own blue rug... and the pup dozed in place the rest of the night!  

No wandering, no chewing up anything and most of all, no begging to come up into our bed!

About 6am I heard a click of his dog tag and some stirring, so I got up and brought him outside for a quick potty break.  When we came back in from the blasting winds, he scooted right back up the stairs and straight to his bed mat again!  Duke didn't stir a bit and both dogs went back to sleep!   Steve was still snoring so I figured what the heck, I went back to bed too.   Couldn't sleep, but at least we were cozy warm and QUIET!

I guess little Finnegan has it all figured out to sleep upstairs and be a good boy.  I have to keep in mind that he isn't a tiny 8 week old pup, instead he is a 5 month old teenager who can be trusted to some higher degree of standard.  His bladder is mature to last the night, and as long as he knows the "rules" he can learn to be a more socialized dog in the house now. 

Speaking of doggie bed and TOTAL CUTENESS.... CHECK THIS OUT:

 This is Daisy, who is Finnegan's Mommy.... 

and her new bed she got for Christmas!

Now on to some "Our Old House" topics.... 

I figure until we go anywhere travelling, there isn't much to write about.  So I thought I would go room by room in our house and do some "Before" and "After" pics since it's been a whole year.

So I will start with the outside of the house....  

BEFORE

AFTER

First off, we removed the heavy overgrown arborvitaes and cedar hedges that were growing across the front of the porch.  Two of them broke under the heavy snow load and needed to come out anyhow. Once removed, it highlighted the lovely fret-work cutout lattice running along under the porch!  How adorable!

I painted the sides of the front stoop, and some of the trim on the house in a hunter green.  I might do a bit more this next spring along the top edge?  I have been dabbling adding colored sections on a photo with a Paint program on the computer to see what else I want hunter green. We might add some green shutters on the upper floor windows in the front to dress it up too.  Not sure yet.

We removed the heavy yellowed plastic roll-up blinds on the front porch interior.  It really brightened up the windows and looks so much nicer, even from the outside.

We added a metal mail slot to the front door, and our mailman slides in the mail each day, and puts packages inside the door.  So much nicer than wading through snowdrifts out to the road like we used to do at our last house!

For Mother's Day, Steve bought me the weeping cherry tree we planted in the front yard.  I surrounded it with white cement scallops and well as around the front flower bed I planted where the old cedars and arborvitaes had been.   We left the hedges along the right side of the house to create balance but also cover the ugly gas meter, electric meter and hide the air conditioner too.


On the back of the house, originally there had been an enclosed porch many years ago.  It had been removed when the newer garage was built, and they did a a nice covered entry porch at the back of the house instead.  It's not quite an attached garage, but close enough to get in and out easily.  The porch had been built nicely of treated wood, but never was stained.

BEFORE

 AFTER

So once the weather was warm enough in April, I used some solid color stain by Cabots that looks like paint when done, but is still really a stain product that soaks in, so it won't peel, chip or crack like paint does over the years.  I also painted the rain barrel.. LOL

I also stained the upper portion of the "shaker porch" and put up a new clothesline. 

Well, that is enough for today.  Our coffee time is over, the coffee cake I baked is now half eaten, and we will save the rest for tomorrow morning.   Steve is chomping at the bit to get a move on here and get some stuff done for today.

Stay in and stay warm!