...: Marsh Chatter
Porch is done - whoo hoo!
About a month later, and the last part of the porch construction is complete. See the old. This repair of long failing back porch was completed today after the last railing baluster was screwed into place.
Everyone says Yeah!
The only thing left now is to do a quick sanding of the handrail to knock off any "splinter opportunities" and to do the landscaping below the porch. The area around the bottom will be boxed in with 4x6 and filled with 2" river rock. Shari will use the area for potted plants. We will bring the BBQ up to the porch, making it much easier to use throughout the year.
While were here - let's include a Ziva Update
Ziva still exploring...
At the end of this month (October) Ziva will be 1 year old (See her when we got her). She is doing really well. We haven't crated her during the day for nearly 2 months now. Sure she had a couple of rough days as she began to understand what freedom meant - but those events are now the exception vs. the rule.
Last night marked the second night that we did not crate her at night. Although she pops in the crate on her own - she is now free to roam at night - although she pretty much just sleeps beside the bed, or under the dresser. The girl has really matured over the last couple of months.
Ziva has bulked up in the chest, like all Blue Heelers do. Ziva is a strong girl and at nearly 50 lbs, she is able to pull you around, if you let her. But she is much better at understanding "heel up" and she will slack off or even come back to your side. Ziva likes to chase tennis balls and is doing really well at catching them, in fact, she can snag a lot of things out of the air. We are really looking forward to some fall days at the nursery with the Frisbee. We took the summer off - as we didn't want to work her like that in the high heat/humidity that SW Michigan had this summer. Plus the nursery isn't mowed during July/August, so mosquito's and other bugs are rampant.
Fresh training coming up for Ziva will be more off-leash time. She has had a little, but we are still not confident that she won't bolt - so off-leash is very controlled. All in all we believe she is ahead of other dogs at this stage, at least those not professionally trained/handled.