sigh.the damn dog house.sigh

my jerry spent the day outside, performing hard manual labor. all day. he weed eated. he trimmed. he pruned. he clipped. and then...

he, two of his grandchildren, and i picked flowers. i didn't bring my webcam with me, or i'd post a pic of the lovely bouquet of an assortment pretties, including a purple lilac and some daffodils and some crab-apple twigs with reddish blooms that make me think of carnations.

we went to the farm to fetch The Damn Dog House. sigh. now i know i've told the story of The Damn Dog House {sigh} before but lemme recap. a good couple-few years ago, when it was just me and shaddow {and no ace, beider, sweetie-pie, ziggee, saffron, henry, or any other critters}; i came home from school/work and POOF! there was a miniture house sitting in my front yard.

see, the architecture students had to form groups and each group had to design and build a dog house. then the houses were auctioned off. all the proceeds went to the local animal shelter/humane society. well, my neighbors had noticed that shaddow's lil house was looking like she was Clifford, The Big Red Dog {she'd stand up inside the dog house and walk away and the house would go with her, she looked like a giant mutant turtle}. so my neighbor's friend won an architecture student group built dog house. but she didn't have a dog to put in it. so she was lamenting this fact to my neighbor and my neighbor said that she knew who had a dog and needed a dog house.

so that was the miniture house sitting in my front yard. it's large enough that i can sit upright, shaddow {my 65 lb black lab} can sprawl out, and we aren't cramped in there at all. it has carpetting. and roofing shingles. and a split two level roof. one wall extends out along the front, with the roof extending over this, sorta like a carport. the other wall is batting/board style, meaning that the two by fours are staggered so that it creates a nice air flow thru the house. it really is a marvel.

til ya try to move The Damn thing. it's rather substantial and is built on skids so that the floor is actually not resting on the ground. this thing is built to last. i've lived in places smaller than that Damn Dog House.

so the other day, my landlords' two teenage sons tried to load it on the back of my jerry's truck for me. they succeeded in budging it from the foundation it had formed from sitting there over the past few years. then we all walked away and decided to give it another try this weekend.

fast-foward to this afternoon and my jerry and i bumped along the dirt/gravel road onto the farm and backed into my yard as far as possible, meaning to the gated entrance. while i went in the house and did a few things, my jerry wrestled The Damn Dog House from its resting place to the gate. he was able to do it cuz he's strong. and also cuz once he got it moving, the very tall grass and weeds created a nice cushy surface to slide That Damn Dog House right along and while it was moving, he just kept it going.

we heaved and ho'ed and loaded it up onto the bed of the truck. once it was on there, we gaped at it. ya don't really realize how big it is til you have something to compare it to. like the full sized bed of a full sized pick up. there was about a foot running along one side of the bed that was not occupied by The Damn Dog House. and a foot between it and the tailgate. The Damn Dog House was actually taller than the cab.

*gape*

i was very pleased that it was going that well, getting it all transported and all, ya know? then we pulled into my jerry's yard. which is a tad soft at the moment. but we decided, what the hell, let's give it the ole college try. and backed the truck up and about fifty feet into that venture, we got stuck. the rear right tire was so mired in mud that it was up over the lower edge of the rim. the rest of the tires looked kinda flat, cuz the truck was that heavy that it was sinking into the yard.

.sigh*shit*sigh.

so we off loaded The Damn Dog House and lugged/dragged it to the side area where last week my jerry'd fenced in a safe area for shaddow. but then, cuz the front part of The Damn Dog House is slightly more narrow, it fit thru the gate just fine; but the back, oh well, the back of The Damn Dog House is wider. wider than the gate. so we sorta got it wedged in the gate.

by performing feats that would make the keystone kops proud, we finally did manage to get it into the fenced in safe area, and situated where The Damn Dog House shall stay until it falls apart. i reckon that'd be in about fifty years or so. it's built to last.

i called AAA cuz we were just making the whole "stuck in the mud" thing worse. or better, i mean, we were really getting the truck stuck in the mud more firmly, deeper. i mean, what's the point of doing something halfway, ya know?

AAA sent a tow-dude, who snickered at me. shook his head and gave my jerry a half grin that clearly said, "them damn dames, what're ya gonna do?" and then pulled the truck out from the relative safety of the driveway, some fifty feet away. there's a reason i have AAA, and it's for situations just like this. and also cuz my car leaves me sitting. often. but it is fifteen years old and that's what happens, one way or another.

but my shaddow, and the chihuahuas are so damn delighted with The Damn Dog House that it makes it all worth while. except i think my jerry may have strained a muscle or two and it looks like i've been engaging in self-mutilation {with two by fours}. i'll be bruised from elbow to wrist and i think one knee cap is a tad tender from where i slipped in the mud and caught the corner of The Damn Dog House with my knee. my jerry is gonna be a bit stiff tomorrow, i think. and not in a good way.

.sigh.damndoghouse.sigh.