dogs – Page 3 – Karla's Cottage

A reunion

celebrations, dogs, family, Food and Drink

By Karla Nathan / July 19, 2022

It has been so busy around here. This could be the first time since I started my blog that I did not have a spare moment to post anything for this long.

I was busy getting ready for our Nathan, Neibaur, Nichols family reunion and while making up beds for 20, yes, 20 people, to sleep at our home and preparing to feed about 30, we saw our peaches were ready to harvest. And those beauties couldn’t wait, we needed to get them done before everyone arrived.

Then we realized the honey also needed to be gathered. Luckily the Guncles came early to the reunion and helped out.

I figured that I’d have time during the get together to do a couple of posts, but I was much, much busier than I had expected to be.

Truly, I don’t know if I have ever been busier. I was up by six every morning and then stayed up late for our parties. We had a dance party, a Pride Night fire show, karaoke, boating, ax throwing, BB gun competition, tie dying shirts, plus all of the cooking.

So much cooking!

Individual families took turns with meals. Did I mention there were lots of meals? Three big ones each day along with snacks and desserts.

It was all quite special.

And fancy.

I’d set up tables outside, but we were in a heat wave, so seating for 30 was squeezed into the cottage.

We made it work.

There were plenty of hugs too. My dogs were happy to have extra people around for lots of petting.

In their opinion, there is never enough petting. A crew of twenty sets of hands almost satisfied them, though.

Now that the festivities have ended, I hope to get caught up soon. But first, we will be disassembling all the extra beds and putting the house back together.

And before that? We have to deal with a issue I am calling Adventures in Sewage..

See the waterfall? Well, actually, there were a few waterfalls.

It required a weekend, emergency plumber. We thought the clog that caused the flooding was fixed and all was well.

Uhm, not quite. Adventures in Sewage, Part Two, was a second clog that caused an even bigger flood.

Wish us luck, this one is a bit more complicated. We will be tackling it tomorrow, and then, the resting up will begin. And I need that rest. I think that the weekend finale of fighting floods put me over the edge.

A walk to see the horses

dogs, friends

By Karla Nathan / May 17, 2022

While our neighbors were out of town, we kept an eye on their five horses.

It was a pleasant walk down the road to visit, so we thought we’d take the doodles. And yes, the dogs LOVED going there.

Too much so.

Molly will not be invited to go back with us, after coming home green and smelly. I didn’t care for having her on a leash to get home.

Along the way, we found this little guy in the highway. Now he has been placed safely up by the pond.

We have come across turtles in the road a lot, but never a tiny baby before. I guess they are just so little they are easy to miss.

This memorial for Dusty was in the flowerbed of our friend’s home. He was such a sweet horse. And his mama had lived with us for years in our old barn, so I kinda felt like I was his god mother, or an auntie of some kind. He was such a mild mannered, good guy, that he was always a star in all of the local parades and Santa rode him for the holiday parade.

Dusty will be missed.

St Augustine Seashell Fairies and Gnomes

Dew Drop, dogs, fairies, family, Food and Drink, sea shell fairies, Sugarwings, Travel

By Karla Nathan / March 27, 2022

You have to love the beaches of St Augustine, and well, just everything about that city.

Technically, I guess it was Butler Beach, a tad south of town. The dogs needed to be on leashes, which wasn’t quite as much fun for them, but the place is soooo pretty, we adore being there.

Shelling for fairies wasn’t as easy as our previous stop, but I managed to wrangle a few sprites into shape to place on the beach our last day.

Tide was coming in soon after these were made. My husband asked to see the fairies, and as we walked over to them, they slipped out into the waves.

He said he’d always been confused by why I spend so much time hunting for the shells to make something that has no permanence, but now got it. That it was the joy of creation, not the creation itself. I don’t think those were his exact words, but it was a sweet conversation, however he phrased it.

It has been pointed out to me, that this gal has three boobs.

hmmm

Not what I was going for, but I sure see it now. I just thought it was a pretty gown with a ruffled bodice. Her striped socks are my favorite part, they look like pieces of the same shell but were found at opposite ends of the shoreline.

One thing I appreciate about this area is the long, flat stretches of sand. Ideal for walking. And there is a “road” along the back where you can drive, so we bring our truck with all of our paraphernalia for the day. We can easily haul a tent, chairs, and coolers to settle in and spend an afternoon.

And I have never seen it too busy. The weather wasn’t perfect, but even when it is, it hasn’t been crowded when we have visited.

After living in a 19’ RV with four dogs for a few weeks, we decided to find an Airbnb while our boy, Dewdrop, and her mother came to see us. It was sorta last minute, so we took what we could get. And we got pretty lucky with this spacious, new house.

I was sold when I saw photos of the fence. What a luxury to just open a door to let dogs out, after being in an RV park and needing leashes!

Oh, and the pool was a bonus.

I already mentioned that our weather was less than perfect, but the grand fairies still spent time out there. Then they’d run to the hot shower and I’d have warm towels waiting for them in the dryer. So the pool wasn’t wasted, even if we couldn’t enjoy it as much as we’d like.

Renting the house was a good move, I cannot imagine what our trip would’ve been like in hotels or another, smaller rental we’d looked at. This one had spacious areas and a covered porch. We sat on the patio while it rained to drink our coffee in the mornings, and it felt very vacationy.

The house was around the corner from some cool, but swampy walking trails. I doubt if I’d take dogs over there on warmer days when gators are active.

We were right down the street from the beach access too. Now, would I have preferred a home with the surf as a backyard?

Well, dur.

But- this one was close. We could zip down quickly between rain spurts if we wanted. And that fence for the dogs? Such a pleasant thing to have when you are crazy enough to travel for five weeks with four mutts.

Most of the trip, we avoided big crowds. Except that rainy Saturday when we, like the rest of the spring breakers thought they’d put on raincoats and go visit the historic downtown. But even then, we avoided the biggest rush of them by looking for a place to eat on side alleys, not the main road, George St. We also took a drive north to Vilano Beach to go to a place that didn’t have a two hour wait like most places in town. I guess I’ve spent enough time in the area to know the ins and outs and avoid the most touristy spots.

You never know when you plan a trip what weather you’ll get. All you can do is hope for the best and be flexible, look for fun where you can. We had planned a big day kayaking out on a crystal spring, but had to cancel. We even scoured the weather map looking for a break in the clouds within a couple hours of driving time.

Nope, no weather break for us. We hunkered down and made the most of our time.

Enjoyed the beach when we could, went to the seafood market and cooked, played games, and just enjoyed each other.

Fresh, local food to cook together, lots of long walks and giggles. It was a great visit, even if I was wearing a raincoat.

Seashell fairies and hearts at Walton Rocks Dog Beach

dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), fairies, sea shell fairies, Travel

By Karla Nathan / March 24, 2022

Our first beach stop on the never ending zig zag of a trip was Ft Pierce, which I’d never been to.

I will have to admit that Ft Pierce isn’t high on my list of cities that I love in Florida. But- this trip was about the dogs, and the dog beach there was off leash, which isn’t always easy to find (Jupiter and Ft De Soto also have off leash beaches, and those are spectacular, but we couldn’t get reservations nearby).

The KOA we stayed at was new and quite nice. So, yes, I guess this city was a good place to be.

And while the beach wasn’t the powder sugar of Siesta Key, that I love so much, the shelling was just my style. HEARTS galore!

And so many broken bits and bobs to make into fairies and a mermaid. These are not the typical shapes of shells that most people look for on the beach, there weren’t a lot of perfectly pretty shells. Because the shore was a bit rocky, the waves beat up stones and shells to create the ideal pieces for the kind of things I like to find on beaches.

I did happy dances up and down the shore, finding hearts everywhere I went. On many beaches, my main hold up in piecing together a fairy is often the head. I look for smoothed out, oval shapes and they usually are the last part to find. Some fairies take an entire week of shelling in certain cities, others come together quickly, like the three that I made in Ft Pierce.

There were hearts up by the parking lot too.

While I say that Ft Pierce isn’t my favorite city to go to, I reckon I should weigh my needs. For that week, and what we wanted, it was ideal. Lots of space for dogs to run and play, heart shapes and fairy pieces everywhere, plus a clean new campground to park our tiny home on wheels.

So yep, maybe I do love Ft Pierce? The town itself is a bit on the low end of the tourist scale, but there are nearby cities to run to if I needed to pick anything up. This is not a place I’d go to stay at a hotel on the shore with family, but for what we wanted, it couldn’t be better.

We could walk forever and be mostly alone with the dogs.

And an ocean view, is always a precious thing to have.

Other cities might have softer sand and less rocks, but being able to let four dogs run and play in the surf, to walk for miles without crowds, and to have a view of the crashing waves as we strolled?

Priceless.

RV Life is Better When Things are Pretty

cottage, dogs, Dorkies (Yorkshire Terrriers), redos, sewing?

By Karla Nathan / March 11, 2022

When we first got to Florida, the beach was a little chilly, but since then the weather has been ideal.

And I am so happy that I cozied up the little camper with new linens, paint and curtains.

Dorothy likes it too.

The other dogs like their new bunk bed/kennel that we created for them.

My only issue is in trying to hang the artwork I brought along. Command hooks didn’t support them, even though they are lightweight. I did figure out that a binder clip on the ugly valance will hold a picture over the windows, but I can’t get anything to work on the walls.

I’d also like to get rid of those ugly valances, but that’s another day.

New curtains cover the top bunk, and I ordered cushion covers for the top pillows on the bench. Now, they aren’t exactly my first choice in fabric, but they are what I could get and they are better than just plain dark brown.

This is the door we made to turn the bottom bunk bunk bed into a dog crate. My husband had to do some rebuilding and boosting the opening to make the door fit snugly and securely. I am so glad he did, what a helpful addition to camper life.

One change that was important to me, was covering the inside of the glass doors so that I don’t have to look at all of our stored goods. What a simple fix for something that irritated me every time we used the rv. I cut foam core to fit and wrapped it into the curtain fabric, then attached it to the interior of the windows.

I am much happier without the cluttery view of peanut butter, cracker boxes, and stacks of dishes.

The sea glass blue paint in the bathroom has made a world of difference to me. The previous blah brown wall paper was a downer.

So was the icky brown shower curtain. This one is put together (I wouldn’t call what I do real sewing) from curtains my sister gave to me when she redecorated.

We use the campground bath houses instead of our teensy shower, so I made use of the space by transforming it into a closet. If I do ever need to use it as intended, it’s pretty simple just to move the stuff out again, nothing is permanent.

Because in a 19’ trailer with four dogs, you need to make use of every inch!

The pups can fill the space quickly.

But mostly we are out doors as much as we can be.

Going for walks or running on the beach.

The dogs love the beach as much as I do.

Being cheap but not looking cheap with a redo

cottage, dogs, redos

By Karla Nathan / February 2, 2022

This isn’t exactly a beautiful corner of my home, but it sure is better than it was before!

The ceiling here is two stories, to repaint the walls, I’d need to hire someone with scaffolding- I don’t do heights.

It’s a dark area, so I wanted to keep the paint light but the lower walls were constantly a mess because we stupidly used flat paint on the original job and every mark showed. And I was out of the original paint. It was something I’d mixed myself to save money, I’d bought multiple gallons of oops paint and other clearance paints from the Habitat store, dumped them all into a giant bucket together and sprayed the ceiling and walls with the conglomerated color. So, touching up was a gamble, I tried so many shades of white and never got close.

And to add to the screw up? Yep, it was flat paint and every mark made by every hand that touched the wall waved at me for years.

NEVER USE FLAT PAINT ON STAIRWAY WALLS IF HUMANS (or dogs) GO UP THOSE STAIRS!

Saving money is wonderful. My mistake was in not saving any of that mix to match up later on. And in using a flat sheen. Big oops.

The compromise was to add trim about 4-1/2 feet up, and paint the lower portion to match the room upstairs. This color and sheen will be easier to care for. If I get marks that don’t wipe off, I can open the leftover paint and touch up. And I can easily reach to do the touch up, no ladders would be needed on the stairs.

(Eeeek, a horrid thought! I’m dizzy just contemplating ladders on stairs!)

I am so relieved to have an inexpensive solution to this problem. After doing a big redo, I was ready for a budget friendly fix!

Here is another do it yourself, easy on the wallet fix from when we first built the addition. To save money, I decided to tile the entryway myself. The area was concrete, so no backing was needed.

My issue was that I couldn’t use a saw, or didn’t even have the right kind of saw. So, I bought different sizes of tiles plus those little flat rocks that coordinate with them and put the floor together like a puzzle.

No cutting needed!

We had discussed changing the stairs when laying the new floor upstairs, but the carpet was in good shape and seemed safer than slippery steps. It’s an industrial carpet and held up pretty good on the stairs.

And along the lines of trying to be budget prudent, if it is okay, you do not have to change it.

For now, the wall and door colors in the entry way are from a previous redo and also seem fine. For now. But I’d like to repaint the walls to match the freshly done ones and give that door a pop of color. Maybe like a deep, but grayed down turquoise?

A new look for the office

cottage, dogs, family, paintings, redos

By Karla Nathan / January 24, 2022

We finished the transformation of Rich’s office. Well, almost. We need a different sofa.

And for right now, the little nook that he is using as a computer area is just a board screwed to the wall, not a desk or table.

The rest of the room is all done, and everyone is enjoying the pool/ping pong table.

Most of the workout equipment is in the spot where all of the file cabinets and desks used to be.

The treadmill is behind the seating area, facing the tv, and there is room for an exercise bike next to it.

The walls are freshly painted and patched.

I filled the knotholes in the barn wood window sills with turquoise chips and clear coated the wood. After years of sunshine pouring in, they were cracking and dull.

We added new blinds and lighting, my son replaced the flooring.

The newly framed “ancestor” pictures hang below a sign pulled from the wreckage of the gas station Rich’s grandfather owned.

Some of these family photos were updated and reframed. I still need to get a few others up there. I think I have room for four more, a smaller one on each side of the bottom and top rows.

I have wanted that carpet gone for years, and am very pleased with the new, cleaned up version of the room! All of the hard parts are done, now I get to go furniture shopping for a new couch.

Light and bright white

cottage, dogs, redos

By Karla Nathan / January 22, 2022

While I had all of my painting paraphilia out for redoing my husband’s office, I thought it would be a good time to repaint my bedroom and master bath.

Of course, I had completely forgotten that I am a senior citizen. And that after painting a huge room, stairway, and bathroom, maybe I needed a break?

Less than halfway through the bedroom, I remembered.

Yep, I was exhausted. So, I only repainted the doors, trim, wall, and sink area bathroom cabinet. I didn’t make it around the corner to the master bath.

I am taking a little break from the physical labor!

And enjoying the tranquility I created in that room.

One of the reasons it was so hard, was that I used a very pure white. If I’d softened the color, I’d have gotten better coverage. The pure white wore me down to a nub, it took sooo many touch ups. Plus I had snow blindness from staring at the glaring, blank, white walls, trying to see where skips showed through and guessing if that area needed a touch up or was actually a shadow.

The color isn’t a huge change from the soft gray/blue that was previously on the walls, but it feels like it because everything is so fresh, bright and clean. I think that painting the doors and trim the exact color of the walls (with a different sheen) makes the ceiling stand out, while also giving the room a feeling of being bigger.

The old curtains were tan, as were the doors. Changing those made the biggest difference. And were an inexpensive purchase on Amazon. Man, they have cheap curtains, and it was so easy to get 108” ones, unlike shopping in person!).

With four dogs and ten acres for them to run on, maybe I should’ve painted the entire room the tan color instead of getting rid of it. Soon, there will be muddy marks all around the room from happy, wagging tails slapping everything.

I’ll enjoy the pure white I tried so hard to apply as long as I can.

Stretching out the cheeriness and overcoming teen apathy, ending our Christmas on a sweet note

celebrations, dogs, family, Food and Drink, holiday decor, Sugarwings

By Karla Nathan / January 5, 2022

About halfway between Christmas and New Years I am itching to take down the holiday decorations. The gifts are unwrapped, chaos has occurred with all of the celebrating, cooking, sleepovers, and piles of stuff here and there. I am ready for clean lines and tidiness.

Instead of flipping the switch from over the top, non stop Christmas that started in November to the simpleness of January right away like I want to, I make myself wait until the grand fairies either go back to Mom’s house or to school, because I want them to enjoy their winter break to the max, and atmosphere matters.

But just a couple days after our big celebration, I saw that Sugarwings was curled up in the couch nest (that was claimed as their permanent spot when Covid hit and school was online) being a non involved teen just looking at tic toks, and I saw no reason to keep it festive around here.

So I started hauling out boxes and setting up a ladder, preparing for the big, annual packing up.

Then it occurred to me that the fun didn’t have to end if I didn’t want it to.

So, in the messy midst of all of the boxes and bins, with some things half pulled down, I declared it was time for a cocoa party by the last lingering lights of the trees.

We turned on a Christmas movie marathon, plopped ourselves down to a tray full of our favorite cocoa party goodies and the two of us had one of my favorite days of the holiday break.

Funny thing, I barely like hot chocolate. I just looooove the festive-ness, tradition, and ceremony of serving it. And I love Sugarwings.

We missed our little Dewdrop, and it was a different sort of holiday with no little kids around. But I know that a celebration is what you make it, it can be special and exciting if you make the effort. And even teenagers can be invested and joyous when that effort is put out there.

Simple Treasures and Dealing with Grief at the Holidays

collections, cottage, dogs, family, holiday decor

By Karla Nathan / December 25, 2021

2020 was such a wreck I almost didn’t decorate for the holidays. But with a grand fairy around, one whose year was as bad as mine, I needed to.

And the twinkle of lights during a dark winter is very uplifting.

So I did some holiday foofing, and was glad that I did. But when I found the bag of pinecones that Ryan and I gathered on a walk, the recollections of that day wrenched my soul.

We’d had Sugar with us, and we were in an area we called The Danger Zone, because there were so many squirrels. Balancing a squirrel crazed dog on a leash while trying to fill our pockets with pinecones, and having them fall out every time we bent over made us laugh til I cried.

And I cry now, just thinking about it.

But it was a fun memory, one to hold on to. So, last year, I put out just the trees with lights and pinecones in honor of him and how much we laughed that day while picking those up.

I will always have a tree decorated with pinecones for Ryan now, and use them throughout the house.

Every day is hard when you lose a child. But little things, like a pinecone, that can bring back flashes of a very happy day, are treasures that can help.

I have added his picture to one of the pinecone trees, and I love this one because it shows his caring and kindness.

I have used a bit more red around the house too. It was his favorite color.

And I have done mosaic glass on vases that flowers were delivered in after he died. They have flickering candles inside and make me think of how many ways he lit up my life.

This is our second Christmas without him. Sometimes I am shocked that so much time has gone by.

Other days, it feels like he has been gone forever.

I look at Molly, watching her grow from a wriggly little pup into a lovely dog, and realize that Ryan never even met her. She is a living symbol of my time without him.

I can just hear his voice if he knew we kept this pup from the litter. He’d probably say just what his brother did- are you crazy!? You do not need another dog!

But he’d have loved her to pieces.

She and I go for long walks on the sidewalks Ryan and I followed and some days we stop at the Danger Zone where all the pinecones fall and I tell her about him. She is a good listener.

There are so many happy stories to share. And so many pinecones covering the ground. Each is a reminder that nature renews itself, life goes on. That the little, simple things are what is important.