Putting up the shower walls

Okay so Thanksgiving weekend was incredibly productive for Little Tiger, Ella, and I.

We were able to get the plumbing done for the shower and Toilet, as well as putting up the cement board for the shower area, and the mortar base for the shower.

Shower Front Wall
From Bathroom Renovations


Little Tiger helping find the tools Andy lost

From Bathroom Renovations


Andy Working on the last piece of Cement board

From Bathroom Renovations


From Bathroom Renovations


LT cleaning up
From Bathroom Renovations


The beginnings of mixing the 400 lbs of mortar

From Bathroom Renovations


Finishing the last bits of mortar base in the shower
From Bathroom Renovations

New Drain Day!!

Ok, so today was a great day of really beginning the construction of the new floor and framing the new STRAIGHT walls. When we began the day the room looks like this
From Bathroom Demolition


You can see the drain trap in the middle of the floor, as well as the remains of the jacuzzi tub electrical wire that was previously run UNDER the tub...I don't know all the remodeling code, but I know that electric and water don't get along too well. Then we started cutting the wood downstairs.

From Bathroom Demolition


Little Tiger was realizing that the workbench was a little too tall for her, so she employed the step stool to get a better handle on things...

From Bathroom Demolition


And to avoid any and all future brain damage, Little Tiger went ahead and purchased a hard hat for big andy

From Bathroom Demolition


Now the bathroom looks like this with new flooring and walls newly framed...

From Bathroom Demolition


Until next time

Moving PVC piping and a surprise

So today we get to have the PVC piping moved and try to get to a point where we will be ready to put in the new shower hardware. The PVC piping handles our draining and vent stacks. One of the more difficult parts of this portion of the project was simply trying to remember what the hell pieces to buy at the store. This was compounded by the fact I forgot to write down the pieces I needed before heading to my favorite Big Box store.

Aside from the fact that I forgot to hook the drain from the other bathroom upstairs before taking a shower the PVC went reasonable well. We are still a little skeptical of how well those joints will stay, but in 24 hours we will know a little more. As we were getting these PVS pieces set up, we decided to go ahead and cut out the previous shower that was in place.

Once we cut out the old shower we discovered that the shut off valves didn't work at the base of the shower. We expected to see this as the valves had been in the on position for so long. In order to get these valves replaced, we had to shut off the main house water. Once we did this, we discovered that the main house water was completely killing the water flow. As this presents some troubling results, we really didn't know how to deal with this and the soldering. When we first started the soldering, we realized that the continuing water flow wouldn't let us keep tight seals.

Trips to Lowes/Sears today: 4
Trips to Lowes/Sears Total: 9

Current look of the new plumbing

Woo Hoo New Valves:
From Bathroom Demolition


Woo Hoo New PVC:
From Bathroom Demolition

Plumbing Begun!

Today was quite a day. In order to get the shower area ready for a new shower pan, we needed to move some of the currently placed PVC pipes that are currently in the way. This involves moving multiple pipes, Vent Stacks, and removing the currently placed Shower copper tubing. The PVC came out just fine, and other than trying to model all the new pipes in my head to make the trip to Sears, was pretty straight forward. So far the biggest hiccup has been the fact that we punched a hole in the ceiling of the foyer with the trap. The hole now looks like this...

From Bathroom Demolition

Bathroom Demolition Begun!

So LT and I decided that it would be better to renovate the bathroom ourselves. We have started pulling things apart and looking to see what would need to happen after having quotes from GC's ranging from $5000 to $40,000.

We started off looking like this...

From Bathroom Demolition


From Bathroom Demolition


From Bathroom Demolition


From Bathroom Demolition


From Bathroom Demolition


Now things are starting to look like this...

From Bathroom Demolition


From Bathroom Demolition


From Bathroom Demolition


From Bathroom Demolition


From Bathroom Demolition


From Bathroom Demolition


So far the trips to home depot, lowes, and sears total three trips, and only an axe, saws-all, Wet Dry Vac

Bathroom Demolition Begun!

It was about a week ago we started tearing apart the bathroom. It started off looking like this...

From Bathroom Demolition

Visit to Cousin Casey's

Hi Mom and Dad,

I just wanted you to know how much fun I’ve had over at Cousin Casey’s house while you were gone. Thanks for letting me go over there for the sleep-over.

On Friday afternoon, the Wonder Horse came by to get me (by the way, do you know why we call him that?). You know he’s getting pretty old and forgetful so he did not bring the house key with him when he picked me up but fortunately Joe and Christy were home so he borrowed the key they had to get me. He came a little earlier than planned and was here around 4:00pm. We had a nice ride home and I behaved really well in the car – just like you told me to do.

When we got there, we went right out to the pool with Cousin Casey and had a great time swimming and fetching. I am getting so good retrieving the Air-Dog and got lots of praise. The Wonder Horse told me I was even faster than he remembered. We had to let Casey go in early because she was getting tired and having a hard time keeping up with me. That was okay because then I had all the Air-Dog toys to myself.

I had a good dinner and sniffed all around the house during the evening to see everything I could but I behaved myself, as usual. Pretty quiet evening. I did all my bathroom stuff and we all went to bed around 10:15pm. I could have stayed up later but the ole’ fella was tired. I slept great on that fun bed in my crate and we got up around 6:30am.

Saturday morning has been a little wet out because of some rain but that doesn’t bother me. I ate a good breakfast, did a couple of potty breaks and even got treats for going out and doing so well. Now, we’re just hanging out. Bob is working in his office so I’m enjoying all of Casey’s bones and exploring. I think he may have closed some of the doors upstairs for some reason so I can’t check out everything.

After he finally got through with his dumb work, Bob took Casey and me out for some pool time. We had a blast and were out there for over two hours. I made sure Casey had a good work-out and we “shared” the Air-Dogs very well. I think she had as much fun as I did although I did hear her growling at me for some reason. Must be an old-age think. I was pooped after all that swimming and took a long nap to recover but now it’s early Saturday evening and I’m raring to go. Should be fun tonight.

Actually, after I had my delicious dinner and lots of water, I was still tired. I chewed on all of Casey’s bones for a while and then took another nap. I think Casey was tired too because she went to sleep right after dinner and was still sleeping when I got up. Well, I was still tuckered out from all our time outside swimming so I was pretty lazy Saturday night – no partying for me, that’s for sure. Bob took me out to the bathroom a couple of times in the evening and, by 9:45, I went in and got in my cage while he was watching TV and went back to sleep. I was one tired puppy!!

Sunday morning arrived and what a beautiful day it was. I was super-charged and ready to go. Had a great breakfast…the old Wonder Horse sure can cook…and spent some time outside walking around taking care of business. Then, I helped Bob put together some thing he had gotten for the garage…not sure he could have done it without me and then I slept under his desk while he did some paperwork. I think I was still tired from yesterday.

Finally, some actual fun happened early Sunday afternoon. While Bob was on the phone doing some bookkeeping junk with Michael (they wouldn’t even let me talk with Lady, can you believe it?!), Kirk and Sandy came by to go swimming. Yippee!! We had a blast. Bob decided to leave Casey inside since we had such a competitive day yesterday which was great for me. I had all the humans to myself and it was so nice out. I didn’t do as much swimming or retrieving but we stayed out all afternoon until around 5:30pm and then we came in for the day. I was pretty tired and laid down for a short nap until dinner which was awesome as usual. Then I went out for a little bathroom time and just hanging around the house for some TV time which I really like. It’s a good time to gnaw on the all the bones here which I really like. Casey tried my dinosaur but I didn’t like that too much. She knows better now.

Sunday night was a bit of a blur. I tried so hard to stay awake but was so tired again. Bob must think I’m a lazy-bones but I got so worn out from all the swimming outside and the fresh air. I was able to stagger out long enough for a late bathroom session and I did have some fun worrying a small frog out in the yard. I wanted to bring him inside but Bob said “no” so we had to leave it out there. We finally turned out the lights around 10:00pm and I slept soundly all night again. My bed is so comfortable and I really like it. Remind me to thank Sandy again for it next time we’re together.

After another great night of sleep, I was up and raring to go on Monday morning. Bob told me you guys were coming home which made me very excited. He also said he was going to share some pictures with you about my time at Linnwood. I am such a pretty puppy so I know they will all be good…hope he gets my good side. We had a fairly quiet morning but that was okay since I still felt a little stiff from all that pool time.

Not much else to report about today but I had a wonderful time with Bob and Casey. And, I didn’t chew up anything important and was a good girl the whole time. Once I got the lay of the land better and Casey was okay with me playing with all her toys, it was perfect. Thanks again for letting me go there and please do something wonderful for Bob and Casey since they took such good care of me :>)

Love….Ella

p.s. I hope you guys had as much fun as I did!
I remember when I was just a little girl, and had so much fun with my little bones...


It's not easy being Ella


I spent all day yesterday hanging out with Uncle Murphy. I spent the whole day running circles around him, so today I was a little tired.


a good weekend



This weekend was a busy one for me. Once I was able to begin keeping my food down, I started to really have a good time.



Friday night Big Andy and Little Tiger when to the Mutty's for a wonderful eight course meal.





Demitasse of Chilled Green Pea soup with shave fennel and a Parnod waft serverd with a Sancerre Bernard Reverdy 2006...Steve had the creative and incredible foresight to paint the back side of the each little bowl of soup with Pernod to get just that 'waft' of anise oil


This was the warm Caponatina of Swiss Chard and Cannellini Beans over wilted Baby Arugula with fresh Mozzarella and Genoa Salami jerky


Mmmmm....."Griglia Mista" - a mixed grill of meats with accompaniments server with Montegauro Piedirosso dei Campi Flegrei, Riserva 2004 & Chateau la Lagune, Grand Cru Classe Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux 2004


This was the preparation of the Dessert Course: Terrine of Crepes, layered with chocolate and flambe' with bittersweet oranges

Did I get asked to join?

Of course not. Always the bridesdog, never the bride. And while they were there enjoying God's gift to food. They left me in the ole' Laundry room where I enjoyed naps on the floor. Saturday was a different story however....

Big Andy took me to the nursery where we picked up some flagstone. And while I thought he was spending his money on a wonderful snack for me. In fact, he was building a wall around a flower bed out back. While he lugged the rocks around the yard, I was able to lie on the deck and relax in the sun. This is me chomping on sticks in the back yard...



After that I thought we were done for the evening, and I would be able to jump on Big Andy and Little Tiger while they sat on the couch.

I was wrong.

We got to go and visit my best friend Aunt Casey.



We went over to Bob's house around 5 PM or so and I dined on some delicious vienna sausages wrapped in american cheese. I wanted to make sure I shared, so I knocked off a few for my older relative and we ate in style. After dinner we all went outside for some exercise, and while the rest of the group sat around a fire...I was able to run my sprints through the group.



After 45 minutes of this, they went and sat in a big pot of hot water, while I was left to fend for myself on the deck, and 38 degree weather until 2AM.

After waking up on Sunday and playing with Casey for a few more hours, we headed back home and I was pooped. I couldn't keep my eyes open to save my life...

Ella for which all things revolve around



Hi, I'm Ella and this will be where I write to you about how my days go around the Tiger household. Today I am at home with Knitting Tiger as we both don't feel so well. She has a cold, and I keep loosing my cookies. I will keep you all up to speed with the household, and how well I am able to steal some food.