Really getting there now!
Doors went in on Tuesday…
No glass in those pictures, glass went in on Wednesday 😉
And then plasterboard started going up on Friday!
Looking down towards the garden. See, I’ve got a window now too!
And non-plasterboarded wall looking back towards the house.
Tons of wiring to do now. I expect updates will be few and far between because there isn’t really that much to take pictures of!
I just upgraded WordPress to 2.2 and I decided I wanted a new theme. So I went looking for a butterfly theme, as Papillons are Butterfly Dogs butterflies are very popular and so it seemed fitting.
I found one theme, went to download it and thought it looked vaguely familiar. Looked again and discovered it’s the same one that Draca has recently put on hers 😆 Great minds eh?
So I’m off to search for a different one…. 😆
Edit: Oo look I found one and I love it too. Sorted! 😀
Right, I thought it was about time I shared it with you all! I’ve just been so preoccupied writing about the extension and just generally being busy that I haven’t had time to sit down and write a post that would do it justice. So, here goes nothing….
You may remember last December I finally heard back about my application for a dog from Dogs for the Disabled. Full details are in this post here. If you haven’t already you’ll probably need to read that, but the gist of it was after waiting over 5 years I was eventually able to apply. I passed the first two stages but when it came to the third (and final)Â stage they decided they weren’t happy with the current situation but if I applied again after the building work was done then I’d probably be successful. Obviously I was really upset because for years it had always been that as soon as I was 18 I’d get this dog and yadda yadda. But it started me thinking was this actually what I wanted? Yes the help round the house and things would be fantastic but part of the point was getting out more and really that would be shopping/town and/or college. I like to go into town occasionally but not that frequently and although I always thought I wanted to do a college course now I wasn’t so sure. There’s a good chance I’ll never be able to hold down a proper job and I probably have better things to do with my energy anyway!
Ever since I can remember I’ve always wanted to show dogs but I’d just got totally latched onto the idea of this assistance dog and a show dog had never seemed very possible or realistic. But in a totally confused state I started looking into the possibility. So I mulled it all over, made a few enquiries and then in January I plucked up the courage and went to a ringcraft class to see what happened. I knew there were two Papillon breeders there who I was hoping to meet up with. But of course even though they go most weeks I had to pick the week they weren’t there! And then cos I’m utterly pathetic it took another 2 months (don’t laugh) of me trying to pluck up the courage to either go to ringcraft again and hope they’d be there or contact them direct, I couldn’t bring myself to do either!
But then I found an e-mail address for the breeders and with a lot of encouragement I bit the bullet and sent them an email about myself. She emailed back and said that if I wanted to they’d love to meet, so they came to our house. They brought one of the dogs with them and we had a really long chat. One thing led to another and by the time they left I was totally sold on the idea that this was what I wanted to do.
So then the Tuesday after they came (which was a Friday) I went to ringcraft and got to cuddle the 7 week old pups they had there (they take them from 6 weeks and leave them in a crate on the stage to get used to all the sights/sounds) and then when everyone had paused for coffee S asked me if I’d like to try. I had to think about it for ages and then I said no 😉 Heh, obviously I jumped at the chance. So she tried with Tara who was far too bouncy and unaware to walk safely beside my chair, then tried Tara’s sister, Tammy, and S walked beside me with her, then handed me the lead and told me to try! And she went beautifully. So then for the next few weeks I handled her every Tuesday.
Then on the 6th May was the South Western Toy Dog Club show and I was going to show Tammy, my first show actually showing. So of course Tammy decided to come into season on the Friday! She’s only 11 months old, had some spotting at about 9 months but hadn’t actually had a proper season yet. She’d been a right pain for the previous couple of weeks actually but so had her sisters so thought it was just that stroppy teenage stage!
But they are two of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet, they’ve gone out of their way to help me and they really are so nice. So when S rang up on Friday to say Tammy’d come into season she said if I turned up dressed to show on Sunday I could try a couple of the other dogs they were taking and see if one of them would go for me. So I got there early before the judging started so the ring was clear and then you can take the dogs round it as a practice. They gave me a 17mth old bitch called Toola and told me to try her round and she went so well, she’d never met me before never mind a big power chair and she seemed totally unfazed! So I took her in and we came 2nd! Out of 2 but sshhh 😉 Her movement was great but when it came to the standing she stood beautifully when the judge wasn’t looking, and as soon as she turned round and was looking Toola wouldn’t even begin to stand nicely! It was the most amazing feeling, I had such a good time and at that point I knew I’d made the right decision.
Tuesday was ringcraft again, but Toola is really bad with any dogs that aren’t Paps/Phalenes. Not aggressive just terrified. So as they obviously couldn’t bring Tammy they did bring Toola for the experience but they also brought Mac, because they thought Toola would probably be terrified. So I got to handle Mac! To start with he just sat and refused to move and I was carrying on tugging on the lead and trying to persuade him he did want to come with me! And by the end he was really going quite nicely, most satisfying. Amazing what a bit of bribery can do 😉
Saturday the 19th was the South of England Papillon Club Open Show and we drove all the way up to Chieveley, near Newbury, which was a massive achievement. I turned up expecting to show but without a clue who it would be! I knew they were definitely taking Toola and Mac among others and Tammy may or may not have been out of season in time. Tammy was there but they decided the best dog for me to show would be Mac, which was a bit daunting as I’d only ever handled him once before and then he’d spent most of the time on his bum and I’d only got him moving by luring him with cheese! I took him outside and moved up him and down a couple of times and he came ok so that was a bit of a relief. His was the third class and he was the first of S + T’s dogs in the ring. Despite the fact that we were there nice and early, before the judging started, and there were two classes before which were 3 and 8 entries it still ended up in a bit of a rush to get ready in time!
There were 8 entries in our class, but three were absent so we ended up in a class of five. We were at the end of the line and whilst we were waiting for our turn the remote for my chair fell on the floor, poor Mac jumped about three feet in the air and I had a brief panic, for a minute I thought I’d ruined it before we’d even started! But luckily he’s a dog that spooks easily but then recovers, so with some kind words and cheese I got him back. Then as we moved up we were next to a couple of men sitting on the chairs and he went all skittish again (he tends to be quite scared of men). As I was sitting trying and failing to get him away from them a bit we were asked to leave the ring. Not as bad as it sounds! Ideally they hold the show outside but it was showery that day so they had to hold it inside and the ring wasn’t really big enough, so I was in the way. So I went out of the ring and poor Mac was very confused by this point – he hadn’t even been up on the table yet – and wouldn’t come out of the ring. So the (male) steward went to pick him up and terrified him again, so he darted out of the way and although the poor dog was crouched near the floor and clearly terrified by this point he tried another couple of times to get him. Luckily then he was rescued by S who put him on my lap. By the time it was our turn we’d had more than our fair share of problems :lol:. But Mac is a natural showman, he moved beautifully, stood beautifully and at the end the judge was standingand you could tell she was having trouble picking between him and another. And alas she went for the other. But we got 2nd! 😀
Of course Mac’s brother only had to go and upstage us by winning his class and then going on to win Best Dog and then he only went and won Best in Show too! 😆
So Mac will now be the dog I show. I handled him again at ringcraft that Tuesday, then the Friday just gone (25th) was Bath Championship Show. I wasn’t showing but I wanted to go to get the experience of a champ show and to watch. It was fantastic! Mac has bonded to me so quickly, I’d kept out of the way until he came out of his class (2nd out of 4) and he was really pleased to see me and then stayed on my lap for the next few hours. It was so funny because he decided I needed protecting and whenever anyone came too close he started barking at them!
The results were fantastic too. They got a few class placements but the achievements of the day were Tammy, who was 12 months just the Friday before, went straight into Limit and then won her class of 11! Then Morris won his class of 8 and went on to win the Reserve CC!
Unfortunately I’ve created a slight problem with Mac 😉 The Tuesday before Bath I taught him how to jump up onto my lap so he wouldn’t have to be lifted all the time (Didn’t take much teaching – I showed him once and he’d got it!) and now he keeps spontaneously leaping up without being invited – not great if I’m in the middle of the ring! I said at the time I’d probably live to regret teaching him that 😆
That was horrendously long, I’m sorry 😉 But I’ve been up to a lot!
The last exciting bit of news is that they’re going caravanning in about a weeks time for just over three weeks and I’m having one of their dogs to look after whilst they’re gone!
Well, what a couple of weeks.
The roof timbers did arrive on Tuesday 15th as they were meant to, which was fantastic! So the last two weeks have been spent putting the timbers on, building the gable ends and then covering the roof with insulation and finally tiling it! They’ve put the guttering on too.
So it’s been a rather productive week and it’s really starting to look like a proper building now (though still missing it’s windows and doors!). Another 4 weeks and it should be finished 😀
Tuesday 15th May
Yes, all that in a day 😉
Ooo and our new path…
There was a path there before but it was just concrete. That’s a great improvement!
and by the end of that week….
A 3/4 complete gable end 🙂 Most of the actual end is up but it still needs a lot of cutting to make it into a nice smooth triangle, the bricks are still stepped at the sides there.
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And the end of Monday 21st. That actually shows what I was saying about the “stepping” of the bricks at the gable end rather nicely too!
By the end of the week it now looks like this…
See my nice tiled roof? 😀 With guttering!
We’ve started looking at kitchen fittings in more detail now as it needs to be sorted soon. Yet another bank holiday tomorrow which is infuriating. Now it’s this close I just want it finished!
Oh and for Lorna…
Un drive 😉 Fairly obvious where the extension to it is!
This is a an update of the last fortnight because it’s all text and no pictures so I thought merging would be a good idea! I’m sorry it’s rather devoid of pictures but it’s nearly impossible to see what’s changed, so there wasn’t much point in taking photos!
So, 30th – 4th they built the walls up higher (they couldn’t reach before they had the scaffolding).
They’ve also done some demolishing of our front garden and drive because we’re having a bigger drive (I hate the idea but not my decision :lol:)
We were expecting the roof timbers at the end of that week but the suppliers let us down AGAIN and they didn’t arrive. They’re meant to be here on the 18th now but he’s going to have words so hopefully they’ll be here earlier. Because they’re not here and were meant to be they’ve now run out of things to do on the actual building.
So 7th – 11th was spent doing more work on our front drive, starting to put slabs down at the back which are going to replace our concrete path and also started building the brick wall which is going to be down the side of the ramp.
Good news is that the roof timbers are meant to arrive on Tuesday 15th which is better than the Friday!
