New couch and dog name.

New couch from Room & Board is awesome. Ludo (official name) likes it too. Do a google image search for "Ludo Labyrinth" and you'll see where this guy gets his name. Although at first it was just Nellie mispronouncing "Lando" as in Lando Calrissian from Star Wars. Ludo seems to fit this sweet faithful little guy.

Dogs and Chainsaws

Well the big news is I think we finally have a dog. Nellie's been wanting one for a long time and, when this little guy came along, it was hard to say no. He's house broken, crate trained, very submissive, and doesn't seem hell bent on eating our cats. He already knows to sit, stay, and sometimes shake. He's great at fetch, quick to calm down when we come in from playing, and seems to have the bladder of a blue whale. We're currently working on leash-walking.

A very laid-back dude.

Sampson and Frenchie (our cats) are slowly warming up to him, but are not thrilled. Sampson has stopped obsessively stalking the dog and there are only occasional scuffles when one surprises the other. Frenchie has come out of hiding and delicately floats through rooms trying to remain unnoticed. All in all, it's been an interesting week here at the Petty Home. Below are lots of gratuitous dog photos and some shots of the work we got done this weekend.

Pre-yard work playtime. We finally removed all the leaves from this past fall!

We had Jeff Bracken and crew of JB Tree Service take down a tree that was precariously leaning over our neighbors' power lines. They also removed several large dead or dying branches from the big Willow Oak tree. J B Services did a great job at an amazingly fair price. Can't recommend them enough.

This large pile was what was left over. It would have cost just as much to have them haul off and mulch the limbs as it did to have them taken down.

Luckily my parents came to visit with chainsaws-a-blazing and helped us remove and cut up the brush for the curb. We also took down three small remaining trees in the corner, one of which was dead and full of ants! Gross.

What seemed like a daunting task was accomplished with a lot of sweat and only a minor amount of blood.

My dad was a beast with the chainsaw. All this work was basically prep for some forthcoming landscaping. The first step is making room for shed construction that should start on April 16th.

So much wood.

So many branches.

We have a huge pile of mulch to move. We're about halfway through and should finish this weekend. We were pretty pooped from hauling trees and only got halfway through on Sunday. Nellie moved most of it herself and had back pain to prove it. This mulch was left over from the GIANT tree stump that Miles took down and ground when we were renovating the house. It should be a great base for planting beds when the time comes.

We were left with a nice little pile of wood that we'll either give away or save for a future fire pit.

The new fam. Nellie couldn't be happier.

More dog photos!

We still don't have a name for this guy. He came to us as Phredy, but we feel like a new pet needs a new name as initiation into our home. We've had lots of great suggestions including Karo (sweet and brown), Malcolm Reynolds (Mal - from Firefly), Lando (as in Lando Calrissian from Star Wars), Argos (the faithful dog of Odysseus), Sprocket (from Fraggle Rock), Leroy (from Jim Croce's "Bad Bad Leroy Brown), Boba (as in Boba Fett from Star Wars), and countless others. Naming this guy is really hard. Thanks everyone for the suggestions!

Who am I?! Petey?

Slowly warming up to each other. It's getting better every day.