More work on the house

This was Tyler's idea!

We have been needing to replace the carpet in our house for at least a year. Having 3 dogs and an active lifestyle is very tough on the flooring. Tyler has a friend who just did something some might consider extreme, pulling up all the carpet and staining the concrete slab.

We are doing it! Last night, Tyler yanked all the carpet and padding out of our living room, the office is next and the two bedrooms are still in question. We are going to leave the bare concrete floor exposed for a few weeks while we make sure that we like the feel of concrete.

The next step will be to rent a commercial sander and sand the paint and carpet glue off the slab. Then we have to get the floor VERY VERY clean, then it's just a matter of spraying the stain onto the floor and letting it dry. The last step is to spray a couple clear coats on it for shine and it's done.

The benefit is cleanliness. Our carpet was so gross, that I can't believe we were walking on it all day everyday. Carpet is carpet padding is nasty stuff after awhile. The downside is resale value which can be overcome with cheap carpeting at the time of sale, and the other is noise. It's very loud in here with no carpet.

We will keep this updated as we move forward. Here is the initial demolition!

New home Upgrades!

On Christmas morning I was pleasantly surprised to see that Santa had left a new Chandelier and a new matching ceiling fan under the Christmas Tree!

Tonight, we had Mark and Dana (Dana works with Claire at Animal Kingdom) over for dinner and a fun filled evening of "ceiling fixture installation"! We replaced the fan and the Chandelier and it looks terrific!

The only out of pocket cost for install....was a nice steak dinner for Mark and Dana! Not a bad deal!!!!

Here are the new additions.

From Topo's point of view... Tule TH to Tortilla Road (Hwy 88), AZ

WOW, if I had known what I was getting into, I would have stayed in my kennel and pretended to be sick...I can puke on command you know!

This all started when I notice my human doing some work on my back pack, and then he bought me a new jacket...buttering me up, I now realize.

I was waken up VERY early on Friday morning, I was having a good dream and just about to catch that stupid cat. I met a couple other hikers out in the driveway and then we loaded up and headed out. The car ride was nuts, Hwy 88...made me throw up and it wasn't on command. That's a very curvy road to be stuck in the back of an SUV for.

We got to the Tule trailhead and things were looking good, I got my gear all situated and my pack weight was light since there would be nice streams to drink out of all weekend.

Holy crap, that Tule trail was crazy, steep and rocky and we were lost for about 90% of the time...from the smell of things, there hadn't been anything but a cow on that trail in a few months! I was all but useless in helping locate the trail between Cairns. I got stuck on a tree branch at one point, and in an effort to get away snapped one of the straps on my new pack...my human seemed super excited about carrying the extra 8 or 9 lbs. for the last major hill climb and into camp...he said a few things to me that I didn't understand, I am sure they were nice though!

It was starting to get dark, when we finally found a camp site. I ended up spending the night in my new jacket...thank God the Human picked that thing up for me...I would for sure be a doggie-cicle if I hadn't had that. There was another dog on this trip too, Sawyer, kind of skidish but it was nice to have some K-9 companionship and someone to stay warm with all night. Him and I both had a nice time barking at Alex when he was trying to relive himself in the middle of the night.

Saturday morning we woke up to frost on everything. I had a little warm water on my food and felt better. My human fixed my pack...which kind of bummed me out, I would rather have worn the jacket all day and let him lug my gear around. We got into Reavis Ranch pretty early and enjoyed a quick lunch. Unfortunately Sawyer and his human Hayden, had to leave early so I was the only dog from here on out. After Reavis we ran into the other group of Hike Arizona folks there were hiking to Campaign trail for the night, I had met a few of them before but decided to bark at most of them. They don't realize that when I am on the trail, it's MY trail!

We finally made it to Angel Basin, pretty early and I got a little nap in on Andrew's lap before bed time. I also got lucky, and scored some left over tortellini for dinner! It's a good thing my human left enough room under his hammock for me, because it started to rain in the middle of the night, I slept good though under the hammock and it wasn't really that cold thankfully.

Sunday morning we got up and the rain had stopped, had breakfast and headed out for the next camp at Charlibois Springs. That's when the fun began....

I had my first major run-ins with catsclaw...which TORE ME UP! That stuff is crazy, I couldn't jump over it, or go around it, I just had to plow through...ouch! Rumor has it there might be a cleanup effort in March, I will be there doing whatever I can!

We finally made it up to Tortilla Pass, but not before it started to rain. I was soaked already from the wet brush we had to plow through, so it didn't matter much. Then the wind came...

We sat down for a quick lunch break and I mooched some beef jerky and pepperoni off the rest of the guys and laid down for a nap under a rock overhang. Next thing I know, they want to hike more...in the rain...in the wind...WHAT IN THE WORLD?!?!?!

So we headed out, and I got wind that we were cutting the trip short, thank goodness! We hiked into the Tortilla Trailhead and then hoofed it on the road to Hwy 88...which actually looked good, even though it had made me car sick. Some nice people picked up Ryan and Andrew to go get the cars at First Water, and I slept under the rain fly while my Human and Alex had some warm drinks. It was so nice to be able to lay down.

What a weekend.....