Four Legs

Rain, dogs, and more rain.

This photo sums up Bruno and Fritz’s personalities perfectly. I love these guys.

Sigh. Where have I been?

Busy weeks, busy weekends, endless and boring projects that aren’t much fun to document (organizing closets, packing up stuff to bring to Goodwill, scraping paint off a window, etc.). We’re also still in the process of trying to find a contractor that meets ALL of our qualifications (returns calls, shows up, does good work, cares about old houses, affordable…) so we can get started on the exterior work that desperately needs to be done. The massive amounts of rain New York has been getting lately are making it very hard to get anything done in the garden, so the deck remains unstained and the rest of the garden remains a dirt rectangle. Oh, and we also really need a junk guy to come SOON, because it’s becoming increasingly difficult to walk through our basement.

We met a couple of very nice future Newburgh-ers on Saturday! I really hope the often-frustrating buying process goes a bit more smoothly for them in the near future, and that they wind up with a great house at the end of it all. It’s so exciting to see more people moving here with the goal of restoration. Yay!

How are YOU doing? What’s the weather like where you are? I’m telling you, the constant gray/rain situation here is really bringing me down.

Previous Post Next Post

Other Stuff You Might Be Into

41 Comments

  • Reply anselm May 18, 2009 at 12:03 pm

    its raining in England as well.

  • Reply Tara May 18, 2009 at 12:21 pm

    In PA – so pretty much the same weather situation that you have. I’m not sure what kind of junk you’re getting rid of in your basement – but if any of its metal you may want to look into taking it to a scrapyard. I had some neighbors do that, and while they didn’t make a fortune, they didn’t do too badly either. Plus there’s the warm fuzzy glow you get from recycling. Love your blog!

  • Reply Lis May 18, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    How do you keep your house and your things so intact with two furry, cute doggies?!?! Please do a post if you can… thanks!

    Love the house, love the blog!

  • Reply Anna at D16 May 18, 2009 at 1:09 pm

    Lis: Oh, I have!

  • Reply Amanda Nicole May 18, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    Heee! I love Fritz’s face here.

  • Reply Sarah May 18, 2009 at 1:18 pm

    I have to know…what kind of dog is Bruno? He melts my heart whenever I look at his little face.

  • Reply whitney May 18, 2009 at 1:22 pm

    I’m in Buffalo and it’s on/off dreary here too. Apparently all the older garden ladies around here wait until June 1 to put anything in the ground.

  • Reply lillian May 18, 2009 at 1:29 pm

    LOVE the photo of the pups – such cute faces!!

    I wish I had your ‘get it done’ attitude – in Phoenix it’s about 106 degrees today and it really fries your brain and slows you down. All I want to do is hide indoors with my 2 doggies and keep cool – but my laundry/storage room is a downright mess and calling me to rescue it.

    I would die for some rain and clouds… grass is greener and all that jazz, right?

  • Reply leni May 18, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    The weather is nice here in California! I’d say it’s about 75 degrees out right now. Your dogs are so cute!!!

  • Reply Kathleen May 18, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    I’m in Oklahoma and we are just now getting some sun after almost a month of rain and cloudy skies. Just about everyone I knew was weather-depressed.

  • Reply Shashi May 18, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    Ugh..I hate the rainy day blues. Hang in there, the weather is supposed to get nicer this week. For me the rain gives me the excuse to lay in bed all day watching movies. Very very decadent!

  • Reply edwina May 18, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    Greetings from Ireland where it seems that the summer will pass us by for yet another year, as it hasn’t stopped pissing outa the heavens for 2 weeks and all that is on the horizon is more and more rain !!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Reply Penny May 18, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    It was HOT over the weekend, I am in Northern California, and it broke 100 yesterday. Today it will be in the 90’s.

  • Reply kelly w May 18, 2009 at 2:05 pm

    it’s been in the 90s here (15 minutes north of SF) for the last 2 days; my flat gets up to 100F when that happens. Totally grim. I wish I could trade a bit of our hot and dry for your gray and wet! I love rain.

  • Reply Katja May 18, 2009 at 3:08 pm

    Sad to hear about the bad weather. It has been really nice here, lots of sunshine, if only there was a way to send some your way!

  • Reply Meg May 18, 2009 at 3:31 pm

    Toronto, ON – a little too cold but thankfully sunny today. Good day to drink wine with friends in the backyard and pull weeds. In that order.

  • Reply Hilary May 18, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    Aggghhh the rain is driving me mad! I am in Ireland and its been none stop grey and dreary! I’m itching to paint the front door and get going on sanding and varnishing a pile of wood to finally build a fence in are backyard…Buzz ( our lil pup-looks a bit like Fritz) is going stir crazy too and wondering whre the park has gone!! Come on sunshine come back to us!!

  • Reply Emily May 18, 2009 at 4:07 pm

    oh how I would love to swap sides of the country for another few weeks! Where I live in California has been 90 – 100 degrees for the last few days and its unbearable! I would give anything for some gray skies…

  • Reply kim de montreal May 18, 2009 at 4:59 pm

    Nice weather here im Montreal, but unpredictable as always. As long as it’s not snowing I’m happy 🙂
    We missed you Anna!!!!!!!

  • Reply puck May 18, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    The weather in Baldwin City, Kansas is bright and sunny. We have had rain though – and we went outside with umbrellas to look at our new copper gutters working. We are such dorks!!

    I have been gardening a lot. I like rearranging, yet, all the catmint grew about a billion sizes bigger than I thought and have to keep cutting it back.

    Other than that, I have been trying to fall off my roof in order to paint by dormers. 40 degree slopes are too slick to not slide off a roof. 🙁

    I have missed your posts!

  • Reply DiP May 18, 2009 at 5:20 pm

    “…the deck remains unstained and the rest of the garden remains a dirt rectangle.”

    I feel your pain! 1M outside projects on the drawing board and all I can do between rain storms is cut my foot-high grass! Note to self. Next year, NO lawn fertilizer!!! I would kill for a dirt rectangle.

    Pups hate it too. “You want us to go out in THAT? Wet foot tall grass? PASS!”

    And if I hear just ONE person say “we just don’t have Spring anymore” I swear I will get my gun!
    SUNNY HEAT PLEASE!!! Some of us have outside project to get start so we can avoid our inside projects.

  • Reply tilda m. May 18, 2009 at 5:38 pm

    Hi
    I can not belive it is the same in the US.
    I also wait and wait and wait for someone with this qualifications (returns calls, shows up, does good work, cares about old houses, affordable) to tear up one little wall (solid here in germany… lol)

    greetings, and no rain here today

  • Reply thrownforaloop May 18, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    Paint scrapping alternative: Peel Away 7. This stuff is great, paint paste on, apply waxed paper to paste, wait 24 hours, peel paper off…. along with layer upon layer of paint. Its a bit costly, but sooooo much easier than the alternatives.
    Your house is gorgeous!

  • Reply Jules May 18, 2009 at 6:08 pm

    Muggy and 90 degrees today. Don’t know where the humidity is coming from since we border the desert, but it’s here. Can’t complain–it’s better than the bitter cold!

  • Reply Gwen May 18, 2009 at 7:32 pm

    I understand completely how you feel since I am practically your neighbor living here in Rhinebeck , NY. I am trying to figure out how I am going to cover the impatients I just planted. I can’t believe there is a freeze warning tonight. The good news is that tomorrow it will rise into the 70’s and then 80’s on Wed. At least the ground is soft and wet for digging and planting and with Memorial weekend coming up it will hopefully be good weather for your staining project and perhaps some planting.

  • Reply paige May 18, 2009 at 8:15 pm

    We’ve a frost warning in Winnipeg, MB tonight. A frost warning. In May.

    That said, the dog and I wrapped up in a blanket on the couch reading, listening to music and eating cookies.

    I love your doggies! The expression on Fritz’s little face is priceless 🙂 My furball has the same eyebrows and oh, how she uses them to manipulate me…

  • Reply alex sunday May 18, 2009 at 9:01 pm

    enjoying the last days of summer in western australia. rain due tomorrow – and i’m looking forward to it! it means i’ll be indoors dreaming up some projects. 🙂

  • Reply Suzanne May 18, 2009 at 10:52 pm

    It’s the last month of Autumn here (australia) and instead of the steady rain we should be getting (and badly need) its been an endless cycle of freezing nights and balmy, late-spring type days, which is all very well but I work in a dungeon and I don’t emerge outside until it’s cold again. Sigh. Granted, Australian cold and New York cold are very different beasts, but still…

  • Reply josh (in wonderland) May 19, 2009 at 1:45 am

    it’s been rainy and/or cold these entire past two weeks in pa. i’m sick of it! we had a week of 80/90 degree weather in april. what a tease.

    bring on the heat, baby!

  • Reply Helen May 19, 2009 at 2:46 am

    It’s a long weekend here in Vancouver BC, two great sunny days plus a rainy Monday. I got most of the things on my list done, except for painting (or start painting) our patchy walls (because we could get the right paint color in time).
    Hope you have a great week!

  • Reply read me... May 19, 2009 at 4:49 am

    In London we’re having a weird brighter than bright sunny and hot 10 minutes followed by greyer than grey drizzle! I like it though… keeps you on your toes.

  • Reply jaboopee May 19, 2009 at 5:20 am

    we haven’t seen your little doggies for ages, they are so cute, i’ve just realised even they are monochrome,
    they must look especially beautiful in your home ,which
    came first, the dogs or the decor?
    the sun is trying really hard to come out from behind
    the clouds here in dublin, ireland

  • Reply Anna at D16 May 19, 2009 at 10:21 am

    thrownforaloop: Peel Away is great for larger applications, but on small areas that just need loose paint removed, I find scraping and sanding to be much easier. I’m not going down to bare wood, I just need to remove everything that’s loose or chipping so I can cut out the rot, fill, and repaint. 🙂

    jaboopee: I think most dogs are fairly neutral-colored, aren’t they? 🙂 And my house is far from being monochromatic (or even duochromatic!). See that hot pink blanket they’re hanging out on?

  • Reply Fernanda May 19, 2009 at 10:28 am

    I’m in Brasília, Brazil. It’s beginning to get cold here and it is very dry this time of the year. Winter sucks!!!Thanks God here it lasts two months, at the most.
    This is the first time I post a comment here, but I’ve been reading your blog for a while. Very interesting!!! At the moment, I am also concerned about my house. It is an apartment, to say the truth. I’ve changed some things already, but there is still some work to do with the floor and the kitchen before I move in.
    While things are not arranged yet, I visit blogs to pick up some great ideas for the decoration.
    Your dogs are so cute!!!

  • Reply casafroggy May 19, 2009 at 11:33 am

    Do the deck this week if you can, it’s sunny through Thurs. Mine’s finally getting done today, I’ve been trying to schedule it since the beginning of April!

  • Reply Barb F (Australia) May 20, 2009 at 1:27 am

    I have been on holiday at the Gold Coast in Australia for the past 2 weeks where the weather has been completely divine, until today when the winds are close to 100 km/hr and the waves are so big it seems they are going to be lapping at our door soon (we’re on the 6th floor!). Holidays are bad for my waistline however, so next week, when I return to below freezing mornings in Canberra, I’ll be scraping the icicles off my nose while I work off those extra kilos. Joy.

  • Reply Tanja May 20, 2009 at 3:55 am

    The weather near Frankfurt/Germany is great – we expect 25° today 🙂 *sends sun over to NY*

  • Reply Liberty Street May 20, 2009 at 10:07 am

    It’s so funny to see Bruno and Fritz still, unlike in real life. Some things can’t be captured in a photo, I guess. Thanks for everything!!!

  • Reply ahj May 22, 2009 at 12:33 pm

    Pssst. It’s Moz’s 50th birthday today.

  • Reply Chic Maps by Nikki June 6, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    I just ran across your blog and I’m in love! I am big on remodeling anything and never leaving ‘well enough’ alone! Your blog is inspiring to say the least!

    Oh, and I have to ask what kind of dog is your fluffy white little guy? He’s so stinkin cute 🙂

  • Reply Anna at D16 June 6, 2009 at 11:29 pm

    Nikki: Bruno is 1/2 long-haired Chihuahua, 1/2 Bichon Frise.

  • Leave a Comment

    Door Sixteen is a hate-free, drama-free, spam-free zone. Open dialogue is welcome, but comments designed to harm or deceive will be removed.

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Get D16 in your mailbox

    Sign up to receive weekly digests and (occasional) other updates from Door Sixteen! I promise to not bombard your inbox.