I consider the official move-in date to be Feb. 25. That's the day I handed over the keys to my old place, and the last day I needed drive back to TN. Just had a few things left to pack into the car for the final drive home. HOME. I'm still adjusting to that. It's just now starting to feel like home, even though everything is in piles all over the house. Some needful things it's taken a while to find in the chaos. I tried to pack essentials last so it'd be fresh in my memory where they went, but some things still went invisible.
Whipper has had a bit of a rough time adjusting to the move, but he's getting there. When the delayed closing on this place and the really crappy snowy weather in both TN and SC set my time frames back, I was still running back and forth after the furniture came down on the moving van. Whip takes up quite a bit of space in the car which meant less room for stuff. Couldn't leave him in the house for 6-8 hours a day while I ran back and forth. Couldn't leave him tied out either. My good friend Alan saved the day by taking Whip in until I was done moving. He raises show dogs, and often takes in houseguests of the 4-legged kind, and I knew Whipper would be a good houseguest.
The first night here, Whipper wasn't comfortable. Long drive, strange place, paths between piles of stuff, tie-out instead of fence, and then a thunderstorm. He stressed in a very messy way. The good thing is that even though he's been an outside dog all his life, he tried to tell me he had to go, but I wasn't quick enough for a bout of diarrhea. He also went off-feed which didn't help. He drank a bit of water and that was it.
Alan had medication for the diarrhea, and got him eating. He learned about potty times with Alan's schedule. His stay ended up being a week instead of the 4 days I thought it would be, but Alan was the best about that. I know his time there was much better for him than what he would have endured while I was still moving. So now we are here, and he went off feed again the first day, but was eating normally by the 3rd day. I tried to get him on a potty schedule but we aren't getting it. Now I put him on the tether twice a day for a while. Eventually, I'll just see if he tells me he has to go out. Housebreaking has been no problem so far. His fastidious nature, and apparently being able to hold it for a long time took care of that. Can't wait to get the fence up. I think part of the problem is the tie-out. He's not used to it. I have been crating him at night so he doesn't get the notion to wake me up in the middle of the night. My own sleep habits are too iffy for that. Happily, even though he's never been crated, he took right to it. He goes in on his own whenever he wants, and actually spends quite a bit of time in it. It's about the same size as the dog house he had in TN, so I guess it feels like his house. I only latch it at night or when I leave the house. Works for me.
The weather has been cool here (still warmer than TN!), which is good so I can do what I need in the house. Gonna have to deal with the yard very soon. I'll get some before pictures before I do anything else. I'm going to hire someone to clean out the underbrush. The back and one side are overgrown with privet and brambles (just can't get away from those damn brambles!). They gotta go, there's currently very little usable backyard space. This is also necessary before I can fence. The brush has eaten up the property lines and then some where the fence will go.
I haven't got bird feeders up yet, but so far I've seen Blue Jays, Titmice, Robins, a woodpecker I haven't ID'd yet, and gray squirrels. Lots of squirrels. Guess I'll be chasing them off the feeders. Haven't had to do that since MI. The trees are oaks and pines. Not sure what kind yet. That's the kind of habitat squirrels and the birds I've seen like. Many of the trees have ivy (it's evergreen) growing up their trunks. I don't mind ivy, it looks cool. I will want to control it to some extent. Also some heavy vines on trees that are either Virginia creeper or poison ivy. Please oh please be creeper. Won't be able to tell until they leaf out.
There are some new landscape shrubs (still have tags) around the front of the house. Haven't investigated what they all are. Azaleas for sure, but I'll have to bend down and look at the others' tags. Don't know if I'll leave that landscaping as it is, but I like azaleas, and they don't like to be moved, so I'll probably work with them. A boring shrub would have to go.
Stay tuned as I transform the yard into the lawnless garden I envision. I hope to hire a neighbor kid or somebody to cut the grass until that happens. Don't even own a lawnmower and don't intend to.
tnt
Natureschild
5 days ago
