Day 516

On this rainy day, it seemed like a good plan to do a bit of spot cleaning around the house. My quest turned into a walk down Memory Lane as the realization struck me..."Spot Cleaning" will never suffice in the home of four Goldens! The precious fluff is everywhere, walls are darkened due to Golden bodies sliding down them to plop on the floor and bones litter the carpet like a connect-the-dots game. I kick the bones when vacuuming, clean the walls when I get the chance and constantly pick up Golden fluff as I walk through the house. I don't mind... it's their house too.

Before our current pack, there were other fur babies and four children that called The Big White House their home. They all left their marks on this place. For example, three different window panels are missing from the French doors. I remember each incident and recall how relieved I was that nobody was hurt. Now I smile as the pups use them for a personal window if they need to take a quiet moment in the front hall. They should have been replaced years ago, but I am often reminded of my children's antics and have left them as part of our story.

There is a bench, which has long taken up residence in the kitchen, sporting one corner chewed in an artistic manner. Oreo cut her teeth on that bench and I wouldn't change it for the world.

New wood panels grace the floors in the kitchen and dinette (Thank you, Tom!) due to our puppy twins chewing the entire linoleum floor to smithereens! We couldn't seem to stop them, so after a few weeks, we decided to just replace the whole thing. Lilly and Ranger were SO cute, we didn't even get mad at them!

The stairs have carpet pads to keep senior dogs from slipping, there are covers on the couches so the pups can join us at will and we own every kind of apparatus to control the "fluff"...we wouldn't change any of it for the world.

Guests walk in and often comment on the feeling of warmth and coziness in this big old house. Part of it is that we LIVE in every part of this place and tend to surround ourselves with things that make us happy. Mostly though, it is our beloved dogs, past and present, that have always made this house a home.

Today, after a session of scrubbing, I looked at those faces and decided that cleaning could wait...I had "puppies" to love.