Spare a cup of sugar?

        One of the huge benefits of moving out here into the woods is the distance between us and the neighbors! I no longer have to hear my neighbors using the restroom or having loud arguments. So far the only ones I've met are the dogs who live to the left of the house. I call them the Barkers, because oh man they bark. They are not small dogs, and they are fenced in completely so I have no idea what their attitudes are like but they are vocal dogs (and not the only ones in the area of course). They don't bark often, it really does require some pretty direct interaction like walking by their side of the fence, but every once in a while it's the Twilight Bark.

    The House to the right is also completely fenced off. Rarely, we see a car come or go, but I never hear anything really and they have no pets that I have encountered. They are the house between us and the local park, and I hear more action at the park than from that house. I did see someone come home the other night, but their yards are all fenced in with a high wood slat fence, and so is their driveway, so that's probably all I'll ever see of them.

        As for internal neighbors, Elvis has a neighbor in the house, Noelle! My mom's couple-years-old Maine Coon. He has been so curious and friendly and well behaved trying to get to know her but she isn't too excited about it yet.



    For the first week, Noelle followed him around pacing behind him, trying to hide in his blind spot, and when face to face freezes and starts growling, and Elvis does a very good job of not making challenging eye contact and sitting and being peaceful when she's around and being crazy. Elvis is very doglike and I think that makes her confused. She seems to be slowly warming up to him as he refuses to stop inspecting every inch of the house. Now Elvis is the one who follows her around, slowly, and not hiding from her. She definitely doesn't like this.



        They had a brief spat where Noelle decided she had just had ENOUGH of his sniffing and following, and she growled, hissed, and they started to fight. Unfortunately Elvis relishes the chase and didn't let her run away to sanctuary like she used to be able to when Merlin was the other cat in the house. You can't really tell in these pictures, but Elvis is significantly larger than Noelle because most of her visible size is from fluffy fur, and it might have contributed to her displeasure with his style of play. She has since become very wary of his presence in the house, and to her dismay Elvis has developed some serious love for mom's bed.

just look at his fat happy face


    Mom closes Noelle in her room with her at night, and realizing this, Elvis quickly returned to his late night running and playing, He was really enjoying having the house to himself at night. . He is so much happier now than he had been in the last few weeks. It was really starting to take a toll on his mental health to have furniture constantly disappearing, and to have Tony and I out and running errands with every spare moment we had. There was very little time left for Elvis, but now we give him the too-much attention every parent gives their babies, furry or not. Also he's got loads of entertainment at the new house! Chickens! Another Cat! Wildlife! Neighborhood Cats! Traffic! (yes, he does pay attention to the traffic if there is nothing else to focus on) and so many new spots to smell and sleep on.

        We've had on and off tenants in my sister's two chihuahuas for a while now. She'd been traveling for work, and now is changing apartments but can't leave the dogs unwatched, so here they are. They are why I have put up a make-shift baby gate to our rooms, not just because I don't really want them in here (I have some slight dog allergies), but also because they are under strict diet control and they will demolish Elvis' food and then we would have to clean up the repercussions. No thank you! So the baby gate went up! It's two sterilite bin lids, wedged behind a boxed bookshelf and some picture frames. It's kind of perfect honestly. We were using a large art frame last time the dogs were here, but it was so tall that elvis wasn't able to travel between the rooms, and this way he can see over the lids well enough to jump back and forth, but it's still tall enough to discourage the dogs from jumping.

The "baby gate" is to prevent the dogs from coming into our bed, but elvis loves to hide behind it as well

A photo posted by @flickster94087 on Apr 12, 2015 at 11:59am PDT

They keep to themselves pretty well once they realize you're not going to interact with them too much, and they cuddle with each other on their bed. They did get to enjoy a good hour outside in the sun and fresh air last sunday when Tony and I sat out and enjoyed the warm weather, so it's not like I'm neglecting them, they just love to get right up in your space and they don't have trimmed claws. They also are really jumpy, Olive is kind of retarded, she doesn't listen to instructions very well, but is always very social and happy. She gets really whiney when separated from Scarlet, or Elvis, or me, or mom.. Scarlet on the other hand really loves to be the only dog in your lap, but will run and bark at the first noise she doesn't immediately recognize. She doesn't seem to love the cats like Olive does, she listens to instructions very well, but she gives you the most pitiful look, like you're this giant monster who's sole purpose is to crush her under your giant foot but if she makes her eyes wide enough you wont do that, so she shrinks down, faces away from you with her body but turns her neck to you and stares with the buggiest eyes I have seen since that squeezed hamster.(source)

Overall, the weather has turned milky here as of late, but I figure it's the last dregs of winter/spring that we get here before the heat really turns up. I drive through a lot of fog and sunshine in the mornings, switching quickly between the two is a little jarring when driving with good speed, but I know the roads well enough now that I'm not panicking and it's pretty cool looking. it's like driving through a horror movie, with no murderer. Things are starting to finally fall into a rhythm and I'm glad that everyone seems to be settling down (except for the cats, of course) because it should help stress levels drop significantly.


Until next week, friends.