Home

After two years of trying to take the next step (buying a vet clinic or a house) we've done it.  We closed on a multi-family house.  It is nice, really nice.  A bit fancy for us but the two apartments off-set the taxes and mortgage so much that it makes it a steal.

I'm just stating now for the record: if the unforeseen happens and the bank comes a-knocking, the 20% we own is the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom.

The bank can have the rest of the house, but we're keeping those rooms.

Eight of the paws exploring; they were a bit freaked out:

We had planned our first act as homeowners to be bringing over all our laundry and do quarter-free laundry (moving up in the world!) but found out that the dryer is on the fritz.  So our first act as a homeowner will be to deal with an unexpected expense.  Welcome us to reality.

Wine

Over the years I've gone through phases of favorite drinks.  The cosmopolitans in college (only after 21 of course) when SATC was popular, anything in law school while I was broke, dirty martinis while I was a young single professional in D.C., Alaska Brewery beer while living an outdoorsy life in Alaska.  Only wine has stayed constant, I've always loved wine.  More and more it is the only thing I want to drink.  Don't get me wrong, I'll drink whatever you put in front of me but if you offer me red wine, I'll always choose that.

The Finger Lakes of NY does Rieslings really well.  I prefer California, Oregon or Argentinian red (visiting Argentina is on my short list because I want to hike in Patagonia and drink lots of Malbec in Mendoza).  But read the previous sentence about drinking whatever is put in front of me.  A wine tour makes for a fun day.

 I'm not the only one who loves wine, apparently.

When I walked into one winery this dog eyed me and very slowly rolled over to her back.  I wasn't sure if she was going submissive because she was afraid (and therefore likely to bite me) or if she wanted a belly rub.

 Belly rub, definitely.  In fact, she stayed on her back the whole time we were tasting, enticing us to come back.

I'm Back!

This may be news to some (hi mom!) but I had a blog during wedding planning back in 2011.  It was called four feet eight paws (because my little family-to-be had four feet and eight paws in it).  I didn't really know what I wanted to do with it, didn't tell that many people about it, wavered on it being completely anonymous or recklessly identifiable.  So it pretty much went nowhere and I deleted it.

I've been missing it lately as well as staying away from Facebook so I think I'll try again.  Mission statement, goals and ground rules:

Mission Statement: To be a place where friends and family can come to find out what we've been up to.

Goals: Posts a couple of times a week about exploring our upstate NY area, our pets, redoing/decorating the house that will soon be ours (next week maybe?), learning how to use our DSLR camera, a bit about personal finance (maybe), eating locally and gardening.  These are all the topics that I spend the most time thinking about and hopefully you will like reading about.

Ground rules: No last names, no faces, no identifying information (pets excepted).  Kevin will be Kevin since that is pretty common.  You can call me Row (and anyone who doesn't know me in real life can assume that is short for Rowena).

Your role: Comment! Commenting makes this a lot more like a conversation and a lot more fun.

One small problem, we now have twelve paws!  Pippa joined our family in September 2012.  But Four Feet Twelve Paws is taken.  Boo.  Oh well, it sucks being a cat in a dog people family.  Third class citizen right from the start. Tough life she has, isn't it:

Our dogs still get love too:

(Both Kinsey and Pippa got in the basket independently - don't tell Kevin, his clean shirt's on top.  Oops, hi baby!)

I love that Roxy's ears are permanently mismatched.