Showing posts with label airedale. Show all posts
Showing posts with label airedale. Show all posts

Friday, November 12, 2010

yorker's bad day.

the day was march 6.  the year, 2009.  this was the day king york was dethroned.  
the first day of the rest of york's life.  as in, the rest of his life as a second class citizen.  
poor yorker, he didn't even know what was coming. 

enter: finnley deRoo. 

yorker was 2 years old when we got finner b.  two years old in numbers but about 89 years old in personality.  york has always been quite chill, a bit of a loner and basically a grumpy old man.  (in a good way.)  he was the apple of our eye for 2 years. 
and then something rocked his world. 
something called a new puppy. 

(i apologize in advance for the quality of these pictures.  many of them are from my camera phone.)

york meeting finn for the first time.  lots of smells going on.




look at that face! who couldn't love sweet little finner?

answer:  yorker. 
yorker did not exactly love his new brother right away.  in fact, for more than a year i think yorker would have been thrilled if we would have gotten rid of finn.  and rightfully so. 
here is a glimpse at what york's life looked like when finn was a puppy.

i realize that all dogs play.  but finn's adoration for york was a bit excessive.  all york wanted was to be left alone and all finn wanted was to do every single thing york did!  finn seriously could not get enough of his brother! 

regretfully i don't have a picture of it, but finn used to bite on the tip of york's tail and follow him around the house like elephants on parade. drove york crazy!

and here is york pleading with us.  "what did i do to deserve this?"

this wasn't a friendly game of tug.  this was finnley stealing every single one of york's toys. 
(sorry the picture is crooked. i couldn't fix it quickly.)

finnley gloating with york's bear.  obviously finn didn't give up until he stole the toy away from york.

finnley hoarding more of york's toys.

and here is a nice little sequence of pictures.
finn and york, laying next to each other peacefully.  becoming friends, possibly?

not quite.  finn was just acting cute until he had the chance to go in for the kill. 

and here you can see finn about to chew york's face off.  such good manners.

more chewing.

and here is york relaxing on his pillow.  one of his only belongings that finn hasn't stolen.
and...i spoke too soon.

at least in these pictures finnley has his own bone and isn't trying to steal york's.  but he is definitely invading york's personal space.  just wanting to be as close to his brother as possible.  i can imagine that york was likely growling under his breath the whole time. 



and here they are, grown up and sharing a nap on the bed.  i guarantee york was here first and finn jumped up and planted himself right inside the spoon of his big brother. 
york has given up by now, realizing that his life will never go back to the way it was BFb. 
(before finnner b.)


i like this picture.  i call it octo-dale.  you can't see all 8 legs, but you get the point.  again, i would bet money that york claimed the spot first.  finner just has to do everything york does. 


and although finn is the little brother he is definitely the alpha male.  has been since day one.  we wish yorker would stick up for himself a bit more but i guess you really can't teach an old dog new tricks. 

every day finn steals york's toys, tries to steal his food, butts his way to the front of the line to greet our company or to get a hug and kiss from us when we get home after work.  finner is constantly pushing yorker around (as seen below in what was supposed to be a york AND finn photo shoot for taylor's birthday card.  well, this is the only picture york was in.  finner basically pushed him off the couch and the photo shoot turned into finnley deRoo glamour shots.)

yorker has finally somewhat embraced having a brother.  he will even initiate the play time occasionally.  but it seriously took over a year for him to warm up to finner.  and even then it might just be because he finally realizes that this little pest of a brother isn't going anywhere so he might as well make the most of it.

don't worry, we have a pity party for york sometimes so he doesn't feel as bad.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

I beg your pardon.

Please allow me to beg your pardon.  It has been just shy of a year since I last blogged.  Inappropriate.  I know.  But, it's never too soon (or too late) to claim a New Year's Resolution, right?  So, Happy New Blog Year!!   Let's try this whole blog thing again and see if this time we can get it to stick...

Sometimes I might write this blog as though we're the closest of friends, and I will often make assumptions you know who & what I am talking about.  And other times I might write as though we're strangers and spend too much time describing people and places -- so just bare with me, please.  If you expect me to blog often you can't be too critical of my blogging style.  Deal?.

To Recap: Last year's blog was an account of the transformation and journey of our little old Zeeland (farm)house.  (We don't live on a farm.  We live in the city.  (a cute little city, called Zeeland, actually.)  But I tend to refer to our house as a farm house because, well, back in 1865  people lived on farms.  And, well, our style mimics that of an old farm house.  We're not so much country, not so much primitive, not so much vintage.  Just eclectic.  (that's the polite way to say "random") but somehow, it all seems to work.  Or at least I am hopeful that it works.  Updated Farmhouse.  That's us.

If you want the whole story on our new old little farmhouse, you can dig back deeper in this blog.  I think it's back there.  But here's the short version: the house was built in 1865.  It's the second oldest standing house in Zeeland (or so we've been told.)  Most recently the house has been a two family rental for 40+ years.  We bought it December 23, 2008 and started working on it January 2009. 

312 East Central BEFORE:

312 East Central: DURING

More DURING (poor thing!)

Ta Da!!  312 E. Central: AFTER

We moved in May 2009 and have been living happily ever after ever since. 

So who is the US behind this blog?  We're the deRoo's.  Taylor & Abby (mostly Abby...Taylor doesn't blog.  But you will hear about him a lot because he's great.)

We're just two young kids, pretending to act like grown ups when all we really want to do is play with our 'dales.  (Airedale Terriers: meet Finn & York.) 


Yorkshire deRoo - turns 4 yrs old January 2011
alias': Yorker Porker, Buster, Buster Brown Dog, Yorkerboy, Yorkchop

Finnley deRoo - turns 2 January 2011
alias': Finner, Finner bo, Finner b., Finner b. Good, Finner Finner Chicken Dinner, Skinny Finny

So this blog will vary on topics but you can mostly count on: crafts, decorating, fashion, airedales, and commentary on our little deRoo life.  But please understand that I am both obsessive and lazy at the same time.  I go in very sporadic streaks when it comes to follow through on my hobbies, which now includes blogging.  For example, this summer I read like 20 novels -- I couldn't get enough.  But now it's October and I haven't picked up a book since August.  My other hobbies follow similar patterns: cooking, running, visiting friends....and when it comes to crafts it's the same way.  Lately I have been making every craft I see -- but I make no promises that I will actually keep this up for an extended period of time.  Decorating is more of an ongoing hobby -- but of course this one relies on money and time.  (two things that us Zeelanders are pretty stingy about.)  !!  But regardless of my varying levels of ambition to create new projects...I am quite the self proclaimed blog stalker. I am very good at stealing style & craft ideas and combining them so it all fits together like a style dream!   

So...now that I have talked myself up :) .... let's see what kind of entertainment we can come up with.

This evening I am hosting a craft and wine night with my neighbor friends.  A couple are crafty and a couple, are, well....not so crafty. (girls, you know who you are.) Since I am hosting and taking on the roll of Martha Stewart for the night, I got to pick the crafts.  Here are the projects we are going to work on:

      My Book Page Wreath                        

You can find a how-to tutorial at here at Living with Lindsay.


My Felt Birdie Pin
You can find a tutorial here at Lemon Tree Creations.


Corn Husk Wreath (I have made 3 but haven't taken pictures yet)
Picture and tutorial found here at House of Hepworths.

...and finally Potato Stamped Pumpkins
pictures and tutorial found here at Lemon Tree Creations.

I went craft binge shopping last night at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, and JoAnn's to gather all of our supplies.  I just need to track down some extra large potatoes to carve my {FALL} stamps.  Not entirely sure how that is going to go...

wish us luck! 

um...by the way.  I am playing around with this new blog makeover...so don't be surprised if the look -- or the title changes as I go.  Just warning ya..