The Big Move and Our New Neighborhood

The move was complicated. Thank goodness my parents came all the way down to NC to help me. Dobby did not like all of our things being in boxes and was really unhappy when we were loading the moving truck. Once we got things settled in WV though, he adjusted quickly. There was a lot of stuff!

It took about a week to unpack. Meanwhile, I made friends with my new neighbor and she showed me a good place to walk Dobby. Here is our new walk route!
Our friend the lion:

The beautiful view:

A really great garden along the way:

These guys always bark at us:

...And Dobby likes to bark at these:

It is a kind of run-down neighborhood but everyone seems friendly. Living in the mountains is really beautiful, but it makes going for long walks difficult because there are always a lot of very steep hills. Luckily, this walk is about a mile long and only has small hills. One of the most popular things to do here is to go hiking and I want to start doing that, too! I know that Dobby will love it (since we have gone hiking before) but this is a good little walk for everyday use :)

Updates Left and Right!

Hi all! Dobby and I have had a super busy two months since my last post. We moved 400 miles away from our home in North Carolina so that I can start my PhD program at WVU this fall. Since we moved about 3 weeks ago, I have been in intensive workshops preparing to teach English 101 to freshmen :) I'm excited and a little nervous.

Dobby has been having a great time! Although he did NOT like moving AT ALL he settled in quickly at our new house, which has a much larger, fenced in back yard. Yay! Our neighborhood is super dog friendly (almost every home has a pet!) and fairly walkable. Here are some of the fun things we've been doing.

I bought a new chair for our new house! I call it the "old man chair" because it looks like something a grandpa would love sitting in. It rocks and swivels. Here is Dob checking it out when I brought it home:


We went to a Chihuahua Rescue and Transport picnic and met a lot of chihuahua friends!
Sadly I don't remember anyone's name. There were a lot of cute new doggies to say hi to!


Some of them were even up for adoption. It was tempting, but with the move coming up I just couldn't take anyone new home.

Here is Dobby with Zinnie, Zinnie's mom, and her friend:

And here is everyone all together:

This is the beautiful community garden where it was held:


We said goodbye to all our favorite people in Greensboro, like my boyfriend (we broke up since I was leaving :( )


And we had to say goodbye to Dobby's best friend Zinnie, too. It is sad to think I won't be doggy-sitting her regularly anymore. And I will miss having her mom to call when I need someone to watch Dobby. We will definitely be getting together whenever I visit Greensboro!




A lot more happened, too! I will try to update again in the next few days :)

The Surprise and BIG NEWS!

Wellllll I got caught up in the end of semester insanity but now I'm ready to tell you about our surprise! Sort of! Basically, I got sod in my little back yard area and it's gorgeous and Dobby loves it. My back yard is about 35' by 20', about half concrete patio and half grass now.

I forgot to take a "before" picture, but this will give you a good idea of what my yard used to look like:
It was a weed patch with random bald spots sparsely covered by old mulch. When I moved in, there were even heaps of old chunks of concrete of some sort tossed back there. The patio slab is nice, but the yard was hideous. So, my landlady has been promising me sod basically since last summer, but the weather has been interfering. Now I have grass!!! It's so beautiful. I do have an "after" picture, but it's on my camera still and I don't have the cord.

I don't have my camera cord because I'm home in MD for Easter, and me and my mom are leaving tomorrow to meet my sister (who is studying abroad in Israel and is on spring break) in Athens, Greece!! Woohoo!

So, not a very exciting surprise unless you are me (and Dob) who enjoy the back yard SO much more now! Also not a very exciting post unless you are interested in what's going on in-the-life-of us instead of just pictures of Dob :)

Also, sorry I haven't been around much still! I finished my thesis and turned it in, then wrote another final term paper for a total of about 130 pages of writing this past two months. Plus working part time and social activities (which Dobby has been thoroughly enjoying, too!) Now I am all set to graduate with my MA on May 6, and BIG NEWS! I will be attending WVU in the fall to start a PhD. Anyone in that area, or anyone know anyone in that area, let me know. I need to find a spot for me and Dob to live :)

Love you all, and we miss you!!
<3

Hi again!!

Well I was intending to post about my recent hiking trip with Dobby... but I took the time to catch up on ALL of your blogs, and now it's super late and time to go to bed :)

We're going out of town this weekend so it might not be up until next week, but check back again soon!

<3 S and D

PS Here is a quick pic of Dob enjoying our new house :)

The New House

Well, it has been a busy week! Dobby and I are all moved in to the new house, and I dropped off my key at the old place earlier today. So it's official: we've moved! Here is Dobby checking out his new place before we got all the furniture and stuff in:


And here is his new favorite spot in the living room: a seat with a view!



We'll be back again soon with more pictures :)

New News!

Alright, I'm still here! (Sort of!) Our most recent news is that my beautiful little bungalow just sold. So Dobby and I are moving this week! It will be a little crazy for a while, I admit, but I fully intend to post at least once in a while :)

I have been in this house for 4 years, and it is the only house Dobby has ever lived in with me (3 years). I hope he adjusts well to the move! Here are some pictures of Dobby enjoying our house... in memory of all the good years spent here.

Dobby loves the deck:



Dobby loves the dining room sun-spot:


Dobby loves the comfy, cozy living room:


Dobby loves the fire place:


Dobby REALLY loves the deck...



Here's Dobby the very first time I brought him home, to this house:


He was so skinny! That was also before we remodeled the kitchen.

Goodbye, house. We will miss you!

About us

(Our first playtime)

Dobby and I are happy to have such a public way to share his cute-ness and I promise to stay out of the way, but here is a little bit about me and how I came to have Dobbs.

I am a recent college graduate and decided in the summer of 2007 that I was ready for the responsibility of having a dog. My family had had a Toy Fox Terrier and I was absolutely enamored with her- dogs can truly light up your life. So I decided to shop around, and eventually was visiting http://petfinder.com and http://www.1-800-save-a-pet.com daily searching for new dogs. Everyone I talked to said that I would just know when I had found the right dog, so I was patient and waited for the right one to turn up.

Early in October, I found 'Squirt' on Petfinder. I knew he was the one, and I applied immediately! I had previously applied for a few other dogs and it had taken weeks for other rescues to process my application, so I was thrilled when Melanie, Squirt’s foster mom, called me that very afternoon. She sang his praises loudly, and I was hooked.

Squirt’s foster home was near Charlotte, NC, which was a good 2 hour drive for me, but I went to visit him that weekend. The drive was worth every minute, and I fell in love with his little wiggling, whining self as soon as I met him.

Shortly after my visit with him, he was scheduled to be neutered and microchipped, so on October 13th I finally brought him home with me. He slept on the passenger seat the whole way home like a perfect little angel. That afternoon, trusting in his socialization at the foster home and self-confident attitude, I took him out on a little adventure to PetCo so that he could try on collars and help me pick out some toys. We came home with his mossy green collar/leash set and a little terrycloth hippo. I debated for almost a week on what to change his name to (Squirt is so emasculating) and after noticing that at certain angles his ears were just like the Harry Potter character, I named him Dobby. The rest is history!