So, you're reading this post and saying to yourself, where the heck has the Presto Dog webmaster been for the past two- or three weeks?

(Once) faithful readers can attest to the fact that we moved to the new Phunny Pharm on/about May 5, 2007. It was a horrible experience, but we managed to get our way through the ordeal thanks to the muscle provided by my two sons, Matt and Chris. Without them, I'd probably still be moving our stuff from the old residence to the new. Or, perhaps we would have simply "chucked" it all and remained where we were, living right next to our neighbors with a mere picket fence separating us from them.

But, let's move on. As noted in a prior post, we acquired a new dog, a four month old Shetland Sheepdog (what else?) we named Maggie. She fit right in, and goes around the house with the other dogs as if she's always been one of the pack. Her favorite dog is huge Dougie, our tri-color Collie. Dougie has the patience of a saint 'cause Maggie's always nipping at his hair, tail or whatever other part of him she can sink her little needle-like puppy teeth into. Dougie takes it all in stride, occasionally whimpering if Maggie bites a bit too hard before we can intercede.

Her'e a picture of Maggie, affectionately referred to as Magpie by yours truly:



And here's Declan:



Crazy Unlce Declan (Maggie's mother was Declan's sister), our alpha dog, eyes the puppy at times. He hasn't officially chastised the pup yet to let her know he's the boss of the outfit; I assume that's coming. We don't condone his actions but somehow he manages to let them all know he rules.

Here's Lily:



Meek Lily barks at Maggie if we say "No!" to her for some reason, as if she's saying "You better listen to our humans!" Lyric, Maggie's grandmother (Declan & his sister are her offspring), takes the pup in stride and basically ignores her.

Lyric:



Dougie:

Last Saturday, 6/9/07, we took Maggie to a puppy dog show. She didn't win anything, but we're acclimatizing her for the ring as she's gonna be a show dog...hopefully. We took a ton of pictures that will eventually get posted her but that may take a few days 'cause the laptop I used for this function has the flu. It's probably going to the PC doctor soon. And while at the show, she was horrible! She was barking at all the other dogs and generally made a nuisance of herself. One of the other contestants even asked "Who's that dog that's doing all the barking?" It was our own little Maggie she was referring to!

The Phunny Pharm is coming along. Since this is a site for/about the dog, I won't bore you with the details of same. But, the house is the thing that's basically kept me from my duties of writing posts here at the Presto Dog web siote. After all, after scraping, painting, cleaning, installing new lights, medicine cabinets or whatever, who the heck would feel like dragging out the ol' laptop to record for posterity what the pups did that day/evening?

Hey. I'm only human!

But, I will get those pictures up here. Come back and check us out!

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This web site is dedicated to the dog. However, unless I get my life together, not much is gonna be written about our fine four-legged friends!

As readers who've come here before are perhaps tired of hearing, Presto Dog recently moved to the Phunny Pharm, our new residence (a.k.a., den to our four Shelties and tri-color Collie) in a very rural area. It's now getting to be less of a challenge to find all the "stuff" we need on a daily basis since the unpacking is going well, but there's still the occasional missing power converter, belt, or shoe that remains hidden in some mislabeled box or bag that stymies us in our endeavors to return to a normal life. And then there's the appliances.

We decided to purchase/install new kitchen appliances consisting of stove, microwave, refrigerator & dishwasher. Last night, we had that last item installed. It had some old "pex" piping that mystified me as to how to connect it to the new, flexible type you purchase in Home Depot. A friend came over & hooked everything up for us so we're now able to unpack our dishes (we were eating off paper plates) & wash 'em 'cause they were packed for the move in newspaper.

What's all this got to do with Presto Dog? Well, we need those power converters, belts & shoes to go on with our lives and until we are unpacked & settled in, the posts here may reflect the tribulations of our move (as this one has).

So, please bear with us as we become more and more civilized. BTW, the only major appliance that still needs to be installed is our microwave. That'll involve re-positioning and existing kitchen cabinet so the nuclear device can fit underneath it properly.

Peace be to us...we need it!

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Our new puppy, Maggie, has arrived at our den!

On Saturday, 5/19/07, we picked up Maggie, a 12-week old Shetland Sheepdog, at our breeder's home. After visiting with all her other Shelties (a total of ten of 'em), we eventually got down to the business of acquiring the new addition to our family. The breeder reviewed the finer points of caring for the little gal and in practically no time we were on our way home to the Presto Dog Phunny Pharm once again.

We took some non-super highways so we could become more familiar with the area. Remember, we only officailly moved to this new location about a whole week ago, so every trip out in the car has the potential of becoming an adventure in and of itself.  Thank goodness, this particular venture resulted in no calamities (a.k.a. "getting lost") and around 1:30 p.m. or so Maggie was introduced to our other three Shelties and our tri-color Collie.

They all loved her! Dougie especially want to play with the little girl, but we watch their antics closely because since she's only about 6 or 7 pounds, he's ten times her size!

I'll post pictures of the newest member of our family in a day or so...I actually found my digital camera in one of the mountains of cardboard boxes in our garage this afternoon!

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The old Presto Dog den had a white picket fence around the whole property (that I installed myself, I might add!). This great feature permitted us to merely open the front or back door & let our three Shetland Sheepdogs and tri-color Collie...


...out to play whenever we wanted.

Then there's the new place...

Our new den sits on two acres of land in a very rural area. How rural you might ask? Well, we can't put our garbage out at the roadside for pick-up the night before because animals will knock over the cans, open the tops and make a mess out of all the stuff we previously decided to discard. And, when we want to plant flowers, we need to ask the locals what won't be eaten by the wildlife.

I bring this up because the new place doesn't have a fence yet and we definately need one because the animals will entice our pack to chase after them. Installing a fence will probably be one of the first big projects I undertake. So in the meantime, I had to find some area we could all play in. I found the basement well serves this purpose.

The Presto Dog basement the full length of the house (about 70' or so?) and I'm able to kick a ball that my friends can retrieve, bring back to me and let me do it all over again. Sure, it's not the soft, luxurient texture of the grass outside, but for the next couple of weeks at least, until I get the time & manpower (a.k.a., son) to help me with the fence, my friends and I will be basement dwellers when it comes to play-time. BTW, they don't seem to mind this temporary inconvenience, but I'll make sure they get their outside playground created in the near future.

Finally, I know the picture up above has been posted previously! I'll be searching through our endless stacks of cardboard boxes on the weekend in the hopes of finding our digital camera so we can take new shots of our pack at their new environs. Come back soon!

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Presto Dog moved to a new home with lots of land for our dogs last weekend. But as I reflect on that statement, a little clarification is in order. See, we rented a big, huge truck & me & the boys loaded all our possessions on same several times, making trips back & forth until all our "stuff" was at the new place.

I imagine as is the case with most such moves, we then had to go back to the old residence and pack up the remaining tools, cleaning supplies and sorted other minor possessions that didn't make it onto the truck. So, at about 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, 5/13/07, we finally left our old home for the last time. Tears? I shed a couple, although internally, concerning memories of loved ones (four- and two legged) who spent time with us there.

But a new life awaits us! Our new home looks over a beautiful countryside, and assorted wild and domesticated animals can readily be seen when we merely look out our back window.

Our three Shetland Sheepdogs (Lyric, Lily and Declan) seem to have taken to the new area pretty well, but Dougie, our tri-color Collie, is having adjustment problems. He's eating sporadically and is quite nervous when he traverses from room to room. Perhaps it's all the new smells, perhaps it's the mountains of boxes that bother him. In any event, we're sure he'll eventually become acclimatized to his new home and be his old silly self very soon.

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Hooray! We moved from our old home to the new Presto Dog Phunny Pharm.

But the move was hell. We're living in a corrugated reality, where cardboard boxes loom for as far as the eye can see.

And, when we moved, our home connection to the Internet was, of course, disrupted. The only way the post you're reading right now got to Presto Dog was 'cause I took a few minutes at my job to get my thoughts out here for you to see.

This weekend we may get our system up & running once again. 'Til then, perhaps you can stop by & see if we're up every couple of hours? I might even share some of the horrors of attempting to mover yourself with a truck, two strong sons, four dogs, a bride and an endless sea of boxes, belongings and furniture.

It's certainly one for the ages.

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Simply stated, Saturday we pack up a huge truck and move all contents from the old Presto Dog environs to the newly acquired Phunny Pharm. We're already tired, since we've spent the last couple of weeks going through all our possessions, throwing out what we don't need, packing up what we do and delivering same to the new house. Then, it's a return trip to the present home where we do it all over again.

Anyway, this story will soon play itself out on Saturday, 5/5/07 when we do the official move.

Stay tuned for details as to how the whole things worked out!

It's absolutely set in stone...Presto Dog will move from our present location to the new Phunny Pharm on Saturday, 5/5/07. For the past few weeks, we've been moving smaller boxes, do-dads and assorted other possessions by van to the new place. It's 80+ miles to and from but it's been worth it; by the move date we should be left with the larger items we've accumulated over the years...beds, dressers, TVs, furnitures, etc.

And, the good news is that our two sons will be available to give us a hand! Both are hard-working guys who re-arranged their busy schedules to help Mom & Dad in their time of need. Bless 'em! After all, me & the bride just ain't as young as we used to be and the stress and physical requirement of a move just isn't our cup 'o tea, if you know what I mean!

So, if you don't see a post here for a few days, it'll be 'cause we're moving. And, we have yet to acquire Internet access at the Phunny Pharm. My son (P/C guru that he is) says the speed of our connection won't be as fast as it is here in the more metropolitan area we presently subscribe to, but that it shouldn't affect us too badly 'cause our applications aren't speed/data intensive...yet.

In any event, please contunue to stop back and check out Presto Dog. Sooner or later, we'll be back in the grove once again with updates and pictures of the pack (three Shelties and a Collie) on a more regular basis.

Peace.

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Well, we've committed ourselves to move Presto Dog from where we reside today to our new home on the weekend of 5/5-5/6/07. We've been busy at work fixing up:

So, the on-going joy of taking trips to the new home to paint, spackle, etc. so our furniture and accessories, when placed, will all be just so continues. I say that in jest, 'cause it's gonna look real nice when we're done with our work.

Now, the pack, consisting of three Shetland Sheepdogs and a tri-color Collie have been watching us carefully, very well aware that something is in the offing. We usually bring them with us to the new place where they generally seem right at home, if you'll pardon the expression. We try to make them feel comfortable in their new settings by talking to 'em and buying a couple of chewies that keep 'em busy as we're fixing up the place.

One of the bigger (translation: very expensive) projects we have yet to undertake is having a fence put up around the new place similar to the one we have around the old one. This is both a necessity (to keep deer, wild turkeys, chickens and assorted other creatures away from our domesticated dogs) and a major undertaking (translation: very expensive) since it's such a large piece of land. But we'll find a way. Once done, the pack will have hours and hours of fun running, jumping and cavorting around the land, happy as dogs in a rural country setting (as they very well will be!).

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We made a trip to the new Presto Dog Phunny Pharm yesterday morning but decided to make it without our three shelties and tri-color Collie. The reason for our change in venue? Basically it was because traveling without the canine brigade meant that we could fit so much more stuff in the van!

You can imagine the space that four dog crates take up in the van. Plus, we always have to be ready for Dougie's car sickness which can make trips of any length...adventures.

So, it took us about an hour & a half to get to the new place, another forty minutes or so to unpack & relax for a few minutes, then another hour & a half for the trip back home. When we arrived home at our humble abode, the entire pack was waiting for us, barkin' and acting like crazy lunatics once we let them free  to run around the house & yard once again.

And yes, we do crate our dogs when we leave the house. They really are more secure and don't mind their situation. I didn't think it was nice when we first started doing this but have come around to concur that it's the best things for 'em when we leave. You might want to try it with your pup. Just make sure you "reward" him or her by having tasty treats for when they scamper into their "home."

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