change of pace

Now that we're no longer worried about where to live we can focus in on the fun things again. My favorite festival, Mountainfilm hit town this weekend and we spent the weekend enjoying the culture. Last year Lynn Hill and John Harlin III signed my books and this year I found Jennifer Lowe-Anker and David Breashears to sign at the reading frenzy.



Work has an insane camera~ the nikon d-100. This isn't a simple point and shoot. it's a big monster and takes incredible pics. I had some good luck with it the other night and have taken some great doggie pics of chaos and his friends. It's pretty phenomenal to be able to catch the water droplets as they fly through the air.

Chaos has some pretty cute friends but they're not always easy to catch being still. The camera has the speed to be able to capture these monsters in all their cuteness. Here's some shots of chaos, mako and murphy being their goofy selves.

and the new camp chaos location is....

one building over! That's right we're staying at parker ridge! (No Evie we do not have our address yet...)

This July we get to move down one flight over 300 yards and up 2 flights of stairs. It's a one bedroom and smaller but has great storage. It also has a remodeled kitchen with new cabinets, new convection oven, a fridge with the freezer on the bottom and isn't stark white!

Dave called two ads in the paper today. Both had potential. We looked at a two bedroom in the next complex over but it was more expensive then our current house and had no garage. The one bedroom we're moving to is less expensive and has no garage but as mentioned above it has some features that make up for it. Our new landlord has a dog that Chaos has slowly made friends with over the last year and a half. When Dave called the ad today we knew it was one of two neighbors and when he figured out who she was he introduced himself as Chaos's dad. For a dog named Chaos he has a great reputation. She's pretty excited to rent it to someone she knows and we're excited to know who we're renting from.

This takes a lot of stress away. As I posted last week there has been a lot of ad's in the paper but options were slim. The one we looked at last week was a basement dwelling with limited natural light and a funky damp smell. It was cheap but there was a good chance that our medical bills and cabin fever would increase. Any more then 6" and we would have no sunlight at all. We will have more light in our new place and our plants will also be happy with the move.

32 ads

32 long term rental ads in the telluride daily planet
6 do not allow dogs
1 does not allow cats
12 are more then 40 minutes from town
15 are priced over $2000 per month
7 are studios
2 do not have real kitchens
4 have already been rented

my math isn't awful. there is overlap in the categories...plus it's midnight and i'm not really going to count- just trying to outline the conundrums that we face. each morning we grab the paper and a sharpie and cross off any that are over $2000, over 40 minutes from town or studios. We're willing to beg someone to take Chaos if we give a larger deposit so we ignore the no dogs unless it is in an area that really does not let dogs live there. (this is sometimes due to people building developments in ELK Calving areas... so my dog can't live there but 500 people can???) We are also not willing to pay $1600/month to cook on a hot plate and microwave.

32 ads and we're left with one possible place to rent. A drive by showed us why it was in town and cheap... basement with well windows. We'll still look at it but optimism is not running high.

Disappointment

We found a great place not to far from work and with woods around us. We were going to sign a contract this week and put down a deposit when she called and let us know that the current person changed her mind and is not going to move out after all! The search resumes...
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And the bubble burst...

We like where we live. It's a cookie cutter condo in a nice neighbourhood and 500 yards from the ski lifts. We had a year lease that was up in October, 2007 and last Monday the owner told us he was selling the condo. He offered to let us purchase it at a mere 345k. We thought about talking to a lender but Realised that even if we were somehow approved that it was a lot for a deed restricted condo that can only increase value in small incremental and that's a huge monthly payment. I started in on the classifieds and making calls to the 2 ads that were pet friendly- upon interview of the animal. We looked at them on Wednesday evening and found a great one - plus they loved chaos. We haven't signed a lease but it's moving forward and looking good. We'll keep you posted on the impending move of campchaos!
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All the cool kids are doing it...

The boo-boo buddies

We have definitely needed a sense of humour to get through this weekend. Less then 30 hours after chaos was bit his friend mako was too. We were with the dogs in the backyard hanging out with some friends and mako was bit over a tennis ball. Another trip to the world's best vet and more stitches! Both dogs are recovering well and have no lasting damage- just scars.
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9 stitches

yup, the little monster now has 9 stitches in his back leg. he's resting on the dog bed at my feet and is still in a stupor from the sedative that the vet gave him. I ended up going inside while he was waking and hung out in the pen with him. When I went to pay the bill he got up and followed me to the front office. he was a bit loopy and still is. he even fell when he tried to walk upstairs to the condo so dave carried him.

he hasn't had a bath in over a month and was actually headed home to the tub when the incident happened. Looks like he really will go through anything to skip tubby time!

we went to the norwood vet today... they tend to be a little more comforting even though they are further away. Dr. Taylor even matched the bandage to Chaos's Boston Red Sox collar and made it look like he had his on Red Sox on...

Ouch

Chaos is currently hanging out with the vet after suffering a bite from a German shepherd. He is fine but needs a few stitches to close the gash. The vet will also give us some antibiotics to keep infections away. He is a tough pup and was limping but in good spirits until the vet sent us away. She sedated him to make the process easier.
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