A surprise house guest and clean dishes

So, today I was off work and really hoping to escape from the house for a while to hang out with a knitting sailor and Frozen Extremities at Tangled Skeins. Unfortunately that didn't happen. We had a surprise house guest.

So, this afternoon, around 1:00 the whole block was becoming annoyed by a barking dog. She barked all through our lunch, and just wouldn't stop. I went outside to see what was going on.

Across the street they have two dogs, a Rottweiler and an old Black Lab. They both seem like nice dogs and normally when they bark the owner takes them in. Apparently this wasn't happening this time. When I went to look I found the Black Lab off her leash, in her yard barking. I carefully brought Maya over. The Black Lab LOVED her! She was licking Maya's face and stopped barking right away. She even let me take her over to her door and tie her back up. It looked like no one was home. She some how was able to get up out of the open basement window.

I left her there hoping that her owners would be home soon. As soon as I got back inside the poor lonely dog started barking again. She wouldn't stop!

Eventually my nosy... er... concerned neighbour called the Animal control. She said that the dog had lunged at her. So, I went over to see if there was anything I could do. I didn't want them to think that this sweet dog was a killer. The nice lady from animal control looked around for a bit then said that the dog seemed nice (as soon as we came back in the yard she stopped barking, she was just lonely!) and that as long as she was secured in the yard she was OK with it. I said that I would take her over to my place until the owners came home.

That's how Maya had a friend over for the rest of the afternoon.

Look at that face! She was the sweetest thing. As soon as we got her over to our house she wouldn't leave my side. She was in love with everyone!

She was crazy about Maya. She kept licking her face. Maya wasn't so sure what was up with her, but seemed to enjoy the company. After a couple minutes and me throwing sticks, they were happily playing together.

After about an hour or so of me watching them outside, it started to get cold and it looked like rain. So they both came inside. I put them in the living room because I didn't want the new dog to get into the paint and everything in the living room.

Maya was quite confused as to why she was locked up in her own house. Also, at first, she wasn't so crazy about having this other dog in her house. She growled a lot at her, but then she was fine.

At around 5:00 the poor dog's owners got home from work. I ran a very happy dog home.

After all the fun was over, Maya was quite tired. She was tuckered out from all the excitement... poor puppy.

***

While I was puppy sitting, Dave was plumbing and his dad (who came to town to help out) was painting our cabinets.

We have finished counter tops too!! Yesterday Dave finished them after work. They are beautiful.

By the end of the day, this was my kitchen. I have a working sink, stained cabinets, and a dishwasher!!!! That means that all my dishes are now clean! This is a huge deal because all our dishes were dirty, in a bucket, outside. I know that is just horrible. I was just too exhausted by the end of the day to go through all the work to wash the dishes outside. It's not easy you know...

You can't tell by this picture, but the dishwasher is on and I am really excited. Ah, clean dishes and a tired dog, can things get any better than this?

... Well I could have a clean house and a working kitchen.... soon enough!