Yearofhealth2023's Journal, 13 January 2024

Home ownership is a love-hate relationship. I think winter weather adds to it. Holing all gets fixed up and running more smoothly.  

We are keeping our cabinet doors open and turned up the heat.  

It's -3 here in Iowa with a 30 mph wind just awful outside with blowing snow ❄️🌨️ 

Our house was built in 1942, so I know about maintenance issues. Good luck with all of that. We used to do skijoring, and could never get booties to stay on paws...and it was a nightmare even trying to get them on, because the dogs hated them. We went to a feed store and got a type of udder balm that protected against frost and slathered the dogs' paws with it. In our case, it was more to prevent ice balls in the snow, but could be worth a shot if the booties won't stay on 

I'm sorry to hear about your house troubles! It's so annoying cuz it seems like in our house things break in 3s. And they are all expensive...my house is over 40 years old so lots to fix cuz of age .. We tried the booties on Sydney when it was 117 here but she wouldn't keep them on... 

Oh, we must be neighbors! I'm up in Bellingham WA in the US. It was 15-19 degrees yesterday, and I did go for my walk. I walked out on a street that's at the end of a valley and the wind came through, and hit me deep in my bones, and out loud said, "NOPE" , and I did a 180, and headed back to my house.  

it's 14 degrees here in my Washington area. so windy. I didn't walk yesterday or today due to Temps. my dog is missing it but wayyy too cold and windy. branches coming down. my house I have black out drapes I save for winter up over every window. cupboard open and faucets hoping for no frozen pipes. I stocked home with food for me so might be missing excercise but eating best I can still.  

Yep i live near lake tapps. It was colder before i got up. My little puppy needs exercise or he goes silly crazy but it’s so cold. In chelan its -7 degrees. Have a friend there. Brrrrrr. Diana, doesnt it get old? Our current house we had custom built 10 years ago and i get so )*)(*))*)(** off everytime we discover a way the builder cut corners. Don’t think he insulated the toilet room properly and it is on the exterior wall. Not the first time we have had issues with plumbing. A good builder is something to be treasured. Wish we had had one. The other house i cant really complain its been relatively problem free its just this year one thing after the next. Writingwyo-what is skyjoring? Also to all of you why do you keep the cabinet doors open? Ive never heard of that. 

skijoring is dog-powered cross country skiing. We had big dogs that we harnessed, and they pulled us. Like dog sledding on skis. It wasn't so much easier as faster. The dogs would get annoyed if we didn't bust our butts trying to keep up with them 🤣 

Leaving lower cabinet doors open lets in warmth to prevent pipes freezing. I'm on the east side in Spokane, we had a crawl space that the back bathroom sink pipe would freeze every couple years. Finally just put a shut off valve on that pipe and turned off for two months each winter. Much cheaper and easier then plumbers and replacing cracked pipes. You may live close to my son and family, there is a park at one end of Lake Tapps (unless there is more than one in Wa) with a pool, they live across the street.  

Writingwyo-unbelievable as it sounds my little 1/2 husky 21 pound dog pulls us up the hill (dont worry we dont hurt him) he digs his back legs in and leans forward. Just when we are walking. He loves it. That sounds like so much fun and good exercise also. What kind of dogs did you do that with? 

Redrose that is on the opposite side of the lake. Jenks part i think that is. I will have to tell my hubs about the cabinet thing for the master. We haven’t had any problems anywhere else in the house but think kitchen and other bathrooms are more protected from exterior walls. 

Oh, I'd believe it. I've heard husky mixes described as "subverbal triathletes." 🤣 At one point, we had three: a malamute, a husky/heeler mix, and a golden retriever. Oddly, the malamute was the laziest and the golden was the most eager to pull. Ours ran 80-90 pounds. I looked it up, and the minimum recommended weight for a skijoring dog is 35 pounds  

yeah Yearofhealth2023 it can definitely get costly. 

Sorry to hear you’re having so many house problems! I worry about that alot myself. It got down to 12 degrees here today. Just praying and hoping for the best!!!  

Bear where do you live>. Brrrr 

You might want to check on what type of booties they use on sled dogs in Alaska. 

-4 here and wind chill is -28... My pups are getting cabin fever but it is too cold and we have never had good luck with dog shoes, either. I haven't tried any on these 2 pups but may have to see if anything has great reviews. House repairs are my least favorite thing to spend money on- though David and I are both thrilled with the new electric. Worth the cost for us.  

Guys, for the dogs who can't keep the boots on.....I got some mini bungee cords and put little holes in the top of the booth, then joined the two in the front together with the bungie cords, stretch it across the shoulders, do the same for the two back feet, then do a mini bungee cord from the center of the shoulder cord to the center of the hip cord to keep them from sliding off the hips....for the little dogs I used joined rubber bands, it keeps the boots on, they don't like it...but they will tolerate it to go outside and not get the feets froze. 

Debra did they tolerate the bungee cords going over the shoulders and down the hips?