Year of the Dog

My daughter has been "feeding her brain" with Uncle John's Electrifying Bathroom Reader for Kids Only!. Last night she informed me that I was born in the Year of the Dog. Oh, the irony. I have been having difficulty adjusting to life with a dog. Though I won't say more about that subject, I did take up the gauntlet of building a doghouse (and no, it wasn't for me).

My biggest fear wasn't so much building something, but that I had to use a circular saw (of which I am now an owner - more money in the DeWalt coffers). I haven't used any kind of powered saw since my early teen years when I chopped off bits of fingers on my left hand (another story, another time). But now I had to come to grips (no pun intended) with the dog situation.

Well, I faced my fear and built the house. Some of the wood used was recovered from the local dump, while the plywood was purchased from the lumber store in town. I loosely based the design on one my spouse found online. A neat feature was the space between the inner an outer wall which allows you to put some foam in between for extra climate control (necessary for those cold winter months up here in the north). It still needs to be stained and shingled, but at least it is built. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. Yaay?!