The Talberts: April 2010

So this past week was my first full week at the MSU Admissions office. It was good week and I really think I'm going to like working there. I have to say it was nice to put on "work" clothes again, although the early mornings are going to take some getting used to! My hours are 8-5 Monday - Friday until after graduation, which is the 17th of May I think, and then we will go to Summer hours which are 7-6 Monday - Thursday! I think the longer days will be a little hard to get used to for the first couple weeks but it will be nice to have 3 day weekends EVERY weekend!!!

So in our first week of both of us working since we got Durango we had been preparing him by letting him not stay in the crate periodically when we were out of the house, giving him free range (for the most part). Jay & I had promised each other that whoever leaves the house last for work is in charge of taking him for a walk/run before that. So we both took our turns getting up early to take him for a good run or walk and luckily MSU is close enough that I can come home for lunch everyday and spend some time with him and let him out to go to the bathroom. Monday went great, he was a perfect angel! Tuesday he started showing us that he was upset w/ us when he chewed one of Jay's flip flops & destroyed a pair of my sunglasses. So we prepared by putting everything we really cared about away. Wednesday went ok and then Thursday hit. We were all tired by that point and Durango started acting out a little more. We had recently got him a slightly bigger bed that we keep in the living room & our bedroom and kept his original one in the crate for him. Well I got home for lunch and noticed that his crate was completely empty & the water bowl empty as well!

Then I saw he had dragged his bed over to where his other bed was & he also had taken a blanket we had in there out too. Nothing was destroyed just strewn about the house.

And then Friday hit... and this is what I found:

He had gone a little stir crazy and completely destroyed his original bed, but thankfully nothing else. He usually does this with his toys we give him & it takes him no time at all (thankfully Pet-Smart has a clearance aisle!)

I think he thought he was in trouble, which he probably should have been but by that point I don't think he would have known what he was in trouble for since I didn't actually catch him in the act.

Well Friday night we decided to go to Dinner with some friends and left him out again. Well we got home and this is what we found...

Thankfully he didn't destroy any of the cushions or pillows. However, we were both (Jay more so than me) concerned about the escalation of his behavior. Going from just moving things to tearing them up to moving more stuff. So needless to say he has gone back going in the crate when we are gone. Hopefully we can work on things so he doesn't have to stay in the crate all day long. Any and all suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

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So last weekend was spent in the Dining Room painting. We have talked about painting for a while and finally got everything and did it & it looks great! We are both really happy with the color and how everything turned out. We still have some touch ups to do but it is done for the most part. I know there are more painting projects on the horizon but it will have to wait a little. So here are the pictures of the process. I forgot to take a few before pictures but here is before we got any paint on the walls.

I got to put the first paint on the wall...

All taped up

About 10 seconds into painting. Jay thought it was hilarious. He was much more paint free than I was.

Durango helping out... he was actually really good about not coming into the room. We both wanted to keep him out because we had visions of him stepping in the paint and walking all over the house or just trying to drink it! Thankfully none of that happened!