A Preview

It's definitely starting to feel like fall, with the temperature dropping enough today that I needed to wear a jacket over a long-sleeve shirt. So seeing as time is marching on, that means that Halloween is coming up soon. Here's a preview of what's going to be going on at the Simacek house


She's too small to fit into the rest of the costume, but can you guess what it is?

Rain and more Rain

This past week we've had rain every day, but it really has been all for the better for us. Paul is very happy about it because prior to this, he was out watering the new grass seed three times per day. With the constant rain and cloudiness, there's been no need to water the lawn for about a week now.

I would have thought I'd be more productive with the poor weather, but really it just makes me want to have tea and cookies all day and listen to the thunder. Tomorrow's supposed to be sunny with a high of 75, so we'll see how that affects productivity around here...


In Binsey news, she's growing fast! We were worried she wasn't fattening up, but considering all the worms & fleas she came with, and the fact that she's doubled in weight since we got her despite her ever-extending spindly legs, we're not too worried about her thin build. I'm sure she'll fatten up once she slows down growing. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to have a normal, healthy puppy!

Fall is Here!

It's the first day of Fall, and I made sure to deck out the house with a fall-themed wreath on the door:


There's just something about a wreath that makes a house feel more like a home.

And while I'm on the topic of fall, I remember hearing in grade school that on the equinox, and only on the equinox (which is today), you can balance an egg on one end. Well, I googled it and it's not true according to snopes.com. Oh well, I guess there's better uses for eggs anyway.

Overheard on Campus

Just had to share this conversation I overheard on campus a couple days ago:

Guy1: Oh man, John and I got so wasted last night. We split a bottle of Jager fifty-fifty.

Guy2: Dude, that's retarded. That stuff's NASTY!

Guy1: No it's not! It's freakin' awesome!

'Nuff said.

Binsey and her Beau

Last night our neighbors, Juliana and Sergio invited us over for dinner and a chance to let our puppies get some energy out. They have an adorable and very energetic corgi named Romeo, and after getting over a little shyness on Binsey's part the two are learning how to be pals. I say "learning" because right now it's more like Romeo runs up to Binsey saying "play, play play!" and Binsey replies "back off, bucko!". But they'll get over that. Here's some of what they got up to:


We just love our neighborhood. I'm sure it helps that we have an adorable little puppy, but everyone's been so friendly and welcoming it's been a relatively easy adjustment.

Oh yeah, and school's going well.

Binsey the Monkey Puppy

The Escape Artist

Twice now, Binsey has managed to pull down the puppy gate and roam around the house while we were gone about an hour or less. Somehow she hasn't made any messes while we've been away (probably unintended on her part), so we're happy about that, but we're starting to wonder how we're going to contain her. So far, we decided to put her in her crate while we're out, rather than in the bathroom with the puppy gate, but this morning while we were trying to eat breakfast, she was whining and whining. We tried ignoring her, and telling her to be quiet, and here's the result:

Yes - she JUMPED OVER THE GATE!! How the heck does a seven pound, 9 week old puppy jump over a gate twice her size?? Either we're going to have to invest in a taller gate, or let her hang out with us in the house more, watching her every second - not so convenient when you're trying to read your homework!

If anyone's got suggestions, let us know!

Happy 30th Birthday to my Wonderful Husband!

Yup, it's been 3 decades since Mr Paul Simacek was born. I am so blessed to have such a supportive, loving husband with whom I can celebrate in this moment. We've feasted on a wine & cheese dinner, of course, and played with our puppy in our new house. It doesn't get much better than that!

Puppy Nutrition

You probably can't tell from the pictures, but Binsey barely has any whiskers. We had thought that maybe the guy we got her from had cut them off for some bizarre reason, but we were wrong. It seems that she was so malnourished that not only was her coat rough and dull, but (we think) her whiskers became really brittle and broke off leaving stubby split-ends.


But, we've been feeding Binsey some really good puppy food since we got her. It's called Horizon Legacy, and it's supposed to mimic what they'd eat in the wild. It stinks of fish, and Binsey LOVES it. She loves it so much that she eats her entire bowlful within 5 to 10 seconds no matter how much is in there. So, we're trying the muffin tin approach today, where you divide the food into the muffin tin cups to try to slow her down.

Her whiskers are definitely growing back and the new growth looks a lot thicker. Plus, her coat has gotten all shiny and soft. Amazing what a good diet can do!

Binsey the Huskador

You may be wondering what in the world a huskador is. Well, it's not a real word but it does describe our new lab/husky mix puppy. She comes with a crazy story too. We got her for free out of the back of a pickup truck in a parking lot after we saw an ad for free puppies in the newspaper. The guy told us he had wanted to breed his purebred lab with another lab, but he brought her to his cousin's house where she got pregnant by a husky.

From Binsey

We're calling our new puppy Binsey, which is another Oxford reference. She's about 8 weeks right now (the guy wasn't sure when they were born), and she's very different from Rewley in more than just looks! It could be that we're just better at dog training now that we've been through a course, but she's already pretty darn good with "sit" and "stay", which of course I videotaped.


She's getting totally spoiled by our neighbor's two girls who are just head over heels for her and love to stop by to play with her. And of course we just love having someone else to tire her out and get her used to kids.