This weekend was quite a fun one. Cooler temps, fresh air, and simply finding room to pause. And if you’re Charlie, it was an exhausting weekend, too — because my precious city pup saw what cows were for the first time, along with experiencing (for the first time) what life might be like if she had a huge, fenced-in property to patrol.
In short: she loved it. And she’s still sleeping it off as I type this.
I haven’t shared much about “the bearded guy” on the blog (yet), but I’ve been dating a funny, nerdy, southern-twangy dude almost a year now. For the sake of not having to keep calling him “the bearded guy” as though he’s a stranger, I’ll just call him K. I think my favorite thing is that he pronounces Charlie’s name differently (“CHAH-lee”, no “r”). He’s also the owner of the little munchkin (Stella) you’ve been seeing in my social media feeds and will be a big help with the pub shed project (him, not the dog; she likes to dig holes in my garden beds to go after chipmunks, so she balances out the helpfulness of her owner somewhat).
Over the weekend, we traveled to his hometown in Americus, Georgia to visit his parents. As with most trips like this, the intent had a bunch of different reasons, including helping them move some of their furniture (they’re building a house in Tennessee and needed to pack up the U-Haul), rehoming some of his old things (John Deere farm toys?), and spend a little time getting to know people I don’t know all that well yet (spoiler alert: they are incredibly charming). They had also recently chopped down a few trees, and I hoped to take some of it home for a few DIY projects as well as the indoor fireplace and outdoor fire pit (the cedar logs will smell sooooo good).
Anyway, Charlie really enjoyed it. K and I have both tried to train her over the last year to walk better on and off a leash (as in, not simply booking it down the road the minute she’s loose), and it really seems to be paying off: my girl happily walked around with us around the entire property, came (mostly) when called, and spent a good part of the evening staring off into the distance at the strange mooing creatures she’d never seen before. She ran and sniffed and enjoyed so much of the property that she was already hinting at wanting to go inside for a nap before dinnertime (our excuse, “she’s an indoor type of dog”).
I think for Christmas, she’s going to get a dairy cow stuffed animal.
And since it’s almost time for Halloween: wanna see something scary?
This is K’s late grandfather’s old camper. For years, it’s been used as a workshop and for storage and hasn’t moved from this spot (we checked the plate: 1987, aka the year my sister was born). The wheels are flat; it’s rusty and grimy and kind of (okay, a lot) spooky. 
But, according to him (not that I have a clue yet as I’ve not done any research), it’s from the 40s or 50s and worth something even in this state. So, he wants to restore it — and not, as most of my friends have joked to us so far, burn it.
Well, I suppose I should say restore-ish: he also wants to trick it out with renewable tech and make it smart. Given that I’ve seen a few camper makeovers before (here and here come to mind thus far), I don’t think he’s entirely crazy… but this does also look like a thing where Jason Voorhees and Cousin Eddie might be nightmarish roommates (sooo many jokes, people). So… NOT THAT I’M AGREEING TO TAKE THIS ON YET… if you know of any great Instagram accounts or camper restoration blogs that you love to follow, feel free to send ’em my way to check out. And yes, I may make him wear a bathrobe and a trooper hat for the costume party we go to this weekend just because.
Also, one more update: I’ve caved. I’ve had a DNA test kit that I’ve held onto for a while (it was a gift from my sister a while back), and for the longest time, I haven’t really been all that concerned on what breed Charlie is. She’s a happy, lovable mutt, and since she was a puppy, I’ve always felt it was fun for people to guess rather than spoil their fun… the mystery is enough. But, K brought the kit downstairs the other night and finally convinced me — just for fun — to answer the question once and for all. So, she’s been swabbed and I’m sending off the kit this week. I’ll let you know her results in a few weeks when I get them back.
How was your weekend?
P.S. Speaking of Halloween and costumes, I never got to share last year’s DIY costumes in full with ya, so I’m posting about that this week along with a simple and spooky-ish cross stitch pattern that you might enjoy (a bunch of you guys really seemed to like the last one, so I’ll post new plans every now and then when I make them). But fair warning, you’ll need to be an email subscriber for the library I’ll create for all of the downloads when that goes up. DIY build plans will also be in a similar plans library too, so if you’re interested in either one you should go ahead and sign up. Thanks! <3
The post Feeling the Fall – Charlie in the Country appeared first on The Ugly Duckling House.
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