Exactly one year ago today, we picked up Fairytail Sullivan (Sully) from a breeder in Buffalo. I talked Andy into getting a puppy but it really wasn’t a hard sell. Andy is as crazy about dogs as I am. We were so devastated after losing our beloved Rex because it was so sudden and then when the rescue Great Pyrenees mix Baxter and Lucas did not get along and we had to re-home Baxter, we needed something to cheer us up. The Flat Coat breeder said the temperment of a  Flat Coat puppy would get along fine with (grumpy old) Lucas and he was right.

We brought him home on Good Friday and then proceeded to hide him when we had 60+ people over for the annual Easter Egg Hunt and Brunch because we felt it would be too much for him.

Boy those first six months were hell! Sully was crated in the dog room and hated it. He only let us sleep through the night when he was in bed with us and we had to wait until he was potty trained so that he could be trusted. That took six months. Six long, sleepless months. We took turns getting up in the midlle of the night. Thank God he was so cute!

This was his first bath. In the kitchen sink.

He terrorized everyone. Poor Rocky!

This is when he decided that he was too big to sit on my lap in the front seat of the car. He wanted to be in the back with his big brother. Broke my heart.

I’d say he had a pretty good first year. We moved him from Bath Road to East Lake Road in Penn Yan and then flew him to Italy. He’s been swimming and kyaking.  He has been on planes, trains, boats and automobiles! He has taken everything in stride and we could not love him any more!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SULLY!

 

You all know I love this adventure but there are a few things that bug me about living here. Nothing is quick or efficient in Italy. No one is in a rush or feels any urgency  (unless they are driving which will be another post). It took over a month for our internet/wireless to be hooked up and our brand new clothes dryer has been broken for 3 weeks.

But here are some things that I find really strange…

A bidet in every bathroom. No thank you. I will shower every day and not need to use anything that looks like a toilet to wash up.

Pull cords in the shower in case you fall. Good idea! I think it makes a buzzing noise but I haven’t tried it out yet. But seriously Italy, you have pull cords in the shower but no fire alarms or carbon monoxide detectors? Really? I guess you don’t want us to fall and hurt ourselves but burning up or being poisoned is okay?

Toilet flushers that are installed in the wall behind the toilets. Isn’t this a lot more expensive to install or repair if there is a problem? It would be much easier and more cost effective to have them on the tank like in the US.

Light switches outside of the room you are entering. Weird. It takes some getting used to.

Power cords that don’t fit in the electrical outlets. Some have two prongs, some have three. Some are bigger and some are smaller. It creates the need for all sorts of different adapters. This would be totally unnecessary if they were just all made the same size!

No screens on the windows. This is a second story window and I have cats!

I’m sure I will be adding to this list. Stay tuned. 🙂

All six of us have successfully relocated to Biassono, Italy near Monza and north of Milan in Northern Italy. It was crazy getting us all here. Andy and I drove to Newark Airport with Lucas and Rocky and then flew to Milan on Thursday, March 1. We were supposed to leave on Friday but there was a nor’easter headed our way and we wanted to get out before it happened. I flew back to the US on Monday the 5th by myself and drove to PY from Newark. Our nephew Billy was home from college on break so he and I drove to JFK Airport on Tuesday, March 13 with Sully and Sky and then flew to Milan. Traveling with pets is very, very expensive and it’s no joke. Especially international travel. The flight to Milan from NY is anywhere from 7-8 hours. The cats did great. Both were considered carry on baggage and were stowed under the seat in front of us. The dogs were very well behaved as we did a lot of training with them prior but they were scared to death. Lucas did better than Sully because Sully is such a wimp to begin with. I’m glad we have a couple of years before we have to get them all back home. I wish we had a private plane. 🙂

 

Having Billy here for a couple of days was great. We so enjoyed his company and can’t wait for him to come back with Melissa! We didn’t have much time with him so we took him to Bellagio and Varenna on Lake Como which is less than an hour drive. It is stunningly beautiful there and one of my favorite places so far…

 

We hated to see Billy leave but he had to get back to school. We can’t wait for the next crew to visit. It should be Craig, Stacey and Devon in June!

We are moving (a few times)!  My husband, Andy has been offered a temporary position with his same company in Italy! We are so excited! We are moving from near Keuka Lake, New York, USA to near Lake Como, Italy. We are taking our pets:  Lucas is a nine year old yellow lab mix, Sully is a seven month old Flat Coated Retriever, and our two gray cats Rocky and Schuyler (Sky). This blog is going to be about our adventures.

 

We are selling our dream home to downsize to a more manageable house. It is bitter sweet. We built this house and have chosen every fixture, floor covering, wall color, appliance, etc. and we spared no expense as we thought this would be our forever home. We planned to have kids but that wasn’t God’s plan so just the two of us live here with our four pets and it’s very large house. We spend most weekends cleaning, mowing, weeding, mulching, etc and have no time to enjoy Keuka Lake. It is a lot to maintain so we decided to sell. We were very lucky to quickly find a buyer and we have put a purchase offer on a much smaller house down the road. The new house is a lot smaller and will be much easier to maintain while we are in Italy.  We are lucky that the new house also has a great view of Keuka Lake.

We have to wait until Andy has his work visa before we look for a house in Italy. So we are in limbo. I can’t start packing the big house and we can’t finalize our new mortgage on the little house until the big house buyer’s mortgage is final. The house inspections and the appraisal on the big house are this week. Wish us luck!