2011.09.26
Hottest spot north of Havana
Welcome to the Copa.
Copacabana.
(You can hate me later when you have that song stuck in your head. I deserve it.)
My husband and I were the winning bidders for this airy, beach-inspired doggy crib at the weekend’s BARKitecture, a fundraiser for the Roanoke Valley SPCA sponsored by the Roanoke Valley Home Builders Association. The house was designed and built by Curtis Jennings and Christina Sawyer of SFCS Architects.
Bringing it home from the Salem Civic Center was no small feat.
It took a forklift to get it into the back of the pickup truck we borrowed from a neighbor. The thatching on the roof was blowing wistfully in the wind as we sailed down Interstate 81 looking like an escapee from a Margaritaville parade.
On the drive home, I suggested we now needed to install a pool so the cabana would have a proper place to reside. My husband reminded that would require some serious cash. Willing to compromise like a good wife, I suggested we build on to our patio and get a hot tub. The dogs can lounge in the cabana while we soak in the jet streams.
Always the realist, he brings up the lack of cash again and also thwarted my idea of seeing if the hot tub would be covered under our medical insurance because, hello, it’s therapeutic.
We finally agreed we would put it on our deck. We also decided we would trick it out with twinkle lights and a decorated tree at Christmas. Then I suggested we turn it into a doggy manger scene, with Mary, Joseph, Jesus and Santa.
My husband said he was pretty sure Santa Claus wasn’t at the nativity and I questioned why he thought Santa wouldn’t visit Baby Jesus on his first Christmas.
Then my husband was pretty much done talking to me and instead was concerned about lightning strikes from heaven and his proximity to me.
So the Copacabana is now sitting in our garage because it took a great deal of effort and a pair of oven mitts to get off the truck (true story). We’ll need more hands to get it moved to our deck.
Once we get it in place, I hope to have lots of photos of the dogs lounging in their cabana.
With no pool, hot tub or Santa, apparently.
you could always get a kiddie pool. Of course, the dogs would take over the kiddie pool. Mine tries to sleep in his kiddie pool when the weather is really hot. He wakes up with a snort when his nose hits the water and he realizes he can’t breathe water.
Comment by Patricia — September 26, 2011 @ 11:24 am
Our backyard is such a steep slope that even a kiddie pool would probably require grading or an extension of our patio.
Mr. Responsible-With-Money says “We didn’t buy a dog house just to have to put an addition onto the house. That’s crazy talk.”
It’s like he’s never met me.
Comment by Nona Nelson — September 26, 2011 @ 11:29 am