Not Thinking Pink; Nikki & Halloween

This is the sidewalk while it was still wet. I had a devil of a time trying to choose a color. I thought that the color that the contractor suggested, Flagstone Brown, was too dark, so I polled family and friends. Finally, I chose the color Pebble. This however, looks nothing like the online color chart!

Well, in this photo, the sidewalk is almost dry but I think the sidewalk came out pink! I don't care too much about the sidewalk but I sure don't want the caps to turn out pink. After all, I'm paying to remove PINK! After a confusing 45 minutes talking to the guy who worked on the concrete (whose English isn't that great) and then finally talking to the contractor, I think what happened is that not enough color was added. The lighter the brown, the pinker it gets. But the odd thing is, I looked at the box and it had the Pebble number on it but instead of being marked "Pebble," it was marked "Medium Brown." Huh? So I told the contractor to go with his original choice in color. He instructed the guy to add more color. Frankly, I have a feeling that the guy mixed the concrete sidewalk wrong, but it's OK as it will be hidden.

The concrete caps on the planter look very dark but hey, so did the sidewalk originally! So who knows what it will look like after the concrete dries and is acid-washed. But the form is pretty, don't you think? It has a bullnose design.

Neither Nikki or I dressed up for Halloween. In fact, I just concentrated on not having her freaked out too much by the ringing doorbell. I put her in her crate and that worked for awhile. She'd cry when the doorbell rang, but she'd settle back down when I ignored her. This worked for the majority of the time, but at the end I had to take her out. I brought her on leash into the den, making sure to bring a chew. She was bouncing off the walls a bit, but not too bad. I sat in the blue chair, and amazingly, she settled down on my feet and chewed. That's the first time that she really just kind of hung out with me in the den for some time - normally, she's too hyper to do that.

Twice, when the doorbell rang, I kept her in the den while I answered the door. But at the end she would have no part of that, so I had to take her with me when I answered the door. The kid was a bit older, but he eyed my jumping puppy and asked, "Does she bite?" It's funny that people interpret her craziness as a desire to bite, when in reality she wants to examine this new person and get petted! I reassured him and succeeded in keeping the puppy away from him.

All in all, Nikki did OK and the kids were sure cute!

Oh, and trying to get landscapers to come over or call back ... same with gutter guys. Customer service isn't their forte, perhaps?