I have the BESTEST doggies

I just ran out to run a few errands (more on that later). I left half a pizza, in an open box, on top of the stove. I was confident it would still be there when I got back. It would have been easy for either one of them to have put their paws up on the stove, grabbed the box, given it a yank, and given the two of them a feast, but neither one of them did. Now is that good doggies or what?

I pay most of my bills online, but once in a while I have to mail something, so one of my errands today was to stop by the post office, expecting, not unreasonably in my opinion, to buy stamps. Well, silly me. The stamp machine is not only out of order, but has a sign that it's going to be removed. Excuse me? For a fed department that's trying not to go bankrupt, they don't make it easy. I guess I'll have to make a special trip on my noon hour so I can get there when the post office is open so I can buy 3 stamps. Does this make sense? Hey! We're talking about the US Federal Gov't. here! They don't have to make sense!

Sheesh.

I've finally started my baby clothes, and of course, being me, it can't be easy. My gauge doesn't match the pattern gauge (theirs: 24 st and 47 rows = 4"/10cm; mine 20 and 32). This would usually not be a problem, I'd just work to the pattern dimensions, but this one is made in an unusual fashion: You start at the bottom of the left front, work up, and start casting on stitches for the sleeve. Then you work even until you shape the front of the neck, break the yarn, make the right side with reverse shaping, then work across and join up with the left front, so you have one piece, cast off stitches to shape the other side of the sleeves, and work down the back. Then you go back and sew up the sides and sleeve seams, and voila, a simple little sweater.

Except that they don't indicate how long the sleeves are supposed to be--I'm guessing 6"--nor do they have the neck dimensions. So this could turn out very strange-looking.

I think they made a mistake in the sleeve directions, too, because they talk about casting on stitches at the beginning of the next 16 rows. Now, that would make it extend on both sides, but this is a front--one side should be straight and the other one should extend for the sleeve. So I decided that what they meant was to cast on stitches at the beginning of every other row, and have been doing it that way.

It would be a lot easier to cast on all the stitches for the both fronts and the back, work up to the sleeves, split for the front and back, and work that way, then join the shoulders, pick up stitches around the armholes, and work down. But it wouldn't look the same. So--let's see how much of a mess I can make.

I have friends in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids. Both are in neighborhoods safely away from the river, but both are extremely distressed by all the losses caused by the flooding. The city library in Cedar Rapids is flooded. The University of Iowa at Iowa City is being threatened (the river runs right through campus). I hear on NPR that they set up a rescue line and got the film and manuscript collection out of danger. I don't have TV, but the photos online of the flooding are incredible. What was it in Cedar Rapids, 12 feet above the 1993 flood? And it's all headed toward the Mississippi--all the towns downstream along the Mississippi are sandbagging like crazy.

Dogs are asking to go out--think I'll get them out before prime mosquito time, and give them a late dinner.