if it's not one thing...

Honestly. I discouraged the squirrel with safflower seed, nyger, and a generous coating of vegetable oil spray on the pole. I discouraged the strlings with safflower seed and by not putting out fruit.

NOW I have this mourning dove that's learned to sit on the ledge of the safflower feeder. Mourning doves are supposed to be ground feeders right? Well, this guy has been studying up, and while he's not graceful, he's figured out how to cram himself onto this little ledge and stuff his crop until it's a wonder he doesn't barf. I've been watching him--he doesn't eat, like the finches and cardinal do--pick up one seed, manipulate it open, eat the kernel. No, this guy just picks them up and swallows them as fast as he can. My only hope is that he gets so heavy with all that food in his crop that he gets hit by a car. I wonder if mourning doves are heavier than cardinals? I may be driven to getting that spring-loaded feeder after all!

There's another mourning dove with white tail feathers. I know mourning doves have outer tail feathers that show white when they fly, but this one looks like someone painted the last half of his tail bright white. It's so white it practically glows. That one stays on the ground where he belongs.

The suet cakes in the new suet feeder look like they're being nibbled on, and I've seen both a house finche and an English sparrow leaning w-a-y in to snag a few beakfuls, so I'm hopeful they're figuring it out.

It looks like, if I wind up needing knee surgery, I'll be home at least one week and possibly two. I've been reading as much as I can find all over the web, and it's hard to get a good idea--everyone seems to react differently to it and also individual surgeons seem to have preferences for post-surgical care. One of them said stairs were easy--just sit down and go up backwards, pushing with your arms and good leg. I think that same site said you can drive whenever you're off pain meds and feel up to it. I'll be glad to meet with the surgeon and find out what she thinks and prefers so I can make some more stable plans and also stop wondering what to expect.

I've been paying attention to the dogs the past few days, and their sense of body space is very good. The only time they brush up against me is when they get excited about going out to play. When we go out to potty they line up and wait for me to put their collars on. At meal time, Taenzer lies down on the mat where I put her food and Timber sits in the back hall, and they wait until I put their dishes down. It probably helps that they're older and not quite as squirrely as when they were youngsters. But I don't expect they're going to be a problem. I am thinking of contacting the friend of a friend to maybe take them out to the puppy pen to play; two to three weeks is a long time to ask them to go without exercise.

A river runs through it

Or past it...

It rained most of the morning. There was some sun when I first got up, but it got darker and darker, until it was more like 8:30 p.m. than 8:30 a.m., and I had to turn on the light. Then it started to rain. Gently but steadily. Okay--it's been dry and we needed it. (After all that rain we had, I can't believe I'm saying, "it's been dry and we need rain"!) It rained most of the morning.

Then the sun came out. I took the dogs out--it wasn't too wet--but we came in after about half an hour because it was humid and buggy.

Later in the afternoon I was lying on the couch reading. I'd sort of noticed it was getting a little darker, but it suddenly broke through the words that I was hearing rain. So I ran outside to get my knitting and the cushion off the swing. It rained. And then it rained harder. Water ran down the side street. It looks flat, but it must slant slightly to the south, because the water ran fast and steadily, like a river. Then I heard a sound that made me think a car was coming, and I waited, and nothing appeared, and finally I realized I was hearing the rain, which had ratcheted up and was just pounding down. Then it eased up, and 5 minutes later the sun was out. Now it's overcast again.

I've put a couple of chunks of suet in the bottom of the new suet feeder, and a couple of birds have found it, including the downy, which I'm delighted to see back again. None of them have actually gone into the cage part, though--I think partly because they're all very alert and fly away whenever a vehicle drives by. I can see one going in for suet, a vehicle driving by, and the bird panicking and not being able to remember how to get out, so I'm not sure this will work for us. They are interested--they land on the outside of the cage and lean in as far as they can. I'll leave it up for a while and see.

I did a little clicker-training with the dogs this afternoon, since it was obvious we weren't going to get back outside. We worked on closing the kitchen cabinets. Timber pretty much has the idea; we just need to refine it. Taenzer, bless her heart, tries and keeps trying, but today we just got to the point where she was almost but not quite touching it with her nose. I wish I were better at this, I think she'd be more confident and get it sooner. There wasn't quite as much extraneous behavior, less walking around, than last time, so that's a good thing. I'm thinking, she knows how to nose-touch a sticky-note; maybe it would help her if I stuck one on the door.

Taenzer goes to the Doggy Doctor

And stands in her mommy's lap while the doctor gives her an exam. The big baby. But all things considered, she was good. I took treats and the clicker, and had her touching things and fetching things while we waited, and she was never so stressed that she couldn't take treats (a good sign), although she got a little snatchy (not so good).

Then the vet came in and Taenzer tried to hide behind me. Finally I sat down on the floor and let her stand with her front feet in my lap. I put my arms around her, and the vet did her exam, then I turned her around to face the other direction and she examined the other side. We both noticed that she relaxed--very slightly, but noticeably. She even unsmooshed her ears a little bit.

But boy, she was like a rocket on the way out the door!

She's healthy, heartworm free, and weighs a svelte 65 pounds, just about spot on for Taenzer.

Timber's turn Monday--shouldn't be quite so exciting, since everyone at the clinic thinks he's the sweetest thing in the form of a GSD they've seen.

And I must say, I'm so grateful to my vet for letting me hold my own dogs. I think it makes it about 2000% easier for everyone involved.

Timber

I have the day off, and I have SO much to do--and I'm sitting here blinking like an owl in the sun because I didn't sleep well last night--too much noise from outside and too warm--plus my darling Mr. T woke me up at 6:30 this morning because he REALLY had to go. I had sort of expected it--he drank a lot of water last night because it was so warm and they really haven't had time to acclimate--but I thought it would be around 3 or 3:30. Anyhow, I'm waiting for the caffeine to kick in.

Over the winter I taught Timber to come to heel (at least in the house--we need some work on doing it anywhere else), so I decided now I'd teach him the "swing" variation. In a regular heel, the dog starts out sitting square in front of you and, at the cue, he goes around behind you and comes into heel position on your left side; for "swing," the dog goes directly to your left side and turns into heel. There's a spectacular show version called the flip finish where the dog leaps into the air and turns while in the air, and comes down (more or less) in heel position (or there used to be--I don't know if it's taught any more--I ought to see if I can find it on You-Tube), but a plain swing finish is fine by me.

Anyway, I'm using luring for this, where he's supposed to follow the treat in my hand, but he sees my hand start to move and thinks "Oh, I know this one!" and goes around me. I just turn in place, so he winds up in front of me again, and his expression is so priceless--"Wait a minute--this isn't right--Mom, you're not supposed to move!" So I get eye contact, then nose contact (here's the lure, silly boy), and we try again. I can tell he thinks this is really dumb, changing the rules on him to get the same effect.

After 2 or 3 repeats, I let Taenzer do it. Taenzer's like, "Here, you do it like THIS. Right, Mom? I can do it, right, Mom?" I love her enthusiasm and eagerness, bless her heart. She's not precise, but she's definitely enthusiastic!

Bad dog mom

I took Taenzer out walking Sunday afternoon, and I must say, she was VERY good. I was SO proud of her. She was excited and pull-y the first couple of blocks, but I kept turning away and when she'd come up into position, I'd click and treat. So the next 4 or 5 blocks she was out in front of me but not pulling, and the last 2 blocks she walked at my side with a loose leash!!! I was very happy and proud.

However, at one point we met a man who was walking home after grocery shopping. I stepped off the sidewalk and had her sit, which she did, but he was tired and wanted to talk, so he put his bags down and stepped toward her to greet her. And she barked at him. It wasn't a "Get away from my mom!" kind of bark, but more of an "OMG, what do I do now, I know, I'll bark, maybe that will make him go away" kind of bark.

My dog is undersocialized. She needs to get out way more and I need to do way more training. I'm a bad dog mom. :(

It's still wet out, but not so sloppy muddy, so I let them into the puppy pen tonight. While they ran around, I cut back last year's clematis and peony foliage and raked a little bit. I have a few crocus blooming, some daffodils with buds, and I found not just peony buds but leaflets. It was overcast all day so the light wasn't good and I didn't take pictures, but it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow. If it is I'll post some pics. I found some tiny buds on the clematis, and one of the roses has some leaf buds.

grumble grumble

What daylight savings time means to me:

Disrupted sleep.

Going back to getting up in the dark, at least for the next couple of weeks.

Another hour to look out at the gray, dreary, soggy landscape.

It's been overcast with at least a little rain every day for a week, and they're forecasting another week of clouds and rain. I think my house is going to sink slowly into the mud and I'll have to build steps going up to get out.

In between showers yesterday I walked Timber up to the Square, and he did a very nice job--certainly no worse than Stella at his age, if not quite as connected. I started stopping and saying his name until he looked at me, then I'd click and let him go sniff his next object. By the end of the walk we'd gone from "Timber. Timber. Timber. Timber. Timber. Timber. Timber. Timber." to "Timber. Timber." So that was good. I hope eventually we'll get to the point where he checks in with me without being reminded. He doesn't have to stop and turn around and look at me, just flick an ear or cast a glance in my direction--just to let me know that he remembers I'm there.

So if the rain holds off until I wake up, I'll take Taenzer out today. I don't expect to get as far with her, but at least she'll be out and moving around.

I'm still slogging away on my scarf. I'm beginning to worry that I won't have enough of some of the yarns I'm using, like the cream-colored cashmere. Which is annoying--since I knew I didn't have much of it, I arranged the rest of the scarf around it; it'll be unbalanced if I don't have enough. I'm not sure I have anything in the stash that I can replace it with. I think I have a cream-colored lace-weight wool--maybe I could use that doubled or tripled.

I know I'm going to like it when I finish it--I'm more than half-way finished now and every so often I pick it up and wrap it around my head and neck, and it's so soft and warm and cuddly, it's hard to take it off and start working on it again! I had so much trouble with the last couple of patterns that I've started typing them into Knit Visualizer before I even start knitting them. My concentration is just shot these days; even with the visuals I've had to rip back and start over multiple times when I start a new pattern.

On the other hand, I don't really have anything on the back burner shouting to be done, so I'm just as happy to have this to work on.

Training works

It might take a while, but it does work.

It's WET here. All that snow is melting, and we're supposed to get rain all week. Yay, water in my basement, can't wait. But it's been too wet to let the Ts into the puppy pen, so I got out their collars and leashes and started walking them.

Timber is a star! It took a few reminders when we started out, but he's doing so well--I let him walk in front of me, but he doesn't pull and he'll come back and sit beside me when I ask him to. I'm not surprised--he's a terribly practical boy, and seems to get the idea that if he doesn't pull me, he gets to go sniff things. Therefore, he doesn't pull me, and we go walkies. If my knees weren't bothering me so much we could go farther than we do. I'm so proud of him!

Taenzer, on the other hand... *sigh* On our last two outings, we spent 20 minutes in front of the house. I'd take a step, she'd shoot by me, I'd do a U-turn and take a step, she'd shoot by me, I'd click as she came into heel position... The first, oh, six times or so she didn't even hear the click. Then she started hearing the click and looking up, but not waiting for the treat. Then she started slowing down enough to get the treat. So we're getting somewhere, but we haven't been for an actual walk yet.

Don't know if we'll be able to get out much over the next week--depends on how much it rains.

I'm wondering if I can throw out some grass seed, or if it's too cold and might rot. The thing is that if I overseed the puppy pen, they can't use it for 6 weeks--until the seed either sprouts or rots. I don't want them getting grass seed in their paws, noses, or eyes!

More things sprouting in the garden, but no blooms yet. One of the yards I walk past with Timber is full of snowdrops! I'll have to try to remember to take my camera for a picture. I'm not overly fond of snowdrops, but they're sure a sight for sore eyes after this snowy winter!

Timber's revenge

This morning Timber got his revenge on Taenzer: I've been working on shaping "heel" with him for several months now, and he's really nailing it--he sits nice and straight (no butt out) and has progressed to doing 4 or 5 steps in a straight line and a nice right-hand U-turn. (We'd be doing more except my house is so crowded there's no room *sigh*) Anyway, he was waiting for his duck jerky treat this morning, so I asked him to come to "front" (sit squarely in front of me within touching distance--toe-to-toe, basically), which he did (we need a little more work there--he tends to sit a tad too far out). Treat. Asked for a heel, got a beautiful one. Treat. I turned to call Taenzer, and he stuck right in heel position, so I heeled him out into the living room and back to the kitchen, and he got a BIG treat. Then while he was chewing on that I called Taenzer. I was going to have her do a swing finish (where she comes directly to my left side and swings into heel position, instead of circling around my right and finishing on the left), and when I looked down to check and see there was room, there's Mr. Bright-Eyes shining up at me from perfect heel position! So he got a fourth treat, and Taenzer got a freebie. :)

(Timber at heel)

(Taenzer at heel)

Sneaky Girl!

As I've probably said before, Taenzer is of the opinion that bringing me things is Her Job. She was a mouthy little puppy, so I started working with her early, teaching her that if she brought me something instead of taking it off somewhere to chew on it, she would get a treat. As she got a little older, I taught her to bring me things I actually wanted, on cue. So now if I drop something or want my houseshoes or something, I ask her--it's Her Job.

But I've taught Timber a retrieve, too, because most dogs enjoy picking things up and carrying them. His retrieve isn't as clean as hers is--he tends to pick things up and shake them--but he will pick something up if requested and deliver it to hand (rather than dropping it at my feet)--provided Taenzer's not in the room. It's Her Job, after all.

So this morning as I was getting ready to go to work, I dropped my gloves in the kitchen. Taenzer was playing Diva on the Divan, lying on the couch in the living room and looking out the windows, and Timber was in the kitchen with me, waiting for his morning treat of duck jerky, so I asked Timber to pick up the gloves for me. Which he did, giving each one a shake but then putting it in my hand. Good Boy!

I turned to get a cookie for him out of the cookie jar. Now, I trained Stella and Taenzer to think of heel position as their default--if your dog is always on your left, you always know where your dog is and no one gets stepped on!--so I took the cookie in my left hand and lowered it for him to get while I put the lid back on with my right hand. Just as I feel the cooking leaving my hand, I realize I'm looking at Timber sitting off to my right. That's right--sneaky Ms. Taenzer had tiptoed in and rewarded herself!

Sneaky girl!

So I got another cookie for Timber (2, actually), and asked Taenzer to get me my shoes, and then hugged them both. They're just so darn cute!

Calendar Scarf

Ack. It's snowing again. Not a lot, but I'll have to go shovel again. I'm getting tired of shoveling snow. Despite the fact that it's only an inch or so, rather than a foot, I'm still tired of it. I've been shoveling snow off and on since Christmas!

I thought I might update my progress on the 2009 Calendar Scarf. I'm really enjoying it. I like the simple lace patterns, and I love the beautiful yarns.

From the bottom (on the right), there's two shades of handspun guanaco, which is just heavenly stuff. I couldn't believe how soft it is! Above that is yak down, which is nice, but not heavenly. I'm interested to see if it blooms once it's washed. Next is alpaca/silk from Elann, which is very soft, if a bit splitty.

Above that is qiviut, which I'm of two minds about. It's wonderfully soft and when I had the scarf spread over my lap I could tell how very warm it is. My first impulse was "wow, I'd love to have a sweater made of this!" but it has such a halo already that I wonder if it might not pill badly. Nevertheless, it's a beautiful fiber and I think I will continue to treat myself to small amounts of it for hats and scarves and things as often as I can. I've seen qiviut dyed, but I love its natural soft taupey color. Can you imagine a delicious blanket to wrap a baby in? And then the baby spits up on the blanket... Okay, maybe not. But it's still a nice idea.

Above the qiviut is a cashmere/merino mix, and then the alpaca/silk again. Next will be buffalo down, and I'm very interested in working with it, since it's so outrageously expensive. I don't see how the wow factor in it can be any higher than the qiviut or guanaco. Then comes a cream-colored 60% cashmere/40% merino blend, which I hope will work since it's a bit heavier than any of the other yarns I'm using. Then it all starts repeating, though not necessarily in the same order.

I'm enjoying this scarf as much as I did the 2008 version. I think I like the single-colored scarf better, but this is a great way to use these little bits of luxury yarns I've collected over the years.

SHE DID IT!!

She did it! She did it! She did it!!

Tonight Taenzer simply stepped back with one back foot into the pizza box (substitute for the cookie sheet, to get Timber to lift a bit higher) instead of circling around, stomping it with her front feet and waiting for the click, then when it didn't come moving forward to stand with her back feet in.

She did it several times in a row. I'm not actually convinced she knew what she was doing, but she did do it.

More importantly, tonight she stayed calm and didn't get all worked up and too excited to think, which leads me to ask, what did I do that helped her? Hopefully I did something...

I think one thing is that I tried to keep the reinforcement level very high, and when we got stalled out with the feet, I shifted to something else. I had her lie down and clicked her for a head turn to her right. That helped me, as it showed me that she can connect a click with a specific movement and repeat the movement (I was starting to wonder...). That means it's me not isolating the foot movement enough for her to connect it. And it helped her, because it immobilized her, so she couldn't get herself all worked up, and she got a high reinforcement rate for the head turns.

Then I rearranged things, including me and how I delivered the treats, so that she'd be more likely to hit the box when she moved after taking a treat, so I could click and treat again. And even though I'm trying to shape this, I admit I lured a little by holding my hand down low and moving it toward her front feet to encourage her to step back instead of leave and circle. This will probably cause a problem down the road--I bet she'll pair the foot lift with lowering her head--but I'll just have to fix that later.

I also moved the box closer. With Timber, I moved it farther away, but she did better with it closer in. Once she's stepping back consistently, I'll try moving it farther away again, so she has to reach for it.

I wonder if it also helped that she got out of the house today. It was too wet for them to be able to play, but I ran errands, went to the bank, bought groceries, and they came with. I left the car windows down enough for them to stick their noses out while I was in stores. So they at least got a change of scenery and some fresh air.

Four times. She did it four times in a row. Yay!!

OTN: the Pyroclastic sock from Winter 2009 Knitty, using a wool/bamboo yarn I got from the Dyepot. It has a shaped arch, which I've never done before, so it's pretty interesting knitting. The yarn is knitting up really pretty, too.

Good days and bad days

Well, tonight Timber had never heard the words "back foot" or lifted his foot to put it on a cookie sheet before, and Taenzer's brain was completely gone away to Miami or somewhere. It was okay with Timber--I just had him do some sits and downs and front foot targeting and we left it at that. He's fine, I'm fine. Training goes that way sometimes, and he'll probably be back on top of it next time we work.

But poor Taenzer--she tries SO hard, and she can tell when I'm disappointed with the results. I tried to end with some simple things she knows, too, but she knows, bless her little heart.

I'm trying to figure out how to approach this differently. What do I actually want her to do? I want her to lift one back foot when I say "back foot." I don't particularly care where she puts it down, at least not now. I chose to use the cookie sheet because I thought the cold metal would feel different under her feet from the warm wood floor, and possibly make it a bit more clear that that foot was involved in the click. I've tried this before by sitting beside her and tickling the foot I wanted her to lift, and using a dowel to tap it, and neither of those worked.

Hm. I'll have to think this over a bit more.

Meanwhile, my wonderful sister sent me a belated Christmas present--a calendar of pictures her daughter took during a trip to Europe, and two skeins of one of my very favorite sock yarns, Mountain Colors Bearfoot in the Eureka colorway--which btw the website describes as "a fun blend of dark purples, eggplant, pumpkin, green & magenta," but I'm seeing brown, copper, purple, teal, and gold, but it may look different under natural light. At any rate, it was a lovely surprise to come home to on a dreary, cold, foggy winter evening. Now I need to find a very special pattern!

By George, I think he's got it!

Timber's been deliberately lifting his back feet to touch the cookie sheet. It is SO unbelievably COOL to see him think about it and one foot goes up--awkwardly and deliberately, sort of as if I were trying to write my name with my left hand. AND, he's doing it when I give him a verbal cue (the oh-so-imaginative "back foot"). I was so excited when I realized he was getting it I about died. I was hugging him and making a huge fuss, and he gave me this look like, "Oh, mom, get a grip." It's just so thrilling!

Taenzer doesn't really have it yet, I'm afraid, but she will. It's harder for cross-over dogs, but she's very, very bright, and eager to work; she'll get it.

Rip out or not rip out?

By the way, if you catch a cold, try drinking Gypsy Cold Care tea. It's a herbal tea put together with a lot of herbs traditionally used for treating colds, it tastes really good (esp. with a spoonful of honey), and makes you feel better. At least, it makes me feel better. I found it in the grocery store.

I finally finished this first camel-hair yarn section of the scarf and started the next section with qiviut, and the feel is so dramatically different that now I'm not sure I shouldn't rip out the camel yarn and not use it. Yes, the swatch did soften up some once it was washed, but compared to the other yarns, it's really--well, icky. My other option, I guess, would be to knit in and bind off with some waste yarn, and wash the 3 sections I have and see what I get. If it turns out all right, I could rip out the waste yarn, pick up with the quiviut, and carry on; if it was still icky, I could rip out the waste yarn and the camel yarn and go to Plan B.

Which is--well, I could either knit on with what I have, OR use this baby alpaca/silk blend yarn I have that's a fairly nasty shade of pastel burnt orange (think old-fashioned baby aspirin--maybe that's why I don't like it!), OR take some of my cat-sitting money and order something from Elann.com. I'm thinking of their baby alpaca/silk blend, camel-colored ("mocha cream"). It wouldn't take much--2, maybe 3 skeins. About $9 plus shipping.

Hmmm. I'll have to think it over.

Oh. Timber has hit the experimental stage with the back-foot targeting: he gets clicked for the back foot, then turns around and deliberately puts his front feet on the cookie sheet. When he doesn't get a click, he steps forward until his back feet are on it. My take on this is that he's trying to decide what, exactly, he's getting a click for. "This? No. Okay, how about this?" And Taenzer several times stepped sideways to get onto the cookie sheet rather than circling around and walking over it. She also is pivoting on the foot planted on the cookie sheet to get her treats, rather than stepping off. Both things make me think she's getting the idea. Neither of them has walked up and plopped a back foot directly onto the cookie sheet in any way that looks deliberate, but I think they're both headed in that direction. I'm also working on "stand" with them--just stand still, don't move your feet or sit down or lie down--and am thinking of trying to teach them to target my hand with a hip or shoulder (more body awareness).

Sick AGAIN???

A virus, I guess. Just kinda mildly headachey, mildly upset stomach, tired, can't focus even to read or knit (that's how I know I'm really sick!). Living on hot soup and hot milk with vanilla and honey. :-P

Did I mention I got my laptop running? I can't figure out how to reload the address book to my e-mail or the favorites to IE, but it's running a lot better than it was. (knock on wood)

I haven't felt very much like doing anything for a couple of nights, so I haven't gotten very far with my scarf, darn it. I did get to day three, using camel-hair yarn, which frankly is like using carpet thread after the yak and the guanaco. I did knit up a tiny swatch and swish it around in a bath of tepid water and baby shampoo, then rinsed it and squeezed it in a towel, and it did soften up and fluff up a bit, but I'm pretty disappointed in it. I'll have to rework my list to try to keep it near the ends, away from my face and neck when I wrap up in the finished scarf.

It's warming up here quite a bit and the snow is melting, so Taenzer and Timber are getting out every evening. But I advised a friend to try clicker-training her dog the other day, so thought I might practice what I preached. I decided I would try to teach them to touch a cookie sheet with their back feet. They know how to whap things with their front paws, but I would like them to be aware of other parts of their bodies. Also, it's pretty obvious; I don't have to be super observant--a good thing in my present state of health.

So we've been working on it about 3 nights now--for about maybe 3 minutes apiece. I noticed even the first night that toward the end they were standing on the cookie sheet with their back feet more than their front feet--say, maybe, 51% of the time--but it was obvious that they really didn't have any clue why they were getting clicked/treated. Kind of the same the 2nd night, although the percentage of back feet on cookie sheet was maybe up to 65%. Tonight I think Timber's starting to get it. He hasn't had a lightbulb moment yet--the kind where he looks at me thoughtfully, then very deliberately puts a back foot on the cookie sheet and then looks at me as if to say "Is that what you want?" But several times instead of circling around and walking over the sheet and stopping with his back feet on it, he stepped off to get his treat and then simply stepped backward onto it. I was thrilled and excited. He is such a bright boy!

You can really tell that she's a cross-over dog and he was pretty much clicker-trained from the get-go. He really tries to figure things out--"what was I doing when I heard the click? What should I do to make her give me another treat?" Taenzer is much more excitable and reactive when we're training. It's not that she's not smart, because she's very very intelligent! But she gets excited and then her brain just short-circuits. She's getting better as she gets older, but it can be hard to get her to just take half a second to think. Also, she gets discouraged very easily, although she's slowly learning to keep trying. And she's very food motivated, which can make her easier to train--remember how she was actually doing better than Timber when we were working on loose-leash walking before it got so cold? That was because she was willing to work for treats even outdoors; Timber got all over-loaded by the new smells.

Maybe I'll try getting them to touch my hand with their shoulder next.

You say tomayto, I say tomahto...

So, are you going to call next year two-thousand-ten or twenty-ten?

(And btw, I say tomayto. ;-)

My dogs are really strange. The past couple of nights I've had pork roast (pre-roasted, from the store), sauerkraut, and potatoes, with a little applesauce to temper the sauerkraut a bit, for dinner. Such a good meal; I love the contrast of the rich pork and the tang of the kraut and the earthiness of the potatoes. But strangely enough, apparently so do the dogs. I had left-over sauerkraut after I finished the pork, and they both showed interest in the bowl, so I put a little dab down for them, and they ate it right up. So I gave them a little more, and they ate that, too. I don't think I've ever had a dog who liked sauerkraut before, and now I have two! Strange doggers.

(Guess who just moved to snuggle up and snooze with her head in my lap? Sweetie!)

I was supposed to go to Springfield to visit my sister today, but (a) I had a queasy stomach all night and (b) it snowed this morning. I could have coped with one or the other, but didn't feel like trying to cope with both, so I called her and cancelled. She was in the shower when I called, so I had a chance to talk to my brother-in-law, the one with soft palate cancer; he sounded great, strong and upbeat, which made me happy. But when I talked to my sister later, she sounded so tired--I hope she gave herself a break today and got some rest. She said she was thinking about starting a pair of socks, had her yarn all picked out and wound into balls and just needed to decide on the pattern.

She's responsible for my learning to knit--she started knitting first, and was making wonderful things, and I thought, Well, if she can do it, I can do it! :) She's still a better knitter than I am, I think--I'm pretty slapdash about it; she's more patient and careful and has a great eye for color. I always like to see what she's doing. She did a beautiful shawl-collared Aran sweater for our mutual nephew for Christmas. One time she was visiting, and we looked down and realized we were wearing socks made from the same yarn. Different patterns, but the same yarn. Kinda cool.

I haven't exactly been sailing along on this, but I've gotten back to where I was with the Aran sweater before I decided to rip it back. I think another repeat of the central pattern and it'll be time to divide for the armholes. I totally plan to pick up stitches and knit down for the sleeves, which will entail some tinkering with the pattern, but I'm so allergic to sewing things, I'd rather tinker.

I wonder if I can spare $50 to buy a set of blocking wires and some alpaca-silk yarn for the 2009 Calendar Scarf from Elann.com, or if I should buy more dogfood instead.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas
Outside it was raining
Inside the Ts napped
Sad but not complaining.

It is SO wet outside. I suppose it's better than 16" of snow--and it's definitely better than ice in any amount! But really. I think we have enough rain for the time being; we really don't need any more.

Taenzer particularly is unhappy. She's such a physical dog that not getting time to run really gets to her--like any athlete or dancer who's unable to perform. She needs to use her body and it messes her up when she can't.

I managed to download the pictures we took Sunday, but the laptop is working so slowly--I think I'm going to have to transfer them to a flash drive, and then to the desktop, and try to post from here. They didn't exactly turn out the way I'd hoped. There's one where they only look put upon and abused. In the other one, Timber looks like he just found out there's no Santa Claus. Not exactly the effect I was after, though it is pretty funny. Poor boy!

I'm cat sitting two sets of cats over the holiday. Last night when I arrived at one house, I discovered a pane had been broken out of one of the basement windows. The glass was all outside, so I don't think anyone had tried to break in, but I had to dash home and get some cardboard to put over it--luckily, I had a couple of boxes that dog food had been shipped in, so it was heavy-weight and I doubled it, and tacked it into place with some nails I found. Then I counted heads, and to my relief, all three of the cats were still inside (no doubt they found it entirely too wet to go out!). At the other place, the 2nd cat came out for the first time. He had to know I was there--I was singing Christmas carols as I got their food ready--but still when he saw me his eyes got all huge and he leaped back with this "OMG! A STRANGER!" expression on his face. It was pretty funny. Today, with the help of some judiciously-tossed treats, he came up and took a treat from right beside me. I didn't try to touch him--maybe tomorrow.

I have to stop by the office tomorrow and print out the last pattern for the 2009 Calendar Scarf. I was going to today while I was out taking care of cats and running errands, but I forgot my keys and didn't feel like going back after them. It turns out the scarf takes about 1200 yards of fingering weigh yarn, so I'm going to rummage through the stash and see if I have anything as breathtaking as that lovely cashmere yarn I did the 2008 scarf with. Probably not, but I didn't know I had the cashmere until I went looking.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Need a fully-working computer

I'm going to tote my laptop in to work tomorrow to see if I can get it working. If not, I guess I'll use my cat-sitting money to take it to a professional, or to get a new hard drive--or maybe both--so I can finally download pictures again.

This afternoon, I got a big Santa hat for Timber, and wrapped Taenzer in the calendar scarf, which I finished this morning. Timber was awfully good about having a Santa hat on his head, tied under his chin, but the picture-taking was a comedy. It snowed here this afternoon, so I took them out to sit them in front of the snow-laden blue spruce for a nice background. I'd get Timber sat down, and then turn to Taenzer to get her sitting parallel to him and try to get her scarf draped to show off the patterns, and then he'd pop up, so I'd have to sit him down and wiggle the hat back into the right position, then get Taenzer's attention (she's pretending hard that she's not there), then I'd back up a couple of steps to take the picture and Timber would pop back up again. Lather, rinse, and repeat, *lol*! They were very cute. And I think I got at least one good picture, though I don't think the scarf got shown off to best advantage.

Timber's surgery

I went to the vet right after work and then sat there for 2 hours while she took care of emergencies and late appts. *sigh* Fortunately, I keep knitting in the car, so I went out and got it, and turned a heel while I was waiting. :) It's a fuzzy pink 60% angora bedsock.

Good hips! Hurray! They look real good and clear (no arthritic changes). If he was registered, I'd OFA him and some breeder would be real happy.

The vet said, "He's all hair!" I said, "I keep telling you that!" She said they shaved him for surgery, put the drapes on, and the drapes were like 3 inches off his body, sitting up on all that hair. When he's standing you can't see that he's had anything done; the hair just falls over and covers it.

Apparently she found some other little bumps on him, because he has a shaved patch with 2 incisions on his neck in front of his shoulder and another with 2 more incisions just in back of his shoulder. He can't reach either with his teeth, but first thing he did (almost) was sit down and scratch, so he's currently wearing a t-shirt and the cut-off leg of a pair of old sweatpants, and he looks so funny.

We got home and he drank a lot of water, peed a river, drank some more water, ate a small dinner (I only gave him about half what he usually gets), then went into the bedroom and jumped up on the bed and went to sleep. I spent the evening sitting on the bed with him, reading and knitting.

Taenzer got upset enough to give herself diahrrea. Silly dog. But her routine was all messed up--no Timber all day, we got home really late (I wanted to see his x-rays and the vet was running really late), and then Timber came back smelling all funny and I kept fussing over him and instead of sitting with her out in the living room, I sat with them in the bedroom. She's so *sensitive*.

I was going to stay home this morning and keep an eye on him, but when I asked him to lie flat on his side on the couch in the living room (lots of morning light) so I could get my first good look at his incisions, he fell asleep. He got all excited and was ready to come to work with me--I think Timber would make a good traveling companion!--but I think once I left he probably went back to his crate and went to sleep.

Everybody at the vet's office loves him--"He's such a doll!" Yes, he is. When we went in that morning, one of the girls behind the counter said hello to him, and he put his front feet on the counter to say hi back. Cutie.

So things look good for him. :) We go back in 10-14 days to get the stitches removed. I'm guessing 10--the incisions look so good this morning, no inflammation or swelling or oozing. I think I'll take the t-shirt and sweatpants leg off tomorrow.

Pictures eventually. The laptop is still non compos mentis--last time I looked the antivirus program was still running its scan (this is going on 4 or maybe 5 days now).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends! I hope you have wonderful food and a congenial day.


For the first time in I don't know how long--years--I don't have a cat-sitting gig for the holidays. Obviously I need to give some thought to rebuilding my clientele.


Meanwhile, I've been invited to dinner with some friends. Amy says she LOVES to cook Thanksgiving dinner. Our menu is turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, cranberry sauce, squash ring, spinach souffle, pumpkin pie, apple pie, and key lime pie. I thought maybe it could use some crunch, so I'm going to take some raw veggies: baby carrots, celery, radishes, sweet gherkins, jumbo black olives, cauliflower broken into florets, and a red and a yellow sweet pepper cut into strips, with some dip.


Last year I found a lace sampler scarf pattern online-- Kalenderhalsduk 2008 . The designer posted one section of the scarf every day between December 1 and December 26, and you could print it off free and make your scarf. Since then the pattern has been for sale, but I don't know anyone in the US or Canada who's bought it since it seems to be difficult to purchase. This year she's going to do another one, so I'm all set to print my patterns out--though how I'm going to manage when I'm home over break I'm not quite sure.


At any rate, having been reminded of last year's scarf, I decided that was my perfect lace project. Found the pattern printouts, rummaged in the stash and found a wonderful yarn--Texel Cashmere, which is 40% cashmere, 30% wool and 30% lambswool. Someone must have given it to me, because I would never buy this hot tomato red for myself, but it's just a lovely yarn to work with, so soft and warm as I knit it up that I can't wait to finish the scarf and wrap it around myself!


I've completed the first two patterns:

Frankly, I don't see how anyone could do a pattern a day unless they had nothing else to do, no job or little kids to chase after. I'm going to try for the next four days, since I'll have the time, but once I go back to work I expect to fall behind. But I also expect to enjoy the knitting and the finished product!

Tomorrow I have to stop by the vet's to make an appointment for surgery for Timber. He's got an ugly, nobbly growth about the size of a grape on his neck. The vet says it's probably benign,, but it's getting so big it needs to come off, and I agree. As long as he's out I'm going to have her x-ray his hips, too, just to get an idea of what's going on in there. I think he's probably okay, but it never hurts to know for sure. If they look a little iffy, I'll start supplementing him with Vitamin C and glucosamine/chondroitin.

He was a very good boy at the vet. In the waiting room there was a young, bouncy Airedale and an old grumpy miniature Schnauzer, as well as a bunch of cats not in carriers--to my surprise, because bringing a cat to the vet just wrapped in a towel or blanket is SO dangerous! But Timber was very good, not a bark or a growl, and he sat between my feet with just a little coaxing. In the exam room, I had him do some sits, downs, and heels for treats, and that seemed to help him focus and relax. Then he sat by the door and watched the vet techs moving around, and greeted everyone. I did kind of have to put a headlock on him to get him to hold still while the vet looked at his growth--I don't know why he got so anxious about that, she was only trying to get down through the hair enough to see it! But he was very good, and I was proud of him. If I'd had any cash on me, we'd have stopped at McDonald's for a burger.

He's going to look so funny with a big shaved patch in his mane!

And for the first time I left Taenzer loose in the house when leaving with Timber, and she was good too. She gets so anxious sometimes she'll tear things up, but apparently she coped just fine. I got her "Oh thank God you're home!" greeting, but nothing was damaged. Good girl!

I'm hoping to bring them turkey scraps from dinner today.