In case you were wondering....

Daisy's settling in just fine.

All chairs are created equal...

in the eye of a puppy.



Good thing the baby wasn't in there when she jumped in.


Though one with company is really best.

Purgatory

Big I found some old pics that reminded me of our one missing little family member this year.

Fortunately, Brisco was just a dog, albeit a very good one. However, it reminded me that more souls are released from purgatory on Christmas Day than any other day. So here's Brisco reminding us all to say a prayer for those who have gone before us on Sunday as they undoubtedly pray for us. Here's a wonderful one from St. Gertrude:

Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus, in union with the masses said throughout the world today, for all the holy souls in purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the universal church, those in my own home and within my family. Amen.

The Brisco

Sad news here this morning. We decided to put our sweet Brisco down. He'd been a real trooper against his lymphoma and probably would have kept trucking along until his whole body shut down but we decided enough was enough.

He was a heck of a good dog (chewed shoes, dead hamster and numerous 'dietary indiscretions' leading to big vet bills not withstanding). We miss him and his big ears already.

Wherever little dogs go when they die, I hope he has lots of rabbits to chase and a nice warm place to snuggle.

An assortment of pictures

Cleaned off the camera card. Here's what I found:

1. A rabbit in the snow.


You'd think with a rabbit fur coat he would have really enjoyed himself but I found him under the covered part of the patio a few minutes later licking snow from between his toes and looking put-out. Not a snow bunny.

2. The Foz being weird - and I'm not referring to the front 'fro the groomer gave him this week.


I just don't know why he didn't chose the larger chair right next to him. He is such a strange dog.


3. Best of all...a score for $50 from Tuesday Morning.


A spiffy gas log set for the fireplace. It actually works too, which is more than I can say for the one we tried last winter and had to return to the store. Plus it's just in time for spring!

Better late than never.

Best buds

Look where I found Big I this evening.


Gives new meaning to the term 'snuggle bunny'.


(No worries, Big I's wet bottom is from a damp sandbox.)

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Big I worked really hard the other day to help make and decorate some Valentine's Day cookies. He did a good job, didn't he?


Sampling was a part of a process, of course.


I put them on my lovely new Fiesta platter I got for Christmas and they looked so cheerful. But when we came back from a walk the demon dogs had pulled the table cloth until the platter came crashing down.

No more cookies. No more very nice platter. :(

Good thing I took pictures.

A Dream Come True

Fozzie has finally found a grazing partner.


(Does anyone else find this relationship weird?)

Wee Bunny

Look what the dogs cornered the other day.


Probably no bigger than my hand....or Olie's head.


As far as I could tell it made a clean get away....until the hawk get's it.

Snow Day!

It's been snowing continuously for over 13 hours now. That's really something around here. We took a great walk in the stuff this morning.


I made Big I some new mittens quick fast and in a hurry this morning since he lost one.


I'm going to need to redo them, but they got us through our walk. Got a scarf to match, too.

Dead Dogs

The dogs are very lucky that they aren't dead right now - though they are in exile in the back yard. We had a very lovely day today (more on that later). But when we got home this evening, we were greated with this:


That's a big pile of candy from a Halloween event that they (Fozzie?) pulled down from the desk you see right there. And yes, most of it has been eaten. Brisco is in his sausage state. Foz is not far behind.

But wait, there's more.


Yup, that's the TABLECLOTH from the KITCHEN TABLE. One of them must have gotten a hold of the corner and pulled it until the ceramic bowl with the fruit in it - which resides in the middle of the table - came crashing down.


Who are these dogs that have replaced my mischievous-but-only-mildly-destructive puppies??? They're lucky they're not dead because I killed them. They both have cuteness working to their advantage. We'll see what the chocolate does to them.

My Hero

Big I and I came home late the other night. It was well after his bedtime but he had had a late nap and was not the least bit interested in going to sleep (even though I was). Rather than drive myself batty rocking a squirmy baby, I took him to the family room to play quietly for a while. Or sso I thought.

Unfortunately, I discovered that I had left the pantry door open and we all know the consequences of that mistake. (I was so sure I had double-checked too.) So now, it was almost 10 and there was trash everywhere. Really bad trash...meat containers, unrinsed yogurt containers, fruit pits, stale tortilla chip pieces that were now ground into the carpet. I had been telling myself all day that I needed to take it all out, but never did. To make matters worse, Big I's toys were still on the floor and the dogs mixed all of those up with the trash.

And of course Brisco looked like a stuffed black olive.

Since the little guy was still up, I had to clean it all up with a baby either clinging to me, being held at bay with one hand or sitting on the floor where I plopped him crying. I had to get it taken care of since my niece and nephew were coming over first thing in the morning. Craig was at his hockey game and he usually hangs out for a while afterward with his buddies so I wasn't counting on any help any time soon. I had mentally rehearsed all of the self-pitying, accusatory things I could say as soon as he got back though. (Ha! As if it was anyone's fault but my own!)

Eventually it got mostly cleaned up and Big I went to sleep. And to my surprise, Craig comes bee-bopping through the door much earlier than I expected. Poor guy, he took one look at my face and asked "What happened?". I skipped all of my well-rehearsed retorts and just let him know that he needed to watch his step and I would mop and vacuum in the morning.

"No, I'll take care of it. You go to bed," he says. Wha??

So, my dear, sweet husband, after a long day at work and a hockey game (at least they won) proceeded to to the following at 10:30 at night:

• pick up all the clutter off the floor
• cut the fibers and 'stuff' off of the beater brush on the Roomba
• run the Roomba
• run the dishwasher
  
• mop the kitchen floor
• wash the dishes
• clear off and do a major wipe-down of the kitchen counter

A girl can't ask for more than that.

And they lived happily everafter.

The End

Fun and Games

I found a nice book at the library yesterday: Your Child at Play: Birth to One Year. I wish I had discovered it sooner as we're down to the last two months and I didn't see the subsequent volumes, but I'm glad to have it now.

It gives a brief overview, month-by-month, of some of baby's developmental milestones and how they are now interacting with the world. It also gives simple games and tips for making tasks a little easier. (Like using a piece of Scotch tape to keep a very wiggly little one occupied during diaper changes. Could have used that about 5 months ago.)

One of the activities for an 11 month old was 'finger painting' with flour. Big I thought it was a great idea and decided to also try 'tongue painting'. (Sorry the pics turned out blurry.)








Of course it all ended up on the floor after a few minutes, but I had some unexpected help cleaning it up.

How do you think he got it on his face?

Edited to add:

We had more art time today and I guess he's just decided to throw himself completely into his craft. Literally.

It's in the bag

It's never good when the dogs aren't at the door when we get home. It means they're into something. Today it was the trash. (Note to self, remember to close the pantry!)

There was no denying the main culprit today:


They were into the bag of dog food too. So now he really looks like a little sausage. A sausage all bagged up and ready to go.

Still, it's not as bad as last spring when we came home to this:


That was the last time we tried keeping throw pillows. Especially feather ones. (I still find stray feathers in the house.)

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Speaking of getting into stuff, what is it with babies and dishwashers? He climbs into it now.

A Silly Poodle and A Sea Monster

After I lowered Big I's mattress the other week, someone discovered that it is a great place to hide.


He's not always very good at it, though.



I mean, really not very good.


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Big I had his first trip to the pool yesterday where we did more than stick our feet in. He liked splashing and sitting on the step, but wasn't too sure about the dunking. When I put his life jacket on, he just wouldn't move at all; he just laid there, frozen with his eyes closed while floating on his back. At least there was no crying. All in all, a fairly neutral reaction.

We encountered a bit of trouble with a sea monster's very big hood on the way home, however.

Big I handled the beast quite well single-handedly.

Indigo dyeing

Every time I think of dyeing with indigo it launches me into "Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

(If any of you had to click on that link to find out what I was talking about, shame on you.)

Now that that's out of my system: at my spinners guild meeting on Sunday, we did some dyeing with indigo. Since I'm still nursing Big I, our fearless leader, Laura, didn't allow me (or my friend, Shannon, who is also nursing) to get hands-on with any of the actual dye process just to be on the safe side...chemicals and all. Some of the other folks were kind enough to dye some things for me.

Remember that mustard yellow sweater from the thrift store?

Not any more.

Plain ol' white pre-fold dipes?

Not any more.

Mucky grey yarn from a previous botched dye job?

Not any more.

I'm told it's the coolest process. You put your material into a mucky-green colored liquid thinking it's going to look terrible and then as you pull it out of the dye bath and into the oxygen it turns the most lovely blue. Totally cool. Maybe next time I'll get to do it myself.

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It's lovely weather here. Brisco was a big help while I was getting some pictures outside.



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And some obligatory cuteness.


By the way, he slept through the night for the second time last night.

All together now....

..."Aww-w-w-w".

Peas in a pod

Even with the disappointment stemming (no pun intended) from the last cold front and the failure of most of my summer veggies (for now), there are some successes so far.

Sweet peas!

They're pretty little plants, aren't they? Can't wait to taste them in a couple of days.











Also, the blackberry bush is busy budding. (Very alliterative of me, no?) I hope they actually produce in a couple of months. It's an Arapaho variety. It's mostly upright and thornless. It seems like cheating to be able to pick blackberries without the risk and effort, but it's a small yard and poky things probably aren't a good idea.

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Big I was impressed by the peas too.


Speaking of peas in a pod, he and the dogs are such good buddies these days.


Cracks me up how both he and Brisco have a funny expression at the same time. What a trio of funny guys I have to keep me company during the day.