Cooper's latest adventure

He ate a rock. What a dufus.

He started vomiting this morning and couldn't keep anything down. I decided to take him to get it checked and I'm glad that I did. The rock was in his small intestine. I have the rock in a baggie but decided to spare you a picture of it. I asked if he could be neutered while he was already anesthetized. I was allowed to watch the surgery which was cool. I have the best vets! And thank goodness for pet insurance!

Hopefully he will be well enough to come home tomorrow.

another pretty sunset picture

It reminds me of a mountain with a glacier on top.

A few of you commented on my last post that Cooper is getting big. Yes, he is! He is officially oversize so won't be going into the show ring. He and I will be starting a puppy class next week. When that's over, off to the vet he will go to be neutered. I'm just as glad that he's big as I wasn't sure how much energy I really had to do the showing. There are fewer shows now due to the economy so traveling becomes necessary to show a dog. I'm not a good traveler these days; I like the support of my carefully chosen chairs and my own bed. This fact makes me sad. I used to love going to shows and now I'm too tired to care.

summer weather at last!

Today was lovely, sunny but not too hot. The storms have moved east and are terrorizing Manitoba and Ontario. Ontario even had an earthquake the other day in addition to a couple of tornadoes.

We enjoyed some backyard time.

Cooper and B played a few short rounds of tandem tennis ball retrieving before the game morphed into them chasing each other, not the ball.

As Lynn commented, everything is indeed very green after all the rain

and my good husband spent his weekend weeding the garden so that we can see what else is growing there besides weeds.

As I've mentioned before, Cooper is an outside kind of guy, happily rolling in the grass
before flashing me a huge doggy smile.

Saturday sky

They don't call Saskatchewan the Land of the Living Skies for nothing.

I'm contemplating building an ark

Yes, more rain yesterday. Torrential rain. Hail. Flashes and crashes.

The backyard is turning into a swamp. The weeds have taken over the garden. The mosquito population is booming. The air is hot and muggy. We are so not used to this amount of moisture around here.

Thankfully, we seem to have narrowly missed today's storms which are occurring northeast of us complete with tornadoes.

my new favorite YouTube video

monsoon

We were under severe storm watches and warnings for most of today including possible tornadoes, damaging winds, large hail, and torrential downpours.

I headed out to a couple of appointments this afternoon just as a thunderstorm was brewing. By the time I got to the chiropractor's office, it was hitting full tilt - thunder, lightning, and monsoon-style rain that kept up for more than an hour. Power was out and some businesses closed because apparently life as we know it cannot happen without electricity to run the cash registers.

By the time I got to appointment number 2, the parking lot (this same one, from a post from last year) couldn't drain the water fast enough to keep up.

Unfortunately I didn't have the forethought to wear hip waders so I got wet feet.

We had another storm with heavy rain after supper. Parts of my back yard are flooded but I'm sure it will soak in by tomorrow as long as the rain is finished.

This has been a very strange spring, weather-wise, for the prairie provinces. We in Regina have been relatively fortunate. Other places are in far worse shape.

stormy sky

Well, we finally had a couple of days of sunshine but now we're into another major rain cycle. We've had so much rain this spring that many farmers are having to write off crops for the year. Their fields are literally under water and they can't get machinery onto them to do the seeding. Cattle farmers are losing young calves because of the wet conditions. In some cases they can't even get to the cattle to provide veterinary aid. For a land that is usually too dry, this year has been very unusual. It seems that there is no happy medium as far as moisture is concerned.

I just took the dogs outside and it has become very windy. The sky is lighting up all around. We're bound to get thunderstorms when there is this much humidity in the air. Although I'm sorry that there is more rain on the way, I do like a flashy thunderstorm so I took my camera onto the back deck to see what it can do. There are so many settings on my new camera that I haven't even read the manual about most of them; I started to just snap away on different settings to see what happened. I took 42 pictures and got one that worked.

Sadly, I wasn't organized enough to note which camera setting produced the winner so I will have to try them all again the next time I take pictures of the night sky. I'm starting to hear thunder now so the storms are getting closer. I'd better take the dogs out again now before it starts pouring.

p.s. Cooper just heard his first real big thunder bang while we were outside. He barked at it. Yep, he's a sheltie.

change

Notice the new look!

Blogger offered some new choices to try out before committing to change and I liked this one. I was tempted to go with the rainy background because it has been raining and raining and raining and raining and raining.....
but I decided I've seen enough rain and would like sunshine and blue skies better.

so it will be

Thank you all for your opinions about the button selection for the girly pink socks. I decided to let the recipient in on the fun to weigh in with her choice, thereby destroying the whole surprise aspect to the birthday gift but oh well. Of course the recipient will be my niece Katie. She likes the pearls the best so pearls it will be.

I think that it`s* a fine choice. A girl can never go wrong with classic pearls.


*If anyone knows how I managed to change my keyboard so that it now gives me a backwards accent mark (`) instead of an apostrophe, please let me know. I`d* like to change it back.

eta: Never mind about the weird apostrophe problem. It disappeared when I restarted the computer. Funny how that solves so many problems.

pink

I finished knitting the first lacy pink gift sock. How cute is this?

The pattern calls for a loop and button to close the lace cuff. I dug through my buttons and came up with a few possibilities:

balloons,

kitty,

classic, traditional pearl,

and tiny basic white.

I haven't decided which one I like best. There is also the possibility of just stitching the cuff edges together and foregoing the button and loop. There is plenty of stretch for putting the sock on without the opening.

Keeping in mind that these socks will be worn by a ten year old girl, what do you think is the best option?

a new dog door, sort of

It all started because of Cooper. He loves being outside. Not really doing anything special out there, just sitting on the lawn most of the time watching the birds and bugs. I've never had a dog quite that crazy about being outside although Harrison liked it too. The others are content to follow me around.

Before the bugs arrived, I left the door in the sun room open so that he could come and go as he pleased. That's getting to be less of a good idea as the mosquitoes are starting to make their presence known.

There just isn't a good place for a dog door. The door has a large window with internal blinds and there isn't room on either side of the door. Putting a dog door elsewhere in the sunroom wouldn't work too well either as the dogs would have a heck of a fall without steps to the ground.

I mentioned this one evening when we had our friends Al and Rhonda over. Al mentioned that he had seen an ad in a magazine for a Bug Off magnetic screen door that might work. I checked it out online and ordered one. The nice thing is that you can still open and close the door while the screen is there.

From the inside looking out:

And from the outside:

The screen slides onto a pressure rod that fits snugly in the doorway. It velcros onto the door frame at the sides. There are powerful magnets in the split and at the bottom of the center opening so that the door can be opened easily by pushing it and closes again on its own. Weights along the hemline keep it hanging straight.

If you don't want the screen door you can just pop it out and roll it up for storage. It's pretty slick and it wasn't very expensive.

Dan was worried that the dogs wouldn't figure out how to use it.

I wasn't worried at all. It didn't take long for Bentley and Robbie to learn to push through it.

Cooper needed to be shown a couple of times before he was confident.

Austin, the very cautious dog, needed to be convinced with the lure of cookies but even he was going in and out on his own within a few hours. It helped that it was soccer night in the park for little kids' teams and the dogs always feel the need to go outside to announce to the neighborhood that there is something happening on soccer nights. Good motivation to rush through the door, especially for Austin the Defender of the Universe.

don't blink!

We have had rain, rain, and more rain. Everything is very green but it sure would be nice to see a sunny day again.

Just before sunset yesterday I looked out from the back yard to see this little swath of sunlight in the park.
And the trees on the island were also lit up.
So beautiful!

But today it has been cool and cloudy again. At least we didn't get a dump of snow like most places in Alberta but it seems strange that parts of Ontario and Quebec have roasting in extreme heat and humidity. What a diverse country we live in.

Franken-tomatoes

I had a box of hot house tomatoes on my counter so I decided to make a favorite pasta dish for supper the other day. Imagine my surprise when I cut into one of them and saw what looked like little worms.

On closer inspection I realized that some seeds had sprouted INSIDE THE TOMATO!

When I cut into another one there were also sprouts in it. And the next one, and the next one....
I have been eating tomatoes for most of my almost 52 years and have grown them every year of my adult life and I have never seen anything like this.

I did a google search and found out:

-they are extremely rare (you think?)

-normally, tomato seeds have a gelatinous coating that prevents them from sprouting until decay and fermentation destroy the coating (as would happen in nature)

-depending on the source of the internet posting, these strange sprouts are either found in on-the-vine tomatoes that have been in cold storage for a very long time or result from horrible scientific methods that have genetically modified the tomatoes to make them evil and toxic.

Whatever the cause, I didn't feel right about these Franken-tomatoes and refuse to buy any more that are from the same hot-house.


I have been reading Anti-Cancer by David Servan-Schreiber. Two friends have been undergoing treatment for cancer and both are very impressed with the book so I bought a copy to read it for myself. It is a very compelling book, not only if you are concerned about cancer but also if you think that we can be doing more for our natural resistance to disease of any kind by choosing a healthier diet and lifestyle. It certainly pertains to my issues of diabetes and high lipids and could very well help my chronic pain problems to some degree.

The Franken-tomatoes incident pushed me over the edge about shopping for more organic foods. I keep my garden as organic as possible but haven't worried about how supermarket produce is grown. I won't become fanatic about choosing organically grown food but I will definitely be exploring my buying options more.

socks and more

Thanks for the kind comments about my health, our anniversary, and Dan's birthday. It never fails to warm my heart that I have so many online friends. The internet gets blamed for a lot of privacy violation issues but it has certainly opened up the world so that we can connect with friends of common interests. This has become even more important to me since I don't work any more and am home more often than not these days. I remember being off work due to severe allergies in the mid-90's and just about losing my mind being stuck at home. Now I have my fiber arts to keep me busy as well as this wonderful online community through my blog and Ravelry. I value my little social network.

I have been listening to the weather reports from Ontario about sweltering heat and humidity. After our little heat wave last week, we have been having rain, rain, and more rain with some wind storms thrown into the mix for good measure. It is currently 5 degrees C (41 F) here. It could be worse as places north of us have had snow. The rain is needed so it's hard to begrudge it but I'm ready to see the sun again. I did get my garden in yesterday, in between spells of rain, but haven't planted any bedding plants yet. The old farmer's tale (for around here) is that you shouldn't put in the bedding plants until after full moon after the May long weekend (which just ended). I think that falls on May 29th this year. I hope, for the sake of all those that already planted the tender new bedding plants, that we avoid frost in the next couple of days but it feels like it could freeze tonight.

Anyhow, socks. I've been plugging away on the second plain toe-up sock of this pair.

And I've started using the Barbie pink yarn for a pretty, lacy, girlie pair of socks for someone's birthday present. If you know who the someone is, please don't tell her. This pattern is Dainty Anklets (Rav link) from Wendy Johnson's Toe Up Socks for Every Body.

I have done a smattering of spinning which I'll share another time when there's more to show. For now, another couple of dog pics:

Austin with the most coat that he has ever carried. It must be because he was neutered last year.


And in a strikingly similar pose, Cooper showing that he is getting his big-boy sheltie coat, especially on his tail.

still here

It's been quite a while since my last post. The chiropractor finally convinced my body to release the pain. Since then I've been tackling all of the chores that have been building up and desperately needed to be done around here, the most pressing of which was grooming the dogs.

Dan and I celebrated our 32nd anniversary last Thursday and Dan's birthday is today. We just had a quiet weekend, getting some yard work done in between rainy spells. Dan has been avidly watching his beloved Montreal Canadiens in the play-offs. Unfortunately they did not give him a birthday gift, losing today's game and their chances for advancing. At the risk of being branded as a non-patriotic Canadian, I could care less about hockey. I did enjoy our evening of watching a few episodes of The Tudors on Saturday. Those wacky Tudors are always up to something interesting.

Until next time, I'll leave you with this picture of Cooper noticing the bugs on the sidewalk.

not a lot going on

About all that I have to share with you is a picture of some sock yarn that I dyed this week.

The base yarn is 80% superwash merino, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon. It is so soft! I don't imagine it would stand up to wear like something sturdier (Opal, Regia, etc.) but, for someone with *ahem* delicate feet, like me, the socks would be a total luxury.

I've been all about shaded solids when I dye lately. It's fun to play around until I have just enough depth to add interest in the colors while still making them suitable for textured or lace socks where multi-colored yarn would be too distracting to the pattern.

I have been battling pain for the last few weeks and I'm getting very tired of it. Physiotherapy and massage therapy helped but a couple of days after treatment, the pain would be back full force. I saw the chiropractor on Thursday and really feel beat up after that but I'm hoping that the bones are back where they should be now and things will improve. I have to admit that I am cranky about the pain and all the things I'd like to be doing but can't because of it. It's wearing.

Gotland

I have just started dealing with some washed Gotland from Treenway Silks. This is the second fleece from them - the first one wasn't nice at all so they gave me a good price for a replacement. It's a very pretty color with a dark gray undercoat and shades of silver top coat.

This picture is a bird's-eye-view of my little storage box. At the top are some of the shorter, darker fibers that I assume are undercoat. I flicked them and they are nice and soft and fluffy. At the bottom are little nests of combed and dizzed fiber from the long locks of the outer coat.

I'm not sure how I feel about this fiber. It is very clean without much vegetable matter but there is a bit of scurf in the locks. The long hairs remind me of mohair and I think would make a lovely shawl with pretty lustre. The undercoat is nice but not as soft as my preferred fine wools like Merino, Polwarth, Rambouillet, etc.

Any fleece would be hard pressed to top the elite Polwarth fleece that I got from Rovings. It is incredibly beautiful and well worth the extra cost to get the best quality. I can think of so many things to knit with it with its next-to-the-skin softness. I suppose that what I find comfortable to wear influences my preference for the fine wools.

I spent a fair bit of time spinning on the Lendrum today. It is a fast wheel with a lot of momentum and it doesn't take much treadling to bring out its giddy-up! I naturally treadle quickly and the wheel was flying with me using the regular flyer. I also bought the fast flyer and I would imagine I will be able to spin cotton easily with that one.

Now I will wait until tomorrow to see if my knees are happy with this wheel. If so, I will probably be selling the Majacraft Pioneer. It's great little wheel but I think I like more momentum than it can produce. The Pioneer's lack of momentum does give very good control of the wheel so makes it perfect for beginners and most of the Majacraft accessories fit on the Pioneer too so it has a lot of versatility. And, of course, it doesn't have to be the plain sister of the Majacraft family if you have some of my sister's talent.

a couple of skeins

I dyed the Corriedale/bison yarn. First I dyed it purple, decided I didn't care for it at all, and overdyed it with various blues and grays. I'm much happier with it now. Jody commented that she couldn't see much bison in the original skein. That's because there isn't much bison in the blend. I decided to just add a wee bit so they wouldn't be too warm to wear indoors. Bison is very, very warm. Even though I spun the yarn worsted, I fulled it in its bath to soften it up. It was still pretty firm and I have "delicate" feet (they're super sensitive, the big babies) so I used Unicorn Fibre Wash and Rinse, which is really great stuff. The result is a very sturdy yarn that I think will still be comfortable to wear. I hope.

The other skein is 2 ply Falkland from a Spunky Eclectic fiber club top called Zombies. I didn't care for the colors in the top but they blended together very nicely into a gray/blue based multi. Just goes to show that you shouldn't just a fiber by its original colorway. A lot of spinning factors can affect the outcome.

look up, look way up....