Heartbroken Dog

Yesterday afternoon Hubband asked Simon if he wanted to go for a walk on the Douglas Trail. Of course he wanted to “Go... Walk...” What else in life does he really need? (Well, besides maybe a little more food everyday.) Since this was a spur of the moment decision, Sadie didn't get invited. As in, she hadn't had a dose of Rimadyl and I wasn't prepared to go with to be her personal driver. This did not mean that she hadn't figured out what was going on of course. She knew something important was happening and she wasn't planning on missing out. She got very pushy about getting right by the door to the garage (to the point that I had to pull her away from it so that we could even open it) and then her heart was absolutely crushed when she didn't get to go.
(Warning: Don't watch this if you are easily heartbroken by pathetic dogs.)

Catching up

On Wednesday (Christmas Eve), a tree was procured and put up in the front/music room. It was then very thoroughly inspected, from all sides, angles, and heights possible.

 

After lights were put on, it was completely reinspected, along with the lights, which had to undergo a taste test. (The tree had already had one of those.)

 

There was more inspecting every time something new happened with or near the tree.

 

Once we got the presents under it (and inspected) there was mostly guarding to be done. All of the repeated inspections resulted in Oribel having tree sap stuck under her chin and having a couple of her whiskers stuck in the sap. Guess what though? She smelled wonderfully just like a Christmas tree when I snuggled her!

 

Wednesday also involved baking birthday cake, church for DTE and me, picking up Chinese take-out for dinner, back to church for all four of us, and a bedtime story (this year it is Christmas Day In The Morning).
Our Christmas Morning/Day was filled with the usual suspects of stockings, eating said birthday cake, present opening/inspecting, snuffling, belly rubs, and such.

 

There was also a game played after the wonderful dinner DTE made.

 

Friday I got to play with my birthday present all day. Fun times, even with all the help I had.

 

 

Hubband took the dogs in to have their nails clipped, and we discovered that they have both lost weight. For some dogs this would be OK, but not these two. We have been able to keep their weight right around fifty pounds ever since they were full grown/out of puppy hood. Well, they are both at about 45 pounds, so now need to put some weight back on! (This might explain why Simon has been shivering when he goes out lately!)

Yesterday Hubband and DTE delivered the baby hat and it was declared to be very cute, tried on, and fit wonderfully! (Thank goodness, though I had sent them with strict instructions that I would make a different size if needed.) Mostly it was a low key day, though Hubband and DTE ended it with going out to the airport last night to welcome our friends home from their year-and-a-half in China. Turned out to be a good thing, as their three kids were exhausted and only one of their nine suitcases had shown up from the Chicago transfer. So the other friends that had also gone out were able to take the kids home and our contingent was able to provide follow-up transportation after all the requisite paperwork was filed.
Today has also been pretty low-key, other than the usual Sunday stuff, DTE heading off to Des Moines for SpamALot, DTY and I headed out to procure fabric and a pattern for a sewing project she is going to do, and other such general stuff. Pretty low key around here, which really means all is good!
(Don't forget to click on the pictures to bigify!)

More finished knitting

One of Hubband's co-workers, his wife, and their three daughters just welcomed a new baby boy-child into their family. So a bit blue was knit up yesterday and today to keep him warm this winter.

 

(Very kindly modeled by DTE's doll.)

Update
Here's the stuff I forgot to put in last night. (Sorry about that!)
Pattern: (in English) Sweet Baby Hat
Size: Newborn (ie I cast on 115 stitches and K15 between increases and decreases)
Yarn: Schoeller + Stahl Fortissima Colori Socka Color (Less than one skein)

See? Finished knitting!

These are Hubband's Christmas socks, though he got them before Christmas. It is kind of hard to make sure socks for him fit without trying them on him several times during the making. Unfortunately, even if I had sock blockers it wouldn't help. Now, if I had a plaster cast of his foot and leg, I could make him surprise socks. Of course, I have only seen kits to make casts of tiny baby feet, so I guess I would need a bunch of kits.

 

I finished these a week ago and Hubband has worn them, but the two of us haven't been able to coordinate getting pictures of him wearing them, so DTE is kindly being my foot model tonight (thus the “these socks are too big for these feet” look).

Our house today

Around ten this morning:

(It hasn't stopped all day.)

 

Of course there is more coming:

Late Afternoon: Snow. Steady temperature around 13. Wind chill values as low as -6. West wind around 24 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 3 to 7 inches possible.

Tonight: Snow and areas of blowing snow, mainly before midnight. Low around -3. Wind chill values as low as -27. Breezy, with a west wind between 24 and 30 mph, with gusts as high as 39 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible.

I have stayed inside today (except for measuring duty), but Someone else decided to venture out a few inches.


She had a good time playing with the power cord for the lights Hubband put on the deck. Pulling it out of the snow and pushing snow back over it kept her entertained for at least five minutes. (Which ment she kept Hubband and me entertained as well.) She wasn't quite so impressed with the snow getting in her mouth every time she attempted to bite the cord. (Which was fine with Hubband and me.)

Apperantly being covered with snow is reserved for outside.

 

(For the record, Hubband would probably disagree about the me not complaining about the shoveling yesterday. When he had finished with his conference call in the morning, loaded his stuff in the car, and stopped to talk to me in the drive for a few minutes before getting in the car, I told him I thought he should work at home rather than drive on the unshoveled snow. Apparently that wasn't really an option.)

Want to see what I did this morning?

First, our front porch.



(I have to admit, I always find these to be really cute.)

 

Our sidewalk/driveway at about 9:45 AM today



Our driveway/sidewalk by about 11:30 AM today

 

(I even shoveled out the mail box!)

 

There is more on the way tonight, but not until after midnight. Which of course means I am hoping DTE, her roommates, and the car one of them is driving home from school after finials today, are all home by then. There is a possibility of another six inches or so in the next twenty-four hours, but it is a balmy 20° right now and is supposed to stay above, or right at zero (if you ignore wind chill) until Sunday night, when it will be around -14°.
I have to say I am really excited that we are having a white Christmas! (Two years ago it didn't snow here until after the first of January!)

Cold, snow, and lights

It was below zero this morning (I am trying not to remember how much, thank you) and it did manage to make up to four little degrees above zero today. It started snowing around ten this morning and hasn't stopped yet. Hubband, being the sweetie that he is, shoveled the driveway while I fixed dinner. Due to the fact that he worked at home today, it was pristine, un-driven on, non-packed snow, so probably much easier to shovel than it would have been otherwise. After dinner it was time for Hubband and Simon to head out on their walk, and Sadie insisted on going too (some days she wants to go, some days she doesn't). She also was very insistent that she wanted me to go along, so Hubband and I bundled up and off we went. As we headed up the road from the driveway, we were trying to figure out why there were a couple of those huge lights that are used to advertise to the west of us. After we walked a bit and got past the forest, we realized that it wasn't lamps. We noticed that there were more columns of lights, some brighter than others and they fanned out all around us. We were dazzled by Aurora Borealis on our walk in the snow, an it was well worth the trip.

I have been knitting,

but have come to the conclusion that I won't have one of the things I was working on for Christmas done in time. I am trying very hard to stay on task with the other knitting that I will have done in time and all the other things I need to do to be ready. Packaging stuff, mailing stuff, cleaning stuff, cooking stuff. Most of the time I don't have such a hard time staying on task, but I keep being pulled away from what I should be doing to read a new book. I really want to use this new book, but I keep telling myself I have to do all this other stuff first. It is (sort of) working so far, but I am not sure how much longer that will last. "What new book?" you may all be wondering. Well, Hubband took me shopping this past weekend for my birthday present, because he didn't want to go without me. So far I have only taken the book out of the box, but I am not sure how much longer that will last. (Isn't it a pretty box?) I have to say, I am really excited about what this can do that my "older than me" one can't/won't/doesn't do, or gets too fussy/cranky to want to do anymore. One of the reasons that I haven't finished my jacket is because of the cranky machine, which makes me cranky. Seriously, how many times in an hour should one have to balance their tension on straight stitching? None! It shouldn't keep changing! Now, I really must go do all that stuff and see if that will drown out the voice calling me to play.
(I promise to give you knitting pictures soon! I can share some of what I have been working on.)

It's cold out there

It is currently -6°F outside and this is how the day is supposed to shake out:

Today: Mostly sunny and cold, with a high near 0. Wind chill values as low as -31. Breezy, with a west wind 23 to 26 mph decreasing to between 14 and 17 mph. Winds could gust as high as 36 mph.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around -13. Wind chill values as low as -26. West wind 5 to 13 mph becoming south.

Fortunately, tomorrow should be an improvement:

Tuesday: Snow, mainly after 2pm. High near 6. Wind chill values as low as -25. Southeast wind between 5 and 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

Tuesday Night: Snow likely, mainly before midnight. Cloudy, with a low around -3. Wind chill values as low as -15. East wind 5 to 11 mph becoming southwest. Chance of precipitation is 70%

I just wish we had gotten some snow here, like some people we talked to this weekend

PORTLAND, Ore. --Nearly all area schools were closed Monday, after the arctic blast froze over Portland roads and paralyzed the city. Scattered snowshowers tapered off Sunday evening but roads remained extremely slick. Temperatures were expected in the teens Monday, as some of the coldest weather in years settled in across the region.

Last night when I talked to DTE, she said there are no contingency plans for finials if campus was closed today, due to buses not being able to run.
Fortunately, DTY's campus isn't considered a "Commuter Campus" like DTE's is.

Cats and their pillows

A while back we sent a catnip pillow to Miss Jasmine, and Yarndemon has been trying to get pictures of her playing/sleeping with it for ages. She is happy to report it has finially happened. You should go look, Jazz is looking pretty happy with it. (Just in case you forgot what Oribel did with hers as soon as I brought it home, you could look here.)
We promise, these really are pictures of two different cats, in two different parts of the country. Poor Jazzy doesn't get to check out the snow drifts.

Oribel and Snow Days

We did have some snow around here before the "Big Storm", but nothing of significance; well, at least not in my opinion. Someone else might disagree with me though.



(Good thing she has several feet to stand on, so that she can keep at least one up in the air all the time. The larger one of those non-snow spots is where she dug through cleared the snow off so she could put her foot down.)

Of course she thought she wanted to go out yesterday, just like everyday. It would seem that she has no sense of how deep six inches of snow is.





It would also seem that she wasn't terribly crazy about it being so deep, and after learning that washing off one's foot while standing in the snow doesn't work very well, she gave up and jumped back in the house.


After I slaved to get the deck ready for her inspection shoveled and she made sure it was safe for her feet,



and that she could see everything to her satisfaction,

Oribel hunkered down out of the wind to watch for interlopers in her yard. (Not that I am sure what she would have done with any.....)

Regular Knitting Interrupted, Part 3

Well, I decided that I needed to do a little of this

 

and a little of that,

 

before I did any knitting today. Especially if I wanted to go anywhere tomorrow.
(Well, maybe it was a lot of this and that.)
I plan on knitting after dinner, 'cause now it is time to figure out what we are eating tonight.
(FYI- The wind has started blowing, the temperatures are dropping, and we may well be getting more snow this week.)
Update
I just wanted to let you all know that I am feeling much better. (Thanks for all the "Get Well" wishes!) Hubband figured I must be better of I wouldn't have been up to all that shoveling! (No, we don't own a snowblower, just shovels.)

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood

(Warning, this is going to be a picture-heavy post, so I am not going to make them very big, nor am I going to mess around a lot with aesthetic placement. You can click on images to biggify if you want. I would strongly encourage it, especially the nighttime ones.)

A winter storm started yesterday afternoon and Hubband was glad to have my car for his drive home. The front steps were clear before it started and around seven or eight I measured an inch and a half or so. At eleven I measured four inches and decided to see how well a night-time snowstorm would photograph.
















(I think it did OK.)

 

I was up at six-thirty this morning to check on the status of the city; everything was on a two-hour delay, we had six inches (with some weight compression), and the snow plow hadn't been by yet (rather unusual for our road). Needless to say, I went back to bed for a while.

After I got up and had some coffee, I decided to play with my camera some more.