A Miss Oribel post

('Cause I am guessing that at least some of you out there are looking for one.)

Hanging out on the railing at the top of the stairs is one the things Oribel likes to do. It is not nearly as wonderful and fun as hanging out at the bottom of the railing to grab ankles and/or tails as they go by, but it is a pretty decent place to watch what is happening in her world.

 

She doesn't usually wind up staying there very long, mostly because there is too much stuff going on somewhere else in the house her kingdom that needs investigating. Either that, or she spies her tail out of the corner of her eye and decides she needs to teach it a lesson. Those kinds of lessons work out better on a scratching post.

It might be Whiskers on Wednesday, or maybe not, since it seems to be Strep-throat week!

 

Maybe

I should give up cooking for Lent?

4 of 12

AKA Hubband's Valentines Day Socks. I wanted to learn some new sock knitting stuff like Magic Loop instead of the standard double point needles, a square-toe start instead of a short-row toe, and I used a slightly different short-row heel than I have in the past (no wraps). I started these on Wednesday night at my weekly knitting group (so I could have a lesson on the toe and ML), one at a time (though with ML it is common to do both socks at the same time), finished the first sock and cast on the second one Friday night. I finished the second sock this afternoon and really enjoyed learning all the new stuff. I defiantly like ML, though I have nothing against DPNs. (In fact I have my next pair of socks on them right now, those were started last Tuesday night and worked on during the day before my ML lesson. No, I haven't picked them up since, but probably will tomorrow.) Yes, I do seem to have a new addiction to knitting socks, but no one around here seems to be complaining about it. Hubband has a poker game on Sunday and is very excited to wear his new socks. (I am sure he will tell the guys that I made them for him, like he did with his anniversary socks to our Super Bowl outing. Silly man.)

A romantic Valentine's afternoon

starts with dosing Sadie with Rimadyl before noon, bundling up for 25° weather, leashing the dogs, and heading out down the hill in the backyard.


From there you enjoy an afternoon together,

 

wandering about in the valleys

 

and on the hills around your neighborhood.

 

You get to see dogs enjoying the snow and their outing,

 

sunflower farms,

 

awesome ice formations

 

bassets snuffling stuff like bassets do,

 

geese overhead,

 

baby trees safe from deer,

 

and the water holding ponds you are grateful for.

 

Then you go out to the road to head home, enjoying your favorite tree in the cow field,

 

tell Sadie she has done an amazing job hiking and she is almost home,

 

and you are thankful that Simon will wait for her so patiently.

 

The last little bit of the afternoon outing includes telling the neighbor dogs hello, even though the beagle/basset mix Paco dog has taught Miss Louie Basset the bad habit of barking at everything and everyone.

 

Then you finish the afternoon off with a Valentine's day gift of a hand knit sock. (With the promise of the other one being done in plenty of time for their poker game on Sunday afternoon.)

A couple of ways to make my Hubband happy.

Go see a most excellent movie (which didn't have a midnight showing here, but we went opening night) and bring home the needed 3D glasses,









and knit him a hat to keep the wind and cold out. This is an excellent accessory for Minnesota wind chill and dog walks. I am not totally happy with the fit; of course, if I had tried it on him while in was in progress, I would have made needed modifications to make me happier, but it didn't come close to his head until it was all finished. He loves it and what else really matters?

It's a Dogs' Life

Chan and Gaylen have been fussing at me for new dogs pictures, even if they are boring, sleeping dogs. So, this is for you two (well, and anybody else that likes dog pictures).

Sadie spends a lot of her time sleeping in the family room while I am on the couch.

 

Though she wakes up just a little bit when she thinks she is getting some attention,

 

apparently having her picture taken doesn't count as enough attention to stay awake for.

 

 

Being a pack-oriented dog, she changes she sleeping spot as we move about the house. The landing is close enough proximity to the computer to make her happy,

 

and this end of the family room works out pretty well for her during dinner. I felt rather sorry for her on Thursday as I was doing some housework and she had to keep moving from the landing to the family room, upstairs to the bedroom, back down to the family room, back upstairs, back to the landing, and such. I kept telling her she could stay in one spot, but she really doesn't like to be that far away from her people. She is much happier when there are two people home and one of them holds still.

Simon starts his day with moving from his spot in the bedroom to a sun spot in the front room. From there he just sleeps and rarely even notices that the sun has moved.

 

 

 

Some things in a basset's life are very important, including having their heads scratched through the posts as we go down the stairs,

 

going outside on the deck (to see if there is any birdseed to eat),

 

and hanging out in the kitchen to help me cook dinner (or perhaps hope for some sort of manna to fall from heaven).

 

Of course two of the most important things in a basset's life after sleeping are food

 

and belly rubs,

 

which should never be interrupted with cameras! (Hubband says we hould have gotten her for half price since she is defective with feet on the top of her body instead of the bottom!)

 

(Now can I go back to the sock?)

Early Valentine's Day present

I got a very nice Valentine package from my brother (aka Mr. A's dad) today. He sent me Earl Greyer Tea and a comic strip to go with it. Since I can't exactly share a cup of tea with all of you, I will share the comic he sent. (Good thing my tea is in a cupboard Oribel doesn't get into!)
Thanks BB!
(OK, so I can't seem to get it to size correctly, so either click on the image to get the whole thing or go to this link.)
Rose Is Rose (Feb 4, 2009)

Everything belongs to Oribel.

 

I know, that has been mentioned before and has been well established. Well, it gets reiterated fairly regularly. The other night Hubband and I were setting up the "photo box" we got a while back. I had been looking at these for awhile and though it was kind of cool. It comes with the collapsible box, two lights, a (marginal) tripod, clips, and a carrying case. Cool, but not worth the prices I kept seeing, but then I noticed that Think Geek had them. We decided to try it for pictures of the socks, and of course we got help. All in all, the help turned out OK, except for the cat hair I had to dump out when she was done.

 

 

When she was bored with hanging out in the box, playing/biting at the Velcro, and trying to steal the socks that were the original photo subject, she decided that her scratching post was trying to run off and needed anchoring. While she was keeping track of her post/perch, she noticed a moving, long orange thing that needed to be attacked. It is often a toss-up as to who comes out the winner when this happens. (Just after this she had a longer run-in with it.)


Don't forget to check out Whiskers on Wednesday!
(Oh, and Think Geek has a ton of other cool stuff, just in case you've never checked them out.)