Some folks have asked me

if Oribel misses Sadie, to which I generally have answered "Who really knows with a cat?" I still stand by that statement (not my business to try to understand a cat!), but I am beginning to think she might, at least a little. It used to be that Oribel would sleep on Sadie's bed in our room every afternoon and some evenings. Well, she hasn't slept or even gotten on it at all in the last week (plus a few days). She has slept on Sadie's bed in the family-room a couple of times, but again this used to be a daily activity, if not several times a day, so that is another significant change.

 

The biggest change I have noticed is that the water bowl has looked like this all week,

 

instead of this.

 

Coasters are still being given (loud) tours of the house, dropped on me at all hours, as well as being kept very close and greatly loved.

 

It would seem she knows Sadie isn't here to get presents anymore.

This was not the post I planned on

returning from the blogging hiatus with, but it is the one we all get anyway. I had planned on telling you all about our trip to Portland in May for DTY's college graduation, catching you up on my Project Spectrum doings, telling you about all the knitting I have been doing, sharing news about my trip to Milwaukee when friends that "lived in my computer" became "real", as well as a trip report of a family vacation to Washington, DC, this past week. Other than that brief "what I would have said" bit, I am not really here today to talk about any of that stuff.

 

Well, I guess in a way I will mention DC a wee bit more since in a way it leads into the real subject of this return posting. Last Wednesday Hubband, DTE, and I all got on a plane together, then changed planes together, and then landed in Washington, DC, where DTY met us via different plane routes. We all had a several days of fun and activities together, and then headed in three separate directions (all of that would be the previously planned report) on Saturday afternoon.

 

DTE and I flew back to our starting point together, where we were greeted by a cat who seemed fine with our return, and a dog who was, as always, very happy to have most of her pack back where they belong. About three hours after we got home from the airport, Sadie started fussing at the two of us, pacing, and wanting in and out. We figured fairly quickly that she was not OK and needed to to go to the Emergency Veterinary Clinic. Shortly after getting her there she was diagnosed with GDV (which I had rather suspected would be the case). Given that she was fourteen-and-a-half, an rare/strange heart murmur, and several other known age related issues, she was not a candidate for any kind of surgery, so I am pretty sure you know the rest of the story.

 

 

 

DTE headed back to her place in Minneapolis today and our house has never, ever felt this empty.

On Monday,

I was talking to DTE on the phone while sitting on the deck dead-heading geraniums. Suddenly there was a little mouse headed my direction and as soon as it saw me, it turned and ran a different way. For some reason it seemed to decide that was the way it should go so it came back toward me, freaked out and dashed off again in a different direction. That direction was going to lead to the open screen door and I didn't want to have to live with the results of it getting inside.
I quickly took the opportunity to grab my camera while getting the door shut. Of course my moving around just upset the mouse even further, so it ran over to the edge of the deck and took advantage of the lattice work down the side. About that time Sadie discovered the fresh mouse trail, so she and her nose went into high gear snuffling out its path. She did an excellent job of tracking where it had been and taking the newer scent path whenever an old and new one crossed.
It didn't take her too long to figure out just where the mouse had gone; I think she would have really liked to figure out a way to get off the deck and join it on side of the deck.
Around that time, Someone wandered by, or out from under the deck, I didn't really catch which.
It didn't take her very long to do her best to get up close and personal with the mouse. Suddenly hanging out eight feet up in the air on some lattice work wasn't so appealing and it got out of there. I think it went back up onto the deck and scurried off the other edge, but I don't know for certain. I do know that it was no longer anywhere around by the time Oribel climbed down and dashed around to a spot where she could jump up to the deck to see where it had gone after it ran away from her.
(Do you know how tricky it is to lean over a deck railing eleven feet up from the ground while kneeling on a bench, talking on the phone, and taking pictures?)

So far, in the last forty-five minutes to an hour,

Sadie has had her bone in some sewing stuff, in Hubband's closet, in a knitting bag, between her bed and the wall, some different sewing stuff, and now she has carried it off upstairs again. Those are just the places that I know of for certain. Seriously, no one here wants her bone! (Not that Simon ever did either, for that matter.) I am sure it will be in the couch and/or big green chair before the evening is over.

I haven't really fallen off

the face of the earth blog-o-sphere, despite what the last month would lead one to believe. Needless to say, life has been full of all sorts of changes, trying to find our new normal, for all of us. My dad is slowly adjusting to living in the memory care place here, instead of being in his own home, in his own town. Some days he remembers what is going on better than other days, but that is the nature of the beast. However, he continues to be very happy to be in the same city with us, so that does help a lot. I am sure one can imagine that there is a lot of life adjustment going on for me as well.
Sadie came through her surgery on January 6th just fine, and was scared enough of the "cone of shame" that we only had to set it down next to her stop the messing with her stitches. Most of the time she was way more interested in the area on her front foot that had been shaved for the IV than the two areas full of pieces of thread. The evening after her surgery, I drove DTY and a friend of hers up to St. Paul so the two of them could catch the train back to school. DTE went along for the ride so that I wouldn't be driving home alone late at night in a snowstorm by myself. The next next day we made sure Sadie had her medications on a regular schedule so that she wouldn't be in any pain (in addition to the cysts that were removed, they had to pull several teeth)as well as doing the general "post-major surgery" eye on her, but she spent the majority of her day sleeping. Late that afternoon I took DTE to the shuttle stop so she could go meet a friend and head to Fargo for the weekend. I was gone for all of twenty minutes max, but could hear the poor suffering Sadie as I pulled into the garage! After I got inside and her all calmed down (which took at least ten minutes!), I realized that those twenty minutes were the first time in her thirteen-and-a-half years of life that she had ever been left completely alone! Because of course a cat that had managed to get herself locked in a closet does not count as company! (Not that Sadie would consider Oribel to be much company no matter where she happened to be.) She still doesn't like being left alone, but is slowly adjusting to it. We have found that it helps a lot to leave the radio on for her, but someone still come home several times a week to a very upset and lonely dog.
I have been doing some knitting, and have finished my first pair of socks (from stash yarn even!) for the year.
Pattern: Groovy Socks changed to be toe-up.
Yarn: Schoeller+Stahl Fortissima Colori Socka Color
Started: December 27, 2009
Finished: January 14, 2010
Sock count: 1 of (hopefully) 12(+) from stash (aka, yarn purchased before 2010 or gifted anytime)
Made for: My mom's birthday in January. She said she loves them, but I am kind of hoping she doesn't take them to the hospital tomorrow when she goes for surgery and several days of post-surgery pampering from the nurses. (But if she does, and they happen to disappear, I do know how to make her new ones.)
I have started another pair of socks that have involved restarting several times due to the two-color knitting causing sizing issues. They are supposed to be for Hubband as they remind him of a camping trip with DTY and the loons they had to listen to several nights running. Unfortunately, the first try wouldn't even go over my heel, so I started over on bigger needles. These fit me, but there is no way they will fit him, so if the other member of the camping party is interested, they will be for her; otherwise I will be happy to keep them for me! I will be making them again for Hubband but will add another pattern repeat or two for proper fit. I am enjoying the pattern, challenge, and new stuff that I am learning while making them.
I also made myself a cowl out of some yarn that a friend dyed for me last fall to remind me of one my favorite first signs of spring, crocus flowers. (I took that picture before it was blocked, thus the curly edges.)

 

I shall leave you with a couple of pictures of my latest learning venture. Saturday I drove north to The Big City and DTE took the bus south to the same Big City and we took a cooking class together. These are my first ones, start to finish, at home. Not as pretty as Chef Carrie's, but in time, I am sure I can make them look much nicer.

(For the record, croissants turn out to be pretty easy to make!)

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.)

Just another day

As I am sure you know by now, Miss Oribel loves to dash into the Great Outdoors any chance she gets. I decided to let her out this morning, but there was no dashing involved. In fact, she had to think about the whole idea for a little bit and look around before venturing out at all.









Once she did finally go out, she stuck to the areas under the eves and bench.

 

After awhile, she did wander across the deck, but there was a fair amount of leg shaking involved.

 

Sadie, being the most excellent babysitter/worrier she is, was quite concerned about Oribel being out there too long. She kept going out in efforts of convincing Oribel that she should come in out of the cold, but of course she paid no attention to a silly dog. Then Sadie would get cold and come in, and I would have to listen to her whine and tell me all about the fact that the cat was outside, unattended, and all. I was getting to the point that I wanted Oribel to come in just so Sadie would shut-up be quiet! I am not sure if either one of them would have even gone out if we had had as much snow as they did to the west of us. Sadie may have had more fun though. She could have made tunnels/paths for Oribel! (Not that I would have considered even opening the door for them if the wind was still at gale-force!)

Last weekend Hubband and I went to some friends to get some firewood for the patio. I asked him if he just wanted to leave it in there on a "as needed basis" so that he would have some weight in the truck this winter and it would stay nice and dry. Of course, that would kind of defeat part of the purpose for owning a truck. (Last year we never managed to even get the snow tires on the truck, so were a one-car couple for a fair potion of the winter. It worked then, but won't so much this year.) I guess finding a better spot for this is the next step.

My plans for tomorrow involve going to The Twin Cities to see my friend J from Idaho Falls who is there taking care of grandchildren. She told me the other day that she loves her blue socks and was beginning to worry about wearing them out. I assured her that there was no need to worry, as there can always be more where those came from.
Since tomorrow involves a long drive and iffy weather, today involves going to the local mall to discuss my cell phone with the nice people again. When I decided it was time for our family to have a cell phone plan about six years ago (it involved new teenage drivers, old vans, country/winter roads; aka peace of mind for the mom), we got two brand-new phones to start with. One for me and one for the new driver. Hubband was sceptical at first, but decided within six months or less that life would be easier if he had one too. (Yes, he used to travel without one at all and yes, we are all glad that changed!) Then we got DTY her own when she started driving. Over the years everyone else in the family has had new phones for various reasons, and I have mostly stuck with my original one. At some point I switched to DTE's original phone (which was just like mine and being unused) since mine had been dropped in a parking lot one too many times (thank goodness for transferable SIM cards!). Then I switched to another hand-me-down phone when that one got dropped too many times, which lead to having a flip phone which was a "step-up" as far as my pockets were concerned!
Well, it seems that it may finally be time for me to get my very own brand new phone after all these years. This one has stopped getting a signal at all.

A Finished Object(s)!

I have finally finished these socks, which makes me very happy, as I wanted to have them done before tomorrow morning. I had finished the first one awhile back and started the second, but it had been set aside to finish a few things, including the baby blanket, Hubband's socks, and such. Unfortunately, it is eleven at night and not the most conducive for pictures. I will get some FO photos up tomorrow for you.
I can give you some "not quite finished; 'Houston, we have a problem'" photos though. Do you see that yarn tail, coming off of the unfinished sock?




It is supposed to be attached to this ball of yarn.

 

This is how close to the end of the sock I was this morning when we had our problem. Want to make a guess what the problem was? Someone jumped up onto the bed where I was knitting, grabbed the ball of yarn, jumped down, and ran off into the hall before I could do much more than say, "Hey!" She then proceeded to bite the yarn in half while I was coming to retrieve it. Oh well, better than what Sadie did to the very first pair of socks I made. She climbed onto the middle of the bed, got the sock, pulled it off of two of the (four) needles, pulled out some stitches, and chewed on two needles, breaking one of them in half. Lucky for her, she got to live after that.

Not to worry, Someone lived through today's episode as well. Don't let her fool you though, she isn't as sweet and innocent as she looks. Have I ever mentioned that she gives life to the expression "Ankle Biter"?

A little of this and a little of that

Yesterday afternoon the bird bath was all nice and level, when these creatures came along and unrevealed it. (That seems to happen on a fairly regular basis.) I took this picture from inside the kitchen as they tend to get a bit excited and run off when we open the door. "Off" being to the edge of the yard and into the forest.

 

It turns out that Anita had forgotten to put some things in my KCSD swap box, so she sent me a second one. She sent some of my favorite things in it! Raspberry preserves, Earl Grey tea, a pottery mug, a North Carolina cookbook ('cause that is where she lives), Gingerbread men, and flowers from her garden for mine! She has white iris that she was so kind to share with me, so I planted them this evening near my purple ones. It will be fun to see them bloom in the spring and know that she is seeing them as well. I forgot to mention the other day that she has an Etsy shop and makes very cool clay items. You really should go look.

 

This is the latest picture of the TdF sweater progress. It is ready to have the pocket started, but I decided to wait until tomorrow to do that sine the light will be much better then. Well, and my eyes won't be quite as tired as they were at eight tonight. Black yarn and old eyes, you know.

 

Just for the heck of it I thought I'd give you a Sadie picture. This is what she is leaving behind without too much work these days. Only a few minutes of brushing and only one side produced that pile.

 

 

I will leave you with a picture of that which was making strange noises in our neighborhood tonight. This was taken right over the trees in our yard, so you can tell it was pretty close. It came from somewhere across our street, across our yard and over the forest/field right behind us and then we think it ma have put down on the hill just past that. (Which would make a lot more sense to you if you have been to our house, or know how to look us up on Google maps I am sure.) Trust me on the "It was really close and low."

Imagine my surprise

when I logged onto WoW today and noticed that Miss Oribel was the "Spotlight of the Week"! Seriously, I was rather taken aback over it. I told her, but she doesn't really seem to care too much, one way or the other. (Well, with that aside, on to the WoW post I was planning.)
The other day the very fast moving spot of orange went dashing out the the door and off the deck as soon as the door opened. She hadn't been anywhere close to the door before it started to open, I am certain. Once she was off the deck she did slow down; there are sunny, warm bricks to roll around on, after all. She tends to stay on the move for a while after leaving the deck, but so far hasn't felt a very big need to go far. She has noticed that if she goes under the deck, she can't be reached, so that tends to be a favorite hang out.
Sooner or later she will wander out to check out the yard. (I am willing to let her be out as long as someone is there to watch her and make sure she doesn't go too far afield.) The bird bath seems to be rather high on her "I Really Need to See This" list.

 

I wasn't quite fast enough with the camera to catch her sniffing the edge, but was able to catch her right after. I really think if she could figure out how to drink out of this, she would. I am waiting for the day she jumps up to look closer.

 

Once she had the bath checked out, she was moving on to hang out under the bird feeder in hopes of some other excitement. She did manage to hold very still right under it until a bird had forgotten she was there and was happily eating a snack. Just before she was able to do something about that, the world's best babysitter had to make fuss and tell us, "Oribel is off the deck! She is loose in the yard! Are you paying attention here?" Needless to say, when a Basset whines about a free cat, the birds fly off and the cat is disappointed. Good thing she didn't really realize it was Sadie's fault she lost out on her chance to have an excuse to jump up into the air.

We have a strange kitten

Oribel loves to be inside of stuff. She has a box in the kitchen she is in and out of on a regular basis. Upstairs she has this laundry basket. She is a seriously happy kitten when she gets to be underneath it.

 

If someone comes over and lifts it up to see if she wants out, she'll look at you like you're nuts. Then she'll reach up and grab you hand to have you put it back down so she is all cozy inside. She often naps in there.

 

She also finds stuff to play with and pulls it in there with her (not that we can always see what it is). Once "they are in" she baps them around in her little cave. She also is happy to have visible toys like pieces of paper or yarn in there too.

 

Of course she also loves to see if Sadie wants to play with her too. Not unlike Bag, once she has Sadie's attention. Oribel has perfected the fine art of driving a laundry basket all over the landing and taking it to the edge of the stairs when she want to get out. Of course, then it is there when she is ready to get back in.

 

The two of them seem pretty happy to just hang out too.

 

A lot kitten time can kind of wear Sadie out and make her sleepy. (Though she does kind of look like she is having a good old belly laugh!)

Things we have learned recently

1. The people have stopped keeping stuff on their headboard.
2. Kittens can outlast (three) people at fetch.
3. Someone is big enough to jump straight to the kitchen counter from the floor.
4. Someone still doesn't like being squirted with water.

 

5. The very best tasting water is the stuff you get to have a fight with as it comes out of the faucet.
6. Someone doesn't care if her feet and face are soaking wet.

7. It is possible to push Sadie too far after all. Especially if you jump down on her from the stair above one to many times when she really wants to be sleeping. Who knew she would actually bark at you? She puts up with having her ears and nose played with after all.

8. Birds are much better when you are on the same side of the door they are. Even when the people are laughing at you for shivering and you get snowballs stuck to your tummy.
9. Birds being fed on the deck is way better than birds fed out in the yard.

10. If you drop a pony bead in Sadie's food dish, it sounds different than when you drop it on the tile floor. When you keep dropping in her food dish, it makes people look.
11. Dogs don't care how many coasters get dropped in the water dish. They will drink out of it anyway.

12. The garage is a good place to explore, even if it is cold and your feet get salty.
13. The big garage door for the car is loud, scary and worth running inside over.
14. Someone isn't big enough to jump from the floor straight to the top of the speaker. However, if her claws haven't been trimmed recently, she can climb the rest of the way up the front of it.
15. Someone is big enough to jump from the fireplace hearth to the speaker top.
16. Someone is big enough to jump from the top of the speaker to the fireplace mantle.
17. The humans get really upset and make a bunch of noise when someone knocks the painting off of the mantle onto the floor. Someone is lucky that is all she knocked down.
18. The top of the speaker is a good place to store the squirt bottle.

Knitters' Coffee Swap 3

My Knitters' CoffeeSwap 3 box from Laurie came today. I forgot to take a picture before I opened it, but did get one right after.



I got everything unwrapped and drooled over, but needed to take it to the portrait studio. Oribel decided that she needed to look everything over before I could move it.

Once the box was emptied, the inside also needed inspecting and Sadie had to get in on the "sniffing every possible surface of the box" action.
Laurie sent me some awesome stuff. First off there is great looking coffee and a cup to drink it out of, and sock yarn to knit with while drinking the afore mentioned coffee. There is also a nice bag to carry the knitting in and some stitch markers that she made.

Laurie also sent treats for the whole family to share. Well, stuff for the people members to share with each other, and stuff for the animal members to share. There is also mystery to read and cookies to nibble.





(I think Sadie has been reading over my shoulder and wants to imitate Wes.)