Sunday, February 27, 2011

Sassy

Guinfier asked if Sassy, my Toy Manchester Terrier, is fragile. Despite a few health problems, I do not consider Sassy fragile. She's a toy dog in size but a terrier in her heart. She has a few sweaters and fleece jackets to wear outside in the winter, otherwise I don't make too many concessions for her. Here's a video of Sassy in a Novice Jumpers With Weaves class. She's quite the springy little thing.


Knitting and Sewing




I started a new sewing project today. It's going to be a spring themed picture. I'm at the point where I need to do the applique but I don't have any fusible and don't feel like going out to purchase any so I've set sewing aside in favor of knitting and am hoping to finish up my mom's socks instead. The little quilt pattern includes a bunny rabbit to applique on the yellow fabric. If you've followed my blog you know how I feel about rabbits. I'm thinking of finding a nice outline of a corgi to applique instead.

Dogs

Tinkerbelle and Rumor had a herding lesson with ducks this week. Oh my, were they ever excited about the ducks. I'm happy to say no ducks became lunch though there was a close call or two. JJ, who loves his sheep, wasn't the least bit interested in ducks. "Why bother?" he asked.



I tried so hard to get a picture of Bunny with her ears up. I failed.



Dot celebrated her tenth birthday. Happy Birthday Dottie.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Uncle!

Okay Winter of 2010-2011, you win! I've had enough. I'm crying UNCLE! We are once again in the middle of a huge snowstorm. Early this morning it was heavy snow, then it turned to heavy ice pellets, now it's back to snow. Enough already, I'm sick and tired of this!

Knitting and Sewing

There hasn't been much knitting progress here though I've very much been wanting to knit. My RA has flared this winter and despite new meds my fingers are swollen and so painful   I can only knit for a short while.



This is a pair of socks I was hoping to complete for my mother's birthday, February 1st. I obviously didn't make it. The pattern is Dublin Bay Socks. I first saw these socks knit up on my blogger friend Bridget's site. The pattern is easy to memorize and the perfect take-along project. The yarn is ... is ... I thought for sure I still had the ball band but now I can't find it. I do remember the colorway is Denim. I'm a little worried about running out of yarn but otherwise have enjoyed this project. If only my fingers would co-operate a little more often.



A friend asked me to make her a Kindle cover. I wasn't sure what colors she would like so I made up two. I'm worried about sending them to her because she is an excellent seamstress who is without a sewing machine at the moment and I don't want her to see my sloppy work. I'm teaching myself to sew and haven't gotten the details down yet, the finer points which make something beautifully handmade rather than sloppily homemade. At least I'm trying.

A New Hobby

I know, I know, I so don't need another hobby, but I have one. I've been stalking the AeroGarden website for over a year now wondering if I would like one and if so, should I order the biggest they make or the smallest. This past Thanksgiving weekend they offered a deal I couldn't refuse, buy the largest AeroGarden and get the smallest one free. Now I actually have 4 AeroGardens and I love them! I have two growing lettuce, one with herbs and the extra large size currently has about 2 dozen green tomatoes slowly ripening in my basement.

I'm waiting for the sheriff to come and inquire as to my high electricity usage.




I realize I'm not saving money growing a few of my vegetables and herbs this way. In addition to the extra electricity I also need to buy water for the plants because neither well water nor softened water is  recommended. Here I have softened well water! Still, it's loads of fun and there's nothing like picking your own salad greens for supper in the middle of a Minnesota winter. The tomatoes and mature lettuce are water hogs though. I always thought other people were silly to buy water...


Dogs

I've been keeping myself very busy with agility trials in January. I do this on purpose as I'm not at all a lover of winter and staying busy every weekend makes January pass much faster. It also exhausts me - not as young as I used to be or would still like to be.

We've had some nice runs. TinkerBelle and I are finally running as a good team. Feels great to be out there on the course with her. Fancy and I are struggling a bit in the Open classes. Fancy started her agility career on January 2nd and breezed through the novice classes so I'm not too surprised Open has been a bit troublesome. It's a huge jump in difficulty from Novice to Open and although I know Fancy is trained well through the Open classes, the stress of being at real trials as opposed to home practice and lessons is hard on a young dog. Fancy has 2 legs on her OA and one on her OAJ. I'm confident we'll be advancing soon. Rumor was also entered in trials but went into season so had to sit out the month of February. I hope to have some good progress to report on Rumor in March.

I've been keeping a secret....





And her she is. This is Sassy, my Toy Manchester Terrier. Sassy is two years old. She's been with me since puppyhood. It hasn't been all smooth sailing even though I'm totally smitten with her. Sassy came down with Leggs-Perth disease at 7 months and had major surgery to keep her pain free and much rehab work to make her as sound as possible. She also suffers from seasonal alopeica, thus her bare nakedness in the photo. Sassy started her agility career in February. She is excelling in the jumpers classes, not so much in the standard class where the chute (or closed tunnel) scares her and suddenly this week, the teeter has her scared also. Still, I'm not complaining. Sassy is a total blast to work with and I'm sure we'll get this all figured out soon enough.




Not to worry though - the Pembrokes - they're still my kind of dog.

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