More On The Neighbors

Thank you to those who commented on my previous post. I tried to reply to each of you but found out I'm missing some current email addresses.

Chris asked why I don't turn my neighbors in. I don't need to turn in my neighbors as they are constantly being watched and inspected. Although dumping their dog waste next to my driveway was probably illegal (they cleaned it up with one warning phone call from me) unfortunately, there is nothing illegal about the way they keep their dogs.

It's a bit of a dilemma for me. Dog breeders are constantly fighting against legislation to limit or halt the breeding of dogs. Naturally, I don't want to lose my freedom to breed dogs. Still, as a responsible dog breeder and lover of dogs, I'm saddened by the sorry life many dogs live. Responsible dog breeders are so afraid of losing their right to their hobby that we just scream No! to every piece of legislation. I'm not convinced this is the best tactic. Perhaps instead of standing in place, shaking our fists and hollering No! we should sit down and come up with some reasonable compromise. Otherwise, we're leaving dogs like my neighbor's quite literally out in the cold.

On to more pleasant topics.

Knitting

I actually finished something! This is a face cloth from Fiber Trends Bath Time Blossoms pattern. I plan to start on a pink one today and am hoping to finish up my Mother's Day gift on time. Actually, I've made a number of these as gifts over the past few months. They knit up quickly and are great portable projects. I like using the Cotton Fine for these because the bit of wool in this yarn feels better and gives the cloth a better shape than 100% cotton.

Dogs

I've been keeping up with my self-assigned dog training challenge. Bunny has the nicest retrieve now! It's exciting because there were days I wondered if she'd ever get to this point. A few years ago I trained my Winger, a shy, quiet, lacking in confidence dog, and swore I'd never train another dog with such a temperament. So here I am training Bunny. I think I know a little more this time around. I've always known and thought I understood that dog training is all about breaking the final desired behaviour into smaller pieces. Training Bunny has taught me there's always an even smaller piece I can train and perfect. Make the right behavior easy to do and the wrong behavior difficult to do. That's how to train Bunny. It's slow going at times, but it sure is fun when it all comes together.

Practicing their down stays, with their bright green flash bulb eyes, is Bunny, Shamrock, Dusty and Whisper. 

Food

I lost the ten pounds I've wanted to lose so I celebrated this weekend with lots of white food, white flour and white rice. Not good diet food that's for sure. It's okay though, I'll get back on the wagon. You can't deny yourself everything forever.

Shrimp risotto with asparagus and red peppers

Buttermilk and currants scone

Percy

It's the time of year Percy has to stay in the house. He hates it. I'm not too crazy about it either. He has moments of acceptance though and I managed to capture one here.

A Lovely Gift

Knitting

I received the loveliest gift from Bridget.



Aren't they sweet? These are five stitch markers made to resemble Fame. Each marker is in a different position, sitting, begging, laying down, playing, standing. They have Fame's white face marking and her half white collar. Since I always carry some knitting project in my purse, I'll always have these markers with me to remember Fame. So thoughtful of Bridget. Thank you so much!

These stitch markers were made by WeeOnes Creations.



So what am I knitting these days? I've set aside my Cameo sweater. I have completed the body, still need to do the button and neck band and the sleeves. I'll finish the sweater, I'm not unhappy with it at all, just bored and needed a change. I started the Bath Time Blossoms, a project I've always wanted to knit. I'm enjoying this very much. It's fast knitting and enough variety to keep me interested. I'm using Brown Sheep Cotton Fine and really like this yarn. It's just the size and texture of yarn I enjoy working with and knits up easily. I am currently using two different shades of lavender and white for this project, which I plan to give as a gift. I see me ordering more Cotton Fine in the future in my favorite colors.

I've also decided to teach myself a little about quilting. No, I do not have plans to become a master quilter or anything, I simply want to learn enough to make a few small quilts of my own. I took a class but it didn't go very well. I did not learn much and left with the feeling I was imposing on the teacher. My choice of first project may also may have been partly to blame as turned out to be almost all fusible applique and didn't give me much chance to learn about cutting and piecing. So I've been scouring the web and library books for knowledge. I taught myself to knit and I don't remember that being too difficult, but teaching myself to quilt seems very challenging. Maybe I've gotten too old to learn! No pictures to show yet but I promise to share my failures along with my successes. Hopefully there will be some successes.

Dogs

Nothing new on the dog front. We have agility trials this coming weekend - outdoors, with forecast of rain and chilly temps. Doesn't that sound like fun? It's my birthday this weekend and I'm thinking JJ could give me the gift of passing his final Open Jumpers course and moving on to the Excellent Jumpers class. Are you listening JJ? No, he's sound asleep, snoring in his dog bed.