Knitting Up A Dog

Knitting

I finally finished knitting my mom's birthday socks. I'm happy with them. I don't enjoy knitting socks much but my mom loves my knitted socks so once in a while I find an easy pattern and knit a pair of socks for my mom. My blog friend Guinifer is a super fast and very accomplished sock knitter. I'm in awe of her. It takes me forever to knit a pair of socks. Truth be told, my mom wears the socks I knit for her to bed so they are never to be seen in public. And that's perfectly fine with me, my mom has neuropathy in one of her feet so I'm happy they make her feel warm and comfortable and I don't have to worry if they are not quite perfect.

Here's the finished product. The pattern is Dublin Bay Socks  knit from Pagewood Farm yarn on 2.25 dpns.

Now that I've finished the socks, I'm starting on a knitted Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

I know, as if I need another dog!I've started knitting the Pembroke Welsh Corgi from Knit Your Own Dog. It's super easy knitting, yet, I've managed to complete only the two back legs.

Why? Because I can't motivate to complete the rest of the dog. It's all in bits and pieces. The sewing up of the dog is going to be oh so futsy, putsy. It makes it difficult to continue. I can knit up the pieces with no problem, just not sure I want to bother with sewing together all the teeny pieces. Here are the two back legs knit in Elann Pure Alpaca Fina on Size 2 needles. I'm thinking of ripping these up and starting over using the same yarn doubled and size 4 or 5 needles so the sewing up is a bit easier.

I've knit a few of the Fiber Trends sheep and dogs and they are not knit in tiny, little pieces. So I'm a bit concerned about the finishing work required on these Knit Your Own Dog patterns.

Also, I don't think the Pembroke is very realistic. Some of the other dogs, especially the Jack Russell, the Westie and the Scottie are very realistic. I have a friend with both a Scottie and a Westie and at first I thought I'd knit up both for her. Now that I know how much finishing work is required, and since my friend is a knitter herself, I think I'll just loan her my book and she can knit her own!

A very nice feature of the book is stating the number of stitches at the end of each row. There's a lot of shaping going on and it's especially nice to be able to check you work after a shaping row. The quality of the pictures and the paper the book is printed on are excellent. There's a number of errors in the descriptions of the dogs and their jobs, for example, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi is stated to be a dog who "use their agility to nip at the heels of sheep and horses." Horses? Actually, Pems were used as cattle driving dogs and yes, they did nip at the heels of cattle. But horses? I can't imagine any horse owner I know allowing a dog to nip at the heels of their horses. I only hope the patterns themselves do not contain as many errors. Still, over all, a book I had to add to my collection and am happy to have done so.

Indoor Gardening

Don't these tomatoes in my hydrophonic garden look fantastic? I thought they were ready to eat but I picked one and not only was it difficult to pluck off the vine, a good sign in itself the tomato was not ripe, but it also tasted like a green tomato. I thought for sure I'd make a nice meal out of these this weekend but looks (or rather tastes) like next weekend instead.

My herbs and leaf lettuce are doing great. The romaine lettuce, not so good. About half my Romaine lettuce has wilted, the other half is looking and tasting great but I wish I knew why I lost the other half.

Dogs

2011 has started out great for the dogs. Tinkerbelle is racking up the QQs, Fancy finished her OA and is making good progress toward her OAJ, Rumor started agility with one weekend in February and one in March and has already completed her NA and NAJ. Also lots of obedience training happening here. I'll need to give up a few agility weekends for obedience trials later this year.

Percy spent all winter indoors, which was quite unusual for him. I guess he's getting old. I can't really blame him, it's been a long, hard winter here and still no spring in sight. Percy's now starting to insist on going outdoors several times a day which makes me very happy. I know, it's so politically incorrect of me, but Percy's always been an indoor/outdoor cat and is a working cat here. I cleaned and bleached the cat box today. I confess, I'm happy to know, barring any illness or injury, the cat box won't be used again until next winter.

Three Green Ribbons

I don't have much to say today but I'm trying to pay more attention to my blog. Feeding it daily is beyond my capability. However, I think I ought to be able to stick to a weekly schedule...I think I've said this before though.


Knitting

I'm working on small projects I'd like to gift at Christmas. Above is a reversible hat I'm knitting without a pattern. I'm trying to model it after the small, tight wool hats I noticed my brothers and nephews wearing last year. I suspect they cost a small fortune and thought I could easily make them myself. I'm pleased with my first attempt. Other than the yarn that is. I picked two balls of sock yarn from my stash to make the prototype before I invest in good wool sport yarn. This sock yarn was inexpensive and is 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon. The nylon gives it a nice stretch and longer wear which is perfect for socks, but a bit too much stretch and "scratchiness" for a hat.

I have a ball of Misti Alpaca Chunky waiting to become a scarf. I know I'm repeating myself but this yarn is so soft, it's one of my favorite all time yarns. And knitting a scarf on size 13 needles is a breeze!

I sorted out Christmas themed material for the two table runners I want to make but that's as far as it went. Maybe I'll get back to it this afternoon yet, but I need to clean my patio, get rid of the outdoor potted plants and vegetables, train a few dogs, clip a few toenails (canine ones that is!) and put away the folded laundry.

Dogs

This morning I drove to Hugo for an obedience trial with Shamrock and Dusty. They each qualified! Shamrock received a decent score but she's capable of much better. She was so distracted during her on leash heeling. I think she thought she was back in the show ring and she should strut her stuff out in front of me for her clamoring fans to appreciate. Thankfully, she settled down for her off leash heeling which was quite good.

Dusty worked above what I think I've trained him at. I was very pleased! If it hadn't been for his one no sit he would have scored way over what I was expecting. I haven't put the time into Dusty's obedience training that I should but after today, I'm motivated to do so.

Bunny picked up her first leg (that's a qualifying score towards an obedience title for my non-doggie friends - I think I still have a few) towards her CD (companion dog) title back in August. So I made all three of them sit for a picture with their little green ribbons. You can tell how thrilled they were to pose. From left to right it's Dusty, Bunny and Shamrock. I'll try to get ears on Dusty and Bunny next time. Good grief but they were lacking a sense of humor for this picture.

Mr. Shyness And My First Quilt

Birds

So often people say to me, "You can tell we have a heavy snow cover when the pheasants and turkeys come up to eat the bird seed". Ah, hello? You can't already tell we have a heavy snow cover? It's like the people who say "Oh look at the sun dogs, must be a cold morning". Seriously, if you need sun dogs to tell you it's way below -20 F, I  think you need to live somewhere besides the Northern Plains.

Okay, sorry, being this cold for so long makes me crabby. I've been trying to get pictures of Mr. Shyness for a few days. This rooster has been very camera shy. I guess he was finally cold and hungry enough to hang around for a few pictures. 

Isn't he pretty? My pheasant family this winter consists of Mr. Shyness and his two ladies. They are living out under my pine trees. One of the females appears to be younger than the other. She's quite a bit smaller and has a little tuft, or cowlick, on the top of her head. So cute! The girls hang around through the dog barking and camera clicking so I haven't been as determined to catch them on film (film? I guess I should say "bits and bytes") as I have been Mr. Shyness. I'll try to post pictures of the cowlick tufted female next.

I've finally given in and purchased corn and other cheap bird seed for the pheasants and turkeys. I really don't like to do this. Not because I don't love my pheasants and turkeys, and birds of course, but because it seems I'm only spending my own money so next autumn trespassers can come and shoot the birds I've fed all winter and have a human feast of their own, never offering me a single bird and certainly never an apology for trespassing all over my property. I'm not anti-hunting, but I've sure become anti-hunter in the last few years. These folks need to learn manners and a whole lot about property rights. Don't even get me started on the snowmobilers and ATVers. Argh!

First Quilt

I needed another hobby like I needed a hole in my head, so I started my first quilt a few weeks ago. Here it is ready to to be pieced together.

And here with painters tape ready to be quilted.

The actual machine quilting is not going too well. I have a lot to learn yet and am finding machine quilting difficult. Still, I'm enjoying it tremendously. I might not be good yet, but I'm learning and having a lot of fun.

Dogs

One of the few New Year's resolutions I made this year was to spend more time obedience training my dogs. So far I've done alright with this resolution, not nearly as much time as I would like to, but at least I'm thinking about it.

Dusty is doing great on his heeling work. He is still "butt out" in his heeling, something I find so typical in new-to-heeling dogs. I'm using the two leash method and also doing lots of heeling against a wall to help fix this. Dusty is reaching well for his dumb bell. I'm very pleased with this progress, but he's not holding the dumb bell well, lots of rolling of the dumb bell and nervous "chewing" of it. I have come to realize these days I'm a bit old fashion in teaching a "hold", but I think it is imperative to a good retrieve. I want a dog to hold the dumb bell, glove, article, whatever, still in his mouth, be able to heel and also execute a finish with the dumb bell held still in the mouth. Only then will I move on to the actual retrieve exercises. We're getting there, Dusty is so willing to learn and happy to co-operate, it's just a matter of more time and work on my part.

Shamrock needs more work on the broad jump. She doesn't quite understand the jumping through the middle of the jump yet, she figures it's just as well to jump over the corner of the jump and come to me. I'm using lots of props to get her past this in addition to having her jump with me on both the left and right side of the broad jump. We're working on the Utility hand signals and go-outs. My basement is too narrow to do much with the directed jumping so that will have to wait a few months yet. So far, I'm very pleased with her progress.

Bunny is in a holding pattern at the moment on her retrieve, go-outs and automatic sits. There's nothing wrong with her automatic sits on heeling, it's just that they are so darn fast, I need to learn to adjust to her. Or, better yet, she needs to learn to adjust to my foot work - now there's an idea! As for retrieving, and her go-outs too, Bunny does that herding dog thing of making a WIDE arch to get to her dumb bell or go-out spot. I'm not concentrating on the go-outs with her yet, as for the retrieves, I've tried a thin ribbon slipped under her collar to keep her "in" when I send her for the dumb bell, but Bunny is so shy and worried, she stops and freezes up as soon as she feels the "pressure" (such as it is (not!)) from the ribbon. I'm back to kneeling beside her for the retrieves and go-outs. This is working. I'm not however, looking forward to my aching knees as I slowly work my way up to a standing position. I'm thinking on a better way to change this behaviour...  Bunny doesn't like props, she's afraid of everything and anything that seems out of place, so I haven't tried props yet, but I'm thinking hard on this...

Bookends Dak and Dot

Busy Summer

Fame survived her bamboo knitting needle, knitting pattern and yarn eating experience just fine. Can't say the same for my mother's bed socks. They were so saturated with dog saliva and slobber I tossed the entire project into the garbage. I did order more yarn and the pattern (again) and plan to start over. I was enjoying knitting those socks, I just don't have the ambition to start it over so soon.

Knitting

Meanwhile, I started the Cameo sweater from Custom Knits.



This is Rowan Cashsoft DK in a creamy white. (Yes, I know, I've been in a "white" mood lately.) Love the yarn, enjoying the pattern. However, my right index finger has still not healed. Perhaps you remember my complaining about it this past winter. I injured my index finger many years ago and then last summer re-injured the very same spot when a knife slipped while I was cutting up lemons and limes. I use my right index finger to push the yarn along and am constantly irritating this finger all the time I am knitting.

I need to take a break from knitting. I'm not too happy about it but it needs to be done. This finger has got to heal! I plan to keep the Cameo sweater in my purse and knit while I have free moments, but I've decided to go back (way back) to weaving on my rigid heddle loom.



I used to be a decent weaver. Though I haven't done it in years I'm sure I can learn again. Above is a picture of one of eight placements I wove way back in 1975. They've held up nicely. These are made of 100% linen. It's time to pick up this hobby again and give my sore finger a rest.

Having said that, I need to find a large block of time to re-learn how to warp my loom and that's a problem. My busy summers do not lend themselves to big blocks of unused time. I'll update my blog with pictures as I start the process of warping, whenever that may be.

Dogs

The dogs and I have been doing lots of agility trials lately. We've had some very successful weekends and some less than such weekends. Still, we've always had fun.



I've been feeling guilty about ignoring obedience this spring so beginning in June, have made a conscious effort to do more obedience training especially with Dusty, Shamrock and Bunny. My goal is obedience trials starting in August. We'll see how it goes. I'm in the office much of the rest of June and those two hours of commuting time each day mean a negative two hours a day for dog training. Oh well, it's good to have a job.

Fame is having more health problems. Fame started limping on her left shoulder when she was on so much prednisone for her hemolytic anemia. Although off the pred, Fame still limped intermittently through the winter and spring. The limping is constant now. I was able to get Fame in to see Dr. Julia at Twin City Animal Rehab where she was diagnosed with MSI, Medial Shoulder Instability. Big Bummer! The pred saved her life but the muscle wasting side effect has caused another serious problem.

Fame was measured for and will be fitted with shoulder braces next week. I'll take pictures of her in her "hobbles" once they arrived. It will be four full months of shoulder braces for Fame along with tons of crate rest and stretching exercises, walking only, no running and absolutely no agility, ball chasing or playing with her housemates! Fingers crossed she'll be able to do obedience and agility after all this sacrifice.

Meanwhile, I'm relaxing tonight in preparation for a very busy upcoming work week. Here's a little relaxation I created. It's one part vodka, two parts Pom Juice, a splash of OJ and 2-3 ice cubes. Excellent if I do say so myself.



Now I must go. It is thundering out and this sends Dusty into a total state of panic. Time to go rescue my little friend from his terror.

Resistance Is Futile

Knit News

I had 3 days of obedience trials in the Twin Cities this past weekend and on the way home today I stopped by Knitter's Palette to pick up a nice button for my Mr. Greenjeans sweater. I did come home with a lovely button, but look what else I brought home. I swear, resistance is futile. The last thing I needed was more yarn!



I purchased 3 skeins of Dream In Color Classy to make a second Mr. Greenjeans for myself. My first Mr. Greenjeans turned out quite nice and it was a very fun knit with an excellent pattern. I had only two problems with the first sweater.

First, life took over and I simply ran out of knitting time. This should be a relatively quick knit, I just didn't have that much time to give to it. Second, I had to knit the button band three times because of my own errors. The first time I tried the button band I was spending the night in the hospital keeping an eye on a family member (who is fine now). I knew there was something wrong with what I was doing but I kept on knitting out of nervous energy or something. I hadn't picked up enough stitchs which caused the sweater to pull up badly in the front. So I ripped that button band out.

For the second attempt at the button band, I was so sure I had counted correctly but I ended up with one side starting with a purl two and the opposite ending with a knit two. Clearly, this was not good. Finally, on the third attempt I got smart and used two long dpns to pick up the stitches for either side of the button band and then used the correct size needles to pick up and knit the actual stitches. I am so happy with the result that I am going to make another Mr. Greenjeans for myself.



Here's my first Mr Greenjeans drying after a wash in cool water. Once blocked, it fit me perfectly and was not too small as I had feared. Still, I had promised it to my sister so it is now hers and I'll make another for myself.

The white yarn above is Cascade Ecological Wool from which I plan to knit a Hemlock Ring lap blanket.

I started a diamond lace scarf using Karabella Terrain. It is coming along nicely, if not slowly. I completed this much of it at the dog shows this weekend. I had to rip back a few times. I'm thinking knitting lace at dog obedience trials is not such a good mix.




Dog News

As I mentioned above, I spent the weekend at dog obedience trials. Dot finished her CDX in three shows with very respectable scores and a first and second placing in her classes. Dak tried Utility and unfortunately, did not manage to pass this weekend but I am very happy with his performance and progress. It will be June before I show him again which gives us more time to practice and perfect. He's a very willing dog with a very happy and up attitude and I have no doubt of his success.

Below is a picture of Emma, formerly known as Fussy, from my last litter. I don't know, I might have to demand her back. I'm not sure she has enough toys or dog beds and dog friends to play with.

Christmas Knitting

I've been doing a bit of Christmas knitting in November. I finished a few projects and have started several others.



A few months ago I purchased the Fiber Trends Felt Flock pattern. I finally got around to knitting a sheep and did I ever enjoy it! I would not have thought I'd enjoy such a knitting project but I did. This little lamb is made of Cascade 220 wool for his body and some very old Dale of Norway Heilo I found in my stash for the contrasting color. I ended up with just a bit of the Heilo left so I made an I-cord collar for my little lamb. I think I will give this to my agility and herding instructor who is anticipating the birth of her first grandchild this coming week.

...yes, I know I forgot to knit a tail for my lamb. No excuses, I just plain forgot. I'll do better on my next one as I do intend to knit more lambs.



I so seriously enjoyed knitting the felted lamb I actually purchased this book and hope to knit a few more toys in the future. I think I will even join the Ravelry knitted toy group.



I finished my third Ribs and Ruffles Scarf out of Misti Alpaca Chunky.



My first two scarfs were knit in a natural and a baby blue color. These are a very quick knit and make a luxurious gift. I plan to give this third scarf as a gift also. Now I need to make one for myself.


Unfinished Christmas Knitting

My sister asked me to make golf club covers and gave me a pattern using Red Heart yarn and Lion Brand Fun Fur yarn. Hum... so I experimented a bit.



The tan yarn is Mission Falls 1824 Wool and the green eyelash yarn is called "Funny". I made the bright pink one after searching on the web for knitted golf club covers and reading several patterns and posts which said the gaudier the better. The pink yarn is Red Heart and the eyelash is some Crystal Palace Splash I found in my stash. I'm not a golfer but I find the pink quite gaudy for sure! I do not have enough of the Splash to make another cover but I do have some Fun Fur in pink. I'm not a golfer but I hope a second cover with a different novelty yarn will still make for a "matching pair". The golf covers where fun to knit, but honestly, a little boring. I still need to make another in each color by Christmas but I'm going to put it off a bit as I just can't bear to make two more at this time. Each takes about 4-5 hours to complete.




I've finished one of the fingerless mittens I'm making for myself. I like them. I think I should have made the hand portion of the mittens in a stockinette stitch instead of the ribbing because it would have shown off the colors better but here it is. I still like it. I'll finish the second once all my Christmas knitting is complete.



My Clapotis has also taken a back seat to the completion of Christmas knitting. I'm half way through the straight section. Though I'm normally a pastel color person, I am loving the colors of my Clapotis.

And despite all the Christmas projects I also started a simple cap for myself tonight out of some left over stash Dream In Color yarn. I hope I have enough to finish the cap. I remind myself of the shoemaker's children. All the knit projects I make and I don't even have a hat for myself this winter!

Food Project

I've had this plan in my head for a while now. Shelves of my book cases are taken up with cooking magazines. I never take these old magazines out and use them. So, I've let all my cooking magazine subscriptions expire and I am determined to take one or two magazines a month out of my "collection" and go through them a final time, making any recipes I am interested in, saving them if I really like them, and then tossing the old magazine. In December I will go through all my old December magazines, in January, all my old January magazines, etc., until I've cleared out all my old cooking magazines. Then next year at this time, I'll order all new subscriptions!




This weekend I started with a Real Foods Winter 2005 Byerlys and Lunds magazine. (Minnesota readers will recognize this as a quarterly magazine published by upscale grocer Lunds.) I immediately remembered the Dried Cherry and White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie recipe from this issue. I made this several times last winter. I'm keeping this recipe. I made the Citrus Pork recipe tonight for supper. It was very good. The marinade was clementines, cloves and scallions. I made a clementine and spinach salad to go with it. Very good. Definitely a keeper. There's a Lime and Tortilla soup I'll also try out of this magazine and then poof, in the garbage the magazine will go.

Dog News

The dogs and I have been taking private agility lessons for the last 4-5 weeks. It's so much fun! All the dogs are doing well but Dusty is especially excelling. He's so fast and I have to run full speed to keep up with him. He is already doing full size A-frames after just 5 lessons. I've entered him in a NADAC trial at the end of December. He does not have the weave poles mastered yet so I've entered him in a Tunnelers (boy, does Dusty love the tunnels!) and Touch N Go class only. It will be great practice for the upcoming AKC agility trials this spring.


Fame Was Here



And what a mess she made! I was working on the computer this afternoon and Fame was quietly destroying my kitchen rugs. Good grief. Fame starts her first agility lesson tomorrow. I'll try to remember to bring my camera and see if we can capture a few pictures of her. She already loves her tunnels.

And finally, a picture of Percy. Why? Because the dogs and I love him and because he killed a mouse in the basement this week and that is his original purpose here. Somehow, the dogs and I fell in love with him forgetting his original purpose. But when he manages to protect us (okay, me) from the great villain which is mouse, he is exulted. Hail Percy!




Now don't give me a bad time about letting the cat eat on the kitchen counter. Keeping dogs from eating cat food is simply impossible. All you can do is keep the cat food away from the dogs.

Too Much Fun

New agility equipment arrived for the dogs yesterday and we're having too much fun trying it out.



As you can see, even Percy the cat likes it. Percy took a nap in the tunnel this afternoon.

Agility is a new sport for us. I thought I'd try it as once a week herding lessons do not seem to be enough for the dogs and me to make any real progress. At least we can practice agility at home and it is so much fun! Everyone, from the most shy to the most outgoing dog here, is enjoying it.



Fame has been sick for the last 36 hours but seems to be on the mend. Normally she's such a stubborn, independent little dog who is not the least bit cuddly and who never allows me to hold her on her back even though I insist on practicing this with her several times a day. It has been enjoyable to have a sweet, little lap dog for the last day or so. However, Fame is feeling better now and has no time or desire and is far too alpha to let me cuddle her or for her to sit still on my lap. And be submissive enough to let me roll her on her back - never!

I think I have my work cut out for me with this one.

Catching Up

Thanks to everyone for your stories about your first book. I so enjoyed reading about your experiences. I'm a bit embarassed though, both Uberstrickenfrau and Guinifer mentioned the book "A Wrinkle In Time". I can't remember ever reading this book. I am planning a trip to the library to check it out.

Lauren mentioned reading a book about a witch and wanting to be witch. This reminded me of reading Silver Chief Dog Of The North and all the other Silver Chief books and wanting to be a Canadian Mounted Policeman when I grew up. Then someone pointed out to me girls were not allowed to be Mounties. This was the first time I remember being told I could not do something because I was a girl. I was so crushed! Never mind that I hate the cold and winter. I just wanted to be a Canadian Mounty and have a loyal, strong, wolf/dog hybrid exactly like Silver Chief.

My latest read is Peony In Love. I've just started it. I heard it reviewed on NPR and decided it would be my next big read. I'm enjoying it so far.

Knitting


This is suppose to be a knitting blog after all so I decided to show you a picture of the traveling shells cardigan. Sometimes I think I am making very little progress but then I spread the project out on the table and realize there's a lot of knitting here. I have added about an inch to the back of the cardigan since this picture was taken so I'm getting closer to finishing the body of the cardigan. Next I will do the collar and then see how much yarn I have left for the sleeves. I might have to re-design the sleeves somewhat as I'm concerned about running out of yarn. For now though I'm acting like Scarlett O'Hara and not thinking about this problem today. I'll think about it tomorrow.

Two Cents Worth Of Advice

I neglected my dog training for a few weeks but I'm back on track now. I had a private lesson last weekend with Dak and we picked up one gem of a piece of advice for Dak's problem with the long sit/stay exercise. Dak has always had a problem shuffling his feet on the long sit. This shuffling of his feet leads to shifting his position and finally, laying down instead of sitting and a big non-qualifying score even though he can get such nice scores on the other obedience exercises.

The instructor suggested placing a penny on each of Dak's feet while he is doing the long sit exercise. It is suppose to help Dak "think" about his feet and to be aware of his feet. When he shuffles his feet and the pennies fall off, he gets a small correction. "Oh oh Dak, look what happen" type of correction and the pennies get put back on his feet. This seems to be working for Dak. He is sitting very still the last few days and not shuffling his feet at all.





Now before any PETA folks send me nasty comments, here's a full picture of Dak with the pennies on his feet. He's quite relaxed during all this. Yes, his tongue is out but that's because it's hot out. This is not torture, it's training.




And here's a sampling of the treats I use during training. Dot would like to point out despite the variety shown, I'm out of her favorite peanut butter flavored treats. They're on my shopping list for tomorrow morning.




I wish it would rain


It can't seem to rain in the 7-10 mile radius around my house. The corn and beans are suffering, some fields are already lost. This is Percy rolling in my grass, at least it was grass earlier this summer. I'm not so sure it will recover and become green grass again even if it does rain. Sadly, the next forecast for rain is a 20% chance of rain on Tuesday. Not very good.

Happy Birthday USA!

I've had lots to blog about lately, just not lots of time to blog.


I'll start with Sunday, June 24th when I had such a nice visit with my friend Linda who was traveling from her home in Wyoming to Chicago for a family visit. Linda stopped by my house with her great dog Junior. Junior is a Dusty by Dot son and he sure is smart and well trained. He has a bunch of agility titles and is starting to show in the Open class for his CDX. Judging by the beautiful job he did on the signal exercise, he's also well on his way to competing in Utility. It was great to see Linda and Junior and I'm glad they had a good trip and are safely back in Wyoming now.

Bluebirds and Wrens

On Monday, June 25th, the five baby blue birds left their nest while I was at a three hour doctor appointment. Gosh, I was sorry to miss their fledging but I'm happy they are safely out of the nest. My sister gave me the name of the local "bluebird guy" who will actually come out to my property and check out my bluebird houses and put up new houses in better locations if needed. I can't wait! I hope to have a few more bluebird nests next spring.

The forever chirping baby wrens left their nest on Tuesday morning between 6:00-6:30 a.m.. I poured myself a cup of coffee and sat on the patio to watch. Being wrens, it was a noisy affair but so interesting. The parents sat in a nearby tree and called and called to the two youngsters who finally fell out of the nesting box and on to tree limbs below. From there one of the baby wrens immediately took off flying to his parents. The other wren, however, had some trouble and lack of confidence. This bird fell from the tree limb to the evergreen shrub below where it hopped around for some minutes before finally trusting itself to fly.

The wrens were the last birds to leave the nest here which meant my cat Percy was finally able to resume his indoor/outdoor cat life. I do love my cat but the months he is forced to stay inside are difficult months for both Percy and me. I tried to snap a picture of Percy as he ran out the door for the first time since April but he zipped by me so fast I'm not sure you can even find him in this photo. All in all, it was a successful "hatch" this year with 5 bluebirds, 2 separate wren nests of two babies each, about 12 tree swallows and uncounted number of robins, blue jays, orioles, hummingbirds and about every kind of woodpecker found in southern MN.

Family Reunion


The really big event around here for the past 5 days has been the family reunion. My parents planned it last winter. I come from a large family and my immediate family, plus all my first cousins, were given marching orders to be here for the big event. It was an absolutely fabulous reunion. Great planning, perfect weather, terrific food and though we are probably as dysfunctional as the next family, no big family blow ups. It was just a wonderful time.


Here's a lake shot, a typical long Fourth of July weekend. The kids enjoyed the water and the jet skis and then played a very hard fought game of soccer. Gosh, my cousins kids are very good soccer players. I'm glad no one impaled themselves on my dad's anchor while playing soccer.




I'm going to be happy to get back to work tomorrow and back to my everyday life. I've eaten and drink-en and visited and celebrated enough for the whole summer! I suppose I'm offending some vegetarian with this photo but one of several tasty reunion meals was this whole spit roasted pig. Delicious!


One of my brothers has provided a Fourth of July fireworks show for quite a few years now. This year he went all out with a spectacular show on Sunday evening for the reunion and yet another show this evening for Independence Day. I tried to take a picture but failed. This doesn't do justice at all to the great show my brother provided.

My cousin Molly took many professional quality photos during the reunion events and she had a slide show going during all days. There were so many exceptional photos. Perhaps I'll share a few as I receive them. It has a been a wonderful past five days, seeing so many of my extended family members and sharing great meals and great times with them. It's a time which will not be forgotten.

All right then, I'll try to get back to the subjects of knitting and dog training - things I've accomplished little of lately - next blog.