How you doin?

Sorry, I took a break.  More specifically, my break took me.  I had a stroke on the 8th of November 2010.

Purl.

Guess who came to our house? Last Thursday, I drove to Tyler to pick up Miss Purl. Friday, I drove back, all 371 miles, terrified I'd have to stop to go to the bathroom, convinced she would perish if I ran into a restroom for more than 2 minutes in the 97 degree heat. I only went twice, and the kids at Sonic were good about filling an ice cream cup with cool water for her. Yeah, I paid for ice cream but what the hell.

We were going thru pup names, leaning to Patsy, Ginger, and DH LOVED Sophia. Whatever. I tossed out Pearl, and he jumped on it. It dawned on me that Pearl could be PURL, and I hurried to Petsmart to make a tag. I felt less guilty when I remembered there was also a PERL (programming language) and then it became a matter of me getting my dibs in early!

Sonny LOVES her, and promptly peed on the floor in solidarity with her. At almost 80 lbs to her 13, we have to HEAVILY supervise their introductions. My boy is such a big doof. I bought Purl a pink little stuffie. Sunday, he 'stole' it from her, so she'd interact with him. Yesterday, he got it again, but she was totally OVER it and wanted to play with something else. Poor boy, he's trying SO hard!

Once again, I have a little one in the house. She's tiny, but has a BIG personality. She steals ALL the toys and takes them to her crate. Yesterday, Sonny sat (on a leash) in front of her crate. The door was open, and she slipped past Sonny, picking up all the toys she could to stash in HIS crate.

I am still waiting to get Sonny's results back. Purl's behavior is PURE boxer; she is so different than Sonny, but exactly what I expected in a boxer. It verifies my suspicions on my boy's seedy heritage.

Oh, yeah-the stats: A flashy brindle boxer, female, born 27 May 2010. Weight 12 lbs 9 oz.

Woof! Something rotten in East Cupcake....

We put Miss Sugar down almost a year ago, and miss her terribly. She was such a sweet girl. We got the Puddlemaster because La Sug was such a GOOD girl. We really enjoyed her. We love boxers. When an enticing ad popped up on Craigslist, BOOM! Sonny landed in our house. Peeing all over. Dying for treats-I've never seen a dog more food motivated! LOVES little kids. Bites me daily. Thieves like crazy. Wha?? OMG, this dog is SOOOO high maintenance!

Last week, I was going thru some old photos of Sugar's puppydom. DH was out of town. (We determined last week that if Dad is out of town, someone WILL pee in the house. The pattern has been established....) I really enjoyed looking at pictures and remembering how dang sweet she was. Something was nagging at me, tho-we always KNEW Sonny had different eyes. I reflected on her shape, her muzzle....and I couldn't quite name it. Later, I took the boy out to pee, and LOOKED at him....

And then it hit me. I drove to MY library, and then the San Antonio library. (My stupid computer was being beat into submission in Apple land). The answer was so obvious-specific, and I am not exactly SURE how I hit on the exact one as I stood pondering the guy at the end of the leash but I think I am right....(ignore the jowls and the tail)

Oh. Oh yeah, I get it now. The idiot we got him from thought he owned a boxer-but Sonny isn't really boxy, nor does he have that triangular neck, and he's kinda grumpy, and.....

Sonny's probably half Rhodesian Ridgeback (bottom illustration). I looked in several breed books-he's 75 lbs, about 27" at the shoulder NOW, countersurfs, thieves at every turn, will do ANYTHING for a snack, is DEDICATED to ONE person, and my breed book has PAGES on demodetic mange. (We spent hundreds on mange treatment in Feb.) They are reserved and observant. A canine Cliff Clavin, compared to the boxer's "NORM!"

DH thinks I am nuts. I've researched the canine DNA kits-they have as many detractors as they do proponents, so I may wait on that-at this point, a kit could be an "I told you so" (I thought his mama didn't look quite right), but that's about it.

He'll be a much BETTER Rhodesian-Boxer than he was a Boxer. I feel much better. And it's easy to see he's a Daddy's boy.

In the mail

Look what came in the mail yesterday! Complete with gummy bears! Orient and Ozident from Wollmeise.

I also got a Neibling book too! Gotta get to knitting!!!!

It's weird how things work out

Last year I went to my high school reunion. One of my old buddies and I had a little chat on the phone-mind you, I hadn't seen her for 20 years.

So guess what her creative outlet is???

I think it's funny how little the world is.

Quietly chugging along.

I'm still here. Although very handsome, someone is a lot of effort. I've threatened to send him to the pound more than once this week.

He's still blocking my mojo. I've been working on this-it's portable and idiot proof. Noro Kureyon Sock, for DGD.

So yeah, about that Gwen Bortner class

About that class- I REALLY liked Gwen. No really. I went toodling to class on Monday all ready to fix my mojo. My class was all of 3 students. Gwen introduced herself and pulled out the project.

A felted entrelac koozie. Blech.

I was a good girl. I did not cry. I did not bitch. I did not sulk. But I quickly ditched my homework, because I sure as shit was not gonna make a koozie. I would rather eat dirt. I cast on for a hat.

And she was fine with it.

And I enjoyed my class-there was one rank beginner, one lapsed knitter, and me. (There are only 3 projects on that table.) And I think we all took something away from the class. I learned some adjustments and tweaks that will make me better at entrelac. And she made knitting backwards make sense.

I made Lady E in 2007, and had hardly messed with entrelac since. Except for this hat, and now I understand what was wrong with this pattern. I made it in February for Carol's chemo. Next time I do it, I will fix the errors in the pattern.

If you have a chance, take a class with Gwen. It's worth your time. She's normal, and would be great to drink with. She's coming out with a new book on entrelac, and I will probably pick it up!