Gone to the Dogs

Fall is still in it's glory around here. This is a distant picture of the wildlife preserve that I get to walk in Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. The other days are open to hunters so if you want to walk back there those days-be my guest!! But I am not taking my chances. This amazing place is adjacent to the property my DSIL & BIL own so it is a constant source of beauty, seen every day out their big dining room windows. This last week they re-cut some more trails thru the meadow section making the forested area more accessible. Now I can walk thru open meadow, shady forest and down to a crystal clear creek. Each and every walk affords me something new to wonder over. Yesterday I was wandering down this shady path and looked up to see this display of bracket fungi hanging on a tree above my reach. These puppies were huge!!

I am fortunate to get to share my walks with a wonderful dog by the name of Daisy. Daisy Duke I call her. And now I get to call her "My Dog"!! I had seriously told my DSIL/BIL that I would take Daisy off their hands at any opportunity. She is perfect for me. Medium sized, used to spending her days outside, fairly well behaved, smart as all get out and loves to walk!! And I believe if she needed to she would defend me with her life but still gentle and loving if she feels no threat. After making this comment several times I was surprised to have DBIL say I could have her. Thinking it was a joke, I said "no-really". And he came back and said-REALLY!! You have more time for her and she is lonely. So as soon as we get a house and make sure there is a safe outdoor place for her she will come to live with us. So now you get to see some pics of my new pup. The first few are how I usually get to see her-in motion!! And then finally after a very long walk-a few of her somewhat still. And for those of you who are very observant, Daisies eyes are 2 different sizes. But the vets say it is completely normal for her and it is made a bit more obvious by the difference in her eye spots. The larger eye is completely surrounded by a big black eye spot and the smaller eye has no eye spot at all.

On to my other baby with eye issues. Ever since our kitty Jack showed up 5 years ago he had an eye that was way to large. No one could give us a reason, and it seemed to stay stable until just recently when it became obvious that it was increasing in size even more and causing constant irritation. It was also endangering the vision in his other eye so it had to come out. What a struggle for me to accept this and decide to put him thru it. But after a few weeks for Jack to adjust to his new surroundings I made a vet appointment and got a second opinion. Of course it was the same so we trusted them to do the surgery. Jack made it thru and is now back at home. He looks pretty awful at this point. He had to be shaved and have some whiskers clipped. Then of course there is swelling and big ole stitches. The collar he has to wear is too large cause he has a big thick neck. We got brave last night and took it off, trimmed it and put it back on so now he can better get to his food and water. He is still on pain meds but we may quit that today since he seems comfortable and calm. The stitches come out in another week and once the fur grows back in I think he will look beautiful. Beautiful to me and that is all that matters.

A Man and His Cat

As you can see, my Clemetis are in bloom this week. Taking a pic was a challenge because they just bounce around on their dainty stems with the slightest breeze tickling their petals. and of course this is Oklahoma so we have had gale force winds for days on end. But the other evening, just before sunset, the winds suddenly died down to nothing and I ran to get the camera and get outside. I had to climb on a lawnchair and balance with my elbows on the fence to get this shot but by gum, it is a lovely one and worth the athletics involved!!

It has been a quiet week here at the ranch. Ken is much better almost 2 weeks since his surgery. But man oh man, does he take this recuperating thing seriously. He gets up after 8 hrs of sound sleep, leisurely eats some breakfast, takes a nice walk and then comes back in the house and either gets on the computer or starts watching TV. Very little calories are burned by this man the whole entire rest of the day. The pic at the end of this post is one I just shot this evening. A man and his cat-doing what they do best!!

Audry II is still progressing although I am going to have to slow down on her a bit. It is getting just a bit too hot to have it all over me as I knit, so I stick to the cooler parts of the day. I am also starting to get just a tiny bit sick of knitting on her day in and day out, longing for other projects to occupy my mind. I also discovered that I am going to want her to be just a tad bit bigger than I originally thought. I was counting on 800 squares and now I am thinking more like 900. I am at 450 now and it just seems half way done to me. So my goal is to try and still knit about 4 to 5 sq's a day and work on other projects to give me back some variety in my knitting day.

The Aran cardigan is also coming along just fine. I have decreased at the raglan points for about 12 rows so far and it is looking like a real sweater finally. I am quickly coming up on the saddle shoulder shaping and that scares me just a wee bit. So far every time I try to read her directions they don't sink in. But I think it will make more sense when I am actually trying to do the step as I am reading it. I have noticed a few mistakes that I have made along the way. One is a wrong cable crossing on the center back cable. I did not notice it till I was 24 rows past it and just could not see trying to drop that many rows of stitches down to try and make the repair. And no way I was frogging it once those sleeves were attached. So I stepped back a few inches and with the yarn I am using, I decided it really isn't that noticable. Ain't dark yarn wonderful!! There is also at least on of the mini cables crossing the wrong way but I knew I was going to live with that. If I can put up with the main big cable having a mistake, no way was 2 stitches twisted wrong gonna cause me any lost sleep!!

I got a new book from Barnes & Noble today on dyeing yarns. It is "Yarns to Dye For" by Kathleen Taylor. So far I am not finding a lot that I have not already learned thru my friends on Ravelry. But given a little more time, there may a few hints that rock my world, just gotta find them. It is a pretty book and would be great for a truly beginning yarn dyer.

I finally have gotten my airline reservations made for my trip to see the DGD's at the end of May. I am so looking forward to seeing them, even if this trip slows our move down just a little bit. I need to start making plans of some of things we want to do while I am there. I have never had to entertain a 9 & 7 year old girls for 2 weeks before. I am sure that I will end up being glad that they are still in school for most of the time I am there. I can rest up for 6 hrs each day, knowing that as soon as they walk thru the door I will be on the run until bed time. And for 2 little girls who go to bed so well for their parents, they sure can try grandma's patience when I want them to go to bed!!

So now that I have decided to slow down on Audry, maybe I can get the aran done just a bit sooner. That means I need to be planning another knitting project. Of course I could also get started hand quilting my friendship quilt the Scrappies made for me. I just love the new found energy that comes with thinking and planning new things. If it would just carry thru the entire life of the project. But wait-I have done very very well with Audry II-450 squares in just about 10 weeks, for an average of over 6 a day. I bet not many others have blazed along much faster than that. So with that I am going to go retire to my knitting spot and get started on my daily dose of Aran Cardigan...