All About My Pooch and My Projects

It's been a while since I've created a post.  I've been lazy, not in the mood, and tied up with other things.

One of the things I've been tied up with is my little dog, Finn.  He's been under the weather since October.  He didn’t really act or feel sick, but his stools just weren’t right.  Our vet did 2 worm tests on him at different times that came back negative each time.  But, the vet said the tests are only accurate 65% of the time.  He treated him with antibiotics and wormers and every time it cleared up but then returned. 

Then he ended up with an abscess.  The vet wasn’t sure if it was a tumor or an abscess, so again 2 weeks of antibiotics and he tested the growth…it came back negative for cancer.  After 2 weeks he checked internally, and the growth was gone.  The vet said we may just have to deal with stools that are a bit soft forever.  He suggested giving him a teaspoon of pumpkin daily with his food to see if that helps.  He’s been finished with his antibiotics for a week now, and the pumpkin has helped a lot with his stools.  We’re keeping our fingers crossed that this will continue.  The vet said the only thing left to try is to put him on a special diet.  So, we’re hoping Finn will continue as he is now.

In the meantime, of course, he's gotten spoiled eating chicken breast and rice.  So now, that's all he wants.  He gets that mixed with kibble and pumpkin once a day.  After he's eaten that we fill his bowl with just kibble.  If he's hungry enough he'll just have to eat that.  Silly pooch.

I'm still working on projects to use up my leftover yarn.  Although with Christmas coming, I haven't had as much time as I've wanted to crochet.  Here are a few of my latest finished projects.

This is a large afghan.  Although I'm trying to use up my yarn, when I use this many colors, I still have a lot of leftovers to use up!

This picture doesn't do this scarf justice.  The colors are blue, lavender and a cream. I love this yarn!! It's so soft and easy to work with, it's called Sweet Roll.  This was not part of my leftover yarn.  I wanted to try and make something using a corner to corner pattern, and I also wanted to try this new self striping yarn.  I want to buy more!!!! But, I need to get rid of the old stuff first.

This is another corner to corner throw using the leftover yarn.  I wish it was bigger, so I am working on another afghan using the same pattern but increasing the size.  These colors are cornmeal, sage, cream and a variegated yarn (I can't recall the color name).

I still have a long way to go to use up my old yarn, but I am making headway!

Busy Hands...Keep Me From Snacks

Due to lousy weather, two cataract surgeries, and planning menus for a new diet I've been on, I haven't had much time to get out and hike.  Although, I did hike the last 3 days with umbrella and on a paved trail (not my favorite kind of trail.)

Here are a few projects I've been working on.  This is my latest completed afghan.  Herb refers to it as Joseph's Afghan of Many Colors...a play on words of Joseph's Coat of Many Colors.  I refer to it as the Big Box of Crayons.   It's big enough to cover our Queen size bed.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all of these afghans, just storing them for now.  I love the colors, and the lacy pattern.  I only used one color twice, the first and the last row.

I still have plenty of extra yarn left, so I have another afghan ready to start.  However, first I've had a project in mind for several years that I wanted to do.  Here it is completed.  Can you guess what they are?  Probably not.

This next picture may give you a hint.

We've had many pets over the years.  We loved them all, but it was getting a bit expensive to buy each and every one a nice urn to store their ashes.  I must confess, we didn't always have all of our pets cremated...just too expensive.

These boxes aren't perfect, but I did my best.  I tried to match the colors to the pet.  Some don't show up as perfect matches, but they are pretty close.  Here are the pets' pictures to match the urns.

The first box on the left:  Magnum

 

 The big middle box:  Idol

The box on the right:  Sedona

As far as my surgeries, they were great!  I only wear glasses now when I read.  My diet?  I've lost 19 pounds so far.  I'd like to lose more, but only time will tell.  I can now fit back into my old jeans.  I still have some other jeans that are even smaller, maybe I'll wear them eventually, but right now I'm content on what I've lost so far.  Hope to continue to watch what I put into my mouth!

It's All About Dogs

People love to hike with their dogs, but some people take advantage of the trails in ways they shouldn't.  Our county parks allow dogs to be in the park but they must be leashed at all times.  Some people think that rule is only for others, and not themselves.

A facebook friend of mine recently encountered some unleashed dogs while she was walking, she reported them to the rangers.  I don't know if they were ticketed or not, but I ran into that same dog walker this morning while on my hike.

I could hear her calling her dogs, and by the time she approached me, they were leashed.  After posting this on facebook with the description of the person and her dogs, I found out that these dogs possibly killed some chickens at the park's little farm they have for visitors.  Apparently, this person has become a real problem for the park.  It's sad and unfortunate people don't realize how nice they have it. I go to other parks, that don't allow dogs at all.  They don't allow for the safety of the wildlife there....and I'm sure the stupidity of some owners.. END OF RANT.

Since this post is about dogs, I thought I'd post some pictures of two 4 month old puppies who belong to my granddaughter and my daughter's friend.  They stopped by to visit with Finn one day.

This is Aki.  She is an akita.  I love the way she has her paw in the bowl.  I also love the wrinkles on head between her ears.

 

This is Bernie.  He is a Victorian Bulldog.  OK.  I never heard of this breed either.  I was told this breed was developed with an English Bulldog and an American Bulldog.  Bernie has longer legs than an English Bulldog.  I have to admit, this little guy was so cute.  My other granddaughter calls him Meatball. 

Neither dog was aggressive with Finn.  They were all interested in each other and ran around like they weren't sure what to do with each other.  Finn was a little apprehensive with Bernie, but Bernie was more "Hi! I'm Bernie!" in your face.  They all wore each other out.  A fun day all around!

Who's Watching Whom?!

As I sat "counting" birds for The FeederWatch Program this past Sunday and Monday, I had to laugh at the observances I made at who was actually watching whom.

Of course, there I sat with my binoculars, camera, clipboard with tally sheet, pen and coffee behind closed patio doors. About 10 feet away were my feeders hanging from the tree and other pole systems.

Lovely, little every day birds I watched and counted.  Cardinals and House Sparrow.

All of a sudden I spotted this gray fluffy intruder!  Not one of my cats!  Mine stay indoors at all times.  Such a pretty cat...who had obviously been watching all of my birds at the feeders too.  I'm not sure what she was rolling around in.  The other day Finn was rolling around in that same area and I looked to see what might have been there, but saw nothing.

I didn't want the cat to get any of the birds, so I sent out my buddy, Finn.  As soon as he went flying out the door, the cat ran.  However, he did check out the area where it sat.

Finn giving the icy stare...DON'T COME BACK!

A little later, this beautiful Cooper's Hawk landed about 3 feet from where I watching behind patio doors.  I was so excited...I was afraid I wouldn't be able to hold the camera steady!  I'm sure this is the closest I'll ever get to such a magnificent bird!  I'm having enlargements made of these pictures so I can enjoy them every day!  He didn't catch any little birds either.

So, I guess I'm not the only one out there watching.....

A Day in the Life

I've been trying to get into the Christmas spirit the last week or so.  I was all raring to go back in November, but circumstances and people just seem to keep getting in the way and muddying up the outlook.

After a good walk in Winton Woods with Finn in the crisp December air, my spirits were lifted.  Yeah, I look a little goofy in my owl hat, but I love it and it's just enough to keep my ears and head warm.  I'm not quite sure what makes me smile so much...the walk itself, or the fact that I'm finished with the walk.  I always feel so good afterwards, so I guess I'll keep it up!

This is a picture I inadvertently took with my phone, so I thought I'd include it.  We were sitting in the park's parking lot.

Here's Finn looking all cute in his crocheted sweater of cammo and green.  It was made with leftover yarn.  I wanted it all to be cammo, but ran out.  I think in the beginning he wasn't quite sure about the sweater...maybe he was embarrassed.  Haha!  But he soon was strutting his stuff!

I was going to start some Christmas cleaning after supper tonight, but my daughter called and asked if I could pick up Emmi from day care.  I guess I could have cleaned when I got home, but decided to blog instead.  Priorities!





It was a little cold in Emily's house when we got there.  Here is her cat, Ashes, huddling under the tree to get warm.  The heat finally kicked on and everything was nice a toasty.

Here are recent pictures of Emily's tree:

And our little table top tree. Underneath the tree is Santa in a boat and two bears.  Love my little woodland scene.

Kitty Cat Reunion!

Two years ago I had to give up volunteering at Save the Animals Foundation because I went back to working full time.  Then when I retired I had total knee replacement surgery and can no longer get down on the floor and kneel.  When I volunteered at the shelter, my duties included getting down on the floor and scrubbing the floors around litter boxes etc.  I am still trying to figure out a way to volunteer again, but not sure where I can be of help.  They hold weekly Bingos, but I am not a people person, so prefer not to work Bingo.

Every year the shelter holds two open houses and I finally was able to go back this past weekend and see all the kitties and dogs there.

Though I was really happy to see some old familiar fuzzy faces, it was still sad that they still hadn't found furever homes.  They are very well taken care of there, so I feel good about that...just sad that they need their own special someone.

Jujubee has always been my favorite.  She walked right up to me as soon as I entered her room!

This is the entrance to the room where younger cats were housed.  I was hoping to see some little guys in here, but they were bigger than I expected...and oh so sweet!

Next, are two sisters who are old friends of mine too.  First, Sophie Blue she kept sitting up on her back legs like a dog does when begging...unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of her doing it.

Next, Savannah Jane is Sophie Blue's long haired sister.  I am surprised these two haven't been adopted yet.  Love them both.

I love this next sign...would love to have one for my house when I need to get away from it all!!

Another old friend, Fisher.  Love his eyes.

Unfortunately, I can't recall this little guy's name, but thought he looked so pretty sitting here.

And lastly, Mini Cooper.  I bought a grab bag of goodies with Mini Cooper's picture on it Sunday.  I like the Mini Cooper car and that's why I chose that particular bag.  So, of course, before I left, I had to go and visit Mini Cooper.  Just by coincidence he was in one of the rooms I used to clean.  The cats in that particular room are FELV+.

I sure do miss my kitties and hope to go back soon and visit again.

You Gotta Love Nature!

It's been a busy couple of weeks and unfortunately, I didn't have time to blog. 

First of all, I must mention that sadly we had to let our sweet Sedona cross Rainbow Bridge.  She fought the good fight, but after several different attempts to get her well from pancreatitis, we knew we were fighting a losing battle.  She crossed over on October 26th.  She was only 8 years old, but the vet told us we did the right thing...so I am at peace with our decision, and I know she is too.  So, I've added a picture and a little bio of Sedona to my second page on this blog called, "Fur Kids, Present, Past and Future".  The tab to that page is at the top of this entry.

I've been mostly busy cleaning the house and preparing for Thanksgiving.  Now that that is behind me, I can take a bit of a breather before I have to get busy for Christmas.

The Christmas decorations are all up, and I think I have all of my gifts ready...they still just need to be wrapped.

Lots of crazy family stuff going on too that has me a bit out of sorts, but I've decided just to move on and let the crazies fend for themselves!  One of these days, they'll see what they have done...hopefully.

Today was a bird counting day for Project FeederWatch.  I've been participating in this program for 6 years, and I get more excited every year to start the season.  The season begins in November and runs through part of April. 

As the years have passed, I can tell that a few new birds are beginning to come more often to my feeders.  Of course, I love to see the hawks come too.  They don't eat from the feeders, but they keep their eyes on the little birds that do.  I certainly, don't want them to catch any of the little birds at my feeders. so I'm happy when they fly off without a kill.  I'm sure they find food elsewhere...which is fine with me!

Here are a few pictures from today of a Cooper's Hawk.  Unfortunately, one is a bit fuzzy.  The other two, it's face is hidden behind some leaves.  Some of the pictures were taken with my phone, some with a camera.  I need to remind myself to change the camera batteries more often.  After lunch I changed the batteries and got much better pictures of a yellow bellied sapsucker.

These two pictures were taken with my phone.

This one, with my camera before I changed batteries.  I'll learn.

 I'm really happy I got some pictures of the yellow bellied sapsucker.  I can prove to myself that I really saw him!

These pictures were taken with my camera, after the batteries were changed.  I love that we can see all of his beautiful colors!

Here is a picture of a yellow bellied sapsucker actually sucking sap!  Haha! I just had to say that, and of course you can see his yellow belly too!

You gotta love nature!!

Cats - Real and Imagined.

It's been rainy here the last several days, so on our 45th Anniversary we decided to go to the Art Museum.  I love going to the Art Museum.  On the dreariest days, it can lift your spirits in many ways.  There have been years, when I'm feeling down, I go there and come out feeling so happy.

Much to my surprise, they had a special showing called, "The Modern Cat"!  Of course, we had to head to that gallery.  I'm sharing a few of my favorites here.  There were a few of Charley Harper, who is a famous local artist, I did not take any pictures of those, as I already have them in one form or another at home...books, calendars, and note cards.

This one called The Frightened Cat made me smile for sure:

And a few others that I really loved:

This one is just a little bit different:

I have to add that one of my own kitties has been under the weather recently.  We took her to the vet yesterday and he called today with her test results.  It seems she has Inflammatory Bowel Disease along with Pancreatitis.  From what I've heard and read this could be quite a bit for us and Sedona to handle.  I'm not feeling good about this.  The vet mentioned something about perhaps doing a biopsy in the future, if this doesn't clear up or becomes more chronic.

We don't have a lot of money, so I know when it comes down to it, I'll be torn between the costs and what I feel that we all owe our pets to make them well.  Sedona is 8 years old.

I love cats (we have 4), but the one thing I hate about them is medicating them.  Sedona is the hardest one to medicate.  We have a liquid medication to give her, and I think we got MOST of the first dose in her.  Hopefully, tomorrow's dose will be easier and get all of it in.  Keep us in your thoughts, so that at least, we do the best for Sedona.

A Trail with Obstacles and Heat!

Another humid sweltering day in Ohio.  Our hiking plans for today were to try and go around twice on the Kingfisher Trail in Winton Woods.  Twice around was our normal routine back before I had knee surgery.  Since my surgery was so successful and I am without pain, I'm hoping we will eventually be able to go even longer than twice around.

We started out before 9 am this morning hoping to beat the heat and hopefully not run into many people.  We could hear noise in the distance as though someone was working in the area.  Sure enough, a crew was working on the lower portion of the trail.  Unfortunately, they were pretty much blocking the trail.  Not only do I have a new knee, but I'm just naturally a klutz, so I always feel I need to watch where I'm going, and have plenty of space to get my big feet through small spaces.  Here is what we needed to pass.

As you can see they didn't leave much space for people to get by.  Finn decided to hop over the rails and go down the hill.  Then, of course, he couldn't quite hop back up and over the rails.  I had to brace myself, bend down, reach over and heist his fat little body back on the trail.  Thank goodness, I kept my klutziness in check.

We continued on and headed for the steps to move to the top portion of the trail.  Another partial blockage greeted us.

They could have pulled their vehicle a little more to the right as there is a level path that runs through.  No, they don't want to make it too easy for hikers.  We got by, and continued on up the hill to the upper portion of the trail.  I didn't want to go back down to the lower portion so I decided we'd stay up top.  When we finally got to the top, my plan was to do the top portion 3 times.  Walk to the end, then go back and forth on the top portion 2 more times.  However, Finn was starting to pant pretty much, so we did a shortened version of the last 2 times.  Since he wears a "winter" coat all the time, I knew he had to be hot.  He will get a haircut later today.  Here is a short video of Finn.

I've also been busy doing some crocheting.  A few scarves for Christmas gifts this year.  Some of the colors do not show up very well.  The scarf on the far left is a soft lilac color.  The second from the right is gray.  I love the little purses I found to match.

Easter Sunday/Monday

I've never really been big on Easter. Not so much the Holy Season of Easter, but of the secular holiday of Easter.

Even as a child, I wasn't one who liked to dress in frilly dresses or back in those days, Easter bonnets. My parents always got me a new Easter outfit complete with an Easter bonnet. I was never comfortable in dressy clothes and couldn't wait to get out of them.

I liked candy (still do, especially chocolate) but would just be happy with the candy, forget about the basket and the phony grass. I don't like pastel colors, springtime colors are too subdued. Give me bright and bold!! Any way, Easter has always brought me down a little, maybe it's just due to the emphasis on the secular celebration of Easter. Or maybe I'm just a little weird.

This Easter Sunday though was very nice. Herb and I went to 8:30 Mass at Corpus Christi Church. Although, it was a bit crowded as usual on Easter and Christmas, I wasn't bothered too much by the crowd. I like a bit of elbow room between people, and on Easter and Christmas that is hard to come by.

Herb and I had a nice surprise as daughter, Emily and granddaughter, Emmi showed up for Easter Mass too! After Mass, Herb had to go to work (Boo!), so Emily, Emmi and I headed to Frisch's for Easter breakfast. We had a really nice time, and was surprised that we didn't have to wait to be seated. Emmi wore a pair of bunny ears (she didn't wear them in church.) I thought she was supposed to be the Easter Bunny, but she said she was Louise Belcher!

You be the judge:  Easter Bunny or Louise Belcher?

In the afternoon, I took my dog, Finn for a walk at Winton Woods Park.  Neither of us have gotten a lot of walking in over the winter.  He tore his ACL in November and had surgery, and I felt guilty going for walks without him, so I didn't walk either!  We took our time, and it was a nice sunny warm day.  It felt good to get out after having a couple of back to back colds.  We even saw the rookery where the Great Blue Herons are nesting!

Today, (Easter Monday) Herb and I made a trip to Half Price Books to clear off our book shelves of books we were finished with.  We kept our books separate because I was hoping to make a point with Herb.  He never wants to part with anything and I knew his old outdated computer books probably wouldn't get him much.  He had 4 large bags full of books and they paid him 50 cents for all!!  I felt really bad for him, I thought he might get a little more than that.

I carried in a small easy to carry box of novels, and got $13.00!  Not a king's ransom, but good enough for me.  I was hoping Herb would realize a lot of the stuff he's hanging on to isn't worth much and maybe he will just trash the rest.  Or, perhaps, it will all backfire on me, and he still won't part with the rest because no one appreciates them like he does.  I'll let you know what happens!

I also have a second tab at the top of this page entitled "Fur Kids", I've recently updated that page as well if you'd like to read about my furry kids.