A Life Full of Puppy!

It was not a quiet week at our place. Sandy kept us hopping and entertained! Tuesday he turned three months and Wednesday he hit 13 weeks.

Dusty is enjoying having someone to play with. When it's nice, they play out in the back yard. Of course, there are dangers for a young puppy, so one of us has to be with them all the time. Dusty is fine, of course, but he doesn't always know when Sandy is likely to get into trouble. Having Dusty play with Sandy keeps the puppy out of trouble most of the time, though.

Sandy is very fast and agile. Chase is a favorite game, and he knows there are places he can go but Dusty can't.

We've started walking in the neighborhood again. Sandy is getting pretty good at staying out from under our feet and keeping up with Dusty.

It isn't a very long route, but it gives us some exercise and gets the pups out of the house and yard for a bit.

When we get home, we have to wipe the pups' paws with sanitizing wipe, putting each dog inside the door as we finish. Then we have to take off our shoes and clean the soles with a bleach solution. It's a bit tedious, but until Sandy has his full immunity, we have to be careful not to track Parvovirus into the house.

When Sandy goes out in the backyard (or anywhere) to potty, he almost always returns with a souvenir to commemorate his visit. We don't want him to chew them up, of course, so we take the souvenir away from him and ceremoniously deposit it on the mantel with the rest of his collection.

Saturday he found this "stick" behind the shed. Dusty knew that was too big for the house, so he tried to take it away. I had to intervene. Needless to say, this "stick" did not become part of Sandy's souvenir collection!

Sandy won't have his piranha teeth too long, but we're teaching him to let us brush his teeth. First he gets to sniff the brush (with a very tiny amount of doggie toothpaste on it). Then I hold his mouth closed, put the brush between the lips and the teeth and brush to the refrain to "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window" once through for the back, once for the front, and then repeat on the other side. After that, he gets to have his tongue brushed, because we have an idea where that tongue has been.

Sandy is a light sleeper. He usually wakes up if there is any change in the sound, light or air movement in the room. You can imagine that he woke up when a big truck started backing up right in front of our house at 5:30 AM. It picked up the dumpster. Then a little while later, it returned with a new dumpster. Sandy had been out twice during the night, so I didn't get much sleep that night. I try to nap during the day when Sandy is asleep. Some nights he sleeps all night.

The neighbors across the street are gone, and workers have removed most of the roof to the garage. That was what the dumpsters were for. We had been guessing about what they were doing to the house.

By Friday, it became clear. The neighbors are adding on an upstairs over the garage. The gables in the roof are currently just sky lights for the one-story home, so obviously, they will need to put in a staircase. I was guessing a new master suite, or maybe a playroom for the kids or bedrooms for them. I saw the owners on Sunday and asked. It's two bedrooms and a jack-and-jill bathroom.

I haven't managed to do too much knitting since Sandy joined us, but the Talvinen cardigan is coming along slowly. Just a few more inches on the second sleeve, and I'll be ready to start the colorwork section.

I made a loaf of gratuitous sourdough bread. We don't eat a lot of white bread, but you really can taste the sourdough better. Of course, I still use the starter to make my whole wheat sandwich bread.

The Oregon grands participated in a "fun run" to raise money for their school. Soren really enjoyed himself. He's a good runner, but I think he was in it for the fun.

Johan was all business and worked to get as much distance in as he could.

Zachary sent me a photo of Josh, his new A Girl for All Time Max doll, wearing the clothes I sent along. I made the pajama pants and purchased the T-shirt and shoes. A knitted cardigan and another T-shirt were also included.

For some additional cuteness, here's our sweet granddog, Louis, keeping the cats off of his mom's shawl while it blocks.

There's a lot more work to do that isn't getting done at our house. There will be time for all that when Sandy is older.

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Still the Talvinen cardigan and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating).

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Little Miss Crocker and the Spider, an edited version of our first story.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening to The Weaver's Daughter by Sarah E. Ladd. 

What's in my wine glass: Hook or Crook Field Reserve 2018. Very nice.

What's my tip of the week: Miniature poodles and some other breeds are prone to dental disease, but frequent brushing can minimize the need for cleanings and reduce tooth loss as they age. We found once or three times a week difficult to enforce. Our pups were very resistant to having their teeth brushed. However, when we began to brush their teeth every night before bedtime, it became part of their routine, and they started to enjoy it. It's even easier when you start it when the puppy is young and doesn't really need it. You just go through the motions at first to give them the idea. Gradually increase how much actual brushing you do until you're brushing all the teeth thoroughly by the time the permanent teeth come in.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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Fortunate Weather

Well, the hand-quilting of the middle of the Spring Flowers quilt is done. Just the borders to go.

I'm stitching in the ditch around the dark blue inner border and plan on doing something simple in the white outer border. Then the sleeve and binding! My plan is to replace the Pine Burr quilt over the couch in the living room with the Spring Flowers quilt, and then put the Pine Burr quilt back in the Fall. If you've forgotten the Pine Burr quilt, here's a reminder.

Some of our bulbs are finally coming up, so it's fitting to be working on Spring Flowers.

The weather was helpful for our activities this week. The window replacement project is done (for now). The men came back on Monday and replace the two front windows in the living room.

Then they moved on to the kitchen.

Here's the kitchen window, finished.

The weather during the three days they worked on the windows was pleasant. It rained on Saturday, when they were off. They finished installing the windows they started with each day, so they didn't have to leave any windows open overnight. We hope to replace the others later on, but we have to spread out the costs because there is so much to do.

You may remember from last week that I needed something to knit when it got too dark in the evening for hand-quilting, so I started a turtleneck sweater for Mandy. I finished it on Friday. I think it's a good color for her.

She's an important member of the cast of The Doll's Storybook. Friday's story required an outdoor photo shoot along the trail near our home. I attracted a lot of attention while I was setting up the shots and taking the photos. I handed out a few cards. The story, Ups and Downs, found Mandy, Billy and Mariah out on the trail, throwing the frisbee, when they notice all the pinecones lying around. Mandy has to reach into her little vinyl brain to try to answer their questions.

We walked to the dog park twice last week. You can see how close it is to our house from this screen shot of the Walk for a Dog app. Less than a mile and a half round-trip.

The pups had a good time, and there are always interesting people to talk with.

This week's big home-improvement project is going to be the pad and driveway for our trailer. As I write this, their equipment has arrived, and we have moved our 5th wheel out to the street.

What's on my needles: Finished the Wonderland Turtle turtleneck sweater for Mandy in Macaw Palette.

What's on my sewing machine: Still doll clothes for Daphne's birthday doll, Marie.

What's in my hoop: Still the Spring Flowers quilt, but just the inner and outer borders to do. 

What's in The Doll's Storybook: Ups and Downs. Several of the dolls play outdoors and learn some lessons about pinecones.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished listening to Sir Philip's Folly by M. C. Beaton (aka Marion Chesney). Then listened to The Mésalliance by Stella Riley. Now I'm barreling through Marion Chesney's "The Waverley Women" series, having read The First Rebellion and Silken Bonds. Now I'm reading The Love Match. I haven't made up my mind about the Romance Package yet, because not all the books in the package have a "Steaminess" rating, and books by some authors I really like don't seem to be included. Many of the books included are already permanently in my library. The books in the Package are just on loan. You can keep up to 10 in your library at any one time. Then you can remove them to get additional books. Marion Chesney's novellas are 4-5 hours each, so rather expensive to buy per hour of entertainment, so I'll try to listen to as many as I can in this first month, which is up the middle of May.

What's in my wine glass: Terrain Vineyards Red Blend 2015, which should be Mandy's favorite wine, because she's a Götz Happy Kidz Katie 2015--same vintage.

What's my tip of the week: Parchment paper is a good substitute for foil for many purposes. It has the added benefit of being naturally nonstick. If it doesn't get too messy, it can be wiped off and saved to use again.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

A Crazy Busy Week

This week saw me back at hand-quilting my "Sistine Chapel." 

The design the "Delectable Pathways" design by Mary Sorensen I started several years ago. This week I managed to finish quilting the center panel and am now working my way down one of the side panels.

Since I decided to give the scarf I'm weaving to DD, and the loom is operational again, I decided I'd better spend a little time each day working on it. I managed to complete another 12".

The yarn and fabric I received for Christmas/birthday have been prepared, the yarn for knitting and the fabric pressed to the right size for my fabric stash.

Looking at my resident dolls has been making me cold because they have almost nothing to wear, so I decided to take part in a doll KAL (knit-along) on Ravelry in the Debonair Designs for Dolls group. The KAL is for the Polarscape design by Deb Denair.

Our contractor came on Thursday to install the cabinets in the hall leading to our master bath. We had a lot of snow, so DH was out early, blowing the driveway to make room for the contractor's truck and providing some entertainment for our neighbors' puppy. Watch is a poodle mix one month younger than Dusty, but still growing.

We had to move a bunch of stuff to clear the area where the cabinets would go, so it was a busy couple of days. One of the pieces, a side panel for the taller section, was the wrong side, so we still don't have that on, and we're waiting for a mirror with an oak frame that will go over the lower section.

This will provide storage for shoes and clothes. The other side of the hallway is taken up with closet with sliding doors.

For this week's cuteness, here's a photo of Zachary, making breakfast for Zachary Jr. and Hannah. He will be a good daddy someday. He's so happy to have his own doll.

What's on my needles: The Polarscape doll sweater, getting close to joining the sleeves to do the yoke.

What's on my Featherweight: Still waiting for a new assignment.

What's on my loom: Progress on the scarf for DD. 

What's on my wheel: Stanzi is set up again with more Full Circle spinning fiber, no progress, however.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Finished Agatha Raisin and Quiche of Death by M. C. Beaton, then The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, both from Audible. I would describe the second book as a poetic emotional roller coaster, well written and full of sensory input. Finished Lord Haversham Takes Command by Heidi Ashworth on the Kindle app. There were a lot of grammar/typesetting errors, but the story was interesting. Nothing new started yet.

What's in my wine glass: Big House "Prohibition Red" 2015, by the box. It will probably take us a week to get through it. At least it doesn't go off in the box.

What's my tip of the week: Hand-quilting a quilt with long straight lines doesn't require drawing on the fabric, if your long straight lines are as far apart as a strip of masking tape. It's best to leave the tape off when you stop quilting, but I haven't had it leave any sticky residue so far. The same strip can be used several times. I've found that the quilting is smoother if you always sew in the same direction, rather than going up one row of stitches and down the next.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals were harmed during the production of this blog post.

High Fiber--Busy Days and Nights

My head is still spinning from the week's activities! However, I had lots of time to work on the Dogwood Blossoms cardigan:

In the center at the top, you can see where I bound off for the armholes and cast on sts for the steek (look for the green st marker). The front "opening" (another steek) is to the right. If you're new to my blog, I should tell you that both sleeves are done, so I'm sort of coming down the home stretch. I'm hoping to get to wear it this winter!

On the bathroom remodeling front, the sheetrock has gone in and we're texturing the walls today! We will be doing the painting ourselves, probably on Wednesday. We have the color picked out. The photo shows the master-bath section of the remodel. The doorway leads to the new closet hall, which used to be just a closet. We used to joke that we were visiting Narnia when we went into the master bath. Also in the photo, to the left of the doorway, is the vanity/sink area, which will have two medicine cabinets. You can see the space for one of them. The dark area to the right is the wall of the shower, which is backlit, so hard to see.

It's getting fun now, because we're starting to see what it will look like finished!

With the construction, we haven't been able to run the upstairs furnace, so it's a little chilly. DH has been chopping wood for the fireplace, which has been in use for the past couple of nights. We're sleeping in the downstairs guest room, though, and it's toasty there.

If you're wondering why I had so much knitting time in spite of a busy week, I made another trip to Colorado to register voters and canvass. We took my car this time, but I conned my passengers into taking turns driving, so I only had to drive a couple of hours out of the entire 12-hr. round trip!

This was the most fun of all the trips (five so far)! We always have great hosts to stay with, but this time we got a couple who have had a B&B. They treated us like paying guests! What fun we had with them! We also encountered some delightful people while canvassing, as usual. It's interesting as well to see the variety of neighborhoods in Grand Junction. 

In one of the neighborhoods we spotted this sign in front of a church. Love it!

I did have to miss church, because we drove back on Sunday.

Other interesting events of the week included the appearance of this guy in our neighborhood on Thursday:

He apparently wasn't interested in socializing...at least not with us!

I think he might have been looking for this lady friend, a single mother with twins:

On the baby front (and I know how some of you love the baby front), Soren turned three months old on Friday!

And Zachary is six months old today! He's crawling now, so I predict Mom will be losing weight in the coming months. Happy six-months birthday, Zachary! (I'll try to have a photo of him next week.)

What's on my needles: Dogwood Blossoms, but looking toward more baby projects in time for Christmas.
What's on my wheel: Still the languishing Full Circle Roving in "Pidgeon." I found a new spinning buddy while phone banking, though, so I may be meeting with some spinners soon, which will get me to spin up the rest of the fiber. I'm so close!)
What's on my iPad: Still Dean Koontz's Odd Apocalypse. I'm looking forward to being able to just listen to the rest of it soon!
What's in my wine glass: Fisheye Shiraz 2010, in the big bottle. I think I deserve a couple of glasses after this busy week!

Note: This blog post was produced entirely on the MacBook. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for or cleaned.