Izzy!

Dogs are so funny.  I've been in my sewing room for hours finishing up Step 4 of Bonnie Hunter's "Easy Street" Mystery Quilt.   Apparently, Izzy'd been feeling very neglected because she brought her big ball in and dropped it on my table.  I threw it for her a few times until she managed to corner it against my mirrored closet doors.  I heard a lot of scratching and annoyed sounds coming from her.  It finally occurred to me that she was seeing the mirrored image of her ball and wanted it.  NOW!  It didn't seem to matter that the actual ball was right there!  It wasn't about what she had it was about what she couldn't have.  LOL

She is staring intently at the reflection of her ball!

Way Too Funny!!

How has your weekend been going?

Chris

Do you think she's spoiled?

A few months ago Izzy had some icky-looking things under her chin.  I took her to the vet who diagnosed her with "acne."   WHAT!?  She's a dog! 

It seems dogs can get these breakouts when they drink or eat from plastic bowls.  WELL!  Izzy's almost a horse so we've been watering her in a large plastic bucket.  No more.  We went out and bought an adapter for our faucet that she can lick and get water for herself.

ALL of our previous dogs have used these.  She refuses. She WILL NOT use it.  I WILL NOT put out a bowl out for her. She drinks so much water that I'd be filling and washing it three times a day. 

Here's what I have been reduced to doing to get her to drink enough water:

She loves it.  LOVES IT!  This bathroom is right outside my quilting room.  She will stand just inside the bathroom door and softly whine.  If I don't hear her, she'll come into my sewing room and start yelling at me.  Really, she can yell.  I have to go turn the faucet on for her and let her tank up.  I've been toying with the idea of teaching her how to turn it on but I worry she won't turn it off.  My SIL suggests plumbing a foot pedal like they use in hospital operating scrub rooms so she can step on it and get it to turn on.

 Is this as wrong as I think??

PS.  Don't you want some of that pink and grey tile for yourself?  Can we say 1950 bathroom?  It's the only room in the house we didn't remodel.  I'm thinking we made a mistake.

DS1 and Izzy

Poor Boy!  Typically Izzy is CRAZY about DS1.  When he's around the rest of us don't even exist.  For the first year of her life we had to make DS1 greet her in the back yard because she got so excited she would pee.  She licks him, leans on him, follows him everywhere.  She even sleeps with him.

Well.  DS2 had been here for a week and apparently Izzy's affections can be bought because when DS1 came home for the weekend she failed to make any sort of fuss over him at all!  Not any!  Poor Boy!  He was more than a little crestfallen.  Thrown over for the little brother!

 

WOW!  This is my 100th post. 

 

I think I'll come up with a giveaway to celebrate.  Check back tomorrow and see what I've come up with.

Izzy Report

Izzy got her bandages off on Monday.  She still has stitches but the vet thought they needed to "air out" for a while and we need to make sure she doesn't lick her leg.  She has been bandaged for three weeks.  In all that time she never once bothered her bandage.  The vets and all the techs were amazed.  Secretly, I think Great Danes are not bothered by things in their back half because they are so large that they need a second brain in their hind quarters.  Anyway, we no sooner got her back to our office than she settled in to give the injured leg a good licking.  ACK!!  Not good!  Not good at all!!! 

We are supposed to put that big ole cone collar on her but honestly, have you ever seen a Great Dane in a cone collar?  It is so large that she can barely get through a doorway.

Is this sad or what?  This is about as relaxed as she gets while wearing it, too.  POOOOR GIRRRRL.

Here is our inelegant but effective solution.

That's right!   An ordinary athletic sock held on by a thin velcro strap.  For some reason now she isn't bothered at all by the stitches.  Go figure.

Did you ever walk into a room and forget why you walked in? 

I think that's how dogs spend their lives.
                                                    Sue Murphy

You all have a great day.

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Dog? or Vacation?

Of course we didn't trade Izzy for a vacation but it was tempting.

Two weeks ago, on a Friday, Izzy let herself out of the house and within 20 minutes was over two miles from home.  My son and I had left her home while we walked to a neighborhood restaurant for lunch.  Before we even got into the restaurant, I got a call on my cell from a man telling me he had my dog!  "She's hurt. I think she needs to go to the vet.  And bring towels, there's lots of blood."  Oh. My. Gosh!  I had to run 1/2 mile home in sandals so I could get the car and hightail it to where she was.   She was on the ground but got up when she saw us.  Whew, that was a good sign. 

We took her to our vet who said the wound on her leg was too severe for her to deal with.  She sent us to the Specialty Veterinary Hospital a few miles further up the highway.  They examined her and admitted her while they decided what to so.  They released her the next morning with a special "wet to dry" bandage on her wound because it was to the bone and couldn't be closed till a "granulation bed" of cells grew over the exposed bone.  We would need to bring her in daily for bandage changes.  SIGH.  Luckily (?) I had already scheduled myself for vacation that week so I could hang with  my son before he left for three months.  After one week they let us come in every two days.  Oh Boy.  FINALLY, they sutured the wound on Sunday.

Here's the breakdown and the explanation for why we are not taking a vacation this summer:

Vet #1                                             $700 ish
Vet #2 original exam                        $800ish
Vet #2 bandage changes 10 @$40   $400 ish
Surgery to close wound                   $ 2100 ish
 total                                               $ 4000 ish

And here is all I got for it:

We get to "keep her quiet" for TWO MORE WEEKS.

BTW 'Pill Pockets' are a sure-fire vehicle for getting icky pain pills down your dog's throat.

"I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; 

they give unconditional love. 

For me they are the role model for being alive."
- Gilda Radner

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Working out

I know my husband thinks all I do is work and quilt.  Most of my friends think the same thing.  Sometimes I think the same thing.  It's not really true, though.

Sometimes I do a load of laundry - not often but sometimes.  I cook the occasional meal - not fancy and no more than 3 ingredients, but sometimes I do.  I make granola.  I do this as frequently as I need to because it is an integral ingredient in my breakfast.

The other thing I do regularly is exercise.
Who wouldn't when you get to see things like this on your walks:

The top photo is one of the many gorgeous views I get to see in my neighborhood. It's fuzzy but it is the bay as seen from the top of a hill in a local park.
The second photo is Izzy making friends with a puppy we met.  Fuzzy again because they wouldn't hold still - imagine that!  But what could be cuter?  I think at least 4 people took this opportunity to get a photo and it was 6:45 AM.

For the last 10 years I have been meeting a friend and walking about 4 miles 4-5 days a week.  About 1 month ago I decided that wasn't enough because I'm not as strong as I think I should be.  So, I joined a boot camp.  OMG!!  It's hard but I am discovering muscles in places that I only faintly remember.  It's good, though.
If you don't exercise, look into something like this.

Fortune favors the brave.

                           -Virgil

March UFO DONE !!!

Here are all the butterflies.

The sashing is a bright lime green and I think I've had the border print in my stash since the 80s. HMMM, they may have appeared on one of my sons in the guise of jams (remember those!) at one point. I wasn't really sure about the borderprint but once it was all quilted and bound, I think it works.

I had to include a photo of my helper.  She is almost as bad as a cat in that she wants to be in every quilt photo.  You know, she makes this quilt look small but it's 58" X 60".  She's kind of big, huh?

It's a gorgeous day here and I am trying to be outdoors as much as I can between appointments.

I'm off to San Francisco tomorrow and I am very excited.  My friend and I are hoping to take some walking tours of San Fran and go to the Alameda Swap Meet on Sunday.  I'm bringing an extra suitcase in case I get lucky with some good finds.

Have a great weekend,

Design wall Monday 3/28/11

Does it count as on my design wall if I crop the photo so closely that you can't actually see my design wall??

 

This is the last time you'll see the mynas until the little quilt is done.

I chose this bright batik for the last border that the challenge calls for. It's not cut yet, the center is just set on top for a trial run.  I decided to use  "Wait till you hear what Edna said!" as the words that need to be on the last border per the challenge instructions.  It's turning out cuter than I imagined. Let's hope I can get it done by the next guild meeting.  

I was at my friend Patti's house to quilt my March UFO (WHAT?? it's almost APRIL??) and she showed me her challenge quilt.  It was done and she even HAND-QUILTED IT!!  It must be hard to be such an overachiever, I imagine.  I have no concept of what means.

See the band-aid on her tail?

Izzy is such a BIG, STRONG dog that when she got excited and wagged her tail too hard in the house the other night, she somehow injured the tip of her tail.  It must not have hurt because, based on the blood splatter (thank you CSI and Dexter) she must have continued to wag it for a long time.  I spent an hour cleaning up what can only be described as a murder scene.  It keeps reopening.  The only thing that will stay on it is bandaids.  Does anyone have a suggestion for helping it heal and keep this from happening in the future?

You all have a great week and think about this:

The way you perceive a specific situation 

is determined by your frame of mind. 

If your mind and thoughts are positive, 

you will always be in a position to

seize the opportunities that are before you.

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Design Wall Monday 3/21/11

 

Well, this is where my butterfly quilt stands today.  My artist sister came over and approved of my sashing choice and helped choose a border - once again, she went with a perfect piece of fabric but one I would NEVER have considered.  You'll have to wait till next week because I am sure it will be all together by then.  Stop laughing, I can hear you and it hurts my feelings!  I will too get it done.  I will.

On the home front, DS #2 came home for a few days of his spring break.  It has been great to see him. He is my snuggly son, even at 23 years old.  He wanted to go sailing.  It's never hard to convince my DH to go sailing and since it all sounded like so much fun, DS#1 came down and brought a good friend.  So, while I was fusing away in a Laura Wasilowski class (that's another post for tomorrow!) the four of them were out sailing.

We all got home at about the same time and DS#2 was desperate to cook some Indian food so we went off in search of an Indian market.  We managed to find everything we needed and he made us Dal and something with spinach and a most amazing cheese.  YUMMM.  Luckily, DS#1's friend is Indian and he added some pertinent advice that made the whole meal even better and more authentic.  I have to thank his mother for being such a  good cook and teaching Harnik to cook.

I wish I'd had my camera ready when DS#1 came home.  He is Izzy's favorite person in the world.  We always make them have their reunions in the backyard because she gets CRAZY when he first arrives.  Yesterday was worse than usual for some reason.  She jumped all over him crying the whole time like a wounded animal.  Which, I suppose is an apt description because I think she was wounded that he has stayed away so long!  Enjoy this example of their close relationship.

 

She just can't get close enough to him!!  She put herself there -- he didn't force her to sit with him!

I hope you all have a wonderful day.

If you want to see more design walls, check out Patchwork Times.

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Don't hate me

I'm feeling chatty today because I have had 3 (THREE!) appointments cancel :-(  (Can someone tell me how to get cute emoticons on my blog, please....).

So, I have used my time very wisely by blog-hopping.  In reading other blogs, I realize that the weather in the other part of the country is much nicer than it has been.  That doesn't stop me from wanting to post a few photos of what I am forced to face day in and day out.

I just walked out the front door of my office at 3PM today and took these photos.

This is the view from my corner, looking toward the bay.  

These are some freesias already blooming in the front yard of my office.

This is my front yard at the office.  Izzy can't resist a camera.

 

This is just a gratuitous Izzy shot.  She's wondering why she's in jail and I'm not.

These are the cute apartments on the corner of my street.  Notice no snow, blue sky, palm trees.

 

Just so you don't think I'm awful, I am frequently jealous that you all have actual seasons and flowers!  Oh!!! The flowers I see posted on your blogs! But I get over it.

Can you say "SPOILED"

I live in San Diego.  I know that most of the rest of the US had a wicked winter storm last week.  It was cold here too.  It got down to 57 degrees.  BRRRR.  We're spoiled in San Diego.

But, that is not the spoiled being I had in mind when I named this post.   Look at this picture.  Can you see the dog on my bed?  No, I don't mean my husband!

Look more closely.  She's in there.

Remember, it was 57 degrees outside and that's a down comforter she's under.

Back to Normal (Whatever that is)

We've been home from our vacation for almost two weeks and I've been back to work for one week.  I guess that represents a return to our normal routine.

Izzy was not thrilled to be a working dog again.  We take her to the office every day to keep her out of trouble at home.  What that means, of course, is that she gets into trouble at work.  Lately, she has discovered that our clients discard perfectly good, only slightly chewed gum in the trashcans.  She is not one to leave tidbits like that unenjoyed and has developed quite a bad gum habit.  As far as I can tell (and I don't really try to tell that closely) she doesn't swallow the gum.  I'll come around a corner and find her happily chewing away.  I can usually get her to give it up pretty easily.  Sometimes, I don't catch her in the act but I will find remnants of twice-chewed gum on the front carpet and in her fur.  ARGH.

On the quilting front, I am very pleased to admit that I have finished the first UFO assignment from Judy Laquidara's challenge.  TaDa.

This is the photo from my UFO list

And here is the completed quilt.  It is about 50" by 60".  I was reading Bonnie Hunter's blog and she had posted a picture of the quilt that was the inspiration for this one.  It is "Playing With Jacks."  Hop over to her website for her free tutorial and make yourself one.

 I wanted to add a couple more pictures from the RV adventure -- just to show some more of the good parts.  Here I am with my sons examining a plaque for a Rodin group-sculpture on the Stanford campus.  What a beautiful place.  It may be my favorite university campus.

This second photo was taken through the windshield of the RV as we were going over the Golden Gate bridge.  This is probably the last photo taken before the danged thing died.

Hope all is going well for you.



Here is something to chew on this weekend:

"Big changes in our lives are more or less a second chance."
                                                                   Harrison Ford.

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