Repairing socks

A few years ago, we got a new dog from the shelter.  Everyone loves Mystic!  She's oh-so-soft, and only barks if there's a large bovine in the backyard.  Her tail wags constantly, and she's pretty much the perfect dog.

BUT, and there's always something, when she first arrived, she exhibited some anxiety issues which manifested itself as chewing up soft things on the floor.  From that point, I learned I had to pick up my socks...  In the picture there's a green patch on the top sock which I recently knitted in to make them wearable again.  

Turkish Socks repaired

She's over most of her anxiety, however, it now only comes out when we have guests, and are preoccupied with having a good time.  Then she disappears into another room and enjoys herself with a good chew, sometimes on our guest's clothing...  Beware!

Dogs and cats

We've had dogs and cats, and they have tolerated each other quite well.  In fact, when our previous dog got old and blind and deaf, the cats would walk her around the neighborhood, I swear, they would steer her home.
Then the dog was gone and the cats, Bonnie and Clyde, got two years of living the good life as "only cats".
Last Fall, the infamous yarn and needle eating dog was adopted, and the transition was not easy.  The dog has some herding instinct that makes her think that cats must be chased since they move. And the cats have separately made their peace.
Clyde has stood up to the situation and either ignores the chases by casually leaping out of reach or running like the devil to further frustrate the dog.
Bonnie, however, had another tactic:  She hides.  Disappears as long as the dog is in the house.  Comes out whenever she hears the dog is out for a walk.  Such is life, then...
We went away for vacation.  The young man next door, who adores our dog, and is constantly making the case to his family that they should have a dog (to accompany their two cats...) walks our dog daily, and took her home for the weeks we were away.  He brought her to our house to visit every day while doling out cat food, then we came home.
The first day, the first few minutes, the dog was in the house, I heard Bonnie meowing plaintively (she's a "talker") and suddenly she appeared from under the bed and headed right to the dog.  She rolled in front of the dog; when the dog started to move away Bonnie got right in front of the dog and managed to rub her and trip her up, and generally said, "I'm SOOOOO glad to see you!"
???
I don't know what happened, but there was certainly and transition made in their relationship. (Do you think the cats got the idea that the dog was feeding them?)
The dog remains a "chaser", and if she can get one of the cats to move away from her, she will chase them, but, Bonnie knows how to attack... amazing.

Good news, bad news (again)

First the BAD, BAD news. 

New dog, happy little girl doggie, one year old.

Second knit item attacked, and second circular needle severed.

This is the crime scene when I arrived home after being away for 6 hours.  

I didn't learn from the past incident, obviously, that all things knit need to be in plastic tubs.  She enjoys the feel of knitting, and that crunchy cable must be seductive.  

I understand!  I love the feel and the crispness of the cable and needles, but two Addi's are halved.  This one, the cable is severed in the middle meaning I can still use it as a straight needle for small projects, in a pinch.

The good news:  I felt I needed a reward after incident #1, and I purchased this lovely set of Symphonie Dreamz, which I have coveted since this summer when I purchased a single.  THESE are going to be protected from my dog's alter-ego!

No dogs were hurt in the process.  Shamed? YES!! 

Bad dog!

Bad dog, and she doesn't even look guilty....  Found my blanket on the floor with a chewed apart Addi, and an almost chewed apart Dreamz.  It's hanging together by barely a thread!  Hope it will last (hopefully forever) or until I go round and round again and again.  No damage to the blanket itself, and it happened when I had two circular needles with picked up stitches all around the outer edge.

We have a "new" dog.  She's a shelter dog, and one year old.  Very nice but she likes to chew anything but her chew toy/bone.  How frustrating is that?

Her face is so dark, she looks cute when you see the whites of her eyes.

Hard to be upset with her, but...

Come on in!

For our convenience, we have pet doors.  There's a large one in a screen door for the dog and a smaller cat door that goes to the garage with a third one that goes from the garage to the outside.
The problem with this time of year is that anyone can use them.  The weather is nice, and having an old dog necessitates that there be access to the back yard.

In the past month,
1) I was awoken to scratching at my bedroom door, wandered out to the kitchen to find the neighbor's cat slinking around.
2) Numerous mice are caught by our felines and released for amusement (not our amusement, however).
3) Same for little lizards and grasshoppers.
4) Last night I noticed a certain amount of attentiveness from our dog to activity on the back patio.  It was a beautiful skunk.  They sure are pretty!  It was picking up leftover crumbs from our blind dog and gave a wistful glance and sniff at the doggy door as I slowly slid the glass door closed.
I guess we have to be vigilant...

Back to... 'normal'

Painting leaves for Grandma

Two days ago, my daughter and granddaughter departed, separating us by 4,600 miles. I am very lucky that they would travel this far to see us, and allow lots of play-time, crazy non-sense with spaghetti cooked in hot dogs, rice on the floor, paint on the sidewalks, and intermittent screams of terror at night!  Although these sound very disturbing, we enjoyed it every moment we could, and fell comatose into a stupor 2 hours after they left. We will have lasting memories of her bedtime ritual of presenting us with a blanket, in which she would allow herself to be wrapped and carried outside to view the stars, moon, and Jupiter accompanied by Twinkle, Twinkle...  It was magical for us, and doubly magical for mommy who was delivered a willing toddler with eyes closed.

Close to Grandpa.

I'm planning on picking up the pieces of my life, and returning to a busy schedule this week, but first I'll try to write some blog posts, in some sort of order so you can see what happened.
One thing I would like to address is how stressful it is to live with a 2 year old and a 16 year old.  The 2 year old, a toddler, who is crazy about all things 'doggy' (the 16 year old).  Both of them managed uncharacteristically well, since the toddler made sure there was maximum contact between them...  The 16 year old doggy was given up for lost 2 years ago when she had a severe stroke and disabled her eye-sight and walking.  Within 2 weeks, she had recovered much of her ambulatory skills which leaves her running smack into things... she sees some things on one side only, and hears nothing.  So, when she had her last visit to the vet, and it was decided that she wouldn't need a 3 year rabies shot, because, really... (a 19 year old dog?) I opted for the 3 year rabies shot.
A week later, there she is, struggling to move, struck down by another stroke, totally visually impaired, and being carried outside because of limited mobility.  Stopped eating, too.  We tried to put aside the obvious thoughts while the 2-year-old continued her fascination with all things doggy.  A big factor in this fascination was brought on by our cats (Bonnie and Clyde) who made themselves very scarce until after said toddler's bedtime.  (Bonnie provided an educational tableau one evening by letting a mouse run around in the kitchen. No pictures... but lots of mouse hunting stories.)
Today's conclusion:  She's got 'good genes' (as the vet says), and by the time we returned from the airport, our 16 year old was eating, running around, and acting very non-114 "people years".

Puppy or 114 years old? (She's looking at you...)