Boo Who?

Another Halloween with no Trick Or Treaters ... boo. Six years here, and I have not had a single Trick Or Treater. Every year I am ready. Tootsie Pops and coloring books.  And every year, I put the coloring books away and I eat the Tootsie Pops. I've bought other candy, but I like Tootsie Pops.













So here's are some images of what you missed, by not Trick Or Treating on Creekstone.

Did you say treat?

Yep, I'm the sheriff and I'm in charge, but I don't need a badge and gun.

Oh Lord, will this night ever end?

No seriously, did someone say treat?

Happy Halloween!!

Jeannie

Gettin' Nekkid - Doggy haircuts

I love my dogs. If you have met me, you know that. You don't have to know me well, just say hello and I will start telling you about them.  As my friends will attest (yes, I'm talking about you, Terry and JB), I talk about them incessantly.

Personally, I think they are adorable. I also love that they don't shed. But there is a disadvantage to no shedding. If it doesn't shed, it grows and grows and grows. That leaves you a few options. Do nothing and let it mat into a disgusting mess (not a real option), comb and brush and groom every day (yeah, I'm not really up for that either), or whack it all off every month or so.

Most people who have a maltese or poodle like to keep them in specific cuts. There are at least six haircuts that are specified for poodles. I, on the other hand, have no patience for any of them. I prefer to just shave them nekkid.

Until a few months ago, I took them to the groomer regularly. She knew that I liked them really short and they always came out looking quite handsome. But two dogs at the groomer adds up to about $80 a visit. So one day I said to myself, "Self, you can buy some nice clippers for that amount of money and then save that $80 a visit."

So I went on a search for  "good" clippers. I had no idea there were so many options. Finally, I settled on these and put in my order.  They have them in pink too for $25 more, but I thought that was frivolous.

Wahl Arco SE

I have to say that my respect for groomers increased substantially each time that I picked these clippers up. I am sure that if I had four hands, or at least three, it would be easier, but I don't think it would be better. 

After putting it off for about a week longer than I should, I decided today had to be haircut day. I mean, look at these guys. That was not going to get any better. 

Unlike when it is time for a bath, they have not learned the signs for a haircut yet. So catching the first one is not that hard. After laying out garbage bags to catch all of the hair, I decided to do Sam first. 

He was unimpressed. 

Things were going ok until he got away.  That is Sam hiding. If he doesn't look at you, you can't see him.

Then it was this one's turn. Roscoe had seen what was happening to his brother and decided to hide right off the bat. If his bed is far enough behind a chair, you can't see him either. 

Although it is a pain to do, there is also this real sense of satisfaction to this.  You just turn that thing on and zip that hair off. 

Right up until you get the the legs. Legs are hard. They have way too many nooks and crannies to curve around. 

Oh and the dogs are seriously unhappy when that thing gets next to their boy parts. They do not trust me one little bit there.

And then there is the mess.  It gets everywhere. Up your nose, all over your clothes and under every piece of furniture.

But aren't they cute when it's done?  Ok, so I won't think about grooming as a new career. 

 At least it is sweater season, so no one can really tell.

Jeannie

Out of Proportion - On Cooking Soup

My mom was a wonderful cook. She had no idea what oregano or basil were ... salt, pepper, garlic powder and chili powder were about as far as she ever got. But she could make some fabulous meals.

Unfortunately, she had no patience for teaching. None.

My father was the exact opposite. The first time that I walked in and told him I had a flat tire, his response was "Well, I guess you better go change it." It was the first time that my pitiful look got me no where with him. So by the time I turned 17, I could change a tire, check the oil, and fix a stuck choke on the carburetor of a 1974 Nova Hatchback.

Mine didn't come with the guy or the fancy wheels, but that was pretty much my car.

So all of this is my way of saying that I was a southern woman who could not cook.  Worse than not being able to cook, I was a walking disaster in the kitchen. I was mainly known for bleeding in the kitchen. If I walked in and picked up a knife, a good supply of band-aids needed to be in the house.

But a few years ago I moved back to Birmingham and decided that I was going to learn. I have a nice house, with a pretty kitchen and all of the utensils and appliances. (My nephew is the Director of Design for Viking Appliances, so I have some really fancy, schmancy mixers and cookware. Wouldn't you think someone could cook if you saw that in their kitchen?)

Viking Professional Mixer

With time and practice I have gotten better, although I will never reach the standards of my friend, Katie. My cooking has grown from disaster, to edible, to not bad, to pretty good. The two biggest drawbacks to my cooking continue to be the same drawbacks that I have in other parts of my life. My failure to read through and follow all of the directions, and my belief that more is always better. 

Last night, as the house got chilly, it seemed like a good time for soup. Now I always thought that vegetable soup came from a red can with Campbell's on the front, but Katie taught me how yummy homemade veggie soup could be. So I trekked the two blocks to my local Western Supermarket and hit the frozen foods aisle. (I still don't like knives very much. I've stopped cutting myself, but I still have flashbacks.) Happily I found a big bag of veggies labeled soup vegetables. Convenient, huh? Except you know that more is better thing? Yeah ... I like corn, so I bought an extra little bag of that. Oh, and there didn't look like there was enough okra in it. I'm southern and love my okra. So I bought a bag of that. And although there were lots of butter beans and grean beans and peas, into everyone's life a little edamame should fall, don't you agree? And seriously, there were no potatoes. I mean, there were, but I really like potatoes. So off to the produce section where, for some reason, it seemed like a good idea to buy a five pound bag of golden potatoes.  Add a box of chicken broth and some cans of diced tomatoes (just in case one wasn't enough) and a can of tomato sauce (cause -- you got it -- I like tomatoes) and I'm off to cook.

I was already too late to have this for dinner, so I threw it all in the crock pot. Well, I tried to throw it all into the crock pot. Alas, where's the soup? I had to bang the top down to get it to close. There really was chicken broth and a large can of diced tomatoes down there, but basically that is a lot of veggies. And I still had a five pound bag of potatoes!

So after letting it cook all night, it was beginning to resemble soup, but it was still not quite right ... and there was the potato problem.

So this morning I transferred everything into a big

pot on the stove and started to add stuff (yeah, I know). You will be happy to know I did not add the entire bag of potatoes, but I did make a dent in the bag, and I added another big can of diced tomatoes. Then, heaven help me, I started playing in the spice rack. More salt and pepper, that's safe ... A little garlic powder, still with things Mom knew. Basil and oregano, nope, Mom never went down that road. Cumin? I have no idea what made me throw that in there.  But isn't it pretty?

I just had my first bowl and I must say ... that ain't bad stuff. Now to find 42 of my closest friends to eat it with me. 

This morning my friend Bill, who is living in Italy, sent me a great looking recipe for stuffed pepper soup. It says it just feeds ten. Maybe I can follow those instructions.  Who am I kidding?

Jeannie

Sam I Am

Meet Sam.

One of the boys. AKA Sam I Am, Sammy, Sam Sam, Chunky Monkey. Previously know as Whistler.

About four years ago, I got an email from a dog trainer that I had worked with. This was the email. Honest .... after all these years, I've kept it. I know, I'm weird.


I have a client who is looking for a new home for her male miniature poodle, "Whistler".  He is black/grey approx. 5 yrs. old and neutered.  The owner called me for training in March '07 because he had growled & nipped at their housekeeper when she tried to take a tissue away from him and did the same with family members if they tried to move him from his resting spot (on chair, couch, or bed, etc.).  Her 10 y.o. son antagonizes Whistler (pokes at him, gets in his face) and so Whistler has nipped/bitten him on four occassions.  Her 13 yr. old teenage daughter spoils and babys him - which is part of the problem. He does some guarding of bones, chews, etc.,  and so I would work free of charge with his adopter and take them through my leadership and resource guarding protocol/training - which has very good results.  Keep reading...!

 

I feel sad about this - at the time we were training, they had a deposit on a golden retriever puppy and were thinking about getting rid of him then.  It felt as if they were already "replacing" him.  I found him to be very charming and he responded very well to my firm, calm, leadership energy. I was able to move him off his spot on his chair with no problems.  He was very trainable and loved working for treat rewards and I found him a lot fun to work with - very intelligent. I think he would do completely great with an owner who would not spoil him, but be a good, firm, fair leader for him.  I would love to take him myself if I didn't already have 3 dogs - which is my husband's current limit (not to mention any board and train dogs that are here for training!). 

 

She told me today that she hasn't been able to find a home for him and that she'll most likely put him down if I don't get any leads.  If she takes him to a shelter, they'll have to put him down because of the bite history - they can't adopt him out for liability reasons.  There are some dogs that I would recommend euthanasia for if I think the aggression is not rehabilitatable, but this dog is SO NOT one of those dogs. 

 

Let me know if you or anyone you know would be interested.  I don't normally send out these kinds of announcements, it's just that this little guy really made an impression on me.  I remember telling my husband about him back in March - saying how cool he was... 

Now if you are a dog lover, or even if you're not, you've probably seen email after email from folks trying to find homes for fabulous dogs that, for no fault of their own, are in tough situations. I read them and my heart breaks. I immediately start contemplating whether I can take another one, or who I know who might just love a dog like that. But Whistler's story just stuck with me. I found myself checking on his status and trying to sell the idea of him to anyone that I thought might possibly be a good fit.  The problem was that one word "bite". Everyone ran from the idea of a dog that already had a bad history. 

After about a month, I let them know I would take him. I magnanimously said "If I can break him of biting, I will find him a home. If I can't, we will figure out what comes next." Don't I sound all rescuer like?

So Sam came to Creekstone. This was day one. Doesn't he look relaxed? Poor puddin'. He was fat still is), and wearing a turquoise sweater with sequins (that went away in the first two minutes). 

He was clearly so confused. He had only known one family and now he was in a strange house with new people and an annoying little white dog. 

 Every time something would happen that made him feel unsure, he would run to his crate, lie down and lick his lips.

The trainer explained that dogs would lick their lips to sooth themselves. There was a lotta lip licking going on.

I didn't really like the name Whistler, and half of my face was paralyzed (another story) and saying Whistler was not the easiest thing in the world for me. 

My father was suffering with Alzheimer's Disease disease at the time and really couldn't hang on to names. But as I was growing up, he had always called me Sam. I don't know why. I'm sure he didn't know why. But he called me Sam, and it was a name he could remember. So Whistler became Sam. Whistler had a bad reputation. Sam had no reputation.

I would love to say that I did something miraculous with Sam and changed a bad dog to a good dog. Honestly, Sam was just a good dog looking for a place to be good. We had a couple of rocky spots in that first week. But correction was a simple "we don't do that here". Yeah, I know he didn't understand those words, but I promise, that and an occasional "NO" was all that I did. No dog whispering needed. 

Roscoe liked him right off.   And Roscoe grew on Sam.

After a couple of weeks, I was having a glass of wine with some friends and one of them reminded me that I had said that I would find Sam a home if I could break him from biting. 

I sheepishly said "I did. He lives here now."

Knowing me well, they all started to laugh. No one had doubted that once Sam got here, he would never go anywhere else.

Sheesh ...

So now I have two boys. They are as different in personality as they are in color. Sam is sweet and loving and hates to be in trouble. (Roscoe .... he's another story.) I find it funny that all of the people who were afraid to take Whistler now would love to have Sam. But that isn't happening. He has found his forever home. And my life is better for it. 

Looking for a good dog? Try one that other people don't want. You might just find your own Sam.

Do Over

So, just a quick post to show that I CAN follow instructions.

Tiny Baby Cap

This is what the hat is supposed to look like

Cast on 48 stitches - Check

Knit one row - Check

Divide onto four needles - Check

Join in the round, being careful not to twist the stitches - Check

Purl one round - Check

Knit for three inches placing markers at every eight stitches - Check













Knit to two stitches before each marker and knit those two stitches together - Check and Check

Knit all of the way around - Check

Repeat the last two steps until you have six stitches left - Check

Knit two stitches together until you have three stitches - Check

Knit three rows of I-Chord .... ok, back to You Tube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcGj6tpqeJA (Thank you Judy)  - Check

Knit the three rows together and pull the yarn through - Check

Weave the ends in - Check

Holy poop it worked!!

Cute dog telling me to go to bed - Check

Jeannie

Read The Instructions

Since I started to knit, my most "interesting" creations have come from not really reading the instructions. I've discovered that knitting patterns are a lot like math problems. To get the right answer, you read one line at a time, do one thing at a time, and don't jump around. Now discovery and application are two different things, so once again, I launched a project assuming I knew what to do and ... well, here goes.

Last week I used lunch as an excuse to stop by to see my sweet, new friend Cruz. While I was there, Mama Laura mentioned that she was having a hard time with baby caps because they were all too big for his little punkin' head.

"I'll make him one," I volunteered happily. Yeah ..... not too bright...

I went online looking at baby hats and we agreed on this one.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fixation-newborn-hat

Before Cruz was born I had found this wonderful yarn on sale at Michael's http://bernat.com/product.php?LGC=bamboo . I found it in water (blue) and rosehip (pink). It is so soft and pretty, and perfect for a baby cap, but maybe not THIS baby cap.

Problem one involved using bulkier yarn and larger needles than the pattern calls for, and GUESSING what that means to the number of stitches you should use.

Problem two, the reason I had not learned to knit a cap before was because I had no idea how to knit in the round. I quickly realized I was going to have to learn how to knit with four needles. Four. F O U R needles. Hello You Tube, I'm back.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEXlHPcE9QU  Thank you Stitch Diva and here we go.

So far so good. Stitches on four needles ... check. All stitches pointing the right way ... check. At this point, I'm feeling pretty good!

But while I was working on it, I found this little hat.   http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/close-knit-tiny-baby-hat

How adorable is that?? So the second "modification"comes in. That would be problem number three.

By this point, I was beginning to think that it was clearly a little large, and maybe I should have actually read the entire pattern instead of just "guesstimating". (That was always my problem in math class too.) I forget which numbered problem I'm on, but it doesn't matter.

Last night I knit my last stitch and clearly this was just wrong. I mean ... that's really bad. Who's gonna put that on a baby? ARGH!

But Amy G to the rescue, she took one look at it and said, oh you can just flip this here and sew that there and an idea developed.

First step was to turn the border up and stitch it to the cap to create a little cuff.

Still ugly, but give me a minute.

The next step was to get rid of the cone.

I flipped the top down and stitched it to the cap.  But that is still not really cute, so it needed sprucing up a bit.

So I dug in the "button bag" and came up with this.

And just for fun, I added this!

Another mistaken creation.
I think reading the instructions would probably be easier. Next time ... really!


















Jeannie