Home from Charleston

The dogs traveled well today, and I didn't even give them Dramamine this morning. After about an hour of riding, they both decided they were in for a long ride and just went to sleep. Now, of course, they're sacked out and sleeping like they've been working hard all day. (They're both dreaming--with sound effects.)

They got to the beach on Sunday morning, the first time (as far as I know) that either had seen a large body of water. Jacey was spooked by the waves at first, but got more relaxed as long as she could watch them--keep them from sneaking up on her. Sam tried to drink the water, shook his head, then tried a bit later, as if he though he'd find a freshwater wave sooner or later. We didn't stay long, but the weather was beautiful.

The leader of the pack

On the message boards for the local greyhound group, there's been a discussion about dominance in dogs--dogs asserting their dominance, owners maintaining control from the dominant position, etc.

So Jacey picks today to challenge the existing pack structure of me > her > Sam.

I got up to go to the kitchen for some ice--and Jacey is operating under the mistaken idea that it's dinner time. She raced ahead to the kitchen
door, jumped up and down, came back to me, jumped up and down, then got behind me and PUSHED (her head against my butt). I was moving slowly as I tried to work a kink out of my ankle.

I didn't move faster. And I didn't feed either dog when I got to the kitchen, so I'm still the top dog around here.

For now.

Happy Gotcha Day, Jacey-Kasey

A year ago, your separation anxiety sent you on binges of destruction when I left you at home. Today, you dance gleefully into your crate at the command “Jacey in the box!” You know a cookie is coming.

A year ago, you were terrified of the spiral stairs. Today, you fly from your nest of pillows on my bed upstairs, down the hall, down the stairs, to the kitchen doorway in less than 10 seconds when you hear (or dream) a noise from the kitchen.

A year ago, you hid behind Sam and me when a stranger approached. Today, you push Sam out of the way to be first in line for some lovin’ from strangers.

A year ago, when Sam snapped at you, you ducked. Today, Sam’s intimidated if you growl at him in your sleep. (Congratulations on that, by the way. Oreo was never able to keep him in line that well.)

A year ago, if I raised my voice, you flinched as if you thought you were going to be hit. Today, … Well, I think the ship’s sailed on that one, kid. (But it’s kinda embarrassing when you do that in public.)

A year ago, I signed the adoption contract on Pinerun Torri. Today, you’re Jacey-Kasey, and you act as if you’ve never known another home, another life.


It’s 8 April. Happy Gotcha Day, Jacey-Kasey!

Wedding presents

(The colors in these photos are off a great deal. The blue in his afghan is a much richer royal blue. The teal in her afghan is a much greener color than the photo shows.)

I'm unraveling what I'd done so far on the afghans for Daniel and Ashley. The afghans were working up smaller than I liked. Yes, there'll be a border on the afghans, but it would take one enormous border for the afghans to turn out a decent size. I've restarted Ashley's afghan with a hook two sizes larger. The rows are nearly a foot longer than before, with the same number of stitches.

I started the afghans in January, but I haven't worked on them much: 40 rows on Ashley's, 32 rows on Daniel's--about 20 hours' work being unworked now. The wedding is 14 July, but no one needs afghans in July. I'll be happy to get these done by fall.

Tuesday, my last day off, I finished a shrug I was working on. (Temps were in the 70s that day; I was sweating when I tried on the shrug.) I don't like the way it came out. It's designed to wrap around the body completely, and it feels like a fuzzy straitjacket. I can undo the whole thing and try another pattern, or I can just undo the seam on one sleeve, unravel the thing to be about 20 inches shorter, then redo the seam on the sleeve. That would give me a shrug that isn't designed to wrap around. There's no hurry, though. This can wait until after I finish the afghans.

And on Tuesday I crocheted a bookmark. It needs to be starched and blocked, and I have to get some ribbon for it, but I like the way it came out.

I finished the crocheted bag I was making. (Pictures later.) I wound up using the Cocoa-colored yarn at the top; the Majestic Mountain print yarn I used for the body of the bag didn't have much blue in it (lots more purple), so the Cadet Blue I planned to use at the top wasn't such a good match in real life. I haven't felted the bag, yet. There's a lot of yarn left over, so I'm makng a second bag. I'm making it in Tunisian knit stitch, and I'll felt both bags at the same time. I want to compare the results between the two stitches, so I'll know my preference for any future work. I suspect the Tunisian stitches will give a thicker, firmer bag. (But you can't work Tunisian in the round, so there will have to be a seam.)

Edited to add: Better color samples here...