Dogs on Thursday: the Better Late Than Never Edition

What better time to catch you up with Miss Scout than with a DoT post? She is still as cute as ever, but OMG is she high maintenance! (This is one of the reasons I prefer larger canine varieties.) What a diva - the yipping, whining, squeeking, and high-pitched yowling that goes on when the Princess is not getting her way can get very annoying. We give her a warning, then cover her up like a canary when she gets started. She's starting to catch on.


But she more than makes up for this with her adorable antics. She is a virtual tornado of energy and will get to running so fast, she falls down and rolls before getting up and tearing around some more. She'll grab her tail and go round and round, then leap straight up in the air and take off again. Her ears play a big part in her charm - she looks like she has wings instead of ears.

The wonderful pet-loving people at PetSmart have donated some free puppy training classes to Animal Haven, to be used in helping our adopted and foster dogs more likely to stay in their forever homes. Petsmart, while being a giant chain, has always been very generous in their commitment to animal adoption. The local stores always have on-site adoptions featuring the local rescue groups, and donate generously to our fund-raising efforts. Plus, Abbie and Chloe are always very happy to go shopping there with us.

Scout's new family will get one of these free classes. Which they will more than need since the toy fox terrier breed is very intelligent but very stubborn. While she is well along in becoming house broken, she cannot control her submissive peeing, although we are closely following recommendations from a trainer to help her get it under control. And her idea of "sit" is to do a play-bow, which is actually so cute that I've reinforced it, fully knowing better.




She is loved by, and loves both the big dogs and Kona. In fact, she and Kona seem so devoted that I really hope someone would adopt them together. Abbie seems to have "adopted" Scout as her favorite stuffed animal. She is very gentle and loves to get her between her front paws and nibble/groom her all over. Of course, Scout wiggles much more than Abbie's stuffed animals and licks and nibbles back.



These pictures are from the past 1 1/2 weeks, when she was a 5 pounder of pure muscle. She's still growing and should reach 7-9 pounds. She's almost too big for the collar she arrived in, but she had the good fortune of winning Nichole's weekly review contest and will soon be sporting a beautiful new comfy and earth-friendly Planet Dog collar! We'll take pictures and let you know how she likes it. If she does, we'll have to get some for her foster sisters, too. Thanks, Nichole! Nichole also tagged me with this cool dog lovers button. Double thanks again, Nichole!

The weather here has been gloomy and rainy for the past several days, and since we've had rain every day this week, and when Ike hits, more rain will come our way, so we're under a flash flood warning for the weekend. No wonder my toes are growing webs. Quack. Hurricane Ike will be wrecking havoc in Texas and western Louisiana. One of our fellow knitting/blogging friends, Cheryl, the Knitting Wildflower, is in that area, so please send special wishes her way today and let her know you're thinking about her.

Speaking of the weekend, I'll be at Animal Haven with Kona, trying to help him find his new family. Scout has to stay home, with just her cute picture to help her out because there was an outbreak of parvo at the shelter recently. It's under control there, but they don't want any puppies, whose immune systems are still growing, to come into contact with remaining pathogens. I've spent so much time down there, it's beginning to feel like home. It's certainly cleaner than my home right now, too.

While we're on the subject of the shelter, there is a new movie that will premiere soon, All Roads Lead Home. Clicking on the title will lead you to our joint webpage promoting the movie. You can follow the link to view the trailer. I can't wait to see it and I hope you'll all get the chance too!

I have a bonus day this weekend. I was supposed to have some dental work done today so took off work. Because of my dental phobia, I took a Xanax. For technical reasons, they decided not to do the work today, so I came home and am too whacked out to do much of anything until this wears off. So I may get another blog post in later today. Blogging is like feast or famine lately. Thanks to everyone who left such kind words encouraging me to continue - I love you all! Have a great weekend and take care!

(PS - this post was actually written Friday, under the effects of the Xanax and I apparently forgot to hit the "publish" button. So technically, it's only one day late for DoT!)

Catch Up With Criquette, Chapter 2

"K" is for knitting, of which I have pictures. "K" is also for kittens, of which we have one foster kitty. As in "K" for Kona.

My beautiful boy, Kona was adopted 2 weeks ago by a lady who really wanted him to replace her older male cat who had recently passed away. She had a 1 year old cat who was lonely and wanted company. And a husband who wanted a buddy to sit in his lap while he watched tv. Kona seemed to take to her and I thought we had a happy ending.

Two nights after adopting him, I started getting calls from her - Kona won't use the litter box, Kona (a 12-week old kitten) is being "mean" to my cat, my husband isn't bonding with Kona and wants him to have a more manly name (they changed it to Conan)blahblahblah, whinewhinewhine. I asked her several questions, since this was such a shock to me. I offered several pieces of advice, most of which had been discussed with her at the time of adoption. Apparently she thought she was an expert since she neglected to follow any of the advice. By the end of the week, she called to tell me she was bringing him back.

I wish there was a device that would detect boneheads, so those of us who are not boneheads could be alerted and take appropriate action (such as slapping them silly). I'd pay good money for that.

At least she did the right thing, finally. So I picked him up at the shelter and brought him home, where he promptly greeted all of his canine siblings and his foster dad, then went straight to his litter box, like the excellent little kitty he is. I am so relieved he's out of that other house. I'm so mad at that woman for not following the instructions she was given on introducing a new pet into her home. The adoption counselor at the shelter has told her that although she has a credit for another pet, she will not be able to adopt another kitten. I did get a small degree of satisfaction from that!

So now we are once again trying to find him a good home and you can bet I'll ask lots more questions next time around. He is the most loving boy, who is more doglike than catlike. He wants to be held and petted more than anything else, and is very good-natured. He likes to play in water and follows us around. He doesn't get out into the house, since Criquette turns into the spawn of Satan when she senses he is in her part of the house. I started putting him in the bathroom upstairs where they can get acquainted under the closed door last night, because I have a feeling he may be with us for a while (and no, as much as we would love to keep him, we are resolved not to break our rule regarding fosters.)

Kona's marketing picture - who could resist such a cutie?

Kona's favorite hobby is "helping" Mr. Criquette as he tries to work in his office (he works from home). Kona rearranges papers and piles, knocks all pens and office supplies to the floor, (trying to help Mr. C maintain his youthful waistline, heehee), and laying with his paws wrapped around Mr. C's hand as he tries to use the computer. Here he is, taking a well-earned nap (on Mr. C's desk, of course).

And now for a completely random change of subject - recent knitting projects revealed! I competed in the Ravelympics, representing Team GRITS in WIP Wrestling. I went into the opening ceremonies with 6 projects and went into the closing ceremonies with these:

I faithfully watched and knitted every night. I completed 2 scarves and 6 hats (not included in the picture are the 2 hats I shipped off to Nichole). In addition, I frogged 2 former UFO scarves and the sleeve and upper left side of the Baby Einstein jacket.

You too could finish this many if you only had to pompom and weave in ends on 3 baby hats!

Not only did I finish all of those WIP's, I also made some new ones during the Olympics. The Baby Einstein is in the bottom right corner. I frogged because I saw that I would run out of yarn part way into the second sleeve. And of course, it's discontinued. So I picked up a solid blue that I will knit the front yokes with, which will give me enough to complete the sleeves in variegated. I also cast on for a charity baby hat, a yellow & white dishcloth, another Stormfront scarf (this one for my North Carolina niece who is going to college up in the mountains and so will need wooly goodies to stay warm), and a silk/wool lattice scarf for a Christmas gift.

After the Olympics ended, I thought I would have severe withdrawal symptoms. Fortunately, the Democratic and Republican conventions came along to take it's place. I come from a family where politics were passionately discussed all of the time. It is probably a moral failing on my part that I have very little interest in any kind of politics, ever. But, this year is different. The presidential race has really captured my interest, in terms of the issues that I care about as well as the cast of characters involved.

I am an Independent, so don't have a strong preference for either the donkeys or elephants. But I would probably join a party that had meerkats as the party mascot. They represent such a strong sense of community and family values, have an excellent work ethic, are loyal and courageous and know how to kick enemy butt. Sure, they have a few unsavory tendencies but no one's perfect. But I digress.




Anyway, I have watched every night of both conventions and have a very messy house but lots of knitting to show for it. Plus, I can actually carry on a semi-intelligent conversation now about current events. I still haven't completely decided who I will vote for come November. I think both candidates are essentially decent people and they each have some ideas with which I agree, as well as ideas with which I do not agree. As with meerkats, no one's perfect. It's a matter of figuring out who is the least imperfect, I guess.

Two weekends ago I was on pins and needles, obsessively watching all of the national news stations and the Weather Channel, hoping and praying that Gustav would miraculously downsize and bypass New Orleans. (It did. God is good.) I was having trouble focusing on my WIP's and decided I needed to make a hat. A little search on Ravelry, and voila!

This looks weird, but it's the best I could get. It's taken from the back, with my arms up and over my head.

If you look closely, you can make out the little "bands" of purl stitches swirling around.

How could I not make the Hurricane Hat? I went into the stash and pulled out a lone ball of Moda Dea silk/wool in a dusky teal colorway, cast on and around and around I went, my needles mimicking the furious swirling winds. I finished the hat last night and I'm keeping it for myself, I love it that much. I highly recommend this pattern. It looks like it can be easily adapted to fit larger and smaller heads, and would make fast-knitting, attractive chemo hats. This is one of those patterns that I will knit several times because it's quite addicting. In fact, since Ike is heading into the gulf, I think I'll go cast one on now, while saying a prayer for Texas.