Skunk!

Our dog provides us with hours of joy and entertainment every day. Every day is a new adventure, every thing a game for him. He digs, barks, runs and plays all day. He will bring home sticks (some of them are really tree branches) and pile them up on the lawn. Of course the gophers are already doing damage to the lawn, but Loki wants to "get them" so he digs. He barks at squirrels in trees and he won't let a bird's talons touch the soil - not on his watch. He is on duty.
And tonight when he disappeared I said to my daughter, "where is your dog?"
Her reply, with a shrug, "I don't know".
When he came in the back door, happier than hell, he just pranced on by me and suddenly I got a good whiff of him. SKUNK!
So off to the bath he went. I don't think he was very happy about having to have a bath. But we were all relieved. My goodness that dog can find more trouble in one day.

So while I was keeping him busy outside, waiting for his bath to be ready, he was certain he saw a squirrel in the tree over the house. We spent the next 10 minutes looking up (yes both of us), and barking (well - that was only the dog). I think it was a false alarm - I think it was a bird. While looking up, trying to locate that rogue squirrel, I saw a couple of bats swooping around over the house. I tried to tell Loki, but he was really fixed on this non-existent squirrel.

Finally it was bath time for Loki and as I settled back into my chair in front of the Boob Tube, I realized that life really is more interesting with Loki around. And because of him I take a few minutes every day to stop and smell the roses (or the skunk).

Dog Tails

So, Loki is almost 2 now. Of course we all love him to pieces and think he is the cutest dog on the planet (just like every other dog owner). When we come home after having been away, he races up the hill just so we can see he is working. Well, I was coming home for lunch on Thursday and Loki came racing from behind a bush, and maybe I was driving a little faster than I should have been and we collided. He bounced off the front bumper of my car (took my license plate off) and yelped. I screamed, of course, and jumped out of the car. I called him over and he was wimpering, and smelled like poo, and was coughing. He kept barkig at my car. He was shivering and I was checking him for broken bones and injuries when Amanda showed up from driving Erik to work. So after she calmed the both of us down a bit, we decided it would be best to take him to the vet just as a precautionary measure. So Loki got to go for a ride in the car.
The vet declared him healthy and fine - saying he might be sore the following day.

It would have traumatized me if I hurt Loki. I had images of internal injuries that would result in surgery (which I can't afford of course) and was very relieved when I got the news that he was absolutely fine.

Silly dog.

August!

Well since my last post I have been working on those Halloween projects that I started last year. It's just so much work. Maybe if I were more organized and had more space it would be easier, but most likely not.
I spent most of my day yesterday working on these Halloween wall hangings/table throws. I must mention again - quilting may not be my thing!
I made another trip to the fabric store where I bought more fabric than needed to finish these projects.
If I were just doing one of them, it would be fine, but no, I chose to do 6. Of course my goal is to sell them in my space at the Antique Mall - but who knows if they will sell. So many of my projects sit unpurchased. I still have cake slice pin cushions, and tea cup candles.....sitting unwanted and unloved.

And on my trip to the fabric store I bought a quilting magazine (because I am a magazine junky) and in it was a hat I want to make. So I stopped at Goodwill and bought a bag of men's ties. But now I don't have a hat pattern. Last night I went through my hats and found one that I like - and from it I am going to create a pattern. (ha ha ha - this should be interesting).

Pretty good at drinking beer

My husband and I just returned from a whirlwind trip to Oregon so that he could attend a class reunion. We took the pick up and we listened to country music the entire way there and back. Those song writers have the best sense of humor.

I just reviewed my blogs and realized I haven't been very good about keeping up. My friend died of cancer, my daughter graduated from high school, and I attended the Soroptimist International of the Americas Convention in San Francisco. And throughout I didn't write about any of it.

So Oregon - We went so that my husband could attend a high school reunion. I didn't go to the reunion, but I had a great time. Bend was having a Tour of Homes, and we visited 4 of the houses. Two of the houses had quilting rooms. Actually one of the houses was a quilting house. What an incredible house that was. Two of the rooms upstairs were designed just for the quilter who had purchased the home. It was inspiring.
I went to quilting stores, garage sales, and visited with friends and family. It was a very relaxing weekend.

May, June, July

today I finished two quilt blocks - May and June. I have been procrastinating. I cut out the fabric over the weekend. Today I managed to sew both blocks and was quite pleased with myself. They weren't nearly as hard as they looked and I really enjoyed the results. Also today in the mail July's Block arrived. But I leave in the morning for SF and won't be home until Saturday. And the following weekend I will be in Oregon. But I will stay caught up this time.
I also pulled out the projects I started for Halloween last year, and I have every intention of finishing them before October. I will do it. I can do it.

In the meantime I have been praying to the spirits that look out for me, and they have been answering my prayers in their own subtle ways. I know that I am responsible for my life.
I remember the mother of one of my best friends, who was always very religious. She was so excited when her prayers were answered. She had asked the Lord to have a yellow rose bloom on her bush, and it did. Even then I thought it was kind of silly to ask for something that was going to happen inevitably. So of course her prayer would be answered. I guess I just really ask for guidance and for things to fall into place. I realize it is my own efforts that make it all happen. The Power of Intention (the doctor who wrote that book - his name escapes me - Dr. Wayne Dryer?). I believe in the power of intention.

And I intend to finish my unfinished projects and not have more than one BOM waiting to be finished each month!

Doctor, my butt hurts

After a month of suffering pain from what I assumed was hemorrhoids I decided to go to the doctor. Of course you can't get in to see the doctor, you have to see a nurse practitioner.
This nurse practitioner scolded me for not coming to the doctor when I was feeling well, and came very close to accusing me of getting prescriptions from various doctors. Then she diagnosed me with an internal hemorrhoid. She referred me to a surgeon.
At the surgeon's office I had the most painful examination in the world. And the surgeon told me that what I did have was a fissure. This would be repaired with surgery called a sphincterotemy. They cut your sphincter muscle, and stitch it back up. This was to be accompanied by a colonoscopy. Yippee.
The day before the procedure I was allowed to have one boiled egg before 8 a.m. and then only broths, clear liquids, and Jell-O (but not red or purple) for the rest of the day. At 4 p.m. you begin the clearing out of your colon. First you take 2 laxative pills. Then an hour later you begin drinking your 2 litre bottle of halflytely. 3 glasses in I threw up. It took me most of the night to drink nearly all of the jug. I went to bed, and at 1 a.m. woke up with a rather alarming heart beat. It was beating irregularly, and fast. I couldn't count it. At 2 a.m. I woke up my husband and off to the ER we went.
200 beats per minute is what they clocked me at. And after three separate IV drugs, and 2 oral drugs, at 7 a.m. my heart rate was still 145. The cardiologist called and immediately my heart rate dropped to 88. And normal. So now they decide to continue with my surgery. They discharged me from ER and wheeled me to the outpatient surgery and slapped me onto another bed.
I can honestly say I will never ever do prep for a colonoscopy again, so it's a good thing they did it that way.
I can also say my butt no longer hurts.
And I'm pretty sure I'm not going to go back to the nurse practitioner for anything ever again.
In the meantime I'm only one quilt block behind.

Woman leaves kids in car, goes to bars

I just read this headline in the local paper and I laughed out loud. Seriously. This is news? I was that kid. Of course I was a teenageer at the time. My mother passed away when I was 11. My sister and her new husband moved in to look after me. My father wasn't really capable or so inclined. He worked in the woods, which required being away from home quite a bit. And when he was home, he was eating at restaurants, and chasing women. Okay, maybe I am exagerating a little - he wasn't really chasing women. But he did always have a girlfriend and that is where he preferred to be. So my sister and her dysfunctional husband moved in. Nan was an alcoholic. At first she was functional. She only drank on the weekends. But as time moved on she drank more and more. One evening she was in charge of my nephew and I. He was only a couple of years younger than I was (I failed to mention that I was born 20 years after the rest of the siblings). She took us to a pizza parlor, ordered us a pizza, gave us some money to play pool and left us. Finally hours later we decided to go home. So we started walking. Wouldn't you know it - Nan drove by, stopped, scolded us and picked us up. She parked around the corner from one of the hot spots and said, "wait here". Off she went into the bar leaving us to sit and ponder what next. We sat and sat and finally when we were trying to decide what to do, we saw her come out with 2 men. Imagine the disbelief and shock as we watched these guys toss her around and then finally into the cab of the pick up and off they went.
Well, the rest of the story is no better - we decided to drive the pick up home where we had to explain to her husband why she wasn't with us.
Looking back, and as I write this, I realize that she wasn't in the best condition - she was drunk. Those men weren't friendly - they tossed her up on the hood of the pick up and at this moment I'm not even sure she went with them willingly. And I witnessed it.
I feel like a kid all over again.