Heading west.......

I've packed my bags and I'm ready to go....I'm leaving, on a jet plane....For some, packing is a breeze, and I must admit, it is getting easier for me, too. Except when it comes to deciding what knitting projects to take along. Socks, of course, but, that could get boring, so, how about my cable purse project with my handspun. check. And, maybe the lucet so I can teach Kelsey how to braid bracelets. check. And I might have time to use the spindle. check. Better bring more sock yarn in case I finish my Mom's sock. check. Probably should bring a few knitting magazines and at least one book on spinning. check. And, just to make it challenging, I'll take the needlepoint sheep project which doesn't fit in any carryon, but, then, I'll just tuck it under my arm and they'll think it is a scroll. Ha. 6 days, including two travel days, and I might not have enough with me. Direct flights, but, who knows, there could be delays.

Just look at that face. Jack is really going to miss me. I'm soooo glad he is feeling 100% better now.

Oh oh. Now Louie is pretty worried about my trip, too. Maybe if I don't make eye contact, I can slip out without a fuss.

Hmm. Kate is trying to act like a little angel, too. This is getting really tough. Good thing Ron is staying behind to take care of these guys! Plus, the main thing, I finally taught Ron how to use the remotes! Really, we just finished practicing. TV, then DVD, then back to TV. I think he can do it. And it will be ok for me leave for awhile.

Kate helps pack for a trip

Kate doesn't mind that I am messy. In fact she counts on it! Even though I am only heading out for a few days, I am really going to miss her. I think she would fit under the seat in the airplane, but, I don't think she would like that very much. She would love a long car trip, tho. While packing, Kate helped chew on my sandel straps, yum, and then decided racing down the hall with the toilet paper attached to the roll was much more fun. Time for a quick snooze then on to the next adventure.

Sock knitting

In Colonial times, knitting socks was one of many tasks of women and children. If you were wealthy, you hired someone to knit socks for you. By World War II, sock knitting was considered a patriotic endeavor. Today, sock knitting is a favorite activity of those who knit.. It is a portable project ( I knit them during meetings, on planes, in the car, in waiting rooms, etc) and the yarn selection is amazing. It is especially fun if you have someone to knit them for who really, really loves them. The sock above is for my Mom. She asked if I would make her a pair of brown socks, and so, with Mother's Day as my target date, I'm hoping to finish the second sock in time to mail them both. I stress this, as last Christmas, I made socks for my mom, brother, nephew, niece and sister-in-law, but the last sock had to be mailed after New Year's Day!

Spinning around

Paulette and I headed to Clyde, Ohio this afternoon. Sherwood Anderson's novel,Winesburg, Ohio, written in 1919,is based upon the author's memories of his hometown of Clyde. The spinning shop is on a farm started in 1909, a few years before Anderson's novel was published. One can't help but think that Sherwood Anderson was well aquainted with the farm of our destination.

   The Little House is a  spinning shop run by Margaret Bouyack on her farm. She learned to spin when her husband raised sheep and she thought she should take advantage of the crop, so to speak. This is when Margaret was about 60 years old. In a little house on the farm where her inlaws used to live, she set up a little shop in which she sells spinning wheels, looms and other supplies for the fiber artist.This is where Paulette bought her wheel, the Kromski Sonata a few months ago. We came today to purchase an extra large bobbin for her wheel.

This lovely kitty was sitting on the porch as we shopped and chatted with Margaret. Paulie bought some lovely roving that Margaret had dyed in her crockpot a few days ago.  Clyde is about 30 minutes and 100 years away from our homes in Sandusky.

Yesterday morning, I was glad to see that Kate was much better. Then I discovered that Jack was very sick. In fact, he was. With.....pancreatitus. To the vet we went, for IV fluids, antibiotics, and so on. Dr. Stout agreed that it was no coincidence that both dogs had the same thing just days apart. Louie remains the last dog standing, so to speak.Could be something they got into in the yard, but, since I can't determine what that is,I am uneasy that this will happen again.

Today the weather suits me.Cold and rainy. There are very few people who prefer rain and cold to hot and sunny, but I am one who does. March and April are great months in Ohio for this kind of  weather. Even May can be counted upon for a few cold and rainy days. I suppose it is too much to hope for that my visit to see family in Southern California 10 days from now will provide similar weather!

This has been a pretty full week. On Thursday we got a present from the local paper. In followup to an front page article written earlier in the week to highlight National Library Week, we were featured in the Opinion/editorial page. If you click on this link, then click on the message just below the link, I think you can read and see the photo from the newspaper. I sent a copy to my mom and she asked if we had written it and just sent it in to be printed. Ha. Well, it sure doesn't work that way, and I don't think we could have written it as well actually. I did ask who wrote it and it was by the Register webmaster. Nice.

http://digital.olivesoftware.com/OLIVE/ODE/SANDUSKYREGISTER/LandingPage/LandingPage.aspx?href=U0RTS1kvMjAxMi8wNC8xOQ..&pageno=NA..&entity=QXIwMDQwMQ..&view=ZW50aXR5

Kate comes home!

While Kate naps, I will fill you all in on what I learned about canine pancreatitis from a printout Dr. Socha gave me from Veterinarypartner.com

The pancreas (and who knew it didn't have an "e" at the end) breaks down food by the secretion of digestive enzymes and provides the secretion of insulin and glucagon to regulate sugar metabolism. In pancreatitis, digestive enzymes are released prematurely where they digest the body itself. The living tissue becomes further inflamed and quickly causes damage to the liver.  (Kate is still snoozing away as I type this). "Specific disasters" and yes, that is the next paragraph heading) are:lung tissue damage with respiratory failure,fats in the body are destroyed, which has painful and disastrous results,massive uncoupling of normal blood clotting leading to abnormal simultaneous bleeding and clotting throughout the body,and brain damage

Even if these areas are not invaded, pancreatitis can be painful and life-threatening and can be acute, chronic, mild or severe. Miniature Schnauzers are predisposed to pancreatitis as they commonly have altered fat metabolism.

So, resting the pancreas (no food) is the first, with IV fluids, plus pain control and antibiotics, then low fat/high fiber diet.

Ok, end of information sharing on that. I'm going to take a quick nap with Kate before I head back into work this evening. Tonight is Knit One, Library Too and we usually have about 10 knitters that gather to help each other out or teach new knitters. The photo above isn't a project we are working on, but, we could be!



Kate is improving

Paulette and I stopped in to see Kate during visiting hours yesterday afternoon. As you can see in the photo, she was a little groggy. She was curious to look out the windows, however, and chew on the IV ports in her leg. I think she'll be able to come home later this afternoon. No lab reports are back yet to indicate why the pancreatitus got started this time.

We gave a nod to St. Francis as we left the hospital. I'll post photos of a perkier Kate soon.

Vigil

Kate became ill around 3a.m. and at 6:30 a.m. we piled into the car and headed to the Lorain AnimaHospital-, about 40 minutes away-the same place we took Kate on Thanksgiving Day.She was vomiting foam and excreting pure blood even as we drove there. Acute pancreatitus is the problem but the underlying cause is not yet determined. It was 7:45 am by the time we were settled in, and we were surprised to learn that the emergency clinic closes at 8:00 am. Dr. Talbot gave her some injections to calm the episodes down enough for our 30 minute drive back to Huron to home base, the Firelands Animal Clinic which opened at 8:30 am. Mary Ann Socha, our vet, met us at the door.

Kate is being carefully monitored and is hooked up for pain meds and antibiotics and they are giving her fluids.  She'll be there for several days. Apparently, Miniature Schnauzers are known for a problem of high cholestrol and a low fat diet and other medications can help ward off these bouts of pancreatitus, which if severe enough, can be  deadly. Our Alex did not suffer from this at all, so we are surprised about this inherent problem. It is too, too quiet in the house. The boys, Jack and Louie, seem overly mature without the antics of Kate in their midst. I know she'll be in good hands with Mary Ann, Cindy and Lisa, three awesome vets, and, I'm confident that Kate will survive this bout. Prayers to St. Francis are in order, however, and that's that.

Salon magic

Kate spent the afternoon at the salon and you can see the before and after photos here. She spent the morning in my office, lounging around and the afternoon at Purrfect Pet Salon. What a life! We've taken a few walks around the block to show off the new 'do.

Of course, this angelic look can fool you. The next day, Kate was back to one of her favorite activites, digging holes in the backyard. According to various dog breeding histories, the miniature schnauzer is from terrier stock and terriers were useful vermin catchers. terrier, from the Latin word, terrarus, of the earth.So, with that background, I guess digging could be expected. To be fair, both standard poodles have been diggers and probably taught Kate how to dig a nice wide hole. All of this digging has led to quite an unsightly back yard. You know where this is leading.....we need a new landscaping plan!

Maybe we could add a large ground deck, or extend the brick patio, or both! Hey, let's put in outdoor kitchen and fire pit, too. Hmmm. I've always wanted a gazebo and pergola, so, how about putting those on the list. Wait! Screening in the back porch would be nice.....eek! Back to reality. How about if we just stop the dogs from digging. A few hours of training would cost a lot less than a whole new "outdoor room" and some grass seed and dirt would be a quick solution, too. So, I'm back from fantasy island much to Ron's relief. P.S. I might just get that screened in porch after all and keep the dogs in there with me! To be continued.....



Spinning dreams

Like a true fiber fanatic, I love to see the beautiful animals that provide the raw material for spinning! Even in Sandusky, I didn't have to go far to find them. On Sunday afternnoon, I went back to Osborn Park, the same park that has the great place to walk with Kate, Louie and Jack, as I had noticed that the MetroParks has a farm site just across the street. Now, to be perfectly honest with you, I do know that the first photo is of a sheep-but, I have no idea what kind. I love the black face. Boy or girl, young or old, I don't know.

Ok, I think this is a llama, not an alpaca, but, I'm really not all that sure of that. This is kind of embarrassing for me to admit, and I was going to leave the photo uncaptioned so as not to make a complete fool of myself, but I think you should know who you're dealing with in this blog.

This is a goat. Yep, I did figure that out, and I know goats produce mohair, which I love to knit, and that I have recently learned to spin mixed with wool.

The barns below used to be called Steinen's stables and a friend of mine boarded her horses here. The Metroparks bought the barns and property and have turned this into a petting farm. I feel lucky that this land wasn't sold to become been  a housing tract. There are horses, chickens and roosters here as well. One of the horses was laying down and I wasn't sure what that was all about, so, I decided not to take a photo in case it wasn't such a good thing. What do I know, I grew up directly across from the 14th green of Lake Shore Country Club in Erie, Pa. and  I know a lot more about golfers than I do about farm animals. I don't think spinning is going to turn me into a farm girl, but, I am starting to like the scene better than the golf course.I mean, what's not to love about these sweet faces!

Kate's first look at the dog park

Kate and I went to check out the dog park at Osbourne Metropark yesterday. This park was constructed by volunteers, including Ron and Bob. The first donations collected were in memory of Max, our first standard poodle, from the library staff. There is a large photo board featuring the dogs that were memorialized and next to Max are photos of Alex, our beloved schnauzer,and Beau, beloved standard poodle and brother and BFF of Jack, who belonged to Bob and Paulette. There is  also a photo of Brandy, Janet's lab that Ron found for her. So many memories of wonderful dogs! You can just see the photo board on the sturcture in the shot below.

Kate decided the park looked a bit intimidating and passed on the adventure for another time. Jack can't visit the park very often as he has an embarrasing habit of trying to run down other dogs as prey, scaring the owners and dogs alike. Louie does much better, making friends with everyone as if they are all part of his big family. The park is four acres of fenced area and is about to be tripled in size.

 Kate and I discovered a cool treehouse in the adjoining wooded area. Can you see it in the middle of the photo?

Some bunny loves you

Kate is visiting the Library today. I don't think she is exactly thrilled to be wearing rabbit ears, however. What is it that makes people put funny hats on their dogs? I can't seem to resist doing it.  Give me a silly hat and I have to put it on Kate. It isn't as if she isn't all ready cute enough.

 Her next visit to Purrfect Paws Grooming Boutique is on Tuesday, so, today, I'm enjoying her scruffy look.

The bunny ears looked pretty swell on my sheep,too! This rocker is available once a year at this time from Pier One Imports. I've had mine for quite awhile and love it.  

This afternoon I'm taking my needlepoint rabbit canvas to Wool & Willow to be finished on an antique footstool. I started the piece 2 years ago and completed it last month. It is a 10 pt painted design kit from Beth Russell and is based on a William Morris tapestry. It is 14X14 and uses Appleton's 100% wool yarns. I haven't done any needlepoint since the early '70s when it was very popular. I was pleased to see how popular it is now and there are some fantastic shops that deal exclusively with needlepoint. I will say that it is much more expensive than knitting or spinning even taking the wheel price into the mix. I love that Kaffe Fassett is into both and his books on the subjects are true works of art.

It's true,bunnies multiply!

Paulette has decorations for every major holiday, but Easter is a favorite. I've taken a few photos and hope they turn out well. This is my first post directly from the blogger ap on my iPhone. It all goes well, I'll get my bunnies on display and add another post with photos of those. Since it is already Thursday, I'll need to get moving on this soon!
I love to get a bunny in my basket, and last year it was a needlepoint canvas (no calories). Kate and I surprised a really rabbit on our walk last Saturday, but, we didn't  take a photo!