Snow Bunny

Happy Thorsday, little friday, Thankful Thursday and snow day!  Just to prove me wrong, after I ratted the furgirls out in the post on their blog, they awoke and followed me to the deck landing for a QUICK photo shoot.  The Knight wanted to know what on earth we were doing, and I had to remind him that the girls don’t get free boxes from Chewy just because they’re cute; they have to work for their rewards!

Regular readers know the routine.  Each month, Chewy offers us an opportunity to review a product of our choice, from an ever-changing list of treats.  This month, we tried the Wysong Dream Freeze-Dried Rabbit Treats.   They are the new favorite… worth getting out of bed and braving the snow.

I’m sure I sound like a broken record, but it’s still exciting when we find quality food and treats Sissy can eat, and Chewy has something on the list almost every month.  Rabbit was the first safe protein source for Sissy, and she seems to have a special fondness for it.  Plus, it’s not a routine flavor, so that makes it a real treat too.

These aren’t hard, crunchy biscuits.  They’re dried meat discs, and they are easily broken for sharing with a little sister.  As you can see, Gretchen thinks they’re pretty awesome too.  Add in that “made in the USA” fact and you really have a great treat for your cat, dog or ferret.  They are designed to be part of a raw food diet, but your dog (or cat or ferret) will enjoy them whether you feed raw or not.

There’s so much to be thankful for today!  I’m delighted with our significant snow.  I’m glad the Knight is feeling better after a nasty chest cold.  And more broken recordness, but I appreciate having a job where I don’t have to try to get to work.  I loved my career as a firefighter, but there was no calling in because I couldn’t get out of my driveway.  Of course, we all like being a part of the Chewy Blogger Outreach program too.  Clearly, the opinions expressed are our own.

What are you thankful for today?

 

 

Giving us all a bad name

That title’s for you, Mother Nature.  Women everywhere resent being stereotyped as fickle and indecisive (even though yours truly DOES suffer from analysis paralysis, and one of the few freshman dorm room decorations I STILL have is a bumper sticker that says, “I’m not indecisive – am I?!”), but your current weather trends in the mid-Atlantic don’t help the cause.

Since it is Thorsday (aka: Dogs on Thursday, forever dedicated to our beloved gentle giant friend), Gretchen is bemoaning the snow over on the girls’ blog.  Personally, I loved the quick, beautiful snow day on Monday and I’m also quite pleased to be having a true, Spring day today, with unseasonably warm temps and even a chance of showers tonight.

It’s also little friday and Thankful Thursday.  Even though this has been a four-day work week for me, it’s dragging PAINFULLY.  It should be Saturday by now… I’m sure of it, but no…  I still have to muddle through today and then tomorrow before I get a couple of days of respite.

Thankful?  Despite my moaning and groaning, I’m thankful for so much.  I’m thankful for my health and fitness.  I’m thankful for the neighbors who make our glorious, long walks possible, both by allowing us to use their paths, and by sharing the road with us.  I’m thankful for my friends who are a constant source of support, companionship and so much more.  Of course, I’m ever so thankful for the Knight, and for our furry buckets of unconditional love.

What are you thankful for today?

Chef Sissy

I think girlfriend wants to learn to grill.   This was taken Monday during our little snow squall, which got me out of jail  work early so I could go home and have fun with the fur-girls.

Of course she knows better.  Of course I firmly said “Off!” immediately after I clicked a few incriminating photos.

Meanwhile, bitty Gretchen (yes, she’s under all that green, warm and dry) merely inspected the steps, because she manages to avoid trouble, generally speaking.  She’s also the stereo-typical little sister tattletale. 

Now, a rather abrupt turn from Dogs on Thursday to Thankful Thursday. 

That’s Grace’s Comforting Embrace.  Click on the photo to go directly to her post, but she’s ever so kindly donating the proceeds from the sale of her pretty pattern to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, in memory of my friend.  There simply aren’t words to convey my gratitude.

That gratitude extends to each of you.  I know I’m going to leave someone out, but a bloggless, local friend offered to send food – even though we know she’s a hit or miss cook – while Marjie is wearing pink for the rest of the week, and Sunny joined Gretchen’s Pink Parade yesterday…  (Nothing formal, just slap a warm body in pink on your blog if you’re so inclined.)

Sissy, rockin' the pink

I thank you for your kind words, good vibes, prayers and all of the support you’ve offered me, yesterday, today and throughout my blogging history.  If I appear strong, it is only because I truly am blessed and always have plenty of wind beneath my wings.

She who hesitates…

… has cute snow photos to share from home.

 

Um, yeah.  Friday night, they said flurries with no accumulation, and we had a pretty, HEAVY dusting around dawn.  Today, they said rain/flurries mix, and two hours into it, the roads were covered and Dae asked me to drive MJ home post-haste.

 

Gretchen is perched in my lap, supervising.  Sissy is stomping around the house looking for food, in a fashion only those of you with hounds (and maybe a flock of PWDs) can understand.  I have a dinner date with a girlfriend tonight, and just as the “flurries with little to no accumulation” were starting around noon, we confirmed that we were “on” for tonight.

Unedited - seen the big, wet flakes?

Weather forecasting is no science.

Gretchen sees no need for her heavy winter coat, so she’s sporting Mugsy’s old winter slicker.  Yeah, it’s rather big for her, but strangely, this is the ONLY hood she actually wears. 

And for whomever has the score card at home?  Dinner plans postponed again.  Bingo cancelled at the firehouse.   Got me about half of a Presidents Day off to knit!

Team Ravelpaws

Happy little tuesday friday!  All this snow day stuff has me very confused, but it is indeed Thursday, which makes it little friday, Dogs on Thursday and Thankful Thursday.  Phew!

I’m so thankful for my internet friends.   A bunch of us from the Stash Sock Club group on Ravelry comprise Team Ravelpaws, and we’re getting ready to knit our way through the Olympics.  

The fur-girls want me to doctor on the team logo and get their names or something in there, and maybe after lunch, I’ll have time…

Oh, the girls have enjoyed the snow, and having us home with them!  Queen of the mountain is the favorite game.

Yes, our deck is basically level with snow, compacted to the point it really can’t be removed right now.  See that tiny, dark strip behind Gretchen?  That’s the TOP of the wrought-iron loveseat/rocker.

Tune in tomorrow for the next round of as the snow falls.  We have more coming on Monday, so I hear.

Snow Refrain

Just insert the same ol’ same ol’ in here.  I went to work this morning, and it was flurrying.  I came home, after six hours with no internet, no cable, and it was flurrying.  It’s sleeted just long enough to make the hot tub cover sparkle, and now, we wait.

The bed gargoyles, daring me to move them to make said bed...

For those with score cards, please tell me what snow number we’re on, because honestly?  I have no clue.  I know this is the third event in February, and frankly, I’m impressed with myself for remembering that much.

We’ve had two casualties now.  The Knight and our awesome insurance guy have spoken, and sad metal shed (which looks far worse today, after the Knight tried to scrape some of the snow off last night) will be replaced with a sturdier wooden model with a loft (like the other shed, for those who happen to know our property).  But just to make life interesting, the Knight is at Lowe’s now, fetching a thermostat for the just out of warranty hot water heater.  I am SO blessed to have a handy man!

Being Irish, I think things come in threes.  Do my dead Wii handsets Saturday night count?  (Please?!)  Or maybe the brake line that let go in the Knight’s personal truck, repaired on Friday in spite of the storm?  (But not both, because then we’d have two more to go…)  Or how ’bout the flood light halogen bulb he just changed, in the snow, so the fur-girls have a well-lit pen again?

Yum... snow tastes good!

Gretchen wants you to know how brave she is.  She not only has warmed up to the whole concept of snow, but she’ll also run around without a jacket when it isn’t snowing, sleeting or otherwise dropping cold, wet stuff on her head and back.

Be vwery qwiet. I'm hunting wabbits.

Sissy just wants everyone to pay attention to her too.  She’s never really minded the snow, almost always prefers to be “nekkid” so what’s the big deal?!  She was hunting here, although I’m not sure what…

And here comes the snow.  I think I’m gonna’ steam some milk, add some mint Bailey’s and watch it snow.

All that Glitters

First things first.  Gretchen would like to thank everyone who voted for her, and those who would have voted if they’d seen the post in time.   She would also like to thank the judges and administrative staff who made Mango Minster 2010 possible, and –

Sissy just cut her off before she could blather nice things about the winners.  Sissy isn’t a bad sport, but she wouldn’t need much encouragement to become one.  (Can you BELIEVE that grumpy face on my sweet girl?!)

The lone casualty... one shed roof

So yeah, we’ve survived round… whatever number we’re on of winter 09-10.  I’ve lost track of how many snows we’ve had, but this was the third over 12 inches snow we’ve had this season.  It was the worst in terms of wind and side effects.  We lost power twice.  The first time – Friday night – we only were without for about 30 minutes, because the Knight’s old schoolmate, now a foreman with our beloved, awesome little electric co-op, happened to be driving through the area and took care of the little incident post-haste.    Saturday morning, we were without for 5-6 hours, but we all just crawled back in bed and slept through it.  The power has flickered a few times, but I can’t thank the good people at CVEC enough!  They’re even on Facebook, so we don’t have to go to the website to get updates.

See the Knight (in red)? See his truck? (mirror on left of tree trunk)

The worst?  No internet for about 24 hours Saturday-Sunday.  The Knight had to tend my Farmville plot from the firehouse for me.  (Yeah, dirty little secrets…  we’re HUGE Farmville addicts.  Don’t judge; just friend us and make us your neighbors already.)  I do have email on my Blackberry, but most of y’all were painfully quiet during the same time period.

Still snowing...

The longest?  No cable, from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon.  I ran out of DVDs Saturday night, and darned if the batteries weren’t dead in my Wii remote!  I have the only “motion plus” handset, so that meant no Wii Resort.  It was ugly, especially when the Knight and his band of warriors drove past the house TWICE (going and coming) en route to a neighbor’s heat pump filled the house with smoke call.  (And yes… I was on the phone with him demanding a battery delivery when the call came in, so I’m not at all sure why one of the trucks couldn’t risk getting stuck in our drive to bring me batteries.  Hrmph.)

In case you’re actually concerned about this poor, spoiled plugged-in country girl, we ventured out to our new, local WalMart last night and bought a four-handset, wireless, rechargeable contraption for all the Wii stuff.  Oh – and we got more milk, dry pasta and meats for the next siege, which begins sometime tomorrow.  (It’s all about priorities.  I never ran out of cookies, tea, K-cups, or peanut butter, so heck yeah, the Wii charger was more important than the food!)

Snowman attempt abandoned once gloves got wet...

I did go play in the snow yesterday, or tried to.  Turns out that the multi-layered mess of heavy, wet snow, sleet, snow-melt-refrozen, and very dry, powdery stuff we have on the ground doesn’t make a great snowman.  I also lack proper gloves – and so did WalMart.  The Knight went to work today and is going to hit Tractor Supply for some water proof/resistant gloves for me.  I’m afraid I set a dreadful precedent and not only kept a path cleared for the fur-princesses into the pen, but I dug my silver stead out on my own too.

Seriously…  The Knight has renamed Lexie-Beastie “Snowbunny.”  He swears that he’s never driven a vehicle that handles so well in snow and ice.   I was under the mistaken impression that ground clearance was an issue for her, but evidently not.  The Knight has spent the last three snows trying to challenge her, and she just laughs at him while sticking all four tires on the ground.   He’s never even had to put her in her “snow” mode.

So, that was my weekend.  I did some knitting and tinking and tinking and knitting, because it seems I didn’t knit as well by booklight as I thought I had 10 days ago.   I finished a book and started another, but I’ll post about them later.  This last shot is for the Edward lovers out there…  a local friend remarked that the snow glistening reminded her of Edward’s sparkly skin.  (Sissy notes that we are a soundly Team Jacob household, and Gretchen has suggested that a few of you might not know all the Twilight lingo…)

How was YOUR weekend?  Anyone have any pretty, browned winter grass to share?  Or sand?  How ’bout you year ’round beach dwellers?

Rock the Vote!

 

My new favorite photo of DIVA - can the girl strike a pose or what?!

Please slide over and vote for Sissy!   Voting in the Hound Dawg category of Mango Minister closes at 5pm EST on February 1.  Our good friend Tsar already won his class and is headed to best of show, so Sissy will be crushed if she doesn’t join him.

That’s more than 12″ of snow, no matter what the local news is reporting.  Those are rather standard wrought iron chairs, and as you can see, the bottom of the curled edge is touching the top of the snow, just barely.  I measured right at 15″, no drifting.

Gretchen also has decided that snow is kinda’ fun after all.  She chose this frigid weekend to show of her determined terrier spunk too; she opted out of wearing a sweater when it stopped snowing, as you can see her.  However, she did get too cold a few times and then flatly refused to follow Sissy outside.  If Sis stayed out for more than a couple of minutes, Gretchen would ask for a sweater and then head out to join her sister. 

So, that was my weekend.  We had no power for more than eight hours yesterday.  For a country girl, I have become shamefully dependent upon my creature comforts.  The woodstove cannot be called into service, because neither it nor the chimney have been cleaned or inspected for several years.  I was afraid to use my Blackberry for email, because I only had about a half life on my battery, and I wasn’t sure how long the power would be out…

How was your weekend?  What’s ahead for your week?  Me?  Snow again tomorrow and another significant storm for the weekend.  Our driveway never got plowed, so I’m riding around with the Knight when I do venture out.

Gretchen saw her shadow yesterday, and she’s worried about Phil and his shadow tomorrow.  Personally, I’m wondering when Virginia became part of New England?

The Great Thaw

We’re thawing out around here.  Our road was finally plowed, sometime between getting home yesterday and leaving for work this morning.  You don’t need photos of snow melting, but trust me…  it’s not as pretty as fresh-fallen snow.

Now, before the week gets totally away from us, we need to jump back to Friday morning.   I was expecting a special package from Anita, and showed up well before the snow.

That’s my most-special lazy kate, hand-crafted and designed by Anita and her DEAR husband.  It arrived unfinished, so I still need to pull out the wax and rub it down, to match my Siren (my spinning wheel).  Of course, ‘Nita’s Sissymonster knew her favorite auntie had last touched the pressie, and she was trying to figure out how THAT works, when ‘Nita was nowhere to be found…  (Yeah, that’s a shadow from my hand in front of the flash on Sissy’s neck.  I told you yesterday that I don’t do well with indoor photos.)

Since I have a lovely, diverse group of readers…  A lazy kate holds bobbins (the rather spool-looking things on a wheel that hold the yarn?), and Anita and her dearest designed this one specifically for our long, big, fat Heavenly Handspinning bobbins.  Anita and I also find plying easier when the bobbins are horizontal, so there you – er, I? – go!!  (That’s a shot of the top rod, showing how they slide out easily.)

But wait!  There’s more!   I also have the proto-type for the clever-crafty-couple’s first yarn yardage measurer.   I started to edit and crop this photo too, but then Anita couldn’t see wee Gretchie sniffing and missing her too.  No, it’s not assembled yet, but that basic line counter goes on the bottom of that piece hanging on the right, and then the yarn is tensioned around the rods, and you have a measuring tool to figure out how much yarn you’ve spun!

Neither Anita nor I had accurate results the first time we tried using a fishing line counter as a yarn measurer, but we learned it was faulty tensioning, not a bad concept, so this little jobby will take care of that.

Then, I arrived home to find snow already sticking to everything in sight, but there was also another very special box on the front porch.  Sue and her pack sent some very special presents indeed, and what with the shower of gifts and snow, my Christmas spirit soared!

Doesn’t that look JUST LIKE my Mooo?!   Sue really is quite a talented stitcher, and I’m a bit jealous that she can finish her own works into pillows.  When I was doing cross stitch, I had to pay a seamstress to finish mine or just do wall hangings, which I could manage on my own.  (No sewing required…)

These photos REALLY don’t do these beautiful pillows justice.  Doesn’t this one capture Gretchen’s adorable little “let’s play!” pose well!?  I am still trying to find a safe,  happy spot for these pillows in our home.  The girls are fascinated by them too, so it has to be a home high, high up, where Sissy’s slobber can’t reach them. 

Sue, I simply cannot thank you enough for your perfect gifts.  They truly are heirloom treasures, but I also can’t stand to have them out of my sight, so I look forward to finding them just the right home.  Together, you, Anita and the snow brought Christmas to my heart this year.  I am blessed beyond measure with dear, talented friends!

And no, I’m not going to ask if you’re ready.  I’m not, but tomorrow is Christmas Eve anyway, and somehow, it will all come together well enough and it will be Christmas… ready or not.

Peaks and Valleys

Someone reminded me earlier this month that without valleys, the highs wouldn’t be so special.  We’ve been on quite a ride since Friday, and I had hoped to get photos of the incredible gifts I received on Friday, but… 

I like natural light photos.  It’s rather impossible to get them right now.  Add in a field trip to the city yesterday that took SO MUCH longer than expected, and I’m sitting here at work this morning, and… maybe it’ll be decent when I get home and I can take a few photos of the very special, hand-crafted gifts that restored my Christmas spirit.

In the meantime, I did find the photo of Sis with snow on her nose.  This monster monitor I got at work earlier this month makes a difference!  Isn’t she a hoot?!  Crazy, beautiful dog…

Now, I want to share a few of the peaks and valleys with you.  Some are too personal, so I ask for prayers and good vibes for two dear men I’ve known all of my life who are struggling.  One in hospitalized, but I’m counting a peak…  Yesterday, I feared we’d have a VERY painful Christmas funeral to face and a life-long  friend to hold up, but the news is much brighter this morning.

I don’t think I need to explain that dogs are to me what children are to most people.  So when a friend’s dog is ill or worse, I hurt with them.  I cried so hard while reading Yvonne’s tribute to Beau last night that both of my girls climbed into my lap (no, Sissy doesn’t really fit but that doesn’t stop her) and licked me until I couldn’t help but laugh… which made me hurt all the more for Yvonne and her pack. 

Mugsy & Sissy, January 2008

I guess this is where I confess that part of the reason there was so much snow on the deck when I let the girls out when I got home is I had a little moment in the driveway Friday evening.  Mugsy and Fred LOVED snow, and it hit me like a ton of bricks when I spoke to them as I was getting all of my goodies out of the car.  The love of a good dog is something you just can’t get over when they’re gone, no matter how loving, beautiful and sweet the other dogs in your life might be.

That’s the best photo of my first NH Knitting Mama yarn.  Why am I flashing that?  Well, because she’s having a contest!   If you haven’t tried Amanda’s yarns, this is a great time.  Personally, I want to win, but if not me, then at least one of you.  Be sure to tell her I sent you!

Last, but hardly least, I was especially honored to find myself on Louise’s “silver” list.   If you haven’t put her Months of Edible Celebrations in your blog reader, favorites or whatever you use to keep up with the blogs you simply have to read, you’re missing out.   If you eat, you’ll enjoy her blog.  If you like food history, you’ll love it!  I met Louise through Marjie, and we hit it off right away.  Isn’t it sweet when you meet someone who shares some of your interests that the people in your day-to-day life think are weird?  I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who reads cookbooks like novels, or who enjoys a little history mystery…  Thank you Louise, for a delightful, insightful blog, for your friendship and for honoring me on your blog!

Wishing you more peaks than valleys, although a nice blanket of snow with some drifting does kinda’ even them out a bit…