Those Pesky Birds are Bothering My Dogs on Thursday!

Happy Dogs on Thursday, everyone! This DOT post is brought to you by those idiotic, bird-brained (hah!) Mourning Doves that insist on building a nest in this tree year after year.


That is a big pine tree right at the bottom of the steps that lead into the backyard. Who uses these steps countless times a day (and night)?
Emma and Tara, the Brittanys from Brit Knitter-ville. What are Brittanys? BIRD DOGS! Stupid Mourning Doves. They are "stupid" with two "o"s! The inevitable happened (again) this year, with a baby bird falling out of its nest the other day.

I was running around like crazy trying to keep the dogs away from the area while looking for a safe place for the dumb bird. Of course, I ran into the house to get my camera. (This is great blog fodder!) With very little time before I had to leave for work, I settled the bird in a nice quiet spot under the rabbit pen, about 12 feet from the tree, but on the outside of the fenced in yard. (Stupid bird.) That way, his momma would hopefully find him. (Stupid bird.)

My sister came home from work that night, and found the little critter, and pointed out to me that the straw under the rabbit pen is a favorite hang-out of this big boy:

That is Joseph-the-Stray-Cat doing his famous impression of a Buddha. Frankly, I'm surprised the (stupid) bird survived the day while I was at work. Joseph must be a little off of his game. Anyway, we decided to put the (stupid) bird into an old hanging planter lined with pine needles... and hang it in the tree, close to his original nest.I figured that was the most we could do, since we couldn't get high enough into the tree to put him back in his nest, and the (stupid) bird would probably fall out again, anyway. Sure, I could have taken him in the house and kept him in a shoebox lined with strips of flannel and fed him every hour through an eye dropper, and nursed him back to health. As much as I hate to admit it, I was just not going to do it. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for protecting the fellow inhabitants of our planet. I would never intentionally harm (much less eat) one. I'll put forth a reasonable amount of effort to save a little helpless creature, but this is a (stupid) bird we're talking about here. A Mourning Dove, no less, and it is a well-known fact that of all of the wild birds out there, the Mourning Dove is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, so to speak.

Well, since we put the little fella in the planter and hung it in the tree on Tuesday night, I've been wondering how he is doing. I mean, he could starve to death or dehydrate or something if his momma doesn't find him. What about snakes? What about squirrels? They would probably think that my sweet little baby Dudley the Dovey (that's his name) is a tasty treat! Well, I can't honestly say I have lost any sleep over Dudley, but I have been wondering if he is OK. Today when I went home at lunchtime to let the dogs out, I checked on the planter, and look what I found:

That thing that you can't tell what it is, is Dudley's momma's tail! She found her little boy, and is taking very good care of him. What a relief!

(Now what am I going to do with the shoe box lined with flannel strips and an eye dropper?)

Baby Dolls!

Baby Doll Sheep, that is!


Aren't they just the cutest little things? From this article, I found out that they are a variety of Southdown sheep, bred for their small size and cuteness.

No, they're not mine--they are my niece's. From left to right, here is Bob (8 weeks old), Arthur (12 weeks old), Olivia and Mellie. I didn't ask how old the ladies are, but they're full grown!

For scale, here is a picture of Jen with the sheep - see how tiny they are?Just look at that face! I need a Babydoll sheep!
No, I don't.
Yes, I do!
No, I don't.

A Work of Art (oh yeah, Dogs on Thursday, too!)

Sock yarn has a tendency to take over my life. Well, if not my whole life, at least my craft nook. This is a picture of my former knitting storage.

Messy? Very! Everything was in a mish-mash-muddle, and I could barely open the drawers, they were so chock full of sock yarn.

I had run out of room in the armoire, and just piled shopping bags full of yarn on top of the cedar chest, and then when that became unwieldy, I set up a card table and piled more crap on top of that. Yuck.

What a mess. How did I even know what I had? You may notice that I'm writing in the past tense...that's because I have the best dad in the world. For my birthday a couple of weeks ago, he gave me a great table on wheels that I could use for my swift and yarn winder. Yay - no more card table with only three good legs that threatened to collapse every time I walked by it! What a great dad! Another example of his greatness? From time to time, he will ask "What can I do to make things better for you?" Last week I had an answer! After some discussion and sketches and many hours in his garage, this is the result:Isn't it a beauty?
That is all sock yarn in the cubby holes. My spinning accessories decorate the top and my faithful spinning wheel sits in front of the cedar chest. The Shelly Kang Mitred Square Blankie (in-progress) sits in the basket in the center of the chest, and the baskets on each side hold my home-spun yarn.
Much neater! I know exactly what I have, and isn't it a thing of beauty? A true work of art. no? Here it is with the table. Best Dad in the World!

Oh yeah, it's Thursday, so I have to mention the dogs..... Emma and Tara think they have the Best Grampa in the World! P.S. Those who guessed that the fabric in the last post is destined to become Snuggles, you're right! Of course, I'm too busy at the moment rearranging sock yarn...

Google Reader (121)

Well, I'm back in the the land of the living, and decided to get caught up on the blogs I wasn't reading all last week while I was busy vomiting. I am 121 blog posts behind in my reading. I don't think I've ever had that many unread posts. Not even half that many. I subscribe to maybe 60 or 70 blogs feeds, but comment regularly on only a dozen or more, so I'll start with them and see how long I can sit here at the computer on such a beautiful day. I had planned this week off from work a while ago, and it looks like I'll be spending a good chunk of it getting caught up on blogs, and tackling this pile:
Any ideas what that is going to be?

Dogs on Thursdayand an unwelcome visitor

Let's see, my last post was on Monday night, after coming home from dinner at mom and dad's. Sometime after midnight, I got violently ill, and have been sick ever since. Coincidence? Let's look at the facts.

1. Mom made a vegetarian lasagna for dinner.
2. Mom doesn't feel that a vegetarian diet can provide all that a body needs...mainly, meat.
3. There were things sauce that could not be identified, and I wouldn't put it past mom to have added a little meat "for our own good."
4. There was ricotta cheese in the lasagna, and mom has been known to be, shall we say flexible, with expiration dates, especially of dairy products.

Very curious.....

Just kidding, mom! You know I love you! But food poisoning did cross my mind. My dear sweet mother thinks that expiration dates are just a suggestion. She had been known to eat yogurt weeks, (WEEKS!) after the expiration date. It's a wonder any of us kids survived.

Boy, am I going to be in trouble when she reads this.

But no, I broke down and went to the doctor yesterday, and he said it was either some viral thing, or a result of this recent unwelcome visitor:

That is a Lone Star Tick. I was bitten about 10 days ago, and the incubation period is just right for him to have given me some nasty stuff. They did a blood test, but said that no matter what the results come back, to keep taking an antibiotic for three weeks.

I am now on my third day off work, and feeling terribly guilty about it because there's an event this weekend. There is no way I could come close to being helpful. I'm hoping to be able to get it together for tomorrow.

In the meantime, I've mostly been sleeping, sipping tea, and sleeping some more. Very little knitting or reading - too hard on the eyes.

Emma and Tara have been right by me all week. Such good sweet girls. Here is Emma saying "If you're just going to lie there, you might as well scratch my belly."

And here is Tara saying "Could you keep all the belly scratching to a minimum? I'm trying to concentrate on the birds and bunnies and squirrels in the yard."

Birthday Girls!

The birthday girls were up bright and early on their birthday morning. Why are they staring at me like that?

French Toast!We love french toast!
It's not an everyday thing to have such a nice breakfast here in Brit Knitter-ville. I'm lucky if I have the time to grab a bowl of cereal. Today, my sister made a special breakfast for all of the birthday girls. Yes, I had some... it's my birthday, too!

I normally don't like much of a fuss. I mean, after a certain age, it seems kind of silly. I wouldn't have said anything here, but I just got back from dinner at mom and dad's house, and I had to show you what dad did for me:

It's a table for my craft nook! He put wheels on it, so I can move it all around. Isn't he the best?

Here is a "before" shot of my impossibly messy craft nook with a wobbly card table that only has two good legs and it is constantly collapsing and spilling everything on the floor:
And this is the "after" shot.
Still messy? Yes. But look at that great table! I'm a lucky girl!

Dogs on Thursday and a Contest!

Here in BritKnitter-ville, we are getting ready for some big celebrations! First up is Mother's Day. It's a well-known fact that I have the best mom in the world, and I'm looking forward to celebrating her special day.

In addition to Mother's Day, it's also a big time for birthdays around here. My sweet Emma will be 7 years old on May 12.

Coincidentally, my much-loved and much-missed Mellie's birthday was also May 12.How about my much-loved and much-missed Katie and Scarlett? Were their birthdays May 12? Nope. May 13th! How about that?
Just look at that picture - as puppies they had such giant heads on their little bitty bodies. That picture was taken in 1991. Where does the time go?

I can't leave sweet Tara out of the celebrations, but since Tara she was picked us as a stray in Arkansas in January of 2005, we have no idea when her official birthday is. What to do? Assign her a birthday, that's what! So now, her official un-official birthday is May 12, and she will be 4 years old (plus or minus a couple of months).

Emma and Tara say "Happy Dogs on Thursday" to everyone, and please have a piece of cake on Monday for them.

Oh, I almost forgot, (Not so) Cynical Knitting Gal is having a contest! Go on over there and enter, and tell her I sent you. Treat yourself to a couple of minutes browsing around her blog and meeting her houseful of furbabies. Her golden retriever Gracie is so special, she even has her own blog. Gracie is in ongoing need of prayers, get well vibes and whatever healing thoughts you might want to send her way. Kisses to sweet, sweet Gracie from Emma and Tara!

No Sheep...No Wool...

This was the weekend of the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. What beautiful weather they had! Not too hot, not too cool, just right, Goldilocks! I didn't make it down there this year. Hopefully next year. [fingers crossed] This year, I had to work on Saturday. There was an Eco-Fair on the grounds. It was a nice event, but I would have rather been at MDS&W!

I might not have seen any sheep or wool this weekend, but I did see feathers. As I was working my way around the museum, cleaning sticky fingerprints off the glass, I saw this big guy:

He was actually pecking on the glass. I ran back to the office to get my camera, and by the time I got back, he had moved away. (It's a looooong way from this spot in the museum to the library and back!) What could have interested him so much in that particular window of the museum?

A fellow feathered friend!
I kid you not. This is one of the windows where milk glass is on display, and there are several "Hen on Nest" covered boxes. I think Mr. Goose was trying to make a friend! I guess he's not the sharpest knife in the drawer, if you get my drift.

Speaking of geese, my friend Pat spotted a goose on the roof of the museum. Again, I had to get my camera (I'm always thinking of my blog buddies!) and Pat and I went up onto the roof to investigate. At first we though these two dumb birds errr, beautiful creatures made a nest on the roof, but no, that pile of crap is just one of the roof drains. You might ask if that crap is clogging the drain... I would have to say that it is, but there is no way I was going to venture that close to the edge of the roof. I mean, get too close to the edge and that first step is a doozey!

Here is a shot of the vendors setting up for the Eco-Fair in front of the museum.
That shot was taken about a half hour before we opened. A couple of hours later, this is how it looked (from the ground).
A good time was had by all, but nary a sheep in sight. [Sigh]

Dogs (and a Turtle) on Thursday

I came home from work today, let Emma and Tara out, and they found a new friend. A turtle!


Mmmmmm, tasty!

I have no idea how Mr. Yertle the Turtle made it inside the fence. It's a chain link fence with 18" of chicken wire on the bottom which is buried into a trench in the ground. Not pretty, but it keeps the bunnies out, and my much-loved-and-much-missed Scarlett loved, loved, loved bunnies. Specifically bunny poop, but we won't go into that. Suffice it to say that we had to resort to the very attractive chicken wire. But I digress. Every year, turtles make it into the yard, and the dogs love them. Mellie (also much-loved-and-much-missed) was the best at finding them. I think she had some kind of radar.

Anyway, every year, we say we're going to keep track of how many turtles come into the yard. What better way than to number them?

Mr. Yertle the Turtle is officially number one. It's just nail polish. That won't hurt him, right? I hope I'm not being cruel to Mr. Yertle the Turtle. He didn't seem to mind. I put him in the box so the polish would dry. Also because while I was carrying him through the house looking for nail polish, he attacked me. Well, he just reached out a back leg and kind of tickled my palm, but it scared the bejeebers out of me. I almost peed my pants. I think there was some screaming involved, but since no one else was home, I can't really say. You know what they say about a tree falling in the woods when no one is around... If I let out a blood-curdling screech when no one is around, did I really make a sound?

Emma took it upon herself to guard Mr. Yertle the Turtle while the polish was drying.

She was not at all pleased when I carried him to the other side of the fence. Notice he is still in his box. I wasn't taking any chances of another turtle attack.

Here is Mr. Yertle the Turtle, about 4 feet away from where he was found, but this time he is on the outside of the fence. See the orange and white speck in the distance? That's Emma. She is still guarding him. She refuses to come into the house.

Tara came in right away when I asked if she wanted a cookie. Not Emma. I may have to resort to the L-E-A-S-H to get her in. I feel bad about it because she absolutely hates the evil leash. I call it the "Leash of Shame" because she just kind of slinks along close to the ground when she is wearing it. Poor Emma. First I take her new friend away, and then make her walk on a leash. She has such a hard life. Happy Dogs on Thursday.