Dogs on Thursday

For this week's Dogs on Thursday, Emma, Tara and Cooper would like to introduce their new brother.
Isn't he a cutie? He is a baby Canada Goose and his name is Bob. I don't know why, he just looked like a Bob. His incredibly stupid momma goose built her nest on the roof of the Stained Glass Studio at work. Yes, just like this family from a few weeks ago. Fortunately, the roof of the Stained Glass Studio is only something like 7 or 8 feet off the ground, as opposed to the museum's sky-high roof. Stupid, stupid geese!

Anyway, the rest of Bob's brothers and sisters made it off the roof just fine, but Bobby Boy jumped off onto the asphalt walkway. He was found belly-up, and unable to walk, but alive this morning. Who do they call? The crazy goose lady. After making sure that there was no way he would survive on his own (his momma, daddy and siblings left him...LEFT HIM! Stupid geese), I bundled him up and brought him back to the museum and put a little bit of water in one of our wash tubs for him.
He perked up, and started to put some weight on his foot. I think his right leg is sprained, but not broken. That's my opinion as a crazy goose lady with no medical training whatsoever. The way I see it, I had no choice other than to take him home and nurse him back to health. I know I can't keep him forever (yes I can) and am only planning on getting him healthy and then setting him free (no I'm not). I think once he is walking around on his foot, he will be able to join one of the geese families in the lake at work. (No he won't. He is mine, all mine, forever and ever.)

Here he is bundled up in a towel, riding comfortably in my car. We made a few stops, and he was a very well behaved little goose in the stores. Hey, I needed goose food and a baby pool, and I was NOT going to leave Bob in the car...

I also bought a bucket to make it easier to carry Bob around without drawing so much attention to the fact that I am walking around with a baby goose. The first residents of Britknitterville to welcome Bob were the neighbor's chickens.
That is as close as the chickens came to the bucket. When they realized it wasn't something for them to eat, they wandered off. Fickle chickens...

Here is Bob enjoying a little time in the sun.
When my sister came home, she helped me carry the baby pool closer to the house so that Emma, Tara and Cooper could give their new brother a proper welcome.
Tara says "Hmmmm, I'm feeling a bit hungry. Oh, I can't eat him, mommy? OK, then I'll take a cookie instead."
Emma, however, said, "You go ahead and get a cookie...I'm gettin' me some GOOSE!"
She just wanted to give him a kiss!
We thought it would be a good idea to get Bob out of Emma's thoughts, so we took him for a ride to Fortescue. He liked his first trip to the beach!
On the way home we stopped at mom and dad's house to introduce them to their new grandson. Bessie liked meeting her new little cousin.
Dad said, "You know you are going to be labeled certifiably insane, don't you?"

My sister, always helpful and supportive, said "Well, it's really more like a re-certification."

Har-de-har-har. Funny, funny people in this family of mine...

It's been a while...

What has come and gone in the two weeks or so since I last posted? Christmas, New Year's, Sophia's christening, a couple of Dogs on Thursdays, snow (and then more snow), ice, lots of knitting, lots of worrying, which leads to more knitting, knitting, knitting. Not much blog reading, though, and my "Google Reader" is at a new record high (for me) of unread posts. Must get caught up...one of these days.

Anyway, I managed to finish my Christmas knitting in time for New Year's. Heh. Here is Emma helping me take a picture of the three baby dolls I made for my nieces & my mom. Yes, one is for mom. She fell in love with the first baby doll I made, so I surprised her with one, too.

This picture is from Christmas Eve at mom and dad's house. Bessie was more interested in the wrapping than in her presents. Typical cat!

This is mom and dad on New Year's Day. Mom is holding her newest (honorary) granddaughter, Sophia. Pay no attention to my messy knitting corner in the background.

I don't have any pictures of Sophia's christening because I operated the video camera. Sophia's big brothers (7 and 5 years old) both had a part in the ceremony, while her big sister (2 years old) sat quietly munching on a bag of mini marshmallows. Not her usual snack, but she was having a melt-down in the church, and "any port in a storm," right?

Next the snow, snow, snow. And ice, and more snow, snow snow. Hate it. Hate it all. Enough said.
Now for Dogs on Thursdays... all of the brits are doing just fine, after a couple of trips to the vet.

Tara broke a nail on the frozen ground late Monday night. Blood everywhere. Everywhere! During a semi-frantic call to the Nanny early Tuesday morning, she told me to just head into the vet without an appointment and Dr. WonderVet would see her right away. God bless my the WonderVet, and the Nanny! After a needle in the butt and 10 days of antibiotics, Tara is doing just fine.
When I got Tara home, it was too late to head into work, so I stayed home on Tuesday and got some chores done...and watched Emma limping around. Yes, Emma hurt her leg last Sunday by jumping off of the sofa, and had been limping off and on, so I called the WonderVet and asked if I could impose on them without an appointment twice in one day!
Emma didn't limp at the vet, of course, but Dr. WonderVet said it's not uncommon for the adrenaline to take over and negate the pain. Anyway, she is on Rimadyl for a week, and will have X-rays next week if that doesn't help. So far, both girls are doing just fine.

As far as the worrying, I'm a natural worrier, and someday hope to get a gold medal in the Worrying Olympics. The only way to do that is to practice, practice, practice, and family and friends have graciously provided me with new and dizzying things to worry about. At least I have my knitting to help me through. That is, until yesterday when I closed my finger in a door. No knitting for a while. Back to full-time worrying.

I'm a New Mom!

Well, technically, I'm just chick-sitting for family members who are on vacation this week, but I'm choosing to ignore that fact right now. Just look at these little sweeties!

Three Rhode Island Reds and three Buff Orpingtons. You might ask how they are getting along with Emma, Tara and Cooper, since Brittanys are bird dogs, but the dogs are choosing to ignore the fact that there are chickens in the bathroom. I'm not taking any chances on the bathroom door being ripped from its hinges while I'm at work, so guess who is coming to work with their new mommy. Of course, every morning on the way to work I stop at mom and dad's house, so the chickies came along and met their new cousin, Bessie.

I took some video of Bessie's first encounter with her cousins:
Then it was off to work, and I found a perfect little spot for the new chickies in a corner of the library.

Yup, they're working girls! Look how nicely they are settling in.

Hey, who is that extra chicken in there? It's Babs! The wonderful and quirky Babs from the movie Chicken Run! Haven't seen the movie? Rent it today! It's fabulous!!! I leave you with a final video of the chickies meeting their new friend Babs. Enjoy!

Quick Mom Update

Just a quickie - Mom is still in the hospital, but is hoping to, or should I say planning on coming home tomorrow. The UTI turned out to be resistant to the original antibiotic, so she was given another one today, and an MRI is scheduled for tomorrow. After that, she will be heading home. It's a good thing Miss Bessie has been keeping her mommy's chair warm.

More Bessie, and finally some knitting!

First, the boring stuff - knitting. This is the Hearts and Stars Blanket from the book "Adorable Knits for Tots" by Zoe Mellor. (Ravelry link) It was an easy knit, but you have to keep referring to the chart for almost every row, so not a "mindless" knit. It's for a woman at work who is having her first baby--due next month.

A detail shot:

And a pair of socks. This was the first time I used this pattern, and I think I'm in love! The pattern is Charade by Sandra Park of the "I May Be Knitting A Ranch House" blog. (Another Ravelry link...if you're not already on Ravelry, what's keeping you?)
It's just a two row repeat, so it definitely qualifies as a mindless knit. For this pair, I went by the instructions as written, but I'll made a few modifications next time. When will that be? I already have two more socks in this pattern on the needles! Love this pattern---really, really love it!

Now, for everyone who hung in there through talk of baby blankets and socks, Here are some pictures of Mom and Dad's new kitty, Miss Bessie. It's been a long time since there has been a kitten in the family, and you forget how adorable they are, and how much energy they have!

Case in point - do you see that barrier in this picture?
Dad made that so that Bessie would be confined to the kitchen until she learned how to use the litter pan. Yes, I know that cats automatically just know where they should do their business, but try telling Dad... He wanted to make extra certain that she would know where she was supposed to attend to any and all bodily functions, so he even put her name on the litter box.Gotta love him, right? Anyway, Dad made a very nice barrier to span the extra-long doorway, and even put a nifty handle on it to make it easier to move around. It's, I don't know, a foot tall? Maybe 18 inches? I tried to gently suggest that perhaps an energetic kitten might not be confined by this barrier. I might have gone so far as to say "there ain't no freakin' way" and rolled on the floor laughing. Sure enough, the next day Bessie was over that thing like it wasn't even there.Bessie says "Daddy, next time try to make something a little more challenging for me to climb."

Cuteness Alert

DSCF1617
Originally uploaded by Brit Knitter

Announcing the arrival of Miss Bessie! Mom and Dad picked up their new little one, and she is a charmer for sure!

Getting Ready for Baby

Not me! No sir-eee, no! It just so happens that mom and dad are getting ready to welcome a new addition. Here's a hint:


That is a freakin' huge cat-scratch-jungle-gym-thing-a-ma-bob. It's seriously enormous! You might ask where one could purchase such a fine piece of cat furniture, but this one was hand made, with love, by the new daddy-to-be. Here's a picture of dad playing with one of the toys, err, testing the structural integrity of the supports. Yea, that's the ticket. He was testing it. Not playing. Nope. Not him.

The new kitty won't be 9 weeks old until next Thursday, so there is still a little over a week until the big day. In the meantime, mom hung this picture on their refrigerator.

In case you can't read the writing, it says "Miss Bessie 6 weeks old". She is a Bengal Snow cat. or maybe it's Snow Bengal. I'm not sure. I just know that she has already brought joy to my mom who has been missing her sweet Sara very much.