An Emma update

Well, Emma ended up staying overnight at the animal hospital because the vet insisted that she stay.  I picked her up yesterday afternoon and she is a sad little dog; this snakebite was much more serious than the last one.  She has a lot of swelling on her right side from the snake venom.  The vet shaved a patch of hair off on both her front legs to run IV lines, so she looks a bit funny.  She will get over it, but it will take a few days. 

The swelling has gone down a bit this morning, but she is still lethargic and wants to be where I am.  I was going to go to town today to run errands, but I think I'll stay home and keep an eye on her (and hopefully stitch some).  Here she is with her shaved legs and looking sad.

And no, I haven't stitched much this week.  The confetti stitches are driving me nuts, so I think I'll move over to a page with large blocks of color and stitch there for awhile.

This weekend, if all goes well, DH should be able to get the water supply run to the bathroom from the main, and we will hopefully be closer to getting the bathroom done!

And if it gets here as promised, I will be switching over to a Mac computer this weekend.  I have had nothing but problems with my less-than-a-year-old Dell.  I researched Dell quite a lot before I "splurged" on a Dell computer and I know a lot of people swear by them.  I have not had a good experience with them and have decided to go with a Mac.  It seems with PCs, it's always something.

Winter...

...is happening somewhere else today. It's in the 70's and I'm running around in shorts, a t-shirt, and no shoes. I'm a happy camper.

I finished the never-ending border on the BAP. I'll post a picture tomorrow.

This afternoon I had to give Emma a bath as she was exuding an odor somewhat like funky socks that a teenage boy had worn at summer camp in south Texas in August for five days in a row.

There are two kinds of Jack Russell terriers - those with smooth coats and those with rough coats. Emma is a rough coat. She has an outer coat of longish hair and an undercoat of denser fur. We leave her hair long in the winter, but it sure makes getting her dry a pain. When she gets a haircut, she ends up looking like a smooth coat Jack Russell terrier.

Both kinds of Jacks shed like mad. After I get her as towel-dried as I can, I take her outside and brush her. This gets a lot of loose hair off her (and usually onto me!). I brush her hair against the grain to help dry the undercoat. She doesn't mind at all. She does look pretty after a bath and brushing. For a while.

What, you don't have a pile of construction stuff and boxes of shotgun shells by your front door? Why not?! (And while the shells may be by the front door, the guns themselves are under lock and key.)

Copyrights and Wrongs

I'm one of those people who won't knowingly violate a copyright when it comes to cross stitching patterns (or any other printed media for that matter). Yes, I do make working copies of patterns when I am stitching them, but the copies get run through the shredder when I'm finished stitching from them.

Don't ask me for a copy of one of my patterns; I won't give it to you. Don't offer to give me a copy of one of your patterns if I express appreciation or desire for it; I won't accept it. Even if it means that I have to spend exorbitant funds on eBay to get a legal copy. If you give me a copy of something and I discover later that it is illegal, I'll run it through my shredder.

If something is out of print (OOP), this is not an excuse to make copies. I won't even try to rationalize that copying is okay because the pattern is no longer in print. Copyright laws still apply! I'll spend my money on eBay or peruse garage sales and thrift shops in search of OOP patterns I'm wanting.

Today, I was reading a cross stitch message board and noticed a post from a designer. She had discovered a picture of a finished project on a blog stitched from one of her patterns that has not been released to the public yet!

The designer had posted a picture of the pattern on her website, and this thieving blogger had made an illegal pattern from the picture! The thieving blogger had then given the pattern to her friends and posted it on a disreputable message board for further distribution!! And she bragged about it!!!

The post also included information about how some designers had backed off from the business due to losing money from copyright infringement. ACK!!

If you aren't sure about copyrights yourself, read this article about "Copyright Basics" from Yarn Tree.

Now, on a lighter note, here is Emma desperately begging (albeit mostly politely) for a chip from DH as he eats his "watching football snack" of chips and hot sauce.

A great Saturday

Yesterday was a great day. I went to Austin for the IH35 Stitchtogether and had a great time! We were missing a few folks, but hope to see them next month.

We had a great time talking and stitching (and frogging). We were having so much fun that I forgot to do my ornament finishing demonstration! Oh well. I can do it next month.

DH was already sitting in the woods in his tree stand when I left, having gone out at about 4:45 a.m. As dawn broke, he reported seeing many deer near his feeder. He was about to draw back and take a shot when something spooked the deer and they all jumped and ran off. So no meat for the freezer during the morning hunt.

As I left Austin, I called DH and he was already in the tree stand for an evening hunt and it was starting to rain. I reported that there was no rain in Austin. However, as I neared Bastrop, it began raining like crazy and for the rest of the drive home, my wipers were on full blast. But I made it safely home (and saw three wrecks on the way). DH gave up on hunting after I spoke to him as it began raining too much for him to see to shoot. So no meat for the freezer during the evening hunt. Maybe next weekend.

I had some leftover cake from the Stitchtogether and gave DH a piece. Emma thought she should have some, too. (Here's another Emma picture for you, Gloria!)

Hurling

Emma has to get in a bit of hurling at least twice a day. She loves to chase her tennis ball (and has the teeth to show it, according to the vet).

"Hurry up and throw it!"

"Here it is; throw it again!"

I'm off to Austin tomorrow for the IH35 Stitchtogether. I'm looking forward to it. I'm taking "A Texas Garden" and hope to get it finished. It should be a fun day of fellowship and stitching!

DH is scurrying around getting ready to go hunting tomorrow as it's the opening day of bowhunting season. He is getting up at 4:30 a.m. so he can get out to his tree stand before the sun comes up. I am NOT getting up at 4:30 a.m.; I have better sense. But hopefully, when I get back from Austin, there will be new meat for my freezer!

If you give a dog a Milk-Bone...

...after her bath for being a good dog during her bath, she will go outside in the rain and bury it in the dirt.

"I'm not looking at you; you can't see me."

"What dirt?"

WIP and Emma's new teddy

No, not that kind of teddy. Y'all get your minds out of the gutter. Geesh. I had to run by Hobby Lobby today to pick up a couple of things, so I went next door to Petco to get Emma a new toy. The stuffing was finally coming out of Kitty, so she was "retired" to the trash can.

I swear, I don't know how she knows, but Emma ALWAYS knows when there is a new toy for her in the shopping sacks. She's been carrying Teddy around all afternoon (while squeaking him endlessly) and is reluctant to put him down.

Here is a picture of my WIP, "The Alamo" by Art Ventures. It actually looks like the Alamo now.

Leaves of three...

We had grand plans for this weekend. Billy was supposed to come out Friday and he and DH were going to finish the trim painting on the addition. It didn't happen.

Last week, DH happily put up his new tree stand. He did not plan ahead and go out and kill the poison ivy growing on and around his preferred tree with Round Up a couple of weeks before putting up the stand (like his wife counseled him to do). He wound up with a raging case of poison ivy and had to go to the doctor for a shot and a round of Prednisone, in addition to the topical treatments he was already using.

Due to the poison ivy, DH did not want to do anything outside in the heat - understandable - so he canceled having Billy come out. So then he was going to work on the new bathroom in the house out of the heat. But the Prednisone made him feel bad. So that didn't happen either.

He did rally enough to take me into town for some Shakes frozen custard.

And he did throw the ball for Emma. Here is her reaction when asked, "Do you want to throw your ball?"

Here she is waiting for DH to pick up the ball with the Chuck-It and throw it. The Chuck-It is a handy-dandy invention that grabs the ball so you can throw it without getting dog slobber all over your hands.

Happy Fourth of July!

Emma's adventure

Late last night Emma was after something under the house and the something got her on the muzzle near her nose. We can only surmise that it was not a poisonous snake as she is still living. We have no idea what it was, and DH - wisely - chose not to go spelunking under the house to find out.

Her muzzle started swelling and she was in a lot of pain. So after calling the vet, we made a trip in for the emergency. Our vet clinic is staffed by three vets and one is always on site 24/7 along with a staff member. The vet looked her over, gave her three injections and then sent us home with two bottle of pills; antibiotics and pain/inflammation medications. He found a couple of puncture wounds on her muzzle.

We all ended up going to bed way past our bedtime.

Today she is not a happy dog. Her muzzle and neck are swollen and the punctures are oozy (which the vet said is normal). But she is drinking okay and eating a bit. She still wants to play with her tennis ball - she likes to chase it in the yard - but only for two or three throws. Of course, she decided to do this right before we go up to Dallas for the weekend to visit relatives. Oh well. She'll get pampered more than usual by them all.

I doubt this will keep her from further chasing of critters under the house. Once a terrier, always a terrier. Silly dog.

I am stitching today, and here is my progress. It's the center of the Alamo (like you can tell). The pattern is by Art Ventures and 123 Stitch has it. I got my copy back in the early 90's during a Hobby Lobby clearance sale. I was a beginning stitcher back then and was a bit skeered of all the color changes, but I liked the pattern.

My folks are celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this weekend. I stitched them something and was going to frame it, but decided instead to make a scrapbook page and then give them a scrapbook for photos of the event. My mom is a big picture taker. It's straight on the page; my picture is wonky.

So, don't expect me back until next week. I may post tomorrow if I have time with all the pre-trip hoopla.

A finish, a WIP, and a purple puppy

I had a great time Saturday at the monthly IH35 Stitchtogether. We had a good group with two new folks, one of whom was stitching a HAED over one! There were a lot of show-n-tell projects to look at, along with "lookie-what-I-got-at-stitch-camp" stuff to see, too. And of course, there was food!

We took Emma with us to Austin. The day was cool enough in the morning for DH to make his trek to Cabela's to look at man toys. Emma was fine waiting in the car. Afterwards, they went for a walk along the river in downtown Austin. DH says Emma had a grand time, and he had fun people-watching all the "unique" people. Once back at the library, Emma enjoyed the attention from all her "stitching aunties."

Gloria brought Emma a new toy. She loves it and has not yet killed the squeaker in it. She doesn't try to remove squeakers; she just squeaks them to death. She's been carrying it around all weekend and takes it with her to her food bowl when she eats. She's a silly dog. Her favorite toys - Froggie and Kitty, and now Purple Puppy - must be near her food bowl while she eats. Here's Emma with Purple Puppy perching behind DH's legs on the sofa.

I stitched a lot on my Santa on Saturday, but ended up finishing him yesterday afternoon. Whee-e-o! Now I am stitching on a little Shepherd's Bush Halloween kit that I got at the stitching retreat last weekend. It'll be a quick stitch and I'm halfway done with it already. I'm not big into Halloween, but this was kind of cute.

We have a softball tournament tonight. The weather will be cold and blustery. Yippee. We ended our spring season with a two out of eight record. Yep, we're a Charlie Brown kind of team (but we have a lot of fun). Summer ball starts up in late May.

And I have really come to loathe and despise the concrete countertops and the porcelain sink in my kitchen. The countertop is higher than normal (I'm vertically challenged anyway), and the sink is very deep and doesn't drain well because it is not set right. But mainly I hate them because if you drop something on either of them, it will break. I bought two new sets of glassware when we moved in last September. Our old sets were 20 years old and hard water etched. Anyway, I have half of one set left due to breakage, and I broke a glass from the other set last night. I am not happy. *sigh*

Couch destroyer

Our dog, Emma, loves to sleep on our couch. She loves to sleep on all parts of the couch. On top of the back cushions. On the seat portion. All over. We keep a pet throw on it to protect it from dirt and dog hair. It looks nice and neat about once a day right after we straighten it and the couch cushions. Most other times, it looks like this (with small dog included).

A cloudy Tuesday

Well, it's still cloudy and raining here. The bump/hump on our driveway has become a car trap again. We parked the car/truck down past the danger zone and have to hike down to them in the mud and rain. It beats paying for a tow truck.

We had the bulldozer guy out this weekend to take a look and give us a bid on fixing the bump/hump. We are awaiting his bid. He concurred that the bump/hump was made of "Texas white clay that gets slicker than snot" when rained on. Yeah, we knew that.

Apparently, the locals all know about "that driveway" to our house. Even though many of them thought of buying this property/house for a weekend hunting cabin, none were willing to take on "that driveway." Our neighbor with the cows told us this. We figure the driveway problems are a fair exchange for the peace, quiet, and privacy.

DH (Texas Tech Class of '83) was able to "nest" in his shop last night. He made a start in getting it organized in preparation for getting all of his tools out of the den.

We closed on our house in May, had the shop built in early June, and then worked out here all summer, moving in on August 31st. When we first got the shop, we were moving shop loads out here as we were able and just chucking them in the shop. As DH did demolition on the house, he was also saving usable wood and cabinets. At one point in July, I spent an entire day organizing DH's shop just so we'd have room to move around and to store more stuff. As we moved more stuff in, that organization was lost. So, DH is (FINALLY!) starting to get it organized. Frankly, I don't care how he organizes it as long as he GETS HIS STUFF OUT OF MY DEN!

I was in a grumpy mood yesterday. So instead of doing more caulking as I couldn't see well in the gloomy and rainy daydark, I plunked my backside down and stitched the afternoon away. I am SO CLOSE to finishing my WIP! I just have fill-in left to do at the edge and top of the banding. I will post a picture as soon as I get more camera batteries.

As I have no camera batteries for new pictures, I will leave you with an older picture of Emma.

Please fence me in

Everyone that knows us knows that DH and I are tightwads. But sometimes, you just have to spend money to save money in the long run.

Our house came with a 84' x 95' square fence around the house. It is made of old oil well drilling pipe (which will last for centuries) that has been welded together and has 4' x 20' hog panels spot-welded to it. It is an extremely durable and long-lasting fence. There's just one problem. Hog panel comes in two mesh sizes. Ours is 8" x 6" and our little dog can scamper right through it. Not good. We're not the kind of country living pet owners who allow their dogs to run free. Ain't happening. I guess we could get a bigger dog, but we're rather attached to our small one.

So DH and I began investigating and mulling over ways to make the fence Emma-proof. We considered chicken wiring the bottom half. Very cost effective, really ugly, very hard to weed-eat around. We considered replacing all the hog panel with regular chain-link fencing. Fairly expensive and it won't fit the dimensions of the drill pipe fencing frame. We considered an electric fence charger. Not really cost-effective or viable due to the number of gates (4) in the fence. We considered horse panels. Cost effective, but ugly. Then we discovered the smaller mesh (4" x 4") hog panels. Not cheap, but much better looking and it will last forever. DH has a friend who will weld the new panels on once we get the old panels off.

It will make Emma very happy to have access to the yard again. She is used to having a dog door that she can go in and out of at will. Since we've been here, she's pretty much had to stay in the house except for when we let her out and closely supervise her. She does not come when called reliably off leash - typical of terriers.

Here is a picture of the fence. This was taken before we did any work on the house.

Here is Emma napping in her most lady-like pose. Not.

What do you do when Ike visits?

Hurricane Ike is visiting the coast of Texas and is also visiting us here in central Texas. It's been raining all day and the winds are very blustery. We still have power and water, and no tree limbs down. DH and I hope that if a tree does decide to fall on the house, that it picks the unrenovated side to fall on. *grin*

DH is busy putting up trim molding in the bedroom around the doors and the rest of the floor, and Emma is supervising. Actually, she hates the pneumatic nail gun DH uses. Every time he fires it off, she flinches. If he is working close to the floor, she will come over and try to nibble it. Silly dog.

My upcoming Labor Day weekend

Tonight I have to disassemble and pack up my computer, and I won't be back on until Tuesday. I'll be too busy to go through computer withdrawal, thankfully. This is our twelfth move in 20 years of marriage. Hopefully, it will be our last for a LOOOOONG time!

I'll leave you with a picture of our dog, Emma. She is "killing" her favorite stuffed toy - a frog that croaks - by tearing the stuffing out of it. She allows Froggie to "live" for around six months, and then all of a sudden, she'll completely gut him and then I have to make a trip to Petco to get her another one. Silly dog.

Freshly decanted kibble!

Emma was out of dog food and DH poured the new bag of food into the airtight container. We call this The Decanting of the Kibble. Emma gets very excited and loves to try and eat as much as she can as it pours out of the bag. Maybe it tastes better, who knows? This ritual never ceases to amuse her humans!

A hole 'nother obsession

If you've ever owned any breed of terrier, you know how obsessive they can get over something. They can be very dogmatic. VERY dogmatic.

Our new house previously had propane space heaters, and there is a hole left in the den floor where the piping used to be. Our dog, Emma, is convinced there is something worthy lurking down there. She will stuff her nose in the hole and sniff deeply repeatedly.

After the repeated sniffing, she will then stand motionless with her head cocked and ears listening hard, watching for "something" to emerge from the hole. Nothing ever does. It never ceases to amuse her humans.

Yeehaw! We're "home-moaners" again!

Surprisingly, the closing on our house went off yesterday without a single hitch. Perhaps it's because none of the bank monkeys were in attendance. As DH likes to say, "We're 'home-moaners' again!" It was sad saying goodbye to our realtor as we've been "together" for nearly a year and a half. On the other hand, the poor man might've been glad to at long last get rid of us!

I haven't put a single stitch in my current WIP in three days, so I haven't any progress to show or report. So, I'll post another picture of Emma. This one is of her and my DH loafing on the couch together.

No miracles today

'Round lunchtime yesterday, DH got a call from the mathematically-challenged bank loan officer. Guess what? Yep, the closing was moved back to Friday because the bank lawyer "didn't get around to reading and approving the legal description." Geesh. Bank monkeys and lawyers - what a combination.

Here is a picture of Emma lying on the back of our sofa. She seems to be saying, "You're kidding, right?" and it makes me smile.

A crusty situation

Yes, I know this is "mostly" a stitching blog. I promise to post a picture of my February boot tomorrow as I should be able to get a lot of stitching done tonight. But today I'm posting another picture of my cute and goofy dog.

I had leftover pizza for lunch. Emma loves pizza crusts. We usually only give her a tiny bite which she gobbles down immediately. Occasionally, it's fun to give her a whole piece-of-pizza crust. She is always puzzled about what to do with it. She wanders around with it in her mouth all around the house looking for a "safe" place to hide it. She will try to "bury" it on the couch under a cushion. She will then rescue it and try to "bury" it on her dog bed. Eventually, she will really bury it outside. At some point during the day, she will come prancing into the house with a dirt-covered crust. I will take it from her and wash it off, and then she'll settle down and eat it. Silly jert.