Emma and the armadillo

We nearly sold Emma to the monkey house recently.  

Those of you unfamiliar with the terrier breed of dog should know that terriers are independent, single-minded, and obstinate.  Then there's the Jack Russell terrier (JRT), a small dog who thinks he is a big dog.  JRTs believe they can do anything.  And they were specifically bred to hunt underground; they follow their prey down a tunnel or dig down to them.  Keep this in mind as I spin out the tale of Emma and the armadillo.

One fine evening in the the near past (last weekend), DH and I were about ready to go to bed when Emma jumped up off her bed, barked, and ran out of the house through her dog door.  We soon heard her barking and thumping around under the house (we have a pier and beam foundation) in the crawl space, which is about 18 inches high.  We hollered at her to come and she didn't.  We hollered more.  She ignored us.

By following the sounds of the thumping noises and her barking, we determined that Emma was under the corner of the house beneath the utility room, which is under renovation.  DH has part of the flooring up to do some plumbing work, but has the hole covered with plywood.  We could hear Emma and her prey directly under the plywood, so we decided to pull up the plywood and grab her.  DH pulled up the plywood and it spooked the prey which ran over about five feet and huddled under a plumbing pipe.  Emma, of course, followed and was completely out of reach.

She resisted all our calling and cajoling.  We were able to see her by using a flashlight to see under the house from the outside, but we could not reach her.  We determined that her prey was an armadillo.  It was holed up under the plumbing pipe and curled in a ball.  It was not moving and neither was Emma, who was barking at it constantly and pawing and nibbling on it.  (Don't worry, armadillos have a tough, leathery hide which is resistant to gnawing by JRTs.)

THREE HOURS LATER, after non-stop barking and pawing, at 1:00 a.m. in the morning, Emma finally gave up and came in the house for a drink of water.  She was covered in dirt and mud and was filthy.  Her humans were not amused.  I ended up giving her a bath right then.  DH dried her off with a towel, closed her dog door, and put her to bed.  We went to bed.  

Do you know what happens to your upper lip under your nose if you rub it repeatedly on an armadillo?  You rub it raw and give yourself the neon pink upper lip effect (which is healing nicely and will soon be back to normal).  Silly dog.

LoneStar 

Moving on to 2012

Happy New Year and all that rot.  

DH and I aren't much for making a big deal out of New Year's Eve.  We don't celebrate or party.  We usually go to bed before midnight ever arrives.  This year, we were awake.  Not because we wanted to be, but because one of our nearer neighbors had their grandkids over and they shot off fireworks.  We had gone to bed and could see them from our bedroom window, and we could certainly hear the booms, so we made the best of it and enjoyed watching the fireworks from our bed.  Once they were finished, we went to sleep.

We had a nice long weekend and spent most of it puttering and piddling on those honey-do projects that seem to pile up forgotten in the wake of bigger DIY projects like "The Great Summer of '11 Kitchen Disaster."  

DH played on his tractor a lot doing tractorly things.  He crossed several niggling honey-dos off the list.  I did the same and managed to start "Crabby All Year."  We vegged out on football on Sunday and found the Cowboys disappointing.  Oh well.  Maybe next year.

And we finally burned the enormous brush pile we inherited when we bought this place three years ago.  The pile was around seven feet tall and about 14 feet square.  We've had rain lately and the county lifted the Burn Ban, so we fired it off on Saturday.  DH spent the day keeping an eye on it until it burned way down.  

It is still smoldering and DH probably won't be able to smooth it all out with the tractor until Saturday.  Don't worry.  DH has the fire area surrounded with a dike of dirt so it can't escape and burn uncontrolled.

Before

During

Burn, baby, burn!

Done but still smoldering.

LoneStar

Last finish of 2011

After stitching the reindeer ornaments for my nephews, I decided to stitch a little ornament just for me just because I wanted to.  This is "Hearts 'n' Stitches" cat from the Cross Stitch and Country Crafts Dec. '00 magazine.  I stitched it on 14 count antique brown perforated paper with DMC and Mill Hill beads for the french knots.  I hate stitching french knots and generally use beads instead.

LoneStar

The dregs of the old year

It's the tween week - the week between Christmas and New Year's.  No, I'm not making any New Year's resolutions.  And no, I'm not making any stitching resolutions either.

Okay, well, maybe I am making a sort of resolution.  I've decided to participate in my first ever stitch-a-long (SAL).  There's one going on at the 123 Stitch MB (actually, there are several going on over there).  On January 1st, I'll start stitching on "Crabby All Year" by Raise the Roof Designs, a four-part series of 12 monthly designs.  The goal is to stitch one design a month.  I think I can do that.  Maybe. 

My stitching buddy Gloria stitched this a while back and I really liked it.  Let me warn you that the buttons used for these patterns are expensive!  I ended up ordering mine off eBay where they were less costly.  I thought about leaving the buttons off and stitching something in their place, but after seeing Gloria's completed work, I agree that the buttons are a must; they make the pattern!

It is a large pattern so you will need a fat quarter of fabric.  But it is stitched with DMC, so at least the floss won't cost you an arm and a leg like the fabric and buttons will.

I finished my oldest nephew's Christmas ornament this week and here it is.  Now I just need to finish-finish this and his brother's ornament and get them in the mail.

DH and I stayed home for Christmas this year.  In 24+ years of marriage, we've stayed home only three times.  Twice when we lived in Dallas near most of our relatives, and once when we lived in Oklahoma.  We had actually started on the trip down to Dallas, but I got deathly ill halfway there and DH took me back home.  This year we enjoyed having a long quiet weekend together.  We watched a lot of football, read a lot, and ate turkey.

DH finished splitting and stacking all our firewood.  He filled the racks and then stacked the extra against one end of our loafing shed.  Hopefully this abundance of firewood is not an omen of a really cold winter.

LoneStar

Merry Christmas!

John 1:14 - "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (KJV)

Help! I'm stitching and I can't stop!

I thought I'd better pause and make a blog post lest everyone think I've died and fallen off the face of the earth.  I've been stitching like a fiend on several Christmas presents, trying to get them done in time for Christmas.  I think I might make it.  And no, I can't show them until after Christmas.

DH has spent the last two weekends being a lumber jack.  The first weekend he spent with his chainsaw and the tractor.  He cut up several downed trees on our property and used the tractor to carry the logs to our wood rack area.  

Here he is getting the tractor ready.  Notice the chainsaw, etc., in the bucket.  Emma had to help and supervise.  You'll notice DH is wearing blaze orange accessories.  He was in the woods, hunting season is still going strong, and we have neighbors who hunt near our woods.

 

 

He was able to cut quite a pile of wood and began splitting it.  He spent this past weekend splitting and splitting and splitting, but is still not done yet.  All three of our wood racks are filled, and he is stacking the extra wood on one side of our loafing shed.  An embarrassment of woodly riches!

Hopefully I'll have some stitching photos to share soon.

LoneStar 

Winter is finally here

Well, winter is finally here.  I know this because the temperatures have forced me into pants, long-sleeved shirts, and socks and shoes.  Phooey.  It was sad when I did laundry on Monday and there were shorts and T-shirts in there from last week. 

DH will be cutting wood this weekend as our wood racks are nearly bare.  He reserved a log splitter for the next weekend and I will help him stack after he splits it all.  I may also get to drive the tractor a lot from the woods to the splitting area so DH can keep on cutting. 

It was nice to sleep in this past weekend as DH is done deer hunting for the season as he has bagged his limit.  He will still go out and hunt for pigs, but he took last weekend off.

And I've been stitching but I can't show you what I'm stitching on because it's for a friend and she reads my blog.

I'll leave you with a picture of Emma warming her butt in front of the wood stove.

LoneStar