How was your Labor Day weekend?

DH and I traveled up to Dallas for part of the weekend to visit our relatives.  We greatly enjoyed visiting with my Mom and Dad.  We also visited with my DBro and DSisIL and our two ever-growing nephews.

The rest of the weekend was spent on finishing up the patch on the inside wall where the old air conditioner leaked.  Instead of cheap, thin paneling painted a gross khaki color, we now have a couple of scrounged pieces of OSB in that area.  It's temporary until we can renovate the entire wall sometime in the future.  

I actually like the OSB better than the khaki-colored paneling.  I really dislike the khaki paint and the corresponding avocado green trim paint around the window trim that makes up the front and back walls of our den.  I have to remind myself that it is temporary, although with DIY projects, temporary can last a long time.  ;-)

DH did another thing that made him nearer and dearer to my heart this weekend.  While he was in the process of patching the wall, he decided to go up in the attic and pull wire for a couple of plugs for that wall as it had none.  My stitching lamp was powered by an extension cord that ran into the bedroom, and the window AC was powered by a heavy-duty extension cord that ran across the entire width of the den floor; we were constantly tripping over it.  Thanks to my handy-dandy DH, the extension cords are gone!

Annie weathered the trip to Dallas well and was glad to get home to sun herself in the yard.  For the first several weeks that we had her, we did not allow her to roam in the yard by herself as we took her out on a leash.  We wanted her to get attached to us and the house before we allowed her full freedom of the yard via the dog door.  She has now earned the privilege of full yard freedom and can come and go out the dog door as she wishes.

I didn't stitch much on "Bluebonnet Blooms" this weekend, and what I stitching I did manage, I had to frog, so no progress pictures, but one should be forthcoming soon.

LoneStar

The doughnut bone

Annie has several toys and she likes to play with all of them.  We find her unusual because she entertains herself with her toys.  All our previous dogs wouldn't play with a toy unless we played with it with them (with the exception of chew toys).

Annie likes to get one of her toys and gallop back and forth through the house with it tossing it around as she runs.  When she slides onto her target - a throw rug - she stops and gives the toy a hearty shaking while growling at it.  This never ceases to amuse her humans.  Well it mostly amuses me; I'm getting tired of putting the throw rugs back in their proper place.

Her funnest toy is the Intellibone.  Annie likes to grab one end of the bone and gallop around, shaking the whole thing.  Usually when she does this, one of the rings or doughnuts will fly off and she'll get distracted by it and play with it for awhile.  You have to keep an eye on where she is when she plays with this toy as I've gotten hit by a flying doughnut on occasion.  ;-)

When all the rings are off the bone, she'll stand at our feet wagging her tail furiously as we put the doughnuts back on it.  And then she's off again!

LoneStar

A weekend project

We seem to be cursed when it comes to appliances that use or generate water.  We have two window unit air conditioners. One is old and the other is very old.  We've been hoping that they would last until we get our central HVAC installed, but no such luck.

Recently, the very old one died and could not be repaired.  Well, it could have been repaired, but the cost of the repair would have been more than the unit was worth and more than the cost of a new one.  As it will remain summer here in south central Texas for several more months, we had to buy a new one or risk melting.  The new one is much quieter and more efficient than the old one.

As a by-product of its demise, the very old window unit leaked condensation down into the wall unseen by us for an unknown period of time until the water reached Niagara proportions and flooded the floor.  Water in walls equals potential mold, so DH had to tear out any of the wall below the window that looked or felt wet and replace it.  This wall in our den will be completely replaced and updated sometime in the future, so this was a patch repair.

DH tore out the inside wall with a little supervision from Annie.

Then he tore out the outside wall with a little supervision from Annie.

Here, let me lick that sweat off your face.

Next, he reframed under the window and patched the hole from the outside while Annie supervised.  (DH did not poop his pants, he sat on a muddy patch on the ground.)

The next afternoon, DH and I covered the outside patch with tar paper and shingles to seal it.
  

It looks a bit wonky, but then our whole house is a bit wonky-looking at this point.

It was a very hot afternoon, so DH came into the house for a cool drink and Annie took advantage of his lap, not minding that he was sweaty and dirty.  She is very relaxed when she sleeps.

Speaking of Annie, we sure wish we could get her to talk and tell us of her history.  She has a weirdness with DH wearing gloves where sometimes it will scare her and she runs from him.  Other times she doesn't mind the gloves and will play with DH or let him pet her while wearing them.  We wonder if she was traumatized by someone wearing gloves in her checkered past.  Goofy dog.

Playing with the "glove monster."

LoneStar

Canine manicures and new floss colors

While our previous dog, Emma, didn't particularly like getting her toenails trimmed, she submitted to it, uh, ungracefully.

"NO! Don't trim my nails!"

The owner of these hairy feet and legs, however, is proving to be a problem.

Annie's nails - sharper than a kitten's claw!

Annie has yet to let us trim her very long and talon-like toenails.  Her toenails are wreaking havoc on my legs as it is summer and I'm always wearing shorts.  She is learning not to jump up on a standing human, but still has her moments where she jumps up and scratches my legs.  When she is happily sitting on my lap and spots a rabbit/deer/cow out a window, she launches herself off my lap and scratches my legs.  My thighs look like I fell into a bob-wahr fence.

DH was able to stealthily trim a few of her back paw nails during the first few days we had her home, but now she runs whenever she sees him with the clippers in his hand.  She does the same when I pick them up.

We've tried holding her firmly and speaking to her calmly while trying to trim the nails, but she reacts with fear, snarling and putting her teeth on us in warning (no, she doesn't bite us).  Either she was traumatized earlier in her life or she just REALLY doesn't like having her nails clipped.

I guess we could let the vet clip them (and have to pay for it), but we really don't want her to associate going to the vet as being unpleasant.  We could cart her off to Petsmart or Petco (and have to pay for it) to let the groomers tackle it, but that doesn't seem right to us either.

So for now, we're trying to daily hold/pet/stroke her feet while brandishing the nail clippers without actually trying to trim a nail to desensitize her.  We'll see how that goes.  Hopefully it will work with consistency and time as I may need a blood transfusion here pretty soon if we can't keep her from scratching me and drawing blood all the time.  Multitudinous Band-Aids aren't exactly a fashion statement.

I started stitching "Bluebonnet Blooms" by Redbird Designs.  You can see it here at 3 Stitches or Stitches From the Heart, both are local needlework shops here in Texas.  I have done online business with both and they are quick and reliable.

I read on the internet that DMC is releasing 16 new colors in October.  Here is a link to see them: DMC Blog.  I will be adding these colors to my collection as soon as they are available for purchase.  These will be the first new colors released since 2001. 

I have two complete sets of DMC, my working set and my back-up set.  As I live a half-hour from town and the nearest store with DMC, I keep the back-up set for when I run out of a color in the middle of a project, thereby saving myself from angst.  When I pull a skein from my back-up set, I make note of the color and pick another skein up the next time I am in town and near Hobby Lobby or Jo-Ann Fabrics.

I picked up 85% of my back-up floss several years ago when Wal-Mart sold off all their stock of DMC for 10 cents a skein.  They have since decided to restock DMC, but don't carry the whole line of colors.  Retailers - go figure.

LoneStar 

Monday muddlings

DH took the day off to finish gathering up scrap metal and hauling it to the scrap metal buyer in town.  He had quite a load.  He left a few minutes ago and I decided to write a blog post in his absence.  Hopefully, he'll come home with a decent amount of cash for his fun money budget.

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Loaded and ready to roll

I finished my Halloween ornament.  I found it on the Cross Me Not blog.  It's called "Pumpkin Time."  I stitched it on an ornament-sized piece of unknown linen I had in my stash with DMC.  I was drawn to the bright orange colors in this design.

Mister Scary Pumpkin Face

Annie is a total lap muffin.  If you sit down anywhere in the house - on the couch, in a chair, on the floor, anywhere - she gets in your lap and makes herself at home.  DH decided to read a bit after lunch yesterday and soon found himself with a lap of Annie.

Humans make the best nap laps.

LoneStar

No broom lending here

Here is my latest finish, "Be a Witch" by Angel Stitchin'.  I stitched it on 28 ct. lime hand-dyed linen by Zweigart with the indicated threads (DMC and WDW).
  

"Be a Witch"

And I have a complaint - don't you hate it when the designer doesn't tell you on the floss key that you will need TWO skeins of a particular color of floss?  Especially if the floss is hand-dyed and will typically have a dye lot number?!  Yeah.  If you stitch this design, you will need TWO skeins of WDW Mascara.

I made some changes to this pattern.  All the checkerboard and lines above and below the witch hat are stitched with orange and purple.  The purple would have been black if the designer had let me know that I would need TWO skeins of it.  

I think it looks fine, but how hard is it for the model stitcher to let the designer know that TWO skeins of a certain color are needed?  Maybe the model stitcher did let the designer know and she was too lazy? inattentive? rushed? brain-dead? to make note of it in the floss key.  Geesh.

I am now stitching on a small Halloween ornament I found on a blog.  Actually, I saw a picture of it stitched somewhere on a blog or message board and the stitcher included a link to the blog with the free design.  I'm close to finishing it and will include information on how to find it when I post a picture of my finish.

And thanks to everyone who has welcomed me back to blogging and posted kind comments.  I do appreciate them!

LoneStar

Noodle versus tank

When you have more than one pet throughout your lifetime, you can't help but notice the similarities and differences between them.  While our previous dog, Emma, and our present dog, Annie, are both Jack Russell terriers and possess the common traits of the breed, there are definitely some differences between them.

Emma was built like a fullback (yeah, a sports analogy) as she was compact and muscular.  She was fearless and bulled her way through life (and into snakes and skunks).  Annie is built like a dancer, slimmer and graceful.  She is taller than Emma was and has a narrower chest.  She is wary and cautious, but ready to meet a challenge.  And although Emma could jump up pretty high, Annie bounces up like a spring or Tigger; she can jump completely over the couch without touching it.

When you picked Emma up, you picked up a little tank.  When you pick Annie up, it's like picking up a wet noodle as she's kind of floppy and loosey goosey.  If you're not careful, she'll ooze right out of your arms.  And although she likes to sleep on her new bed, she oozes off of it, too.

When you snooze you ooze!

LoneStar