Don't Tell Me My Dog Isn't Dumb, Part II

George believes the Roomba is his mortal enemy. Or new best friend?: It's hard to tell.

Poop

I just bound off the second sleeve for Cria. This sweater is turning into a disaster. I bound off the body last night. Can anyone tell me why I didn't measure it before starting the bottom edging? Because I really should have. Then I would have known that my sweater is 2.5" too short! So what now? I thought about cutting off the edging, knitting another 2.5" then grafting it back on or reknitting it, whichever feels less masochistic at the time. Then I thought about the pocket placement. If I lengthen the body but leave the pockets as is they'll be kind of high up. So plan B was to take off everything below the pocket placement (you create two openings when you knit the body), knit 2.5", then graft that whole mess back on. Besides the hideous amount of grafting, plan B also means that the 2.5" of stockinette I knit in the middle of the sweater might stick out like a sore thumb since this is hand-dyed yarn. It might look really obvious that something happened in that area beyond what is sure to be some mighty uneven grafting going all the way around the sweater. I'm stuck. I'm defeated. What tiny amount of knitting mojo I had just drifted away. Poop.

In other exciting news, I got home tonight with the kids. Older Son's job is to feed the dogs and pick up all the dog poop in the yard. The poop goes into a bucket in the sideyard through a big gated fence. I was doodling on my computer when I thought, "Gee, the dogs have been awfully quiet." I peered into the yard and didn't see them. I opened the door and saw the side gate sitting wide open and the dogs were gone. I screamed for Older Son as I grabbed my shoes. I threw open the front door and Isabella, who had been waiting dutifully (or perhaps lazily) on the porch trotted inside. I was still putting on my shoes as I ran down the front step yelling for George. I had no idea how long they had been gone or how far he could have gotten. Before I made it down the stairs I heard a woman call out from across the street, "Are you looking for your dog?"

"Yes!"

"She's right here." (Not very observant but a kindly good Samaritan.)

I ran down the block and across the street to see George on a leash being held by a woman in conversation with a Parking Enforcement officer. It turns out that our phone number had worn off of George's tag but the PE officer does dog rescue and had her own leash with her and a microchip scanner (!) so they were in the process of getting our number from George's chip when I came out. I thanked them over and over and swore to get him a fresh tag. George, I believe, thinks this was the BEST NIGHT EVER.

The moral of the story is make sure your pets are microchipped and never trust a 14 year old to do anything right.

April Disappointments and What's in My Bag with bonus George

A Whole Lot of Puppy Sweetness

George

I've been having fun playing with the Instagram app on my phone. I love the way this photo of George came out. It really captures his essence and his giant pink nose.

Don't Tell Me My Dog Isn't Dumb

I was standing in front of George when a piece of cereal fell out of my bowl and landed on the floor just inches from him. He stared off into space. I tapped my foot on the floor next to the piece of cereal as that is the international human to dog signal that there is something yummy to be eaten that the human is unwilling to bend over and pick up. He stared off into space. Isabella, who had been asleep on the second floor of the house, heard the tapping, woke up, came downstairs and ate the piece of cereal while George still just stood there. What a dummy.

Mud-Soaked No More

After all that complaining about the mud and filth, we have solved the problem (we hope). We paid some nice men to come and blow 30 cubic yards of cedar chips into our yard. Yes, it smells like a giant (clean) hamster cage but not muddy or dusty.

Before the yard looked like this.



You can see all the bits of cardboard coming up from our massive sheet mulching a few years ago.



Here, Isabella shows how bare and dusty things were while having a staring contest with a rock.

Things were shoddy. George was not impressed.



But now, cedar-y goodness!



We are really hoping this keeps the mud and dust in the yard.

The Master

Our George is the master of puppy dog eyes.





Don't you just want to kiss that pink spot on his nose?

He loves to chase balls but usually tears them apart after a day or two. We got him some of these Chuckit! Fetch Balls yesterday and he did not stop bringing it to us to throw from 2 pm until midnight. He's like a perpetual motion machine. No wonder he's so skinny! But when he looks at you with those eyes you have to pick up the slimy wet ball and throw it for him. Even when he drops it right on your knitting.

Settling In

After a week with us George seems to be acclimating really well. He is still the most energetic dog I have ever had by far. But he and Bella seem to understand each other pretty well now. Last night while Bella slept on her bed and sidled up next to her and gently rested his paw on her.



Since she seemed okay with it he settled in.

No Way to Treat a Lady

I was dismissed from jury duty. I had been called up yesterday and sat through an hour of voir dire for an assualt/rape/harassment case. I hope it doesn't make me sound like a bad person but I did not want to be on that jury. We sat all day today waiting to be recalled but the case was continued and we were released.

Thanks for all the congrats on George. He is 70 pounds of HIGH OCTANE PUPPY INSANITY! Seriously this guy does not stop. At all. Ever. He literally did not sleep once outside of his crate on Sunday. And he wants to play with/challenge Isabella constantly. She is so tired, the poor couch potato. Every ten seconds George is pawing at her, jumping on her, biting her, barking at her. She is determined to assert her dominance and grabs him by his collar and drags him around the house. Then ten seconds later he's at her again. She grabs him and throws him to the ground. Over and over. I know it's completely normal but the dude is wearing her out. Last night she got into her crate and looked at us like, "Please just lock me in so he can't bother me anymore." We're working on training him and he is highly food-motivated, which is good. Hopefully we can teach him some manners because this is no way to treat a lady!

We Will Call Him George

A New Friend

We returned Rufus yesterday. I later got a very heartfelt thank you message from his real owner. His name is Pepper but he'll always be Rufus to me. She had lost him north of Seattle and for some reason whoever picked him up dropped him with animal control in West Seattle. So she was searching for him in King County and north. She was very grateful that he was well cared for while they were apart. The person I dealt with at the shelter told me she had only heard of this happening one other time so don't be afraid to adopt. She also told us that there was a yellow lab/golden retriever mix that was being surrendered today. The owner had adopted him with unrealistic expectations and he turned out to be pretty high energy. We went down and met him and introduced him to Belly. They hit it off right away. We haven't named him yet because our younger son is away at a sleepover. He doesn't even know we got a dog! He was pretty broken up about Rufus so hopefully he'll be pleased to meet the new addition. This guy is definitely high energy. He has been running around the yard playing with Belly for hours, chasing balls, rolling in dirt. Just go, go, go! They are so cute together.

Heartbroken

I just got a call from the Seattle Animal Shelter. Rufus's owner has contacted them and we have to relinquish him tomorrow. I'm happy for him but so sad for us.

Knitting!

While my life right now is mostly "grr, grrr, bark, bark, BARK!" I have been getting in some knitting time. I finally finished the last stupid hat from this stupid giant skein of yarn. Hat knitting is definitely my zen. I ended up knitting for much longer than I should have without resting and my thumbs have been kind of sore. But I started some new things.

Erin and I are having a very casual knitalong for the Celtic Bunny Hat from Toots Le Blanc for our podcast listeners. You just need to cast on by the end of the month to be entered in a prize drawing. I finally got around to starting mine this weekend. The merino/angora yarn, also from Toots Le Blanc is delicious.



I also wanted a project that didn't have a chart. So I finally cast on for the Mondo Cable Cardi in Dream in Color Classy, Black Parade.



It feels like it's been forever since I started a sweater.

Rufus

We got a new dog today. Meet Rufus T. Firefly. The kids named him after the Groucho Marx character in Duck Soup. He's a black lab mix from the Seattle Animal Shelter. He's fully grown and about 60 lbs. He and Isabella seem to be getting along pretty well. There's been a lot of running around and playing so far today. He's a bit of a barker so we're going to need to work on that.

Welcome to the family, Rufus!

This is Why I Hate People

Someone decided that--instead of using one of the many free and legal parking spaces available on our street--he would park his truck across our driveway and on our parking strip, blocking both of our garages and decimating the wood chip pile.



Nice move, asshole.

Bella would never park like that.



ETA: The police actually came a while after we called them. And now the truck is gone.

Update

The shelter called back and Bella #2 has already found a home. I'm very happy for her and the lucky family that gets to have her.

Also, we went to see Up tonight and it was fantastic. I cried at least four times and laughed a lot. I want to see it again. Really wonderful filmmaking.

Doppelganger

I have been thinking about getting another dog. Wes is apprehensive, to say the least, since we already have 100+ pounds of dog wandering around the house. But yesterday I was bored and started looking at dogs available on Petfinder.org. Then I found this listing. It's another two year old female black lab mix named Bella! I kind of teared up when I saw her, knowing she needed a family. We have a call in to the shelter.

Big Dog, Little Cushion

Belly was lying on a sofa cushion that had fallen to the floor the other day.



Okay, it's funnier from the top view.



Someone asked in the comments a while ago about just how big Isabella is. I measured her and she is 25" at the shoulder and from her collar to the top of her tail she is 30" long! She really is a big girl.

Titanic

I took a bunch of photos of Isabella this weekend with the camera resting on the floor. (Note: Next time I do this I should clean the floor first.) I love these because they really convey the enormity of this dog. Plus her silly and sweet disposition.