Saturday, January 28, 2017

D is for Dog!

    How neat that Made by Joey's letter challenge and the Every Inchie Monday challenge work so well together!  Wonder if that will happen very often? 
    Here is my letter D for the alphabet challenge.  I used the tangles - disco, dash off, and dessus-dessous.  I am also trying to stay with the color theme for this challenge.
 
    Warning - it is going to be hard to talk about dogs in a sentence or two.  So you can look at my inchie and flee if you want.  I won't take offense.  My life has been filled with those wonderful furry creatures.  I cannot imagine a life without one curled up at my feet or greeting me when I come home.  I do promise not to talk about ALL the pups that have enriched my life.  I honestly don't think I could.  At least not in one afternoon!  So here is just a few.

      My precious little beagle pup, Boots.  He was given to me by a great uncle who raised hunting dogs because he was the runt of the litter.  I kept him dressed in doll clothes and tucked in my doll carriage.  He was my baby doll!
     One of the saddest experiences was with a dog I had named Lollipop.  (Do you remember the song "My Boy Lollipop"?)  Well, if you don't it is not all that great of a memory loss, but at the time I loved it.  He was a hound looking thing that had wondered up at my grandparents.  I played with him and loved him dearly.  I could not understand when Papa told me he had found him a home.  He had a home!  But arguments did not work.  He was taken to another home.  Months later, we went to visit him.  He was chained up in the back yard by a barn and would not let me near him.  Those growls and look of distrust cut me to the core.  I cried for days.
     We have had lots of collies, beagles, springer spaniels, samoyeds, Pekingese, a golden retriever and some I know I have accidentally left out!  One of my most precious memories is of my beloved Highway.  Twenty pounds of absolute love.  We were coming home from school one afternoon (my brother picks me up) when I saw up ahead what appeared to be a cat.  I was terrified it would get hit by a car.  So we stopped and I discovered a tiny black puppy.  He was so frightened.  I got him in my arms and we asked local houses if they recognized him.  Since we already had a beautiful golden retriever - Sasquatch - I said I would ask around at school for someone to give him a home.  By the time Ray picked me up the next day, he had a home with us.  No way were Ray and Sasquatch going to let him go.  He slept with me.  Curled up on my shoulder while I worked.  He was a constant in my life.  For nineteen years.  When it became obvious one weekend we were going to lose him, I made the decision to let him go to sleep.  I have never had to do that before.  The memory of that night and rushing him to an emergency clinic is still very vivid. 
     And that brings you up to my current baby.   I could not manage our house without a dog.  I was beyond miserable.  So I looked at an ad for the pound and found Lakota.  It was about 2 weeks from our loss of Highway.  We went to pick him up and instantly fell in love.  We should have waited.  We should have allowed our hearts to settle, but really I would not change a thing.  And it is good we did not wait.  We took him for his "wellness" visit and they told us he had parvo and the survival rate was very low.  I simply could take another loss.  I said do whatever you can.  The vet sort of advised against it, saying we had only had him for about 4 days and we probably could return him.  Nope.  Couldn't give up.  He went into intensive care and 6 days later, we brought home a bouncy puppy.  Lakota is so different from Highway that it is hard to believe they are the same species.  For the last nineteen years we had lived with a super timid, very docile pup.  From his beginning of 6 pounds to his current weight of 112 pounds, Lakota is not in any way timid.  He charges ahead.  He is bold with strangers, sometimes loving, sometimes not.  He was an incredible ball of energy.  There were (many) times we would rejoice at his simply being asleep.  But through it all, we have a wonderful dog.  I would not trade him for the world.  And as he gotten older he is much more settled.  Well, sometimes.  Don't take a ball anywhere around him!  If it rolls, he wants it!



     Thanks for dropping by.  Pardon the long post, but I love dogs and I love to write.  So you got stuck.  But if you made it to here - thanks and hugs!

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Cats and other things

      If I took the time to tell you about all the cats in my past, well, you might have to read this in installments.  A few cat stories stand out in my mind.  One is my grandfather's cats.  He lived on a farm next door to us.  At feeding time he would come out of the house with a pan of scraps and such.  The moment the screen door slammed, and he yelled "here, kitty" the entire back yard was filled with cats.  They came pouring from the barn, out of trees, from under cars and everywhere possible.  There were about 20 of them.  They lived all over the farm and most you couldn't pet.  But Papa always fed them and they kept the mice out of the barns and feed.  Kittens were born frequently and occasionally we could make a pet out of one, but not often. 
     One cat that we had as a pet was Little Bit.  A gentleman gave her to us in order to rescue her from his hunting dogs.  She never got any bigger than a large kitten.  She had a hole in the roof of her mouth and so she couldn't meow.  Instead she made a funny "psst" sound like she was trying to get your attention.  She also was not afraid of anything.  We watched her chase our big dog.  She also took off one day after our horse and ran him around good!  What a tiger!
      Lots more cats.  Lots of memories.  One little inchie. 

      Last year I didn't get my Carole Ohl calendar and I missed it something terrible.  It is my spot to tangle and doodle and journal in.  I enjoy the format.  I decided to decorate one page with some plants and things just for the fun of it.  No rhyme or reason.

      The Diva challenge was to use the tangle "drawings".  Okay.  I don't like this tangle.  I think probably beyond this challenge it won't get a lot of use from me.  It is pretty.  I just don't think I do a very good job.

      The letter C was Made by Joey's challenge.  We had to use the tangle catkins.  I also used c-wing.  I am going to use color for this alphabet challenge.  Mostly because with my new pencils and paints, I want to play.

      I guess I should go now.  For those of you who do facebook, I am trying to set up a facebook business page to sell some of my arts and crafts.  When I do get it up and going, I would LOVE for you to follow it and share it to any of your friends.  I hope to have a small business when I get ready to retire. 
     Thanks for coming by!  Have a wonderful week!

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Hamster Inchie and a few other challenges!!

  I will try very hard not to ramble and bore you.  But you really have to blame Every Inchie Monday's choice of words.  They inspire memories and thoughts of old pets and fun stuff.  So I am not to blame.
      I have had numerous pet hamsters in my life.  I love the little furry, inquisitive creatures.  There was Paddington.  He lived in my classroom during the week.  Not one morning came by that I didn't come in, find him missing, and discover he had made it to the cupboard.  Every morning.  I started just looking there instead of his cage.  Then there was my precious Eilonwy.  I do believe she was my favorite.  I enjoyed looking at my hamsters in the past but didn't really take them out to "play" with them.   She would hear me come home in the evenings and the moment I came into the room she had gotten to the top of her 3 level home and was standing in this odd position.  I discovered she was ready to be picked up and loved on.  In fact she was demanding it.  I had never owned a cuddly hamster before but she did this every time I came into the room.  The worst experience with hamsters was one to nearly make me swear off those "adorables" forever!  I had decided to raise hamsters and read everything about care and such I could get my hands on.  I bred my two and separated them.  The babies were born - a massive number.  I did everything I knew to do, gave them as much care as needed but stayed away from too much interaction.  I checked on them one morning to discover that the (monster) babies were eating their mother.  They were not very big, barely past the pink stage so I could not have moved her out, she was still nursing them.  I was furious.  I . . .  uh . . .  got rid of the savages.  Won't say anymore.
      Have you ever seen the TV show "Hammy Hamster"?  It is a very cute kid's show.  So naturally being a kid at heart I fell in love with it.  If you enjoy very low key, cutesy animal programs check this one out.  Here is one link, but there are lots of episodes on you tube.  Hammy the Hamster 
     I struggled with how to draw one today.  I looked over the internet and found a step by step for drawing the character, Hamtaro.  I am not familiar with anything about him except his name.  But he was cute. 
      Made by Joey is doing an alphabet challenge.  I love anything to do with the alphabet!  Okay, I know that is odd, but I love abc books, challenges, you name it!  So this challenge really appeals to me.  On the letter B I used the tangles b-twixt and bermuda.  Then I added some color to dress it up.
      I am hoping to keep up with the Diva challenges this year.  We will see.  We had to use the tangle Orbs-la-dee (anyone else hear a Beatles song?) and c-stem.  In the background you can see my Carole Ohl calendar.
      I got several Color-It coloring books for Christmas.  I enjoy coloring and relaxing to do that.  Here is one I completed over about 3 days!

      Next week's inchie is cat.  Don't worry, I have some long winded stories for them too.  I feel at times like I have lived in a zoo.  And wished for some of that I had.  I love animals and have had more than my share of normal and some very unusual pets.  Have a great week and thanks for dropping by.  Now go watch Hammy.  You won't regret it.

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

I am back!!

    I have decided I am highly allergic to 6 in the morning.  I am serious.  I would function so much better at 9 or 10.  But no matter here I sit at my desk at 7, trying to decide how to get my in-service day going.  I have a lot to do, but breakfast comes first.
    When I saw the inchie words for 2017 I was delighted - all animals!  I love animals and have stories for some of them, so this will be fun!  The first word was rabbit.  My brother and I have had several pet rabbits through out our lives.  I love them.  I would like to one day own a lop ear bunny - they are so cute.  Our school science teacher has a gorgeous white rabbit that runs lose in her room all day.

     I had time to do one challenge yesterday after I finished my school work.  I did Joey's challenge.  I love alphabet challenges so this one was fun!  I would list the tangles that begin with A that I chose, but they are at home and I am (sadly) not there.

     I hope you had a wonderful new year's eve!  I had a very low key one which I am grateful for.  I am excited about the changes this year will bring.  More about those later when I have more time.  Take care and thanks for dropping by!