Let us Start December With a Theft!

Catherine, of the Bossy Little Dog Blog, had this on her blog, so I'm stealing it.  Yes, Catherine, I read all the time, but prefer to be a stealth lurker..

This quiz was about Vampires, and yes I know you can all read.  So pointing out the obvious is pointless but I've had my night medicines right after opening the coffin lid. 

This is for all the BIG corporate bank CEOs.  It's about Blood sucking, which was very popular with banks this year, and they should know a good thing when they are on to it, eh?  You should try to be better neighbors, like when you were all struggling to find a few clients to fleece convince to invest in your enterprise.  Remember the good old days before the forces of evil turned you?

You Are Edward Cullen

In general, you are an upstanding, ethical, and compassionate person. You aren't a stereotypical vampire. Of course, you're only undead, so you can't help but be tempted occasionally. You do a good job keeping your cravings in check. You are a true romantic, and you live to take care of your sweetheart. You couldn't go on if you hurt the one you love. You have many worries and conflicts deep in your heart. You may seem distant or cold, but it's only because you care so much.

What Famous Vampire Are You?

Blogthings: Our Quizzes Weren't Written By Bored 12 Year Olds

      

FIXED Link to the Little Christmas Tree of Coat Hangers....Updated

Remember this LITTLE mass of Clothes hangers?

This was so much fun to make that I'm going to make another one tonight.

I really better get knitting! gah!

HERE is the FIXED linkie to a YouTube which shows how to make this festive little table tree.

I just used tape for the hangers, and didn't put lights.  The lights, you would need the twist ties etc.

I got the foo foo garland made like holly and has little apples etc on it.  Worked for me!  The next one gets lights, as soon as I can find the ones I bought last year!

Knitting Time

With Christmas coming it's really getting scarce, that knitting time, but today I'm going to knit as many hours as possible. This little MUTTS   cartoon made me smile because I'm making a dog sweater for Wolfie.  His coat is coming back in fast but it's still too short to get him all the way through winter. 

The cookie cutters from King Arthur arrived so the baking can commence!  English toffee is on the candy list and Fantasy Fudge, also.

The little coat hanger Christmas tree will be done soon-it's waiting for the zip-ties from DH's stash, and the big tree goes up as soon as some furniture is moved  to accommodate it.

Whatever holiday you celebrate during this time of year, I wish you happiness and peace. 

Now to go knit on the Manly/Beastly Aran and the Beastie sweater.  Wolfie has taken to jumping up on the high bed, scrambling to not fall off in the attempt and running straight at me with those little short legs.  He loves to cuddle but I need some body armor when 13.5 pounds of Dog comes barreling across the bed toward me.  Fun little fellow, is Wolfie.  Dainty little Jazzie just sort of bounded like a rabbit.  Wolfie skims the surface like a little M1A2 Abrams tank.

One year, when DH had a computer to work on out at a desert facility, we watched one of these tanks coming back from maneuvers at top speed, running along the road with us.  The instant I saw that thing, I thought, "I want one of those!".   Well, I do believe that now I actually have one.

Have a very Merry Run up to Christmas!  PIctures of all this  stuff will show up as it's churned out.  Until last week, I had no Christmas Fever at all!

Roy Road Fish: Hummingbird hat

Thanks to Mokihana on Ravelry, for this link!



You see that he's wearing glasses, eh? The hummingbirds in my backyard will come right up to my sunglasses and try to "impress" the hummingbirds they see reflected in them.

Having fun with hummingbirds, taken to new heights. Fun little birds!

Muppets Viral YouTube..... Just for fun, and it is so FUN!!

God Bless Queen!

Mosquito VS Button, Round Two!

Button is undoubtedly one of the feisty ones because he survived for nearly three months on is own in the wilds of the back yard. We now call him a "HE" because of his aggressive defense of his personal space. Here he is, with his smallest big brother, getting some payback for having bitten his brother earlier, and stolen some food out of Mosquito's mouth.

Button, eating his dandelion....

The doggie decided to come after me at the last moment and the camera went a bit wild.

Just in case you ever had doubts about the power of people's good will...

I received this letter from Amnesty International today and quote it in part:

Dear ***** ,

Beginning December 1st, Sri Lanka's government will respond to the calls for action that 50,000 of you made over the past few months – they will finally unlock the camps!

This past weekend, government officials announced that all restrictions placed on innocent civilians trapped unlawfully behind barbed wire fences will be lifted.

In just one week, internally displaced Sri Lankans will be free to come and go as they please. We are relieved that this nightmare will finally be coming to an end for some 130,000 people, who remain in the camps today. Thanks to all of your emails, postcards and the thunderous international outcry, Sri Lanka's government could not hide this crime in the shadows any longer.

There is still much to be done in Sri Lanka for the displaced, but isn't this a wonderful sign that if enough people care, big problems can be solved for people who are suffering?

Happy Thanksgiving!

A visit to the Ceramics Club

First Picture: The pumpkin tea set is ready for the Orange Fizz Glaze, and the two snowmen are getting ready for a "red fire". All of them can be safely fired together. And yes, the tea pot lid is on backwards in the picture. :o)

Red usually has to be fired pretty much on it's own, but I'm told that this new glaze will not end up a mess. If it does, it will have been a lot of work for nothing. Happily, the companies that sell to the Hobby trade have done their level best to take all the guess work out of the glazes, but red is still pretty iffy. These pieces will be fired sometime before Christmas week, so I hope that I get to show you how a bright pink can turn into a rich red in the kiln. Fingers crossed!

The smaller piece on the left above has been given a clear glaze over everything but the red glaze, which looks very pink at the moment.




Today I put one coat of clear glaze on the tall snowman so now he looks pretty much like the little one does in the pictures.  I also added another clear glaze to the small snowman, and talked my socks off with my friends. It's a great group and it's fun to go there.

Second picture: This is the front of the snowmen and ...




























Third picture: Is the backs of the figurines, so that you can see how they look .

The Pet Report:

Wolfie got his stitches out today, and he's gained a whole pound in two weeks. This
means that we have to maintain this weight for him. Otherwise he will balloon out far beyond the capacity of his short little legs to carry him. Being as he's mostly muscle, he can pull a pony cart, I'm sure. I think we should get him one to pull around the streets. It might be very handy for us when we go to the beach.

Have fun! Enjoy the sunrise and the sunset! Just give yourself a mental vacation from all the angst. It will be there tomorrow. I wish you all a wonderful holiday and no matter where you are, may your days be filled with little moments of escape and serenity.

Plans for 2010

I want to learn how to knit continental, but my worst hand for hammer thumb and carpal tunnel is the left hand, and the way that I knit now is right handed lever, not the throwing as described. I'm going to try this - give it a fair trial towards the beginning of the new year, and see what happens.

This seems like it's a very good tutorial but if there are others anyone likes better, please let me know?

I have no other knitting plans for 2010, other than the WIPs and UFOs and the new projects already mentioned - LOTS of SOCKS! - but I'm doing to go back to looking for Accidental Art and doing a LOT less Tilting at Windmills.

I still believe that a person in a democracy has a responsibility to keep alert and do what they can about greed, slavery and war lords who will always be sneaking around the underbrush but this Life is a never ending tale of treachery that will steal one's soul. The evil and unethical know that what they are doing is wrong; they enjoy making misery; they will not be stopped. It's their entertainment, and Karma or Hell will be their inheritance.

So, hopefully you will see mostly fun things here again, art, flowers, FunStuff, and knitting, pet tortoises and little dog sagas. You know, the beautiful things.

Trailer Park decorating... this is a classic YouTube.

NASA ..Gulf of Mexico

Natural Fractals in the flow into the Gulf of Mexico
Photo Courtesy of the Earth Observatory Site

Garn Studio Drops yarn arrives

When DH brought in the box, he said, "Well, another book? You said there weren't any more books, yes?" He laughed when I told him that there was only one more that I knew of. But, Wolfie stuck his nose on the corner of the box and really glued it in there... He knew that was no book. He guessed it was an animal for him but it was so small??? Why??

The dish is one of the Christmas ones that I just finished at Ceramics Club. Very old greenware that I'm so glad to get into a glaze fire. I'm debating about making the edges and the berries gold. I'm not a gold sort of person.

This is for the Doggie Hoodie

A couple of nights ago when I was holding him, Wolfie looked up at me with sad brown eyes. Dogs can really read moods, I think it's a toxin that we give off in our breath. Anyway, I was thinking about Jazz, and feeling sad. So, I told Wolfie, "No, you aren't Jazzie, but I don't expect you to be. But we are going to love you with our whole hearts and take really good care of you so that you can be a happy jolly little fellow and have a good life from now on." He laid his head back down, and went right to sleep. I think he trusts me.

You will notice on the project bars that I've added 3% to the dread Manly/Beastly. I really mean to have it done by summertime next year.

We watched a movie called "Frozen River", a chick flick with a kickboxing style rating. If you ever wonder what it's like to be poor, abandoned by your husband and trying to live in a really unforgiving climate, this is a movie for you. Edge of Seat, and Edge of Violence but a great movie. The actress who plays the lead is magnificent. And the actress who plays supporting actress gives a compelling performance, too. I don't know a lot of Mohawks of either gender but I do know some Indian women. They are quiet and shy around whites. Who could blame them?

Wolfie

He's getting more of his colors and coat coming in. He's a very happy little dog, sweet, friendly and jolly.

A sad development for the Rule of Law in the United States....

This is from DemocracyNow! but it's something I've followed for a good many years. It sickens me that our judicial system is shot through with petty politics, especially at a time when we most need it. Note the dates on the so called "infraction" and how this was then used by bullies, at a much later date, to make timid attorneys step away from defending anyone accused by the government of The "T" word.



Hope this works. It's an interview with Attorney Lynne Stewart. Her case just shows how intimidation works to keep attorneys from taking cases that the government at the time does not want anyone touching.

Special Administrative Measures were applied to isolate environmental protesters convicted of much lesser crimes.

What will become of our Democracy if a fair trial is not available? What if the government is allowed to use such a broad and possibly un-constitutional tool as the "Special Administrative Measures" for anything they should wish, any gad fly? Good question? I think so.

The dog sweater I'm making for Wolfie...

It's perfect, and the dog modeling it looks quite a bit like Wolfie. Wolfie's face is more like a Yorkie's face though. I am going to try to find the yarn somewhere because I'd like to make it with the Garn Studio yarn suggested.

Garn Studio Doggie Hoodie

Speaking of lookalikes, last night we watched a Dutch film called "Antonia's Line", and Farmer Das (I think that's what he was called) made me do a double take. He looked almost exactly, mannerisms and everything, like my mother's dad, my Grandpa! My grandpa was Dutch and English. Talk about falling out of one's chair! I was absolutely fascinated to watch this guy. I was probably 8 years old the last time I saw my belovéd Grandpa.

A word of warning: This movie would earn itself a double X rating if it was in the States. That was another shock, let me tell you!

ahem... Don't watch it as a family movie. oh no nononono!

PS. I am sorry about all the editing in the first paragraph. I claim temporary insanity from having bought more yarn. Or was I insane before I bought more yarn? Meh! who cares. I will make my doggie a hoodie, and hope that he wears it. Jazzie despised the things but he was so little it made him feel silly. Wolfie is so silly that a coat might make him more dignified. The acid test will come near Christmas if I have to chase him down to put it on him.

Sky Watcher

The lake last Christmas

Our Vet just called with the best news. The lump that Wolfie had on his hip was granulomatous panniculitis, and is not cancer. I will never again count the cost of a test because it was a like a huge weight lifted off my heart when she told me the good news. Our little dog can continue to grow healthier and happier now.

On with knitting and with life!

Next project A little wire hanger Christmas tree. UPDATE

....Update....

*~*I found a web site HERE that shows the whole process.  I love this gal.   She's so down to earth and, well, crafty. *~*
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All you do with this six hanger apparatus is wrap it with some fuzzy garland, then stick on whatever else pleases you on the outside of that. You can see that it is tie-wrapped at the top( which I will take off during the wrapping and do with wire, and at the center. It makes a sweet looking lighted tree for a kitchen counter. Have you started your Christmas crafting yet? It's closer than you think!

There's a bigger tree you can make with an upturned Tomato cage, using the same sort of techniques. It's taller and slimmer. The ends that you usually stick into the ground are wired together and a tree topper hides them from view. There you are, two trees that you can make in a jiffy with sale stuff from Michaels. Enjoy!

I was going to do a tutorial but found Beth's and it's perfect. This is a very pretty little tree.

Book excitement!

The Margolis books have arrived and have taken their places in the very small library of tailoring and pattern making books. Too bad I'm in the "sweatpants and t shirts time of life".

But, now I can make patterns and/or sew for my DDs who still would like some style in their lives. I've been out off-roading far too long now to care much. heehee. I'm so glad to have Adele Margolis' books because I fear they will disappear from the County LS. I'm taking no chances.

Ralph Nader on what the new Health care bill (bull?) out of the House means for us....

I'm not overly excited about the so called Health care reform bill that just passed the House, but I hadn't seen this part until going to CounterPunch and reading it.

Scripps Institution of Oceanography's newest dolphin TOY

Scripps Scientists may get more than they bargained for when the dolphins find out about THIS . 

What were they thinking?  Don't they know that dolphins all talk to each other across big spaces and can zero in on these almost instantly?  And what about the Gray Whales, they may get down on these things, too. 

I'm going to go knit a bit now, since I can hardly contain my own curiosity about what these things are.  I want one of my own! 

She's falling for that penny we think!

We hope that she hasn't bonded with it.

Baby Tort Weigh-in and new feed

Little feller on the scale weighing in at 24.77 grams

After the weigh in came the introduction to the new food ( that glop that smells like alfalfa, but looks ever so much like semi dry horse poodooo) is introduced. It's dried grasses for grassland tortoises.  I wet it so that she could be enticed to eat it.

So much of a tortoise's diet is dried grasses, I think around 90 %, that this stuff looks good for the baby. Yesterday she actually ate a whole dandilion flower, so that probably took care of appetite for a week. HAR!

Climate Bill YouTube.

Ok, here's another LINK, but the EPA was asking that this is taken down, so it might still disappear.

Here is another LINK to the Op Ed at the Washington Post.

And another LInk to an open letter on this that was written May 4th 2008, on the Carbon Fee's web site.

PS: I'm still trying to figure out how I feel about this. I wonder who's going to benefit - and that is all short term benefit - if this thing doesn't work. I think I'll start wearing plaids and stripes together in protest or something... Thank you Albert, thank you very much.

Big baby surprise....New baby tortoise

This is the newest tot, and it has brown eyes like the rest.
I always hope for a green eyed one but Lucky's been the only green eyed one.
The color is very pale, like in this picture, not the one that follows.

A size picture for Baby L.

That's a penny under new baby's foot and the big coins are quarters.

DH went out to water the garden, and came back in with a look of surprise on his face, and his hand behind his back. This little fellow is what he found. He said that when he first saw it, he thought it was dead it was so pale.  Then it jumped when he touched it.

We are trying to locate any others, but since we were gone for the first week of September, this may be a lone survivor of our 2009 clutch, a clutch we didn't even know was buried by Poco Ono.

Oh my, I hope we don't find too many! But I do hope we find all that are left. Next year we must be VERY diligent about digging up the nest. First you have to find it though. I can see that the mother is getting very tricky about her nests.

I'm doing 'God's work'. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs - Times Online

I'm doing 'God's work'. Meet Mr Goldman Sachs - Times Online

I'm sorry, this is just too good not to share. It's a long read but worth every minute. If this is God's work, someone needs a bolt of lightning lesson from Heaven if you ask me.

And to think that other Corporations in this mire of greed, not this same entity but many who share the values, don't want us to use some of our own money to provide health insurance to the nation's uninsured families.

Well, go (Insert whatever comes to mind here) yourselves, because we are going to keep fighting for what we think is more like God's Work than yours is, Mr. Lloyd Blankfein, thank you very much.


Thank you, L, for showing me the way to Goldman Sachs' little "rabbit hole".

Happy Endings...

Wolfie had to wait a day for us ( to consult our vet and make up our minds) after we saw him. There is a little cartoon in between this one and the first one that sort of shows "Riley" having to wait, too. But I didn't want to push my luck too much here. I adore this comic strip. It always cheers me up. Anyway, Wolfie also has a little round bed now and lots of love. Jazzie would approve, I'm sure, of his little car bed being used again. The other ones we did give to the shelter but we kept that little round bed.

After watching the series of six YouTube videos about dog breeding in the UK, and reviewing all the illnesses that befall the inbred dogs, I can see that Jazzie suffered at least three diseases, and probably four, that are a result of such inbreeding. He was a happy little dog, right to the end, but he did suffer from his genetic illnesses. I'm forever thankful that the backyard breeder did not get her hands on him, and he was able to have pretty happy and long life full of exciting things to do, and lots and lots of love.

I'm knitting the Aran sweater, but have had a bad headache for two days. I hope it isn't the Alpaca yarn because there is no way I'm not finishing this sweater for DH!

ETA this link to another Patrick McDonnell cartoon in the series about Riley. I just don't want to lose it in the huge amount of flotsam and jetsam of life.

Where have you been?

Patrick McDonnell has always been an advocate for animals and especially shelter Animals. Today's comic strip is dear to our hearts, as we have been looking at Wolfie and trying to build some sort of back story, based on his history at the shelter, of treatment, and of the injuries that we know he's suffered from being "out there in that feral world, in his bones. I'm so glad that he gets to "turn the page" with us, now. He's really coming along, from being the "timid little dog" in the shelter records, to full on confidence in his home and yard. He's ultra cautious when he's being walked, going into instant alert when he spots another dog. DH says Wolfie will turn around from time to time to track the dog.

Knitting is going along nicely. I've figured out where I stopped knitting on the Drops Aran, and am starting the second repeat of the main pattern. Two repeats will probably take me up nearly to the arms.

I've also been busily buying up copies of Adele Margolis' books so that I can have her expert references before the big buy up hits.  She died very recently at 100 years of age.

She was a giant mover and shaker in home sewing, bringing high fashion Couturier techniques into the home seamstresses' reach.  I hope that there is a new generation of women of this stature to carry on the legacy. 

When we were young...

This is when the twins were tiny babies and we were doing double shifts, DH at work and home AND Uni, and me at home, feedings every two hours. B is in the background which is just a little dark. See those dark circles around DH's and my eyes? 

DH is at work on a very old computer, I think. He's not here at the moment, and I can't ask him. It might be a teletype.. who knows but that was a long, long time ago.  The stamp isn't from then, I think.  Just a very cute love stamp.  I was 29 and he had just turned 31.  We were both going on a 110 years old at that time of our lives.  We were pretty tired.

Grandmother and André

Memories of Childhood

This is my mother's mother holding my little brother André, who died of grand mal seizures when he was five years old. My mother went into a depression after he passed away, and my Psycho Dad destroyed most of the pictures of André in a  fit of bad temper.  The paternal unit could never admit to producing such a "defective child" and didn't like any reminders.  This is what my mother told me about it later.  Mother was calm and not someone who resorted to hyperbole.

Mother was able to salvage this picture, one of two that exist of my brother.

There's nothing quite like living with a completely out of control male adult to make you hyper aware of your surroundings at all time. Celéste was one year old at the time that that André passed away.

My grandmother died in the same year as my little brother. So now I'm understanding much more about my own early life knowing what was going on with the adults around me at the time.

To youngsters and young adults out there going through hell, I'd like you to know that you can grow up and have a happy life if you can manage to forgive, and get the maniacs out of your life in time if they still haven't managed to become decent human beings. Leave but tell them why. Even if you think they don't deserve a word. That's my advice, because it leaves no questions in your OWN mind that you did all you could. You can forget, once you forgive, and let their influence fade out of your life. You can become a truly happy person.

I knew it! I knew it! I just bloody well knew it!

The economists got the global economy model WRONG!

Read about it HERE!

This train wreck had a genesis and it was within certain unnamed Schools of Economics that this beast was born.  It had to be somewhere.. Remember the theories developed by John Forbes Nash?  His theories were also used in the formulation of Economic Models for the Global Economy, and even he said of them that they "sometimes worked".

You'll remember his story in the book, A Beautiful Mind, and the subsequent movie of the same name. ( edited for omissions).

Enjoy some freedom in your thinking, as all that hogwash (otherwise known as crap) crashes around their ears....

Little Happy Buddha Comes Home

This little guy took a long time to make it home, but he's perfect. He's about five inches tall, and was fired last week. Later I'll show the very small Christmas tree, which just needs it's lights and the cord installed. I'm still debating about making a large tree. Someone else can pour it for me and that makes the big one possible. I really like the little one because it fits in small spaces. Who knows, maybe I'll give the baby tortoises a Christmas tree, one that they will undoubtedly try to climb.

Soon we are taking Wolfie for his first official car ride. He still doesn't have his very own toys, and he needs a bone to chew in his crate. Last night I gave him one of the really expensive treat like drumsticks-it is made like a bird's leg- and since he'd turned down several times I expected him to do so again. I have to admit that it was pretty "high" smelling.

But, to my alarm, he started to devour it! He put it between his front paws and started chewing on the drumstick end, biting off big chunks! And so, I reached in to take it away and he gave me this HUGE growl and even a little snapping of teeth ensued. I laughed and laughed because that was a trait I'd forgotten since petite old Jazzie let me take anything away from him, i.e. something he wasn't supposed to have. I'm happy not to have bitten, but I guess that's the terrier vs the toy poodle.

So, he will get a regular gnawing bone, and the other ones will be "aired" and then taken along to the bay as a treat for him when we eat our fish and chips. He's not dog aggressive and likes people, thoroughly social little dog. I'm looking forward to taking him to dog beach and dog park. What fun! We have a friend who takes his wife's and his little Shi Tzu rescue doggie to both places. We can all go visit them at home, too.

And we not only have another "lap" dog, we have one that has finally calculated the height of our rather tall bed, and came flying up over the end of it this morning to wake me ALL the way awake. He's much too small to get down safely, so we have to rig up some sort of steps. Maybe the yarn baskets will have to find a new home. I can't imagine where to put those two big hampers. But he can't spend all his time in the crate- his very own gated community. He's going into it right away now after less than a week with us. When we say, "OK it's time for bed". This dog is so darn smart it's scary. Poodles are smarter but not by much, I reckon.

Well, that's enough about the new dog.

Knitting again and  out comes the Manly sweater and the the SF Hempathy gloves, little Owlets from Mochi Mochi Land which is  HERE.  I love this Knitter's little animals!  I am doing Ravelympics this year, and some sort of WIP wrangling, too. 

Go Phillies!

Charter For Compassion Video

Charter For Compassion starts November 12th.

To find out more, please look here on YouTube:


Charter For Compassion Video

Remember bending swords into Plowshares?  We can have that, or we can have Armageddon.  What do you, yourself, want the future for your children and their children to be like?

I, personally, have had enough of this "Forcing of Armageddon".  I'm sick to death of it.

LIttle Rainbows of Life

I came around the corner of the dining room and DH was brushing Wolfie outside on the big paver. The sprinkler behind him made a happy little rainbow in the sun. I just had to record the event.