Pink Leader's Pontifications

03 November 2009 @ 04:53 pm

I've consumed 64 oz of water today, with only one potty break. Throat is dry.

I spent most of Saturday carving pumpkins, tidying the front room, and napping. Sadly I was lazy with the costume- wearing a white tunic, white veil and pale make-up to be a ghost.

attack_laurel was much cuter in her pink eyelet dress and black lace jacket. Enjoyed the company for answering the door for the trickle of Trick-or-Treaters.

I dressed Ladybug as a Marine for the evening. Or rather, I put the dog back in her Lil' Devil shirt for a few hours. Devildog? Get it? Ladybug was surprisingly well-behaved with the ToTrs. After the first few, she sat still and was content for someone to pet her to keep her from rushing the door. Good Bug!

Sunday was more cleaning, lounging and embroidering. And napping. I finished my latest little embroidery nibble. Glad I drew it out for a test, because I'm certain after just the drawing that I didn't want to do 4 of these. But the one was fun.

Didn't sleep well on Sunday night. I'll blame too much candy/sugar. Actually it turned out my back was bugging me. I spent Monday night on the heating pad, lacing up my next embroidery project to the fabulous Spanish Peacock slate frame.

Also, our guest rooms will be full now through the holidays. We've got Orlando in the green room for the next 5 months, and an old friend from high school will be in the blue room from 11/14 until he finds an apartment on this coast. I need to warn Blue about that since it is kinda her room.

Tags: embroidery, holidays, pictures, pup

Mood:

thirsty

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22 October 2009 @ 11:17 pm

Stryker Jr.

So today I wore the closest thing to orange in my closet to welcome Baby Stryker to the world. Yay Team Stryker! 10/22, 6:14am, 8lbs 12 oz, 22 inches long...

And Ladybug has a message for the Stryker pets:

"Welcome to Aunt and Uncle-hood cats and dogs. Remember that the little human boy is part of the pack now too, so be vigilant on his behalf. And keep your toys away from him."

Oh, and by the way Baby Stryker, sorry about the mess. Hopefully we'll have this planet a bit more cleaned up when you're old enough to notice.

Tags: family, green, pictures, pup

Mood:

happy

2 comments | Comment

15 October 2009 @ 08:04 pm

Happiness?

If happiness is a warm puppy, then I should be in the height of bliss.

Personally I'll settle for content, and I'm sure she'd like more noms and noggin rubs. The rain outside makes the fire within all the more welcome.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Tags: home, pup, rain, via ljapp

Current Location: US, Maryland, Montgomery, Colesville, Collingwood Ter, 13337

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13 September 2009 @ 11:28 pm

Children's Day at J'town

We survived the Children's Day at Jamestown on Saturday. It was fun and fairly relaxed, mostly hanging out by the Devon Oven as Sandy made bread and the rest of us just talked and tried to get the kids to play with some games and leave the chickens alone. It was great to have Catherine and the kids around too, to help some kids play games and to just be around and being children, making their own fun. Also cool to see Dangerboy and his parents, and to hear that Dangerboy was having a great time. History is fun! Good day.

We went back to do a little shopping in the gift shop and came home with some new books. And upon CG's recommendation we went to the Bass Pro Shop in Ashland on the way home to eat lunch at the Fish Company restaurant. That was some good eats, and Alan naturally saw the big fish tank behind the bar and asked if he could have one. I asked him if he was going to quit his job to manage a Bass Pro Shop... After lunch we then spent some time walking around window shopping, I took a couple of chances at the shooting gallery, and toyed with the idea of buying stuff for Ladybug while there. Alan drew the line at the doggie booties since they'd drive her bonkers, or more bonkers than she already is, so we walked out without purchasing anything but our meal.

So we're home, the pup has been retrieved from the All Dogs Club and is passed out on her comfy bed in the den, and the last load of laundry is in the dryer. I've got the University classes almost ready to release, I just need Thjora as one more set of eyes to look over them, and hope to open them for registration tomorrow. And now I think it is well past time for bed.

Tags: jamestown, pup, uofa

Mood:

sleepy

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07 September 2009 @ 10:44 pm

The weekend

I have a cute husband snoring on the couch, and a tired pup crashed out on her bed while I watch more of the Dirty Jobs marathon.

We've had a fun full weekend. Spent Friday night at home out on the patio enjoying grilled streaks with mashed taters and a crisp salad. Good food, lovely weather and the best company of my sweetie and our pup.

Saturday I slept in nice and late, made a yummy brunch of the leftover steak and some eggs, and we got on the road to Arvonia. I got to embroider while Alan drove to the farm, where we got to see the progress made and spend some time with friends. Saw Cyndi's progress on her embroidered sleeves, plans for Tom and Heather's new country home and plot, and awww over the poor gimpy feet. After dessert we said our goodbyes and made our way to M&M's place for more pup play and good conversation with Mike and Kirsten before crashing.

Sunday dawned with the sound of the pond waterfall, the occassional frog chirp, and eventually fresh scones for breakfast. While we had fun company, we got back on the road home before noon. The pup spent most of the time crashed out in the back of the truck, but I did try to keep a bit of vigilance for the cool truck I spotted on the way down. In Warrenton I saw the truck again so we pulled a u-turn to go inspect it. A pretty silver 65 Chevy truck with a 350 engine and locking hubs for 4x4. Nice old truck.

Once home Alan was useful and the pup and I napped solidly. But we had more plans for that evening. Around 5 we headed up North to the Toscano's to help celebrate Carla's birthday, which also gave the Bug time to run around with the beagles. The food was as good as anticipated, the company was charming, and the conversation never ceased to entertain.

Today we did some shopping at IKEA (alas a bust), Lowe's which was mostly window shopping, Behnke's for crape myrtles, and Home Depot. I sandwiched the shopping with the Dirty Jobs marathon on the Discovery Channel and some work organizing UofA class proposals. Not a bad weekend at all, but I could use another one.

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Tags: embroidery, home, pup, tv, uofa, via ljapp

Current Location: US, Maryland, Montgomery, Fairland, Mica Dr

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02 September 2009 @ 11:03 pm

Clumsy Bug

As I was walking Ladybug this evening I was mentally thinking of her as Pteradactyl Bait due to her matched scars on her sides, where the hair is slowly regrowing. Afterward, playing around the house she got a bit excited with dispensing violence to one of her squeaky toys and ran down the stairs to the foyer with more speed than grace. The Clumsy Bug skidded across the small foyer and slammed into the table holding our beautiful Crystal Glaze vases from Walter. The bodies of the vases are in tact, but she did manage to crack edges off both of the rims.

Sigh. We love our dog. And need to buy more superglue anyway.

Tags: home, pup

Mood:

amused

10 comments | Comment

02 September 2009 @ 09:38 am

Musical mumblings

Here comes Ladybug
Here comes Ladybug
Right down Olivine Lane
She's got a sniff for every shrub
That's planted along the way
Hear her leash go jingle jangle
See her sniff with delight
Hide your bunnies and all your squirrels
Cause Ladybug walks alright

Posted via LiveJournal.app.

Tags: insanity, pup, via ljapp

Current Location: US, Maryland, Prince George's, Hyattsville, E West Hwy, 3491

3 comments | Comment

23 July 2009 @ 02:07 pm

A Bug's life

Though I mentioned it in passing, and I've done updates on Facebook, I haven't done a true accounting on Ladybug's injuries here.
( FrankenBug )

So, that is the adventures of our silly Ladybug of late. I joked with Alan about just shaving down both of her sides to give her a mohawk, but have so far resisted such temptation. She'll heal well enough, and both wounds look clean and are closing up surely. Now we must wade through the silly ideas of dressing her in chainmaile and foam padding, and hope she keeps the rest of her sides tear-free for a little while more.

Tags: adventure, pup

Mood:

tired

2 comments | Comment

08 July 2009 @ 10:20 pm

long weekend

So this weekend we went to visit my folks in Florida and got to go sailing for two days. As they said, we're easy to entertain.
Sailing Pictures
'Twas great to see family and friends, especially the Captain.

Then after a bumpy flight home, we picked up our wounded pup from boarding. Apparently she got a bit too excited playing with some other pups and got a tear in her right side. Cindy was wonderful and took her to get cleaned and patched up, and Ladybug was handed over with 8 staples, antibiotics, pain meds, and a t-shirt to cover her wounded side. I took a day off yesterday to hang with the Bug and nurse her a bit. She did manage to wiggle out of her first t-shirt, but the one I dug out for our Lil' Devil seems to be staying put. She's doing much better today, with a bit more spring in her step, if still tentative and slow.

Otherwise I've been tending my sunburned shoulders, and leaving the Bug at home and going back to work today was tough.

Tags: family, pup, sailing

Mood:

drained

2 comments | Comment

30 June 2009 @ 10:51 pm

chasing wildlife

Doe, a deer, that must be chased
Ra, no sign of sun is seen
Mi, I'm Jen, with Ladybug
Fa, a long long way we ran
So, let's chase another deer
La, and bark at all the deer
Ti, no thanks, we're busy chasing deer
or maybe a chipmunk

Took our walk after the rain moved through this evening around 8:45pm. No bunnies flashed their cottontails, but one deer proved irresistible to the 'Bug

Tags: pup, wildlife

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17 June 2009 @ 10:43 pm

romp-about

Ladybug had her first grand escape this evening. It wasn't very spectacular since we forgot to latch the gate. Opps. The other dogs were fine and staying close to the people admiring the patio progress. We just realized that she wasn't around and started calling out for her. I heard her tags rattling the next yard over, which is inaccessible from our yard. There was a bit of running around, calling her name, directions from friendly neighbors of where she was last seen, a call to stay and Kirsten got her back safe home. I had gone down into the park area calling for her and ended up taking a brisk walk in non-walking shoes around the block to find out from another friendly neighbor who was walking her pup that she had been found.

She was all excited from her running romp, and I was just glad to have her back. Unfortunately apparently the excitement upset her tummy since she lost her dinner, so we had to calm her down, and after we ate our delivery sushi, I fed her dinner again in small handfuls over 15 minutes. Currently all the pups are crashed out on the den floor as the other humans are soaking in the Morgenstern's hot tub.

Tags: pup

Mood:

tired

8 comments | Comment

11 June 2009 @ 10:19 pm

still alive

mostly...

Been fighting TMJ related headaches all week. The icepack is my friend.

Can't muster thoughts for post. UofA was fun, despite the wildlife collision. Class seemed to go well, and I need to post the class notes.

Came home today to the dog missing part of the foam pad in her crate. Having ate the corner, she promptly went outside to eject part of it, eat some grass, and eject the rest. So after making sure she was done, I gave her a cookie and kept an eye on her, delayed her dinner and fed it to her in phases. I do not want to worry about the pup being sick when we have to go out of town this weekend.

Will be at Golden Rose on Saturday, plan to have fun.

bleargh, bed now pleez.

Tags: pup, whining

Mood:

determined

4 comments | Comment

18 May 2009 @ 03:07 pm

Sunday productivity

I swear I'm reading the words on the screen, but my brain is refusing to comprehend anything. I see distinct words and my brain parrots "blah blah blah" back to me. blah. I blame the allergies, and the lack of sleep. I made the mistake of taking a Mucinex-D too late in the afternoon yesterday and I think it kept me from sleep last night. Am rockin' the Muc-D, my Zyrtec, and some special allergy eye drops, and feeling quite foggy.

Yesterday was fun though. I got up, fed and pup, sliced my thumb while cleaning up the sink ('cuz i r stoopid), walked the dog, mowed the back half of the yard with the reel mower, napped, hung out on the patio in the cool breeze employing fleece pants, took Ladybug to the goggeh park for an hour, did a quick grocery targeted strike, vacuumed the top two floors of the house, then watched the Return of the Musketeers in the basement. Alas, no embroidery, but I did a bit on Saturday that was productive.

( notes to self on dogs, housework and Sapphire... )

Tags: home, pup

Mood:

groggy

12 comments | Comment

16 May 2009 @ 07:10 pm

Backyard surprises

When I got home from working Commencement this morning (ugh, I do not do 7am well) I go to hang out with the Ladybug in the the backyard for a bit. There were two wonderful surprises stealthily waiting for me.

First, was the first blooms of the year off our Gyrth irises. Hooray for happy yellow sunshine flowers!

I love the Gyrth iris blooming time. sigh. We have a pot of g-irises and sweet flag for Mel the Wiser, and I think for Gianetta too. Anybody else wanting some Gyrth pond irises, let me know for the next time Alan takes the axe to the overgrown pots.

But also lurking in the over-grown honeysuckle vines by the bog, was an Eastern Box Turtle that Ladybug sniffed out.

Of course she was more than a little bit skittish at the slow moving rock, so was quite the barky dog around him. Eventually I dragged her inside to give the turtle the time and space to escape to wherever s/he found more friendly. Luckily she amuses me greatly, and I like to share:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urzjLPOdV6s

The rest of the day has been napping, embroidering outdoors, walking the pup on an extra long walk- just before the rain, and watching the Preakness.

Tags: home, pond, pup, wildlife

Mood:

content

2 comments | Comment

27 April 2009 @ 10:40 pm

puppy-play!

We had a wonderful weekend down in Gastonia visiting with Chris and Tracie.
( pup play and pictures )

We don't get to visit and get quality time with far-away friends nearly often enough. It was wonderful to have fun pack-play and people chat time, even if we had to drive far to get it. Missing them all already.

Tags: pictures, pup

Mood:

tired

1 comment | Comment

22 April 2009 @ 12:22 pm

I was laughing too hard to ask her to stop

So I'm trying to think of her as our little rototiller for the hill, and she's digging holes for me to ultimately plant stuff in.
Oh, and she's helping to rip out the vines too, in an effort to get at those chipmunks, darnit!

Tags: pup

Mood:

amused

1 comment | Comment

20 April 2009 @ 03:19 pm

a weekend away from home

A few of the positive aspects of attending the BOD meeting this weekend in Williamsburg, VA:

The company of many wonderful and entertaining friends.
Having many folks correctly identify isenglass as the creator of my pretty pink pendant that I wore in honor of her run.
Observing how BOD meetings work.
Discovering that apparently Texans are taught that Jamestown failed. :) (need to send a note to correct that- since I was stunned to hear such a declaration I couldn't accurately refute it.)
Yummy food, and particularly dessert, both at the lunch buffet, dinner at Sal's with findlaech and stringmonkey , and brunch at Lulu's with Mike and halowenslut .
Walking around Colonial Williamsburg with a group of widely different and equally wonderful folks.
Getting quite a bit of progress made on my current embroidery project.

Making the one month overdue deadline for the craft-swap meme sadly isn't likely to happen either. But I did make progress and finished up one more pincushion and started on the next one. I also played around with dividing two different colors of 3 ply silk perl thread into three bi-color strands of 2-ply thread. It wasn't without some problems, but I have to say that the end result is pretty cool. The resulting stitching with a 2-ply of the Soie Perlee does get a finer, more densely packed and less fluffy detached buttonhole which does look closer to the originals I've seen. I wonder if I can take photos that are carefully cropped to not give away the whole before I can send them to their recipients, but still show things I've learned? Hmm... Of course I was just grooving on some reverse chain stitch on the ride home when Alan's sinus medicines tossed him into snooze-land, so I had to stop and take over driving.

We got home, picked up the Ladybug from the All Dogs Club, and arrived home with plenty of time to mow the lawn/pull out more evil vines and nap before the rain hit.

~

This morning Ladybug broke a cardinal rule. Despite that she insisted on her walk and that we walked up and down the street in the pouring rain (hooray rain boots and umbrella) she did some "elimination" after the walk indoors instead of outside. Bad Dog! I cleaned it up since Alan's sinuses are continuing to be unkind to him, especially changes in position like cleaning something off the carpet would entail. Rotten creature. But she can be so cute when not messing on the carpet.

sigh.

Tags: embroidery, pup, rain, sca, threads

Mood:

accomplished

30 comments | Comment

14 April 2009 @ 05:24 pm

bunnies, part 2

So, I went and checked on the bunny-pot after walking the pup this morning, and the baby bunnies were still alive, warm and wriggling and squeaking when I poked gently around. I thought I saw some signs that perhaps a momma bunny had found them and disturbed the ground, but nothing conclusive. I called the Second Chance Wildlife Center, told them my story and asked for advice. The conventional wisdom is that smell shouldn't matter, but if they aren't placed exactly where they were, the mom won't tend to them. Since that was not an option, as they'd all turn into Easter puppy snax, I bundled the flower pot into a plastic baggie and delivered them to the Wildlife Center.

It ended up being the same place where I delivered the older baby bunnies four years ago when Maxie discovered some in our backyard prior to one of Bob's parties. They are my wildlife rescue center of choice, though luckily I don't have to use them too often.

When I delivered them there, I filled out paperwork and signed a release form as the tech dug each one out, weighed them, checked them for injury, noted if they were warm, active and/or crying, and placed them in a new clean container. There ended up being six little bunnies (so seven total in that nest if you count the one that was a snack) each about the length of my palm and size of a large thumb. The tech said that they did appear to be old enough to have gotten sufficient antibodies from their mother's milk, so raising them the rest of the way shouldn't be too tough. Luckily she had just made up a batch of food for the other dozen baby bunnies that were recently brought in, so she could feed them directly. She also gave me the information I needed if I wanted to call and check on them, Thies-rabbits-4/14, which I think I might later. (If anybody else wants to call and check on my bunnies, make sure you give them a donation for the hassle.) Apparently the release rate for rescued rabbits is about 50%, which she said was pretty good considering they are the bottom of the food chain and can have several litters a year. I tossed in a small donation on my way out the door to go towards the care and feeding expenses they'll incur thanks to the stupidity of their momma and the power of Ladybug's nose and observation skills.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take still pictures of the cute wee creatures, but I did take some small video clips that I hope to cobble together for Genie's next Living Out Loud challenge. I'll try to get some screen captures from those videos so you too can awe in the cuteness of the baby bunnies.

Since I don't have any pics of the current baby bunnies, here is an old picture of a young bun spotted in our backyard a few summers ago. Look at his wee cotton-tail!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news, Ladybug was much better behaved on her walk this morning without visions of rabbits dashing in her head. Here is a link to some pictures of the pups all getting along this weekend:

Tags: pup, wildlife

Mood:

optimistic

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13 April 2009 @ 06:14 pm

bunnies

I am sad to say that Ladybug has her first confirmed kill.

In other news, I discovered what the dogs found so interesting back in the rose bushes on the side of the house.

This morning Ladybug had a super fun bunny chase where she got to chase down two adult rabbits across the yard. In hindsight it was likely the daddy (assuming they pair) dashing across the length of a yard to draw the pup's attention away from the nest, and then the mom doing the same with a shorter burst of speed. This also made Ladybug an impossible dog to walk this morning since she was seeing rabbits everywhere. sigh.

This evening, after the local wildlife rescue place's business hours, I poked around at the place where I saw one rabbit and thought it might have just been them looking for a place to nest. Nope. Ladybug easily dug up and later consumed one squeaking pitiful baby bunny. sigh. So I put her inside the house as I grabbed a latex glove and some paper towels and head out to "rescue" the remaining young. I grabbed an old plastic flowerpot, lined it with the paper towels, scooped out the remaining babies with my gloved hand (and man there were so many I lost count) and nestled them into the flower pot nest and covered it up with the fluffy belly-fur around and some grass from the nest. I then took the new nest around to just outside the fence and partially buried it at the base of an evergreen, with fallen leaves around up to the edge of the pot. This is in sight of the old nest, maybe 6-8 feet away and I hope that the mom finds them and continues to care for them.

Okay, there is a part of me that hopes for a happy ending, and there is another part of me that recognizes that freaking bunnies are everywhere and if they don't live it's not like they are an endangered species. But I also don't like to see animals suffer. People should sometimes suffer, but not animals. So, if they meet an end, I hope it is swift. I guess I'll check on the relocated nest in the morning and call a wildlife rescue place tomorrow.

Then again, I don't know how much honor there is in having her first kill be a defenseless baby bunny. It's not like it was a satisfying chase or anything.

Tags: pup, wildlife

Mood:

distressed

12 comments | Comment

05 April 2009 @ 10:41 pm

Happy Pup

My new favorite picture thanks to this weekend:

Ladybug with a big happy grin in the middle of her puppy playdate with Simon and Brodie.
She and I had a wonderful weekend at home including long walks in the good weather, hanging out on the back patio and in the backyard, and even a trip to PetSmart for a new dinner bowl, and some treats.
I enjoyed some take-out Indian, and accomplished a nice soak in the tub, washed all the laundry, and even got a start on the taxes.

Tags: pup

Mood:

relaxed

11 comments | Comment