Thursday, March 20, 2008

Farewell Sweet Girl




Yesterday we said “farewell” to Sneakers. She didn’t quite make fifteen years old, but she gave it a good shot and had a blast along the way.

She was a queen from day one. Her early life and show career were spectacular, and she let it go right to her head. When she pranced into a show ring, the world revolved around her and she knew it, and everything was as it should be. With a gesture from a handler, she would go into a show stack and that was all it took to bring home a ribbon or trophy. Her litter of puppies produced several other top show winners, continuing her winning streak.

After she retired from her career, she set about changing life around the house. She ruled, period. The fact that she battled Liz many times showed where she thought she belonged in the pecking order.

Her other side was somewhat unexpected, rather unlike a queen. She loved to roll in the dirt and grass; she would come in covered in dust, mud, and green stripes. More than once, she would go to each single fence board and push against it to see if it would give; not that she wanted out, just to know which one to push, just in case. She shredded papers and tissues and left them in the other dog’s bed so he’d get the blame. She’d jump up to rip pears off the pear tree. And her passion for tomatoes still gets Liz worked up (tomatoes were always tastier if stolen off the counter).

I don’t think I will ever be able to open a bottle of beer without looking around to see her waiting at her bowl for her “taste”. But, I think we’ll miss our “little girl” most when watching a movie, when she’d curl up on my lap, covered with her quilt, and put her head on my shoulder and nap, breathing quietly in my ear.

So long Sneakers; we’ll see you someday…give Ditto our love.




* Note: this post was written by Stephen

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

The Hard Part




....The hardest part of owning a dog is when you have to make that awful decision about taking that final trip to the vet. It is perhaps the kindest thing we ever do for our old dogs and also it's the hardest thing we ever do. So, with very heavy hearts, tomorrow afternoon we will bid farewell to our sweet old girl, Sneakers. She has been the princess of our home for almost 15 years. As Ditto was my "body & soul", so Sneakers is for Stephen. I'm not sure how he will be able to watch a movie without her nestled on his chest.

Despite the problems they have had getting along, I'm sure that Arlo is going to have a tough adjustment. He will suddenly be an "only dog". Perhaps now he will settle down some and be less paranoid since he won't have Sneakers tormenting him.

We love you Miss Sneak -- you will always be in our hearts. Know that Ditto is waiting there, at the Bridge for you. Give him our love.


"Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our life whole." -- Roger Caras

Friday, March 14, 2008

Long Time....

2-1/2 years.....I guess you could say I've been M.I.A. I'm going to try to do a better job at updating. I'm motivated by reading so many of the blogs of Ravelry users. Ravelry is a big time warp for me. I sit down at the computer for "just 10 minutes". But, if I head to Ravelry, at least an hour passes before I know it.

If you are a knitter or crocheter, and you haven't checked out Ravelry, do so now! It's the greatest thing to happen to the fiber world. I wish the quilting world had something equal to Ravelry. But then again, I'm kinda glad they don't. There wouldn't be enough hours in the day.

Meanwhile, back to my life. A lot has happened. Right now I'm in the midst of a MAJOR sewing room re-organization. New quilting table for the HQ16, new, adjustable height table for the sewing machines. All new cabinets for storage of all that fabric and yarn. There is still a lot of reorganization to be done before I can post pictures. I never realized just how much fabric I actually have. The joys of discovery....

L.