This is our Amber. She is really too large for people our age. (97+ lbs. now). It’s amazing that in the house and around the yard, when we’re by ourselves, Amber minds amazingly well. She comes, sits, gets down, fetches toys, sits until we tell her it’s okay to eat her food, waits for us to say ‘okay’ before she goes out the door, goes to her ‘place,’ stays off the furniture, doesn’t jump up on us, and more. When someone is HERE, she acts like she is deaf, has never seen us before, and has never had ANY training of any kind. A definite work in progress. We were told that labs calm down when they get to be two years old. Amber didn’t get the memo. She’s going on 5 now.
This is Jasmine, my SIL’s dog. My SIL works hard to raise a well-mannered dog who minds well, gets along well with people and other dogs, etc. They enjoy long walks together daily, have play dates with others, wears a CUTE raincoat when needed – a sweet, fun dog.
Finally, this is Skye, my good friend’s brand new puppy, only brought home this week. She is 8 weeks old. She doesn’t do anything yet, but eat, poop, sleep, and look at cute as cute can be. She probably will be like Amber, as far as minding when others are there, but Skye will only be 7 pounds full-grown, where Amber is a bit over 97 lbs.
Three different dogs in different situations, all bringing joy to their families. How “doggie-rich” we are!
I think this is spectacular. I researched at the site above to try to find more pics of this ‘fence,’ but was unsuccessful. :0(
Our irrigation system had a blowout again, so we’ll try to repair it today. Then I’ll need to reprogram the units and then we’ll see if they work the way they should. We had a power outage (off and on over and over) recently, and that may have caused things to go wonky. If the system tried to come on and went off over and over, it may have over-taxed things.
I finished the dog and cat plaques yesterday and will try to get them listed on HandmadeHavenbyLinda on Etsy today. I started a new piece, as well, so I had a fun day yesterday.
The weather is delicious here. It’s much less humid and a cold front is due to come through this morning, bringing cooler and less humid weather. That will be SO welcome!
I found a wonderful shop on Etsy called, “Watercolor Tales.” The artist is Laura Winslow and I simply love her watercolors. Her compositions really speak to me and I love the texture she creates.
I love everything about this painting. I’m going to go to Pine Tree Art on Etsy and see what else they have to offer.
I have the second load of laundry in the washer now and vacuumed the first floor tiled areas this morning (pantry, kitchen, dining area, utility room, back foyer to living room and two half baths), since dog hair was in clumps and was sailing around the floor as you walked by, lifting by the air conditioning.
I’m planning to spend time in the art room this afternoon, trying to finish my ‘cat’ and ‘dog’ wood-burned plaques. All that remains is varnishing both sides of each plaque and then gluing the pegs in.
I’m going to have to ask my husband to see what I’m doing wrong on our TV. I’m trying to add NBC to our custom list of channels so that I can then record the Kansas City Chiefs vs the Baltimore Ravens football game today. We’ll have some lunch soon and I’ll see if we can figure out what I’m missing then. I hate technology sometimes.
Our weather is wonderful right now. I may go out and do some weed whacking after lunch.
I’m trying to ‘unplug’ and not worry about my husband presenting for jury duty this morning. In Arkansas, you’re on the panel for 6 months, unless you are excused for some reason.
I was called years ago and was ‘invited to leave’ because I said I would follow the judge’s instructions “if they made sense to me,” and when asked, told the guy I didn’t have faith in the judicial system anymore. I guess they marked off my name in big, black magic marker or something, never to be called again. That’s fine with me.
My husband WANTS to serve. He would answer the same as I did if he told the truth. He has no compunction to do that, since he WANTS to get on a jury so that he can vote the way he wants regardless of instructions, to hang the jury or whatever is necessary to get someone off or to put them in jail, as HE deems just.
He is hard of hearing, rigid of opinion, extremely confident that he knows more than anyone. He will be 81 in November and has several health problems, none of which he will admit. He won’t ask to be excused. I just hope he doesn’t embarrass himself in any way. He’s a mess, but he’s my guy and I kind of like him.
One of the things he’ll have until he is no longer with us is a strong sense of who he is. He washed the Vette in the driveway yesterday because it was dusty and had cat paw prints going across the hood and over the top. Since our new cat stays inside, the culprit is ANOTHER, strange cat, who has come through the cat door in the garage. When he came in, he told me he threw up in the yard he got so tired washing the car. He refuses to stop work until the job is finished no matter how I encourage him to work in ‘sessions,’ as I do, resting and re-hydrating in-between. The important thing to him was that his Vette was clean and shiny for his trip to the court house this morning. It’s part of his image.
Since they keep the court house like a freezer, I made sure he wore jeans, a long-sleeved shirt, socks, and tennis shoes, rather than the tee, shorts, and sandals he usually wears. I also suggested he wear his leather vest. We gathered his glasses, his phone to keep in the car, made sure he WASN’T carrying the two pocket knives he usually has, and that he had his admittance ticket. He also decided to take his Kindle. He’ll probably start reading and won’t hear anyone call on him.
This is something I can’t control, so I’m really trying to simply let whatever happens happen, hoping he doesn’t embarrass himself in any way. I’m doing my normal stuff, but staying ‘available’ if he needs me. It’s kind of like sending your child to the first day of school…
UPDATE – he’s home. He didn’t ask to be excused. He says they will call him on my phone if they want him to appear. He said if we have a doc’s appt, or other appt, we can simply call and be excused for the day. As he sat down at the computer, he said, “I’m old and I walk funny.” I’m not sure what brought that on. I did mention that when “I” get up, I limp for several steps before my joints loosen up and I can walk more normally. He’s not getting old all by himself!
I told you yesterday that I find a lot of the things I share here on Pinterest. It finally occurred to me that it might help the visibility of my stuff on Etsy if I could point to some of it from Pinterest. (A lot of the things I find to share have a blue oblong ‘Visit Site’ button.)
Debra of nanasworldweb, wrote me on Sunday, telling me she FOUND something of mine on Pinterest, clicked on it and the link took her straight to my Etsy site! I’m now trying to send pics of some of my stuff to Pinterest, hoping they’ll show them at least randomly. THANK YOU, Debra. :0)
I also found a ‘search’ box at the top of the home page on Pinterest that has taken me years to notice (aren’t you amazed at how quick on the uptake I am?) You can use it to zero in on pictures on a lot of subjects. Be careful, though, it’s addictive.
I’m going to try to finish my dog and cat wood burned plaques today. I’ll post pics when they are finished.
I love how REAL these look. They look like GOOD people who have lived full lives. I love the attention to their clothes, the different ‘texture’ of the faces, the sweaters, suits, etc. I’m in awe of this lady’s talent.
Cat Humor – I’ve discovered our cat has quite a sense of humor. Today she decided it was funny to try to scare me, pouncing on my leg whenever she could hide and saw I was going to pass her. She pounced several times while I was trying to get our chicken breasts ready to put in the oven for our dinner tonight. Thank goodness I’m wearing jeans, or the skin on my legs would be in ribbons. I squirted her with a big bottle of water to try to discourage her, but it only is a short-term deterrent now. She is now tired, and is trying to ‘woo’ me into a good mood again, curling up in the bread basket I keep for her beside my computer. Am I awful for enjoying her more when she’s sleepy?
Medicine Frustration – I spent a long time before lunch trying to arrange for my vet to mail a prescription to Chewy.com for our dog, Amber. The heart worm chew pills are pretty expensive and I found that I could save about $13 with the transaction. There would be even more of a difference usually, since the vet was having a sale now which still didn’t make them competitive. I completed the order, then called my vet’s office to ask them to mail the prescription. They told me “they didn’t do that.” SO. I had to cancel the order and am back at Square One. I guess I’m now forced to buy the pills from our vet, since all the pet places now require a prescription from your vet. Wasted time and frustration.
Wood-Burning Pieces – My husband and I just came in from our shop. We took my two plaques and one of the pegs out there so that he could drill shallow holes for me in each of the plaques. He has fancy measuring equipment, finding the peg had a width of 304 thousandths and actually had a drill bit close to that. He drilled two shallow holes in each of the plaques for me. I’ll go up to my art room in a bit and continue working on the designs. When I finish, I can put some glue in the holes and shove the pegs down securely into them. :0)
Chonky Animals-R/midjourney – Reddit.com
September Accountability – To date, I’ve lost 35.4 pounds and there is/are (can’t decide which is grammatically correct) 32.2 inches less of me. It’s a start.
I finally finished adding extra pics to my item listings on Etsy. Quite a laborious job, but it could increase my visibility, so I’m game.
I’m now focused on trying to get my stuff to show up on Pinterest. It’s where I find a lot of the beautiful things I share here. When they pick up a picture from you, they provide a “Visit Site” button you can press to be taken to the item and then you can also click on the name of the site to be taken to see ALL of their work. This would increase my visibility a lot, so I’ll work on that.
I did find that some of my stuff is already showing up there. I’m not sure how that works, but I’ll research it. I also discovered a “search box” at the top that has probably been there the whole time – the YEARS I’ve been enjoying the site – but never used before. DUH.
All this work has eaten up my time and energy, so I haven’t worked on my latest wood-burned pieces much. I need to drill a ‘bowl-shaped’ spot in two places for the pegs on these plaques I’m making for pets’ leashes, etc. I JUST figured out that I can go ahead and DO that – but NOT add the glue and the pegs until all the wood-burning, painting, and varnishing are finished. ANOTHER DUH!
I had to really make a lot of notes to myself about the trash people adjusting their schedule for pickup this week due to the Labor Day holiday. It shouldn’t be a big thing, but routine around here is the main thing that keeps us on track, so when something changes, it throws us off. My husband was running around, thinking we had messed up not gathering trash yesterday as usual. I had told him about the change, but he had forgotten or didn’t listen to me in the first place. :0) Anyway, we just gathered our stuff and drove it to the bottom of our driveway for pickup tomorrow. A note -it will go up so we won’t forget to check on the trash tomorrow and drag the can back up to where it lives.
Women’s Health
A shout-out to my friend Nora who just brought home an 8-week-old Maltese puppy to be a new part of her family. She is over the moon, having had to wait a long time to find one, and then wait for her to be old enough to bring home. Welcome to your new family, Skye!
I just read about strikes by hotel workers at vacation destinations around the country for Labor Day. After reading several articles, the issue seems to be a complicated one, and I’m certainly not in a position to judge.
My husband wants to go to our local grocery store this morning, so we’ll do that, hoping it’s open. We have no plans otherwise.
I hope to finish adding pics to my Etsy site today and then will experiment with whether I can make other changes. I think I’m almost to the finishing point on my ‘cat’ wood burned sign, too. I’ll post a pic when it’s done.
Our weather is cooler and less humid today – an extremely welcome change. I might actually spend some time outside today!
I hope that you are enjoying a wonderful family and friend time today filled with fun things and lots and lots of love.
I’ve had fun finding funny sayings on mugs and sharing them with you. In my travels on the net, I’ve gathered some mugs that I think are absolutely gorgeous. Here are the first of them –
It’s quite rainy-looking outside right now. We may get rain around 2pm today. I say, “MAY” because we were due for some yesterday, but only got very overcast skies for a time and some thunder, but no rain. It would be good if it comes. Update – now the sun has come out…
I hope you’re in the middle of a family-and-friends weekend celebration of Labor Day. We’re having a quiet one, and hopefully will talk with our son on either the chat program or the conference call today or tomorrow.
I just asked my husband if he “missed getting the memo.” I went to the bathroom and was joined by Amber, our 95-pound yellow lab, and Monster Cat (aka Jet). Both were playing and stretching, rubbing up against me over and over, making it a bit difficult to finish what I had gone in there for, since it’s a small space. I really don’t think we could have fit my husband IN there, if he HAD gotten the memo. I love my animals, but a bit less companionship at that time would be nice.
I’m about half finished with my project of editing the items on my Etsy site. They want me to add more pics for a lot of my items, so I’m doing that. I’m all for making changes that might give my stuff more exposure. I’m also continuing work on my two newest wood-burned pieces – ‘cat’ and ‘dog’ signs with pegs for leashes, etc. I’m trying some new techniques, having a great time.
This little girl, having lost her hair again to chemotherapy, asked her mother to do her hair. The joy she felt when her mother placed a hair clip was priceless.
Little angel seeing beauty in everything despite what she is going through https://t.co/nX4inGYh4J
I’m happy to wave, “Bye-Bye” to August. I’m hoping that September will bring a calming down of the weather, a deep breath of the coming fall, a more relaxing time for us all.
For the past two days, I’ve spent half the day editing items on my Etsy site, HandmadeHavenbyLinda. I received an email from them saying that my stuff would be ‘seen’ and show up in more search engines if I included more pics of each of my items. I don’t have money to throw around, but these changes don’t cost anything but my time, so I’m plowing through, trying to do the editing on one page each day. Laborious, but will hopefully be good for the long run.
I didn’t make it up to my art room yesterday, but I plan to today. I’ve had active dreams lately. The night before last, it was my long-lived standard nightmare of being lost and late, moving faster and faster as the dream progresses, getting more and more frightened. Last night, happily, my nightmare was replaced by me watching myself working on the new wood-burned pieces. MUCH better. :0)
At dinnertime last night our power suddenly went out. After several seconds, the generator came on. Then it went off and it looked like we would get power back, then off again. This happened several times over the space of about half an hour before the public power was restored and stable. I have no clue why we lost power. The sun was shining. I really don’t like it when our generator has to work so hard turning on and off again over and over, but am grateful for our setup.
The power outage was a good lesson for me in another way. My husband said his computer hadn’t been affected. I assumed it was the same for mine, but found out my computer was off, even though I have a UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) into which my computer is plugged. It either didn’t work or the power was off longer than the UPS will run. I asked my husband, the former computer analyst and fixer of all things electronic. He simply looked at me and threw up his hands – our new normal.
I rebooted my computer and got a screen I’ve never seen before. It scared me. I finally figured out to hit F1 for setup and then carefully made choices I hoped would get things back to the way they were before we lost power. I did it, with my heart in my throat, newly aware that “I” am now the fix-it person here. :0(
We are due for a somewhat rainy day today and more tomorrow. Hopefully, our power will stay on, or the generator came come on and stay on until the power is back.
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