Of Mice and Men ... or rather, rats ....

Charlie did it!
My smart, handsome dog went to an Earthdog Workshop and was the best dog at the workshop.
He was the first to go through the tunnel, the first to find the rats, the first to bark! What a wonderful boy.

We went all the way to Chattanooga for this and it was worth it. No pictures, I was too busy keeping control of my wild boy, what with there being other Westies, dachshunds of all types and a couple of Scotties. The other Westies were better behaved than Charlie and not too adventurous - my boy was not so inhibited. He made a new friend with a Scottie named Fergus and spent a good 30 minutes wrassling good-naturedly with Fergus. This makes me hope that Charlie will be able to do Junior Earthdog next time we have a chance. In the meanwhile, Charlie will have to practice ... a lot.

The drive was quite taxing - I-75 is a real mess. On the way up, barely out of Cobb County, there was a relatively minor, but messy (small produce truck) accident with one lane of four blocked. Yet the traffic backed up for well over a mile and 20 minutes to goggle at it. On the way home, I was just around Lake Allatoona when I spotted a traffic jam clogging all the southbound lanes ahead of me. I nipped off at the approaching exit and ended up taking the Generica tour of the northern exurbs. I do have to say that the bit right above Allatoona was country in the sort of way that the roads up in Cumming were not too long ago - house trailers, horses, firewood for sale. All to be gone sooner rather than later, I'm sure. Made it all the way through the wilds of northern Cobb County, Cherokee County and into Roswell, only to be stymied, just when I was getting so tired I felt like weeping, by the remnants of the end of the Tour de Georgia. Normally, I'd at least have enjoyed watching the muscular legs, but by 5:30 p.m. on a day that started at 5:30 a.m., I was more interested in getting home. Charlie, who'd been sleeping with his head on my leg for the entire trip, was equally ready to get home. In fact, he took a nap with me, then slept right through the night and was still ready to sack back out after the morning walk.

In other news, the spring colored socks are done - a present for my mother.

Progress on the afghan proceeds slowly - in fact, I have joined the Slogalong http://www.masondixonknitting.com/slogalong/ for people working on seemingly endless projects . . . pictures or links to follow soon. I'm itching for some smallish project, perhaps it's time to resume dishcloths.

Other than that, I have attended the Atlanta Dogwood Festival (twice); the Inman Park Festival; been working on a plan for http://www.hildrethcemetery.com/ and trying to cope with a workload made significantly greater by the involuntary departure of two of my compatriots - one of whom was "Mr. Coffeepot" from prior posts. Needless to say, the powers that be did not
consider the impact on the rest of us in terms of workload - or perhaps they considered it and decided it was unimportant. I would beg to disagree, but they aren't asking me and neither are they answering the calls. Ah well, there's always caffeine . . .

Succumbing to socks

OK, I needed a break from the brown brioche afghan. And it was Monday. And I'm knitting from stash, but sock yarn is allowed. So off I went to the Needlenook and indulged myself in something spring and summery.

And so last night, on went the caston onto #2s and with a little bit of news and weather watching knitting:

Very nice. I think.

And MORE blue

OK, I've been waiting for a day when my arms and shoulders could take it, and after exerting myself yesterday a bit helping Marleen's Joe move some furniture, I realized that I could do it.

Mood: Gratified.

Those who are less than impressed with a single light fixure also need to know that this had to be put up hanging out over the 2-story stairwell.

Blueblueblue blue

Most of this weekend has been eaten up with an allergy attack and the effort to finish the blue paint in the laundry room. I am happy to say that the horse-sized antihistamines work and also that all the blue bits are done.


I also finished the gloss paint on the (sole) shelf. I plan to put up another narrower shelf for tools and stuff above the wooden shelf, which is 18 inches deep. But I am not going to start in on the white semigloss. For starters, I need to wait until all the blue is dry and then razor out all the taping (and replace a couple of electrical outlet covers. And I need to shove the dryer back into the washroom and get some clean clothes for next week, plus sheets and towels, so this:




is what we have for now. The lighter area up in the upper right is just touch up over the overspray from attacking a waterstain with Kilz.



I am very pleased with the lucency and depth of the blue - the semigloss gives to a light quality that I think would be missing with flat paint.








This is the blue tile that I found while shopping with the fabulous Tobye T in Adairsville at the tile outlet back in 1999. I think it was right after Miranda came to me and just before Tobye absconded for Colorado. I think I shelled out $20 or so for this tile, which sat in forlorn stacks in the laundry room until like 2004, when I had the cash to get the tile laid. Unfortunately, there was no way (or enough tile) to remove the water heater and furnace and tile under them. When I have to replace the furnace



I hope I'll be able to have the water heater pulled too and some sort of plain white tile laid under the water heater, as the old lino is coming up in shreds and really disgusting. Hmm, there are 5 of the blue tiles left - enough to cover almost all of the floor that's visible between the wall and the furnace and the existing marble curb and the water heater - so almost anything in white past that would work just to make it more cleanable. The other thing I'd like to do in the laundry room is get the vent pipes arranged more compactly. They did at Deb's next door but it mine, they stick out overhead. Makes perfect sense - she's short, I'm tall , but that's probably a bit more long term. A new light fixture to replace the ceramic-socket-bare-bulb arrangement is definitely on.

So next, I need to muscle the 350 lb. front load washer back closer to the walls and start a load of wash and then I can drag the dryer back (again) and hook it up. Next weekend I can de-tape and start the reverse taping for doing the white paint. Progress.

On the knitting front, I am still slogging away on the chocolate brown brioche afghan. We've been at black hole country for a while - it's at lightly less than 6 feet and no matter how much I think I've knitted, it's doesn't seem to get longer. Since it's for a married couple, I want it long enough to wrap around two sets of shoulders on a cool night. I've passed from enjoying it to hating it back to enjoying it, but I'm really truly starting to look forward to knitting something else.

No exaggeration about the pollen

This is what the pollen looks like after it rains and it piles up behind an obstacle in the parking lot.











And this is what it looks like when you swipe some up with your fingers - just an inch or so from the above accumulation:















Yes, it really is that bad. A thick paste, discernably gritty when rubbed between the fingers.

In other news, Joy delivered 4 more lovely pups for Marleen in the small hours of the morning and looks much happier now that the puppies are on the outside. Just like human babies, they like to come in the night, apparently — Marleen said the first pup arrived about 4:30 a.m. and the last around 7:30. Ms. Packratty went by on her way home from work to admire the new babies. Joy was proud. Pictures soon.


Now, it's time to limber up the masking tape and paintbrush and get back to work on the laundry room. More blueblueblue.