A Sweet Smelling Story

This happens to be one of my very favorite pictures of Sophie and it seemed very apt for today’s tale. Eldest Son is a temporarily (he hopes) schedule wherein he has to be at work at ether 5 or 6 a.m, which means that he has to get up between 3 and 4 in the morning. IN THE MORNING. He is not a morning person. Several days ago he was sitting at the kitchen table eating his breakfast with the dogs keeping him company. (They adore it when anyone gets up at an ungodly hour. This is dog party time.) He got up from the table and Sophie walked over to the back door indicating that she would like to go outside. He said he thought she might just want to play and he was reluctant to let her out in case she barked. So he went about his business of getting ready, took a shower and went downstairs to his room to get his keys (a shirt, a book, something). What he found when he went downstairs was a line of dog poop from the stairs to his bedroom door. He cleaned it up and went to work fuming. Sidenote: I cannot recall a single “accident” from Sophie since she was a puppy.

When he came home and told us this stinky story, both BG and I laughed our asses off. She was telling him in no uncertain terms that when she went to the back door, she had to GO! Eldest Son thought it was some sort of retribution, but both BG and I explained to him that she does not have a vindictive bone in her body and we both thought it was a small stroke of brilliance to tell him in terms she hoped he would understand, that when she goes to the back door, she has to GO.

I also told Eldest Son that in future, he could a) just leave the door open and don’t worry about the neighbors or b) wake me up to deal with it, not the first 3 a.m. wake up I have had in my years as a mother.

I think everyone got their point across.

Orthopedic Nightmare

These are the braces that made it possible to walk like a human being and not a monkey. I was really despairing that I had traded pain for mobility as my body that has not had knee caps for 30 years was not happy with them. I have also had some additional PT, but I am convinced that these are the miracle workers.

I put in the pic of Dan and the girls just because they are cute!

I am still here.

Ok, I have not totally disappeared. And my new absolutely favorite charity web site is Warm Woolies. http://www.warmwoolies.org/index.html They donate knitted garments to children on Indian Reservations in this country and in countries like Mongolia, Afghanistan & Russia. All garments must be made of wool as it is the warmest and as all of us knitters know, it it the only fiber that retains it’s warmth even when wet. On the page of often-asked questions, one is: Do I need to use superwash wool? The answer is: No, these people do not have washing machines. Often, running water is an issue. They also will send you a box of wool that you promise to knit up and send back to them. All you have to pay is postage. It is great. Now I can knit forever, gauge is not real important, and I am doing something nice.

I already sent them several socks, a hat and a vest, I have this sweater and vest, as well as a pair of socks and another sweater that I am halfway done with. After that I will make more socks with the rest of the yarn they sent me. I love it. I realized after making several adult sweaters that I vastly prefer making little people sweaters, so this is perfect.

I will post a pic of me in my braces along with a PT update next time.