Dogs like to dig? Who knew.

Since yesterday was a gorgeous day (and good thing too, engagement photos happened yesterday), I let DaBear run around the backyard with the basement door open while I put together my birthday router table and puttered around the basement. At some point, he came running into the basement with the doggie equivalent of 'Mom, mom, come look what I did, it's awesome, come look, now now.' He had dirt on his nose and his tongue was brown, instead of pink. He bounced around a little more until I followed him outside where he said (in doggish) 'See, see? isn't it the coolest thing ever. And I did it, it was me. i'm so awesome.' and bounced some more. Here's what he did. I know what you're saying. Who doesn't want a deep hole (it went below the brick border) in their flower bed. Luckily, he seems to only dig holes where he's a) seen me dig holes and b) where I don't really care that he's digging holes. He was so proud of himself. I couldn't help but laugh at him. Silly kid.

What the...?

Taking a page out of Rose-Kim's thursday are for... posts and present my own what the hell is this post. I was trolling the intertron looking at amusing wedding snafu's, and came across this...it's even knitting related. Nice wedding dress huh?

Bellatrix...Redux

I finished the Bellatrix (ravelry link) pattern the first time back in March. The problem was that everything seemed too big, the heel wouldn't stay put, the foot was baggy even though I used size 0 needles, it just wasn't good and I'd never wear them. So they sat on my desk, asking to be frogged for quite awhile and I finally got around to it.The first pair had the pattern all through the foot, which I think helped the too baggy issue. These fit much much better. I'm now diligently working on my mom's b-day socks...she's seen them, I made her try them on after I couldn't get them on, they got frogged and started again toe up. The foot will be in stockinette and the leg in pattern.

I've also been meaning to post my latest glass creation. It's been done for awhile, I just hadn't photographed it until today.
The symbol's are Kanji for Zen, or so several internet sources told me. It sits in the window at the bottom my bedroom stairs, so I see it several times a day. The solder lines are really quite dark, although the light in this picture doesn't make it seem very dark. Very happy with this piece. It's the second that I've done using Kanji and I really like the way they turn out.

Maxed Out

I'll post on knitting tomorrow, as I have new socks to show off, but I wanted to comment and promote the movie Maxed Out. It's a documentary about credit card companies and the ease in which people can get credit and get into debt. People in America are over a TRILLION dollars in debt. To me that's not even a fathomable number. It's astonishing how easy it is to get a credit card, then debt, then only be able to pay part of it off, then get another card to transfer the money to, then buy more, then fall behind, and on and on. And what's worse is that the credit card companies prey on the people in this situation. That's how they get their money, through interest and late and over-limit fees.

But what's even worse than that is the federal government. They pay more money in interest on the loans they've taken out than the military, education, and healthcare combined. COMBINED. Social security was, according to the movie, emptied and filled with IOU's in 2005. If you count on it as part of your retirement plan, you will be sorely disappointed. And yet spending goes on and on and there's no plan to balance the budget and pay off the debt. If I'm required to live within my means, have a budget, pay off my debt, why isn't the government? Why do they get to live way beyond their means?

I don't get it. I'd ask questions like, why are we funding the rebuilding of a country that is rich with oil, or why do we send money we don't have to aid other countries. Why is the US the caretakers and police to the world? I don't think there'll be an answer that satisfies though. Yay America.

The movie does a good job explaining what the credit card companies do and how they keep people in debt. Good and rather discouraging at the same time. I recommend watching it.

What's wrong with this picture

I took a mental day from work on Monday, as I knew it was going to be a gorgeous day and quite frankly I was having eye trouble. So I played with DaBear, took him on a walk, knit, read a book, and weeded the backyard planting beds (although weeds are currently the only thing planted in them...fear not, there is a plan). Ivy (cursed stuff) is something that has grown in the beds and occasionally tried to creep onto the grass for the last 2 years. It's been a losing battle as it all gets ripped out and then all grows back. I win battles, but not the war. At any rate, the couple feet between my garage and the neighbors garage was of particular concern. The ivy was making little hills (kinda scary...what the heck is under them? dead things? bodies?) And in addition to slowly devouring dead bodies, I discovered this.Anyone see something wrong with this picture? Like the fact that the ivy is growing out of the garage? Yes boys and girls, the ivy has been so sneaky as to grow under the siding of the garage and it got so excited about it's victory, that it showered itself down the side. The vines that were sneaky enough to get under the siding have had their roots cut out from under them, but I suppose i'll have to rip siding off at some point to get it all out.

I have a theory about ivy, as it doesn't seem to provide anything but irritation. It was the 6th day and god was tired. He'd created trees and the sun and the planets and the field mice, but he noticed that the ground had pretty flowers, but lots of visible dirt. So he said, well, i'm tired, and i don't relish the idea of putting a lot of energy into ground cover, so I'll make something that spreads fast and is green. And because he had a sense of humor and wanted us to invent swear words, he made it so that it's next to impossible to get rid of. thanks a bunch.

In knitting news, my mom's b-day gift has been frogged, as it was going to fit DaBear and not my mother (minor issue). One of the Bellatrix socks has been completed and the other cast on for. So far I'm avoiding second sock syndrome. It's an easy enough pattern that I think I'll be able to keep interested. And i have an order from Knitpicks coming in the mail. Excited? Me? Never.

Seaside

MrMonkey and I went to Seaside, OR over the weekend. Just for one night, which is really not long enough to get away, given the drive. There's a great car show this weekend every year, Wheels and Waves, that allows both of us to drool, although over completely different cars. I took lots of car pictures, but this is the one I want.

Pause to wipe the drool off my face. That's not the ultimate dream car, but it's near the top of the list. I want to say it was a '57 corvette, but the year might be wrong. I can't remember what years they had the double headlights. Le sigh.

Anyhow, we saw beach too. The first day we were there was foggy and cool, just like the weather guessers predicted. The ocean was...where, exactly?
That would be MrMonkey looking bemused at my documentation of the lack of ocean. The second day, however, more than made up for the first. Sunday was gorgeous, blue skies and toasty.

Exactly the kind of day we were hoping for. So far this is the second year we've gone to Seaside over this weekend. MrMonkey is making noise about Las Vegas next year, but we'll see.

The Great Houdini - a photojourney

The father's day socks I've been working on for quite some time (i started a pattern, got to the heel, and discovered that -I- couldn't get it on my girl foot, so it got frogged, i got frustrated, and it was ignored), has been finished. I attempted the Houdini pattern by Cat Bordhi. The construction was curious...you completely knit the foot from toe to heel (for me they were the same) and close it off. So you have this footprint that you couldn't get your foot into. Then you pick an end, and pick up stitches.

Then you bravely snip the middle stitch in the row between the two needles and start unweaving, leaving the last two stitches on either end of both needles still 'knit'.

And then you knit a leg, starting at the middle back of the heel (which is something i never do, my rounds always start on one side, so that was new, i think i like it though).

and TADA

a whole sock. I can't tell, as they are made for man feet, how they fit or if the heel will be funny (note to self, use the cast on toe for the heel), but they are house socks for chilly mornings. Just in time for the weather change. I'll be trying Houdini again for myself, and will report on the fit/feel at that time. Definitely an interesting method.

He's a virgo

My good friend genypher and I were discussing old people and how we don't get them, her grandparents, my neighbor herb (who's 98 and still lives alone), john mccain. And then we started to wonder why the heck john mccain would want to be president at his age (he turned 72 august 29). I pointed out that he's a virgo, and we don't want virgos in office (i'm a virgo, so don't get your knickers in a twist) and she's decided that that's her response to everything. i quote:

that's going to be my line for anything that McCain does now...trashing Obama? he's a virgo. Picking on Boeing? he's a virgo

She should know about virgos, she's strangely surrounded by them...me, her boyfriend, her mom. and we're all a little nuts.

In all seriousness, while I don't agree with most of mccain's politics. I do worry about the idea of having a president that old in office. That old with health problems. And yes, if Obama got in he could get fast acting cancer and die in 2 years, but that's less likely. You gotta wonder, is that the best the republicans can do or was it just finally his turn?

Disgustingly Productive

First and foremost, the cardigan I've been working on for months?
Done.

The to do list for the weekend was pretty long, and most of it got done. We've been procrastinating on getting the backyard redone, primarily because we put off tearing down the deck/building a patio until next year because a) the summer ran out and 2) no budget and rumor has it the rocks can be pricey. One of the things we definitely needed to get done was a setup to allow DaBear access to his 'area' while we're not home. Not quite a run, but access to the outside world. We ran into the problem of having to leave events early to make sure he was taken care of, which was a bummer (sometimes). So here's the side where he usually enters his area...except with a lattice gate.

And here's the new gate closed.

Once we actually install the doggie flap on the basement stairs, closed will be this sides usual position. Will allow the meter dude to check the electric meter as well.

The other side, where the basement stairs are now looks like this.

There's a gate on the smaller side, and it's not attached to the roof, so that can still come off relatively easily. This will hopefully help the water issue when it rains a lot.

Other stuff not photographed got done too. Forward progress made on the super late father's day gift, and the glass for the front door stained glass window is now cut, although not ground yet. And I'm getting ready to start the gifts for christmas, which means buying more yarn (yay), but it's not yarn for me, so I'm adhering to my yarn goal.

Overall a good weekend. Not that relaxing, as I kept myself pretty busy, but it felt good to cross stuff off the list.