Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Cozy

Cozy

Cozy born last in her litter and is a bit smaller than all her siblings. Karla (the puppies' foster-mom) named her "Cozy" after her mother, who was also petite. We would never re-name an animal with sentimental ties like that, but we are very happy it's also such a charming name that suits her so well. We had only really intended to get ONE dog, but there were these two lovely little girls in the litter, and as John keeps telling me, "How could you leave one behind?" We couldn't. So Cozy is what the humor columnist Dave Barry would call "the auxiliary dog" (Barry's auxiliary dog was named Zippy, and "Zippy the auxiliary Dog" is part of the household vernacular--usually meaning sort of a third-wheel.) We are actually glad to have the two. The have been sleeping through the night, and they keep each other entertained, so in some ways it's a less needy puppy-hood.

Just because she was sort of extra and unexpected, don't think Cozy is second-class in any way. She's her own unique personality (and some of it's very naughty.) If there is a puppy chewing a pant-leg or someone's toes, it's Cozy. But she's also a perfectly mannered lap-dog. She's not just black and white--the black has subtle brindle highlights--and all four of her feet have white on them, like she dipped her toes in cream. She's a sweetie.

I have only had cats my entire adult-life, and mixed breed cats are generally so far removed from any identifiable lineage, that people usually don't ask what breed one's cat is. Dog people ask. They ask about your cats and they certainly ask about your dogs. When they find out the dog is mix (duh!) they then go on to say which part of your dog takes after which parent (which will be completely opposite of what the last dog fancier told you.) Sigh. To me, Cozy looks more like a Boxer. I think the pattern of her coloring and her more dainty proportions are more Boxer-like than Bulldog-ish. I just hope she continues to be petite, otherwise, I'm going to have a 40-50 lb lap-dog!

Caldonia is Her Name

Callie

My husband and I always planned on getting a dog. When we were newly married and child-less we couldn't afford a dog, and then we wanted to wait until our children were older and less needy themselves before we got one. The dog of my wildest dreams was a brindle and white Staffordshire Terrier/American Bulldog, with a big head, long legs and big feet, and I was going to name her Caldonia, after the Louis Jordan song. I love Louis Jordan's music. I've seen three different productions of "5 Guys Named Moe," and loved them all. Check out the lyrics:



Caledonia (Louis Jordan)
Walkin' with my baby she's got great big feet
She's long, lean, and lanky and ain't had nothing to eat
She's my baby and I love her just the same
Crazy 'bout that woman cause Caldonia is her name

Caldonia, Caldonia
What makes your big head so hard?

I love her. I love her just the same
Crazy 'bout that woman cause Caldonia is her name

You know what mama told me? Mama said son...
Keep away from that woman - she's gonna take all your money
Hey, hey, hey boy.... Don't laugh about my mama - you hear that?
Hey man I told you man....
You don't know what you doin' boy - don't laugh about my mama

Caldonia, Caldonia
What makes your big head so hard?

I love her. I love her just the same
Crazy 'bout that woman cause Caldonia is her name

Notice how you can substitute "puppy" or "doggy" for "woman" and it's still great? Karla (the puppies' foster-mom) had named her Brindy, which was perfectly appropriate, but I just HAD to have a Caldonia. I also think any child or animal needs a good full name with lots of syllables that you can emphasize when you're mad, so they know they are in trouble, and Cal-DON-ya is just about perfectamundo.John thinks it's "Caledonia" like the ancient name for Scotland, but there's no "e." Audrey is not wild about Caldonia as a name for a dog, but "Callie" suits her, so Callie for short it is.

I am finding that taking puppy-pictures while they are awake is a challenge, because the camera is new and exciting and must be pounced on and chewed. It is VERY difficult to take a picture of something that is trying it's best to chew on the camera. Callie has big dark eyes, and a very wise, sympathetic look to her. She is a Bulldog/Boxer mix, and if there is any difference between her and my dream-dog, it's just that she has a little bit less white in white on her--and I can so totally get over that. She's super.

Oh, before I forget, the pillow she's lying on is my one and only recent Finished Object. It's fleece remnants and made to fit the bottom of their crate. It is puppy approved, both for sleeping and nibbling.

Saturday, August 26, 2006

New Arrivals

Long day, but I had to share this:Cozy and Callie

We picked up the puppies today from their foster-mom, Karla. I'll introduce them later.

Life on Friday

Any day that starts with drying hubby's socks and underwear in the oven is usually not going to be a good day. That's just the way it works, and that's how I started yesterday. I usually dry socks and underwear in a gentle 200 degree oven (in a pinch, when I have a load of laundry that's been washed and not enough time to dry them in the dryer,) but yesterday I was in a panic, and discovered that elastic doesn't actually melt at 300 degrees--which for me is useful unformation. (My husband, who didn't know the state of these important articles of clothing, let me sleep in until 6:45.)

I gave up 4 hours of my day to passing out schedules to the 8th graders at the middle school. Fortunately I find observing my son's peers to be pretty fascinating stuff. During the down times I was able to crochet a little, though I got exactly half as much done as I should have due to not following the chart correctly. Arg. I hate it when that happens.The shamrocks were supposed to swing left, right, left, and mine went left, right, right.

While I was at school I also got caught by the owner of salon I go to (who was bringing in her step-son) with my hair that I cut and dyed myself the night before (put back in a pony tail because the color turned out darker than I had intended and I found it a little shocking.) This is preferrable to getting caught by my stylist, who SHOVED me the last time that happened. (She was doing my daughter's hair, and she kept looking at me funny, first she said, "Boy, that sure faded or something," then she reached out and felt it, and her eyes narrowed and she said "Did you put something over it?" and I admitted that I had and she SHOVED me, with both hands.) I know I'm not the only one who gets pressed for time and tempted by the boxes of dye and little loops of fake hair swatches at Target.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

"Sherry Needs"

Okay, this was fun. Rebecca (of Ewe Devil, link over there on the bottom right---I'm just back from rafting and I'm bone-lazy) got this nifty trick from Laura (of "A Tale of Two Lauras.) You Google your name and "needs" in quotation marks, and it comes up with a random list of stuff derived from multiple sources that people have written. Like this:

Sherry needs a lot of time to care for her children.

Sherry needs to inform David that she can never again receive gifts of this nature from him.

Sherry needs instruction in phonics.

Sherry needs all our help.

Sherry needs to back off.

Sherry needs to be stored upright in a dark, quiet place.

. . .time

. . .glue

. . .a mentor

. . .no introducton

Dahlia Farm

My cousin Donna and I headed out to Canby, Oregon on Monday to go to Swan Island Dahlias. They are the nation's larged Dahlia supplier (tubers? cut flowers? I'm not sure.) They will be running a festival the next couple of weekends (after Donna goes home,) so we missed the food and displays, but the flowers were all in bloom, the fields were groomed, and the crowds were light. There were dahlias:

Dahlia Fields

We saw a lot of dahlias. Rows and rows of dahlias:

Dahlia RowsThere's a great variety in dahlias:

Dahlias

Dahlia

Dahlias-Mrs. Black

Dahlias

They grow a lot of plants/bulbs for resale in this part of the country. My favorite is probably Schreiner's Iris Gardens in Salem, which has a gorgeous display garden with a wide variety of other things interplanted in with the irises, which is great inspiration. Swan Island doesn't have a display garden, but there are are a pair of peafowl running around, and the koi pond outside the office was impressive.

Monday, August 21, 2006

Care to smell my weasel?

My cousin Donna is visiting and we have been busy, primarily with getting my house puppy-proofed, though we did manage to fit in a field trip to Shipwreck Beads (which claims to have the world's largest selection of beads.) Yesterday we ran a couple of errands, and paid a visit to the local Pier 1 Imports while waiting for my pharmacist to return from lunch. They were running a sale in which I could have 20% off any item of my choice (including sale items!) This is very cool, I wish all stores met me at the door and offered me 20% off the item of my choice. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything that I really, truly desired or needed. I did see some interesting things. The one that tickled me was the scented candle named "Sable."

Most candle scent names at Pier 1 and elsewhere reflect the actual scent, like "Spiced Pear" or "Cranberry Citrus," but "Sable?" Pardon me, but a sable is an animal. Would you really want to scent your home with whiffs of warm weasel?

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Meme

Amanda tagged me for a meme:

Tea or coffee?

Iced tea, hot coffee

Read a book or watch TV?

Read a book

Morning or evening?

Evening

Laptop or desktop?

Desktop, the keyboard on the laptop is uncomfortable

Country or town?

Town

Wild roller coaster or gentle merry go round?

Wild roller coaster

Crochet or knit?

I'm only a novice knitter, I've crocheted since I was 9 and I'm good at that.

Listen quietly or sing along?

Listen quietly

Action movie or romantic comedy?

Romantic comedy

Phone or e-mail?

E-mail, I'm phone phobic

Paragliding

We have two people in our house who are currently members of the US Hang Gliding Association: John and Audrey. They signed up for a one month membership as part of their parasailing that they did on Maui. This is sailing done by running off a hill, not being pulled by a boat. While we were waiting for their turn to get hauled up the side of Haleakala for takeoff, Audrey took a rare picture of me, the first one I've posted on the blog, I believe.

me

Those are James' feet sprouting out my neck. We both passed on the paragliding experience. Audrey was underweight (wish I had that problem!) and we had to provide ballast for her to sit on in her harness. Fortunately we had a case of Dr Pepper and bags for snorkel gear in the car. She sailed down sitting on 20 lbs of soda cans. This is her:Maui 011

I wish I would have brought my crocheting or my embroidery with me while they were doing this (I did have a book,) but I wasn't thinking of it when we got up at 3:30 that morning to see the sunrise over the Haleakala Crater. Mark Twain apparently said the sunrise over Haleakala was one of the greatest spectacles of his life. It was nice, but I realized that Mark Twain was around before airplanes, because it looks a lot like a sunrise from an airplane:sunrise at haleakala

If you are ever on Maui, and want to do the sunrise over Haleakala, I recommend getting there before 5:00, which is what we were told. There are many companies that sell bike rides down the volcano after sunrise, and the parking places are quite full by 5:00. We ended up at the third parking lot from the summit because of this. After sunrise we headed part-way down the mountain to Kula, where the parasailing organization offers flights. Audey is very enthusiastic about the whole paragliding thing, and I caught John looking for paragliding rigs on eBay. Sigh.

Pod Person

That's what my cousin Donnna (who is coming to visit tomorrow!) said about my husband agreeing to puppies. He's been taken over by a pod person, that's not him talking. (I think it's the puppy pheremones.)

C&H Sugar (probably the most recognized national brand in the US, I don't know about the rest of the world) stands for California and Hawaii Sugar. The Hawaiian part takes place on Maui, where you see A LOT of sugar cane in the fields. Sugar cane takes two years to mature, and it produces 22,000 pounds of refined sugar per acre (which is why there are still sugar cane fields on Maui instead of being nothing but endless vacation condos.) There is still one active sugar mill on the island.

Sugar FactoryThat sugar mill doesn't smell too good. There are no multi-million dollar resorts in its immediate vicinity (though it is near the Home Depot.) When the sugar cane is ready to harvest, they set it on fire with flame throwers. That doesn't smell too great, either. According to Missy's husband Buzz (who was born on the island and works for the Division Of Conservation And resources Enforcement for the state of Hawaii) Maui is the only place in the world that they allow the burning of the sugar cane fields. Here's a picture of that taken on our way down from Haleakala Crater:

burning sugar fieldsMaui produces raw sugar, which is exactly what you see when you use those little brown packets at Starbucks. It gets shipped to California in freight containers to be refined into white sugar. I thought it was interesting. More interesting is the way that the sugar plantations played a role in the colonization of the islands and it's eventual US statehood. There is a native Hawaiian faction working with the UN to try to get independent sovereignty restored.

Be Careful What You Ask For. . .

Because you just may get it. Yikes. I'm getting puppies. Puppies. I've been looking at pound puppies for years, showing them to my husband, "Aren't they cute? Don't you think we should get one?" and he's never said "yes" before. Now all of a sudden I am the proud adoptive parent to be of not one, but two little girls who will be arriving at our house somewhere around August 30. I'm excited. They are darling. But, oh my. Oh dear. Puppies!

I have officially unpacked all the luggage from the trip to Maui. Other than a broken baggy of sand that got all over one of the duffle bags (don't ask me why there was a baggy of sand in my luggage, I have kids, that's why there was a baggy of sand in my luggage. The mother sitting next to me on the plane had a 4 foot long piece of bamboo for the same reason.) there weren't any causualties, except I never did find that dang USB cable for the camera. I've been to two camera stores, a variety store and Radio Shack today looking for a replacement with no luck. Shoot. So for now I'm stuck with a clunky universal card reader, which is stupid, because I have all the slots EXCEPT the one I need built into the front of the my computer. Ironic, huh?

Anyway, here are a couple of more pictures from our vacation:

Cliffs and SurfMaui 013

The beach on the bottom is Fleming Beach Park, which was voted best beach for 2006 by whoever it is that votes on such things. I prefer Big Beach in Makena for a sandy beach, but that's just me. There was a group at Fleming Beach with a traditional Hawaiian canoe, which is in the picture. More later.

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

ACK!!

This just in my inbox:

Hello,

Golden Spire Farms announces it’s first SPIN IN!!!!
Friday, August 25th , 3pm – 8pm


Bring your wheels for our first “spin in”.

· Refreshments provided!
· Fleece Swap – Bring 2 oz of roving or clean fleece to trade!
· Fun door Prizes!
· Drum carder available! – Hand crank drum carder available for your clean fleece.
· Learn to spin classes! - Experienced spinner, Marlene Field, will be available prior to for spinning instruction.
· Don’t have a Wheel? – Some student wheels available! (Please RSVP)


Please RSVP at 503-728-9020 or 503-728-0149. Come browse and enjoy our fiber arts supplies and hand made alpaca apparel. We are located on the way to the Oregon Coast along Highway 30. (Click here for MapQuest link)

Deborah and Steve



Golden Spire Farms
Clatskanie, OR
503.728.0149
www.goldenspirefarms.com

I swear I have no intention of spinnning and I don't know HOW it got there. Okay, Honey?

Just One Word. . . .

puppy.

Puppy, puppy, puppy, puppy, puppy, puppy.

Do I NEED a puppy? Decidedly not. Do I WANT a puppy? Oh yes. I can admire babies now with no regret that I'm the parent of two very nice middle-school-age young adults. But get me around puppy pheremones and I am overcome with puppy lust. We are going out to look at a litter listed by the local Humane Society tomorrow. PUPPIES!!

Monday, August 14, 2006

Back Home

We got back home at 1:48 this morning. No pictures because I am suffering from "Where-Did-I-Put-the-USB-Cable-for-the-Camera-?-itis."

It was a GREAT vacation. REALLY GREAT. Truly GREAT. I never would have guessed how much I would like snorkeling. It's super. It's so super I can't wait to do it again and I think everybody (EVERYBODY!) needs to put snorkeling on Maui on their list of things to do. The water is warm, and there are FISH in it. LOTS of fish. You know all those beach towels and screen savers and shower curtains with the tropical fish on them? It's just like that. You put your face in the water and boom! there's fish.

Because of the increased security due to the thwarted bombing plot in London, I didn't take any of my craft projects on the flight home. Not much progress was made at all in the crafting department. It was much more of a "lets run around this place we haven't been and do all there is to do in case we don't make it back again" sort of vacation. We circled the entire island, and it was GREAT, but I couldn't find the second skein of yarn for my Pink Scarf Project scarf, and I can't do anything but garter stitch (which I don't have to look at) in the car, because I get car sick. Bad car sick. (I puked in not one, but two brand new cars when I was a child. One belonging to a great-uncle visiting from Minnesota and one belonging to my mother's new husband. They should've stopped.) Also, if you expected a post card and didn't get one, please don't be upset, no-one else did either. I left my stamps at home. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Maui is a fantastic place to visit. Many MAHALOS to Missy for giving us the push to go over there by offering us a place to stay. (More on Maui when I find the camera cable.)

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Ode to Lunch in Paia

I know it's Sunday and I'm behind in my blogging. . .but I am on vacation. One day last week, I think it was Wednesday, we went to Paia (not to be confused with Pilea the demon dimension from Angel, though they sound a lot alike.) Paris Hilton was seen around Paia when she was "dating that windsurfer," whoever that was. I was just as glad not to be there at the same time as Paris Hilton. Paia is a less-polished tourist trap than some of the others on the island, it still has kind of an artsy hippie feel in places, and there are surfers running around who look more like athletes and less like beach bums. We had a really terrific lunch here:Cafe Mambo in Paia

It had a fun ambiance with Moroccan lanterns and tile, original abstract art and world music playing. Also, I think they only hire good-looking people to work there, even the kitchen staff was good looking. I know everybody would rather see a picture of the guy behind the grill (or the tan little waitress with the belly button ring for you, Don,) but I'm not that comfortable taking pictures of strangers yet. So here's a shot of the restaurant:

Cafe Mambo, Paia

And here's a couple shots of Audrey, who was tired and over-heated and in a mood, can you tell?

Audrey at Lunch, Cafe Mambo

Audrey at Lunch, Cafe Mambo

Audrey at Lunch, Cafe Mambo

She might want to tell you what an abused child she is, getting dragged around Maui sightseeing when she'd really rather hang out in the condo and watch cable TV (which we don't have at home, my poor deprived children.) Anyway, despite the empty appearance in these photos, the Cafe was relatively busy and the food was abundant, very tasty, and not terribly expensive. If you're ever in Paia (not Pilea,) I'd recommend it, get the crispy pork burger, or the ahi burger, with the fries, or the salad. It was all good. They even have tofu and Garden Burgers on the menu. Next time I'm having the mango margarita.

Thursday, August 03, 2006

Less Jetlagged.

Knitting progress on my scarf for the Pink Scarf Project has been made:Pink Scarf Progress

We've been having a busy time in Maui. Yesterday we drove around the north end of the Island with Missy. We stopped for lunch in Lahaina at the Cool Cat Cafe at 658 Front St. The building that the CCC was in had a koi pond downstairs.

James and Audrey and Koi

There were also a couple of companion stores there that Audrey and I went into, one called Quilts 'n Fabric, and one called Kitchen 'n Quilts. At Kitchen 'n Quilts a completed Hawaiian Quilted potholder was $8.99. At Quilts 'n Fabric a kit to make the same potholder was $14.99. I don't quite understand this. If I make the potholder myself, my labor is worth -$6. . . .Today we were on our own and after a leisurely bagels and lox breakfast (lox packaged up in Federal Way, WA) we went swimming at the beach at Mile Marker 14 on the Honoapiliani Hwy, though it was after 11:00 and the water was pretty choppy. We got cleaned up and went to the Iao Needle, which was spectacular. The island of Maui is made of two volcanos that flowed together to make one land mass, and the valley at Iao Needle is all that remains of the caldera of the one volcano. The other volcano is Haleakala, which we will be seeing later this trip.

Ioa Needle

Aloha for now!

Hibiscus

Wednesday, August 02, 2006

Boy are my arms tired. . .

We had just flown into Maui. . .Maui 001

I was so tired my perspective was a little off.

There are leis in our refrigerator, because Missy is a wonderful hostess.

Leis in Fridge

It is gorgeous, and I am tired.

Maui. . .somewhere