Yarn Along: Mermaid Tail Blanket and "This is Your Life, Harriet Chance!"

Yarn Along is a wonderful link-up -- hosted by the Small Things blog every Wednesday -- about two of the best things in life: reading and knitting!

Reading: I'm a little over halfway done with "This is Your Life, Harriet Chance!" by Jonathan Evison. So far it's a solid 4-star read about an elderly woman reliving -- and hopefully ultimately letting go of -- her past while on an Alaskan cruise booked by her now-dead husband. It's got a bit of a "Where'd You Go, Bernadette" quirk to it that I'm enjoying. I'm also reading volume 3 of the "Saga" graphic novel series.

Knitting: I'm about to cast on for a new project! A friend asked me to knit one of those super-popular mermaid tail blankets for her 2-year-old daughter, Aurora. Aurora is in love with Minnie Mouse at the moment, so the blanket has been commissioned in pink and white. I'm using a pattern by Angie Hartley, one of the few knitting patterns available (most are crochet). If you haven't encountered one of these nifty things yet, basically it's a blanket/sack that you stick your legs into. When it's on, it looks like you've grown a mermaid tail.

Furry Friday

Lily lounging on the loveseat.

Furry Friday

Even monsters look cute when they're sleeping! ;)

Furry Friday: Fawns

Last Friday it was baby swans, this Friday it's baby deer!

We've had the pleasure of watching two sets of mama and baby whitetail deer from our back porch the last two weeks or so.

 

We've even gotten to see the two little ones frolick together. The fawns are just the sweetest things. Gotta love those white spots and huge ears!

 

Feathered Friday

Happy Friday! I wanted to share some pictures of the adorable baby swans (aka "ugly ducklings") we encountered last weekend. My aunt and uncle have a lakeside cottage in northern Indiana and Jarrod and I stayed there over weekend. We were in the area for a family get-together and my mom flew in for the occasion.

 

Here's my mom and me with the swan family. Did you know baby swans are called cygnets?

Daddy Swan was a bit aggressive! We fed the swans some bread and Dad kept snatching it out of the water before the kids could get to it. There was a hilarious moment, though, where Dad had a piece of bread hanging out of his mouth and two or three babies attempted to rip it away from him. Dad started paddling angrily in circles, keeping the bread just out of the kids' grasp, and finally managed to scarf the chunk of bread down without sharing. The joys of parenthood, I guess! 

 

Furry Friday: Goodbye, Sweet Conan

Two Fridays ago we took Conan to the vet because he was struggling to breathe, hoping against hope that we'd be bringing him back home with us that night. But our vet wanted to hospitalize him and run some tests, and on Saturday we got the dreaded news that Conan's lymphoma -- which he had bravely battled for 20 months -- had spread to his lungs.

On Sunday, March 2, we drove back down to the vet hospital in Cincinnati to visit Conan and were devastated to see how much his condition had deteriorated in less than 48 hours. He was in an oxygen chamber to help him breathe, and it was obvious that just opening the doors to stick our heads in caused his breathing to be so much more labored. He was weak and tired and sick -- though still as happy as ever to see his mommy and daddy.

We cried -- and cried some more -- as we kissed and stroked and hugged Conan, and then did possibly the hardest, saddest thing I've ever done. We decided it was time to say goodbye to our baby. We were there through the end, and then we took Conan to be cremated two days later and were there for all of that too. Jarrod felt we owed it to Conan to see him through, and it seemed like the right thing to do for the dog who was so, so much more than a dog to us.


Conan came to live with us when he was 11 months old, right after Jarrod and I graduated college and moved to Florida for his first assignment with the Air Force. We didn't even have living room furniture yet when Conan joined the family! He was the ring bearer at our wedding, he licked our tears when Jarrod's parents died, he accompanied us on adventures big and small -- from cross-country moves to a quick trip to grab ice cream on a hot summer night -- and he won the heart of everyone he met. He was such a sweet, happy-go-lucky boy, and I can't even begin to count the number of smiles Conan brought to people's faces -- especially ours.

Conan had a wonderful, happy, fun life with Jarrod and me and I'm positive he knew how cherished he was, but that doesn't really make losing him any easier. We'll undoubtedly invite another boxer to share in our lives, but Conan will always be our first and best boy. Miss you, Conan.

 

Furry Saturday

I have a different kind of four-legged furry creature to show off this week. We often spot deer in our backyard, which backs up to a nature preserve, but I've never seen any quite this close to the door during the day. I couldn't resist grabbing the camera and taking a few (err, 20+) pictures.

 

Even though they're rapidly nibbling away our bushes, I love the deer and I'll never tire of seeing them out back -- or of scowling at Jarrod when he jokes about shooting them!

 

Furry Friday

Conan decided to help me fold laundry. I gave him the all-important job of guarding the (snuggly warm, fresh-from-the-dryer) socks to make sure none ran away.

Furry Friday: Surviving Subzero Temperatures

As you undoubtedly heard or experienced yourself, it was ridiculously and agonizingly cold from the Midwest to the east coast this week. Monday was the worst for us; it was in the negative digits all day with a "feels like" temperature in the -30s! The biting, gusty wind was the worst part -- it cut right through every layer of clothing. We had to take Conan to the vet for his chemotherapy Monday at noon and there was hardly a soul out braving the slippery roads and frosty weather. We had lunch at the always-busy PF Chang's while Conan was getting his treatment and there were fewer than 10 other diners!

Even with the fireplace and a space heater running, our furnace struggled to attain 65 degrees and couldn't make it a degree more. We actually resorted to sipping some of the moonshine we bought on our Tennessee trip to warm up our insides! On Monday night I was bundled up in two pairs of socks, slippers, sweatpants, a thermal shirt and sweatshirt, a scarf and fingerless mittens -- in the house! Our upstairs is actually colder than the downstairs, and when we finally make the chilly trek to bed I mounded four extra blankets on top of us, animals included. Monday was the coldest day I've ever experienced -- and I hope it stays that way!

Yup, that says it felt like -32 degrees at 4 in the afternoon.

This is how Conan spent the day -- bundled up under several blankets with just his face poking out. Lily curled up by the fireplace.

I thought I'd include these pictures too. They're from the weekend, before our arctic blast, but they're just so cute. For Christmas I made my grandma a Colts no-sew fleece blanket. Conan insisted on "helping" -- i.e. settling down right in my way on top of the blanket and then pretending to be a sack of potatoes when I asked him to move. So I decided to make him his own new blankie (new because he already has a few dog-themed blankets, but they're not handmade by Mommy) and both Conan and Lily just love it.

 

Rarely will Lily snuggle this close to Conan, but I guess the appeal of a cozy new blanket is warrants some sacrifice!

Furry Friday: Meow-y Christmas

The animals weren't thrilled about it, but we managed to get everyone in a family picture by our tree! Even though Lily looks like she'd rather be having another urine sample taken at the vet, I think it's a pretty cute picture.

We had a wonderful Christmas in Indiana with my grandma, aunt, uncle and cousins. It was the first holiday we've spent with family in a couple years -- that's one of the benefits of being back on the Mainland. Hope you all had a great Christmas, too!

Furry Friday (On a Rainy Saturday)

My best friend Katie and her dog Ruby were here for a visit from Texas last week and it was so nice to see two of my favorite people, furry and not-furry. I also wanted to show off our awesome new Christmas tree topper, an aluminum boxer dog cut-out!

 

Conan and Ruby get along so well and it's so fun to watch them play together. Despite the huge size difference (Conan weighs 70 pounds and Ruby weighs something like 18) he's so gentle with her! And she's full of spunk and sass and bosses Conan around. She's an adorable puppy and she keeps Conan feeling young. (Though she does have an unfortunate affinity for snacking on my Victoria's Secret underwear...)

 

I love our new boxer tree topper from the Etsy shop ScreenDoorGrilles. Jarrod and I have had the hardest time finding a tree topper we like that will fit on a real tree. When I stumbled upon this one, I knew it was just perfect. Conan will top our Christmas trees forever!
 

Furry Friday

Last week my fancy new not-quite-DSLR/not-quite-point-and-shoot camera arrived from Amazon and I promptly took a gazillion pictures with it. I seem to be allergic to reading instruction manuals, but it's clear after playing around with the camera that I'm going to have to peruse this one. Some riveting reading, to be sure!

 

Here are two of my favorites featuring -- who else? -- Lily and Conan:

 

 

Furry Friday: Lions, Tigers and Lemurs, Oh My!

A few weeks ago I went to Dallas to visit my best friend, Katie. I'm sure you've seen her on the blog before. We met in 9th grade band class where we excelled in playing the clarinet and aggravating the band teacher. Though we haven't lived in the same city (or state, unless you count Texas, where we were six hours apart) since the start of college, we try to see each other in person as often as we can.

 

Katie works at the Dallas Zoo, and one of her co-workers volunteers at the C.A.R.E. big cat sanctuary in Bridgeport, Texas. She invited us to come for a tour of the rescue. There are over 40 big cats on the premises, but they also house a few other random critters -- like these adorable ring-tailed lemurs.

 

The lemurs went crazy for the blueberries we brought in.

 

 

 

 

 

This is Tawny, the mountain lion. The facility has a few mountain lion rescues, and I was horrified to hear the story of one who was declawed during its life as a "pet" at a college fraternity.

 

Many of the big cats at the sanctuary are tigers, both white and orange. Katie and her friends get to work with animals every day, but not many regular people get to handle lemurs or be separated from a tiger by a few feet and a chain-link fence. I was awed to be in their presence. I was also fascinated by how much their behavior resembled that of a house cat -- purring, rubbing their face on the fence in that blissful way cats do, etc.

 

Many of the cats were pets(!!!) or in a traveling show at one point so they're relatively tame, but -- as snuggly and sweet as they look -- you couldn't pay me to get beyond the chain-link fence! I was glad to hear the employees don't go in the enclosures while the cats are present either.

 

This was my favorite animal of the day. So gorgeous!

 

Look at those chompers!

 

 

 

We also went to the Dallas Zoo while I was visiting. It was so fun to see Katie's daily environs at the Children's Zoo! She works with creatures like donkeys, horses, possums, birds, rabbits, naked mole rats and more.

 

 

 

The zoo has an albino alligator! If you look closely, you can even see its red eye.

 

And here I am in the aviary, feeding the birds. Astonishingly, you can't tell in the picture, but we had just about sweated to death in the 100+ degree heat by this point!

In addition to the cat rescue and the zoo, we visited the Dallas Arboretum, went to the famous Sprinkles Cupcakes (twice) and Katie taught me to make sushi. It was a fantastic little getaway and I had a blast with my best friend!

Furry Friday: Conan Turns 7!

Yesterday our sweet boy celebrated his 7th birthday!

 

Our gift to him? An entire t-bone steak all to himself!

 

I'd say he was pretty doggone happy after that supper!

Furry Friday: Rivers and Mountain Air

This is my favorite family picture from our trip to the Smoky Mountains -- mostly because we all look decent and our faces aren't horribly shadowed.

Everyone says they love Conan's expression in this shot, but I'll let you in on a secret. He only has that adorable head-cocked-to-the-side look because he absolutely detests having his picture taken, so the photographer (in this case a random, kind stranger) has to say his name and make funny noises to get him to look toward the camera. What a goof!

Furry Friday

Keeping an eye on Mommy's yarn!

Furry Friday

Conan has a new collar! I'd been keeping an eye out for the perfect collar for a while, but when the receptionist at the vet mistook the red on Conan's old collar for pink and called him a girl I decided it was time to just pick one! I got this patriotic pawprint collar from veryvintage on Etsy, which sells loads and loads of handmade collars. I think Conan looks quite handsome in his new outfit, don't you?

Furry Friday

I love the way Conan's eyes look in the sunlight!

Furry Friday

I am in love with this picture! Handsome Conan in the front, lovely peonies in the back: perfection!

Conan likes to stop and smell the flowers.

Here we have Lily stalking a chipmunk on our deck. Too bad she's terrified of going outside... And I think the chipmunk knew this, because it just sat there eating it's snack and staring right back at Lily without a care in the world.