Barkin'...

There's been a whole lot of barking going on at our house lately. Just one of the many examples goes something like this:

Our girl child who thinks she's no longer a child came home 15 minutes late the other evening. The following "barking" is what took place ~

The front door squeaks open.
A parent barks: "Shoes off!"
Another parent growls: "You're late! Where've ya been?!"
Girl-child: "Stuck behind a slow driver"
Parent: "Leave earlier!"
Girl-child: "I'm going to bed."
Parent: "Brush your teeth!!"
Girl-child exits stage left.
Door slams.

Tonight, as I sat quietly (yeah right!) in the living room with our youngest boy-child, I glanced over at him and said, "Ra-Ra-Ra-Ra-RUFF!" With a puzzled look he asked, "What was that about?". "Oh nothin'", was my reply. "Just thought I'd bark at you for a minute." He, of course, didn't get it, but the father in this household thought it was hysterical. I'm going to try to keep my barking to a minimum this week. Good luck to me...

"Who let the dogs out? who? who?"

A Day at the Beach...

"Thar she blows!" My little three year old niece, Shelby, thought maybe we could catch a whale for dinner, but after much time spent with eyes fixed on the crashing waves and little feet dancing away from the surf, no whale graced our dinner plates.
I, for one, am glad. That sounded like entirely too much blubber for me to deal with in one short weekend. How do you catch a whale, you might ask. Our plan was just to whistle him on shore and hope that he wanted to ride home in the back of the suburban. Shelby was hoping that a friendly shark might want to join Moby Dick on our beach, but, once again, thankfully not!


Dustin and Shelby spent a bit of time building the sandcastles of some great sea kings and queens. They were surrounded by sand lobsters and crabs as their guards which, alas, were no protection from the dancing feet of this rambunctious three year old.


The barking of seals and the sound of splashing water drew us into the Seaside Aquarium. Shelby had a delightful time throwing seal food across the fence and watching the little sillies try to be the loudest so that the food would be thrown their way. Inside we met a Giant Pacific Octopus among other creatures of the deep - Flounder, star fish, sea anemones, sting rays, rock fish, and ugly ugly eels to name a few.


Every little kid likes to ride the magic carousel and Shelby is no exception. She talked for hours about her ride on the flying pig.


Nothing like relaxing at the end of a long hard day with your big cousin, Shilo, reading you a nice little story.

Words of Wisdom...

Babies Babies Everywhere...

HOLY BUCKETS! We got another one of THOSE phone calls. This time from the oldest son, Sam and his wife Jes, expecting their little bundle of joy in October. That makes 3 grandbabies and one niece or nephew within 3 months of each other. Todd and Gidge, my brother and his wife, start it off with a squalling pink baby the end of July. Right on their heels arrives our first grandbaby, German born - Ryan and Natascha's little Ethan or Emily at the beginning of August. Brittany and Chris are next in line with tiny little Sophie or Kayden, followed by Sam and Jes' new addition to the Lone Star State. (all names subject to change right up to day of delivery!) Oh, and we absolutely can't forget little Stella, our friends Darren and Erin's first child, who's due to arrive the first of May. I've started making felted diaper bags, here is the first one with a tiny little lamb romping across the front pocket. The idea's are bouncing around in my head, diaper bags, bibs, blankies, hats, booties ---stop the madness!

I'm thinking that some type of baby contest with fun prizes will be in order for this blog this summer. Any fun idea's??

Weekend Travels...

Sometimes, for days on end, I have a real aversion to descending the basement steps and sitting my behind at this computer. I can't bring myself to sit down here in the dark dungeon when all around the birds are chirping and the trees are bursting into bloom. Who can blame me? Surely not you! So here you have it, a day late but brought to you with just as much delight. Follow me on our weekend travels...



We started the weekend off right at 5:01 friday evening with a stroll along the riverfront. Can you smell the salt air and feel the breeze in your hair? Stop and wave, that's the lovely state of Washington you can see on the far-distant shore.
We were turned around and headed back downtown to a dinner of burritos and margarita's when this big cargo ship sailed into view. She was haulin' for home and had overtaken us in nothing flat, blowin' her horn for all to hear. I think she was telling the pilot boat to "be ready! I'm not waiting..."


Up saturday morning and off to Portland for the fun and excitement of the Saturday Market. What a wonderful way to spend a saturday afternoon. Stepping off of the MAX at the Burnside Bridge market, the smell of cotton candy and sausages ravages your nose. MMM... what delights await.....


Which way do I go? What should I look at first? Where's the fresh-squeezed lemonade?


AH!! May you all be blessed with beer and brats.....

Not My Life...

This is my little hole where I spend 9 hours a day, five days a week. This space does not define me. It is my job, it is NOT my life.

Get Your Bag-Bag!

Hey everybody, jump over to Georges blog and get your Bag-Bag! George is my friend Wende's very talented 10 year old son. He has taken over Wende's sewing machine (the poor dear had to get a new machine because of this!) and is making these adorable bags to hold your plastic grocery bags, thus the name "bag-bag". He is selling them for $10 a piece of which $1 for each sale is going to Heifer International. I am so impressed by this little guy. You will be too! Are you still here? Go visit George...


I remembered to bring my camera on our evening walk tonight. This is a house that sits a few blocks up the hill and back in the trees. I always think of it as the "storybook" house. Somehow it reminds me of Little Red Riding Hood. I can just see her little red cape bopping around the corner of the house.


Farther up the road is this spectacular view of the Youngs River valley and Saddle Mountain. I could stand here forever...


Spring! 'nuff said.
May you all be blessed with cherry blossoms...

Saturday Wanderings...

Nothing says spring like the daffodils. They're starting to bloom everywhere (except the silly little guys in my own yard!) and shine through the gray and gloom of a rainy day. We took Blackie for a walk last night and the spring peepers were croaking. I can smell it in the air. Spring is coming. I want to dance in the wind...


I've been fighting the stomach flu for almost two weeks now. Once I think it's gone and I'm feeling good, it rears its ugly head again. I missed my friend Melissa's 40th birthday party this weekend because of this nasty little bug. (I'm so sorry, Melissa. I so wanted to be there!) I decided that I needed a jaunt out of the house on Saturday afternoon, so we decided to drive down to Cannon Beach just for the heck of it. We discovered this new little path that we had never seen. What do you imagine is at the end of it? I think I might possibly come out into a secret cove with an ancient pirate ship standing gaurd.

My camera has a mind of its own. I can never keep it from snapping a shot of Haystack rock through the mist. I must have a dozen or so of these. It's all good.
Nothing like a foggy breezy day on the beach to blow away a few old cobwebs.



This final Saturday meanderings picture is a shout out to my sister, Susan .
"Lazy Susan,
Won't you get up?
Won't you get up today..."

Sunset Beach Shawl...

I just added this shawl and matching clutch to my etsy shop . We had a spectacularly beautiful day for my model today!

My Hero...

The man I married served me this delicious Sunday breakfast. Smoked salmon omelette with capers, homemade hashbrowns, nectarines and wheat toast with my favorite garlic jelly.


He then took a skein of yarn for my next project, set in his chair and proceeded to wind that rascally skein into a nice neat workable ball of yarn.

I am spoiled endlessly......

The Adventures of CatDog...

We've long thought that our cat, Boots, thinks that he is a dog. He was about 2 months old when we brought him home to live with our family. He came from a family of five other kittens and we brought him into a world of people and dogs. After sniffing around and exploring for a few days he assumed what he thought to be his rightful position on the doggie beds right next to the doggies. They weren't so sure that he belonged. Hannah would just get up and move, deciding right off the bat that she would not be a party to this behavior. Blackie would reluctantly stay put, looking at us as if to say "Do you see what is happening here? Are you going do something about it?" Hannah was not above romping and playing with him, as Blackie has become a grump in his old age. When we lost Hannah right before Christmas, both Blackie and Boots were beside themselves as they had lost their romping partners.


Tonight Boots proved our theory correct. We started off, under the full moon, for our walk to the middle school, around the track and back home. Boots followed us the entire way, running, jumping and playing with Blackie for the duration. He crossed the streets in the crosswalks and kept to the pavement like a good dog. At one point during the festivities, a dog and cat chase was the entertainment. The dog chasing the cat, then the cat chasing the dog. Pretty hysterical! Arriving back home, Boots beat us through the door immediately meowing for his late night snack. What a funny, funny night.
Join us later for more adventures of CatDog...