Oh the joys of dog ownership

As a new dog owner I've found that there's a secret society out there that I never knew existed. It's the society of dog owners. We nod at each other as we walk with our 4 footed friends. As Milo barks like a nut case at every dog he sees I explain in a voice a little louder than usual that he's friendly but loud. I know the names of all the dogs in the neighborhood but not the person at the other end of the leash. But that seems to be OK because we just love each other's dogs.
Milo says: OK so I bark a little but that's because I'm sooooo excited to live here with you.

Milo started dog training classes 2 weeks ago. The first week he spent 20 minutes barking and pulling at the other dogs and people. Finally after a while he started to respond to his name and was given a treat when he made eye contact. He was walking without pulling using a new collar and I went home with some homework to do every day.

Milo says: I'll make all the eye contact you want Diane as long as you keep those snausages coming my way.

Last week he didn't bark at all, walked well, paid attention, and got treats like crazy. Our current homework is learning to walk in a heel position and recalling back to me ending in a sitting position when called. He's doing well with both so I think he's a pretty smart guy.

The only real ongoing issue we're having is that Milo barks like crazy when someone comes into the house, someone is in the yard (and of course my property backs to a town owned pond so there are always people in eyesight in the yard), and is fearful of strange men. I've been trying to get him to stop barking by giving him a treat when someone comes into the house so that he sees someones arrival as something good instead of something fearful. We'll see how that works out.

Milo says: Ummm aren't you forgetting to mention Tanner?

Well thank you for reminding me, Milo. Tanner is still with us but he's not hanging out upstairs anymore. Tanner decided a couple weeks ago that this was his house too and he wanted to sleep in my room on my bed just like he always did. At first Milo was excited over the entire thing. Now after 2 weeks he watches Tanner come in, leave, etc without any issues at all. I think they would be friends if Tanner way younger. But at least they are getting along without much chasing.

I've been working on a lap ghan for the cancer infusion center my dad used when he was under going treatment. We always joked that the ghans they had there were a little girlie so a manly man ghan is in process right now. I'm hoping to have it done by his birthday in the beginning of June but we'll see. Being someone with knitter's ADD it's hard to stay focused on a bigger project.

Happy Memorial Day to those in the USA. Take a minute to say a prayer for those who gave their lives for our freedom and thank their families who have suffered so much.

Hey long time no blog

Well I'd like to say that I've been busy but the truth of the matter is that this is mostly a knitting blog and since I haven't finished anything lately I haven't blogged. I've got lots of stuff that just needs to be blocked and ends hidden but haven't gotten around to it.

Of course this hasn't helped ....

I've never been a dog person. It's not that I disliked dogs but I had enough to do with raising 4 kids to worry about a dog so I've always had cats.

Anyways, I've loved fostering the cats and kittens a lot. It worked out well because I'm always home. So a couple months ago I decided that when my own cats were gone I'd only have foster cats and would get a dog. I was researching breeds for characteristics weighing pros and cons of each breed. Treating it like a business decission.

And all the planning went right out the window when I looked on petfinder and saw a little guy named Shadow. I put in an application that night, made arrangement to meet him on Friday and ended up taking him home with me.

He was renamed Milo and he's been a handful. From what I've come to understand he was a puppy mill dog who is 18 months old. He has limited social skills. Every household sound makes him bark. Every person who walks in the door sends him barking. He's a bundle of nerves. But already he seems to be doing better so we'll just work together to give him everything he needs to be a part of our family.

Of course not everyone thinks highly of Milo. This guy has been checking him out from a distance.

They said Milo was good with cats but other than being in a foster home for maybe a day or two with cats I don't think he had any contact with them. Joey of course has had no contact with dogs. Since it's warm and Joey is outside most of the summer things should shake out ok.

I still have Tanner. He's been sick with a uri so antibiotics twice a day for him. He's been hanging on the 3rd floor since Milo got here and wandering down every so often. Milo is only on the main level and my room so he's not upstairs. The way my house is set up there's a catwalk/loft area over the living room with a circular stair case to the living room. So Tanner hangs out mostly on the catwalk looking through the railing at the dog. He'll walk down the circular stairs and sit just out of reach. I'm so proud of Tanner; he's come such a long way. Now if only he could get adopted.


So that's about it. Never a dull moment around here anymore.

Tanner's big adventure

Long time no post huh? Well I've got 3 shawls knit that need to be blocked, one cowl that needs to be blocked, about 15 pr of infant socks that need to ends woven, and a pair of adult socks that need to be kitchenered and the ends woven. So what did I do? I casted on a cowl instead of finishing a single project because that's how I roll.

I still have my foster guy Tanner. He's my buddy and pal since we spend about 17 hrs together every day. He follows me around the house constantly so my hubby jokes that it's Diane and her shadow.

I love this guy. So imagine my shock when he followed hubby out of the slider Friday at around 11 pm and decided not to come back home for the weekend. OMG I felt like such a kitty mama failure because although he's technically not my cat he's my baby. We spend a couple hours looking for him on Friday night and I actually had him but he sunk both sent of back claws in my leg and took off. We left our cat Joey outside figuring that Tanner would see his friend and stick around.

Saturday morning D3 saw him on the front porch when she was leaving but he took off and she couldn't spend any time looking for him since she was on her way to work. By the time my hubby and I got up he was nowhere to be found. Saturday afternoon FFCC dropped off a couple traps which we set. Traps empty Sunday morning. Pouring rain on Sunday and thunderstorms on Sunday night but no Tanner. I was getting pretty worried.

My son is a night owl so around 2 am he was going down the hallway and looked out on the front porch. There was Tanner sitting next to the trap with my other cat Joey. S1 opened the front door and distracted Tanner with a toy long enough to grab him and bring him inside.

So this morning when I woke up Tanner was sitting right outside my bedroom door happy as anything to be back home where it's warm and safe. I'm happy he's home.

Gator country

As Joey naps on the loveseat he seems blissfully unaware that he is now in dangerous gator country.

Yes there are 3 gators on the couch just feet away from him. How could he not be concerned.

Aren't these just so adorable? The pattern is from Morehouse Farms. Since there are for the grandkids (who's mom doesn't hand wash anything) I used red heart sports weight yarn.

W wore his to school today and his teacher went nuts for it. Actually called my daughter to rave about it. She said, "Oh you'll have to keep it and pass it down to his siblings." My daughter mentioned that each child had one of their own. Seriously what terrible grandma would only make on gator scarf and expect the other kids to wait to use it?

Goodbye Oscar

This morning we woke up to find Oscar had passed away. She had been in failing health lately however we made the decission not to take her to the vet feeling that since she was not in pain she should be able to live out her time in the home she loved.

Oscar came to us 18 1/2 yrs ago. My oldest brother was going home down a main road and watch as someone threw something out the passenger window from the pick up truck in front of him. He pulled over and this little grey cat came over to him. He's a dog person and I'm a cat person so she came to live with me. My youngest daughter picked her name (which is why you should never let a 2 yr old name anything).

I'd love to tell you that she was a wonderful pet full of kindness but to be honest she was a terrible pet. If she had gone to a shelter they would have put her down because she was aggressive and unadoptable. We offered Oscar love and kindness but in the end all she's accept from us was food, water, and shelter. She hated every other cat we've ever owned more than she hated us.

We'll miss her and her crabby self around the house. There'll be no one biting and scratching my foot as I try to eat dinner. She won't be nagging me for milk in the morning. Although she wasn't a warm cuddly she was a part of our life for a long time. I hope her spirit is now at rest.

It's all about the cats ........

Being a kitty mama is always interesting. You just never know what the next phone call will bring. My phone rang before new years and I was asked if I could take a 5-6 month old cat who looked to have been abandoned on a farm. Of course it was single digit cold at night so I said yes. Unfortunately when they went to get the little cat they couldn't find it but this one came running over.

I named her Lily and she's a friendly gal. According to the vet she's 2 yrs old and already had been neutered. She'll be up for adoption soon and deserves a great home.

When they finally got the little cat on new years day he was thin and had about 30 ticks on his little body. His name is now Tanner and he's 8 months old. Tanner was dropped off the same time as Lily because they seem to know each other. Unfortunately because Tanner was outside a little longer than Lily he's having a hard time trusting we humans.

I've been working very hard to get him to be a little braver but he still runs and hides the minute I walk in the room. It's he beautiful?

And there's been some knitting. I finished 2 pair for socks for grandson N who thought they were the greatest socks ever.

And I finished my brother's socks that weren't done in time for Christmas.

I'm currently knitting a shawl for my friend's mom who is currently undergoing treatment for brain cancer. They removed most of the tumor but it'll grow back quickly. I feel terrible for my friend because I know it's so hard to watch as things start to slip away and cancer wins.

It's about time

Oscar says: It's about time that this house is a foster kitten/cat free zone. You have wasted totally too much time on those creatures when you could have been catering to my every whim ... and I have many whims.

Yes Jasper and Rosie have been adopted by a warm and loving woman who lost her beloved persian last year. They will have a happy home life with Karen and her hubby. Unfortunately it's back to being far too quiet around here. The rescue group is taking the last 3 persians out of the breeder's house tonight so hopefully I won't be lonely for too long.

I started some christmas knitting. These will be for my 2nd brother. I've knit socks for his wife and she just raves about them so I think he might actually wear them. His favorite colors are grey, navy, and black but there's no way I'm knitting boring. I'll be making socks for his son in law too who's favorite colors are grey, navy, and black. No I won't be making him boring socks either. They've got some nice dark tones so it should be ok.

My niece's christmas socks have been started too. Her favorite color is orange so I went with this Opal blend of brown and orange. Kind of funky. Hopefully she'll like them. The nice thing about socks is you just have to make one pair for a person. If they like them then you hear about how hard it is for them to have to go without while the socks are in the wash. Then you know that hand knit socks will be appreciated every time.

I had some yarn left over so I whipped up a quick baby hat for a coworker's granddaughter. I love anything that ends in a knotted I-cord on little kids.

D2 was happy to come home from school and see this ....

clean bathroom free of cats and their mess. She needs to enjoy it while she can because I'm sure there will be more coming soon.

The persian update

Working on a casual hat for me. I love the colors of this yarn. I bought it at my last trip to Webs for $2.99 a skein. I'm thinking of mittens to match but I'll have to think about it.

If you haven't guessed already I tend to get obsessed with some types of knitting. I'll be lace knitting and working on 3 different lace things. Get into hat making and I'll make 4 or 5. We won't even speak about socks because that's waaaaay past an obsession. So when a woman on Ravelry said that they were trying to collect 850 mini stockings by November 30th for the troops I had to give it a try.

Cute? I have no idea when this yarn was bought or how exactly it ended up in my stash. I honestly don't remember buying it much less buying 6 skeins of it.

Anyways I can get 17 stockings out of this skein of super saver. Finished one skein and since I'm still obsessed with the project I'm working on a second skein.

My foster baby Jefferson was adopted yesterday. The poor baby was so upset about getting put in the car carrier. The last time he was in one he ended up at the vet, flea dipped, groomed, shots, neutered, and generally manhandled. Quite a change from living in a mattress box spring. The woman who adopted him was lovely and I'm sure he'll be very happy in his new house.

Rosie and Jasper are doing much better without Jefferson here. They seem to be coming out a little more and eating well. Jefferson use to run to the food and eat like he'd never eat again; a clear sign that food was in short supply before he came here.

I was grooming Rosie last night and she knocked the brush right out of my hand, hissed, and glared at me like "What the hell do you think you are doing!?!?!" I laughed. Last week when she came to my house for the first time she wouldn't even look at me. Now she thinks she's the boss.

Jasper has come a long way. He will actually let me sit him on my lap and pet him. He's lighter than Rosie in coloring and weight. Jasper is actually very thin under all that fur so hopefully he'll start to fatten up a little now that food is always there for him. He has a sweet personality and will make a wonderful friend for someone. He seems to like to be brushed and doesn't mind me too much after all.

It's heartbreaking to think of these cats being so neglected but I have to say they have all turned around to be very trusting and loving. I thought it would take weeks even months for them to trust again but these Persians seem to settle in fast. I know they'll do well no matter where they end up.

Some more persians

The persian cat rescue mission continues. Lewis and Clark were on tv Monday and were adopted to their new home Monday afternoon. I was like a proud mama watching them sit so nice and confident on the show. They are so loving that I'm sure they are living the pampered life being waited on by their humans.

Jefferson didn't have much time to be lonely because Rosie and Jasper came to live here Monday night.


It was a long day for Jasper and Rosie with a trip to the vet to be cleaned, dematted, flea dipped, groomed, shots, and neutering. Since they had been living inside the bottom of a box spring they were quite overwhelmed. They are very underweight and sick from not getting proper food and having fleas feeding off them for 6 months.

I was making progress with them until I had to give them pills for tape worms yesterday morning. Rosie spit her's out once before it finally went down. Poor Jasper spit it out 5 times before he finally swallowed it. He was so scared that he ended up scratching me and biting my sleeve. After that both of them decided I was the worst human in the world and went back to being in the corner facing the wall.

So I decided to start over and try to figure out how to get their trust. I decided that maybe if I didn't make direct eye contact with them they wouldn't be as afraid. So last night I went up to sit with them and pet them while talking and no looking at them. They both started to relax and purr. It was wonderful.

Jefferson is getting adopted by a wonderful family on Monday and it'll just be Rosie and Jasper for a while. They have 3 cats left to rescue (couldn't get them out of the box spring) so maybe I'll be getting those. It's so hard not to be sad when dealing with these little ones. I try to concentrate on how good their lives will be in the future instead of being overwhelmed on how awful their lives were in the past.

Not just cat petting around here

Since I claim this to be a knitting blog maybe I'll post some knitting. Yes I've been finishing up some stuff lately. My niece and her hubby bought their first home so a house warming gift was required. My niece fell in love with my foster kittens and was begging her hubby to adopt one to keep their current cat company. He's not much of a cat guy so none of my babies went to live in Massachusetts. But it did give me the idea of making Kate the cat dish cloths. I did some more grandchild socks. Oscar decided to inspect the lay out before the picture was taken. She's so helpful.
I'm working on a hat scarf set for a buddy of mine. The hat is a cable hat from Stitch Bitch Nation and the scarf is the Irish Hiking Scarf. They really match well. The yarn is some super wash stuff I picked up from ebay; pink with a light grey strand twisted around. Really nice.

When you make dishcloths you don't use up the whole skein but there's really not enough left to do anything meaningful with. I used the leftovers to make a kitty blanket to throw in the cat carrier. Useful, washable, and great use of leftovers.

I did a lot of stuff and just needed to block everything. Why I was putting of blocking escapes me since it's the magic of knitting lace. Everything looks like a blob until you block it. This is a feather and fans shawl I started for D3 back in December of last year. Yarn is Knitivity.com down home fingering weight in spring green. Love it.

This is a Forrest Canopy Shawl done is Knitivity.com lace yarn in the color honey dew. The colors range from off white to deep green and everything in between. Love it.

And this is a different feather and fans pattern I made for myself. My scarf is from knitivity.com lace weight in graffiti. The entire time I was knitting I wasn't sure if the pattern was too busy for the yarn but after a while I just decided that I loved the yarn so much that I didn't care.

So now I've just got to finish the sleeves on my 5 hr baby sweater (the baby was born Saturday) and whip up a couple pair of baby socks. Then I can start the mountain of socks I plan to knit for Christmas. Already figuring that I'll need to cut back to 7 hrs of sleep a night to finish everything.

Remember to get out and vote!

I've been a little busy

The rescue group I work with usually gives me an endless supply of kittens to love for several weeks while I teach them manners and send them off to live with a new loving family. I just love kittens. However when they called to ask if I could take some of the cats they took from an illegal breeder I just couldn't say no. This is Lewis who is 6 months old. Pure persian with a sweet little personality.

This is Clark who is 9 weeks old and ran the house from day one.

And this last guy is Jefferson who is the prettiest fellow.

They along with 29 others were taken from an illegal cat breeder who couldn't understand why no one would pay $350 for pure persians without papers, vet care, infected with fleas, tape worms, and who's fur was so terrible matted that they had to be professionally groomed to get them looking this good. For the first couple days they were so frightened that they all sat in a corner facing the wall trembling in fear when I entered the room. Now they come running and fall over each other to be pet. What a difference a week makes. Although I'd like to keep them all (actually I'd have liked to keep all the kittens I've had) I know in my heart that they'll only be with me a short time before they find a forever family to cater to their ever whim.

Moving on

My house is currently a kitten free zone. Little Coal was adopted yesterday by a wonderful family. I sent him on with his favorite stuffed mouse toy. So 8 foster kittens since May and all 8 in new homes hopefully living happily after.

But it's a little sad to be able to sit and work on my scarf without kitten help. Not that biting the yarn and laying on the scarf was all that much help but he was only doing the best he could without thumbs.
My own 3 cats are indoor/outdoor cats. I live on 1 acre which backs to many acres of woods, fields, and a pond so the cats have lots of room to wander. And wander they do. My deck is filled on a daily basis with dead field mice, squirrels, chipmunks, and birds. It's a wonderful life for them.

This is Charlie. Charlie came to me 4 yrs ago after being rescued by my oldest daughter from a dumpster in her apartment complex. He was a friendly feral who loved my oldest grandson and would follow him everywhere. His ear was damaged by ear mites so he only really had one ear. We got him checked out by the vet, neutered, and he came to live as a country cat. He was about 5 lbs when we got him and plumped out to 16 lbs with regular feedings. Not a fat cat, just a big guy with broad shoulders and a swagger that showed he was happy.

Unfortunately being a feral Charlie didn't take to the litter box at all so he peed and pooped everywhere. Thankfully we've got hard wood floors or tile everywhere. After a couple months we had to admit that he couldn't be retrained to be inside all the time so his time in the house was only a couple hours followed by a couple hours outside. In the winter on really cold nights we kept him in a large dog crate with food, water, and a litter box placed right by the furnace. Snugly warm. On other nights when it wasn't so cold he'd be sleeping on one of the chairs on the front porch snuggled in a nest of wool blankets.
Charlie was devoted to my husband ... his person .... and would follow him around the house and yard like a dog. He was kind to everyone and since he was mostly white he was particularly drawn to anyone wearing dark pants.

Being a combination cat does carry risk factors and early this morning between 4 am and 6 am one of those risk factors came true for Charlie as he was hit by a car and killed. He had 4 wonderful years living the country life that replaced an awful existence of being a dumpster cat. And he has humans how will miss him very much. Thanks you, Charlie, for being a part of our family for the past 4 yrs.

Finally off my lazy butt ...

to do a little update. Moe was adopted by a wonderful young woman and is happy in his new home. She's a non knitter so it's a perfect pair. It was a good thing because I already had taken in these guys and they were all sick so Moe couldn't play with them. These two are Coal and Dusty. They are both males and extremely friendly.

This is Ashley. She was so scared when I first picked her up but now she's the first one to come running and sit in my lap to be pet.


There's been some knitting going on. I bought some yarn off ebay a while back. It was cheap because it was poorly koolaid dyed. So I ended up using both balls working two rows from each ball in order to get it to blend better. So far so good.

Working on a green hat in the same design just in the round.

And finished a pink hat from the same pattern.

Worked on some dishcloths for my neice who just bought her first home with her hubby.

And I'm using the left overs to do a blanket for the kittens to snuggle in. I wanted something totally washable.

Finished another pair of socks for W

Just a little more to go on Missy A's jumper

And plugging along on a shawl for a work friend who is out recovering from breast cancer. Usually I'd use a nice wool but since she's by herself I decided to use Herrschners 2 ply afghan yarn because it's washable.

And since one can never have enought sock yarn I bought these from Ray. I couldn't decide on a color so I ordered 3 skeins with the instructions of do anything you want as long as the colors include blues and greens. I think he did a wonderful job and I was so please when I opened the package. These will all be socks for me, me, me.


All the kids are back in college. D2 started a 2 yr radiology program at Naugatuck Valley Community College. S1 is there too finishing his 2 yr engineering degree. D3 is at Eastern Connecticut State University working on her 4 yr degree in social work.

W started kindergarden and is having a wonderful time. N started preschool and he's having a blast. A is home with mommy asking where everyone is when they are at school.

My dad was getting small dosages of chemo trying to shrink the tumers in his liver to give him some comfort. Unfortunately the chemo was doing more harm than good so last Tuesday they decided to stop all treatment. He signed the paperwork needed to go into the hospice program on Wednesday. Mom's freaking out, dad's resigned to the fact that it'll all be over sooner rather than later, and as usual I'm not dealing with anything other than supporting both of them and pitching in as much as I can. Since stopping the chemo he's been eatting better and has more strength so it's in God's hands now.