The Joys of an Old Dog

Since my last post, Reba had her follow up visit with the local vet to check on her progress.  Our vet recommended we go for a 5th amino acid treatment. Last week I took Reba to London for the day.  She stayed at the vet clinic.  I went shopping, had lunch with a friend and did my errands for the next month.

There is some minor improvement to her feet.  The clinic also prescribed medication for yeast infections in her feet and ears.  Reba has never had a problem with her ears before this.  Now I am cleaning them and putting drops in daily.  I am soaking her feet in special shampoo to control the yeast.  She smells better!

The fungus and previous infections in her toenails has a side effect.  The nails growing in are brittle and damaged and keep breaking off.  Reba was in to the local vet this week to have a toenail removed.  It had partially broken inside the toe and I did not want to pull it off.  Hubby and I went together to see Dr. Stephanie.  She was able to remove the nail easily and Reba has stopped limping.

We know Reba has gone blind in one eye and is sight impaired in the other.  Her sense of smell is not what it used to be.  She has trouble locating food on that has fallen on the floor.  She can hear but seems confused as to what direction the sound is coming from.  I will call her name from one part of the room.  She will turn to look at Hubby in a different direction.

We have been letting her go outside on her own again.  Sometimes we have to go out and look for her when she  becomes lost and can't find the door.  If she finds the door on her own she just stares at it.  She used to bark to come back in.  For a while we thought she might have forgotten how to bark.  Then one day I heard her barking away standing in the middle of the back yard.  I think the squirrel startled her and then she set off the chorus of dogs in the neighbourhood.

When Reba became sick, Hubby and I lost the heart to correct her behaviours.  What was the point,  her remaining time with us is limited.  We no longer make her sit and wait until we tell her she can eat.  In hindsight this might have been a mistake.  She has taken up barking at me while I am preparing her food.  It is like she is saying "Hurry up, I am hungry."  Lately I just have to open the fridge and stand at the counter to set her off.  Poor Hubby no more sleeping in for him!

While I waited for Reba last week I went to Len's Mill Store and picked up yarn for a Christmas sweater for the Ladies Sweater category.  I decided that I would start with the sleeves.  (Since I took this picture I finished the first sleeve and am about half-way through the second).

I am going to do the back next.  I am saving the front where all the action is until last.  There will be an intarsia picture for the front.  I hate intarsia.  I don't know why I keep choosing patterns that call for it.  I figure if I have the rest of the pieces done I will have the incentive to finish the front.  If I started with the front and got frustrated, I just might end up throwing it at the wall and just give up, not making the sweater at all.  This plan includes a back up plan.  If the picture piece goes flying I can always just knit a plain front; I will still have a sweater and since it is green, still suitable for the holidays.

I made a mug rug.

Look - it is reversible.  I used a couple of motifs from Christmas Knits Book 2.  I added a couple of layers of cotton quilt batting to make it puffy and protect the furniture from a hot mug.

I finished the Girl's Sweater category.

I picked up the buttons at Len's Mill Store and I am thrilled with the results.  The finished project drawer now holds two more entries.

I also finished the orange socks.  I am still not sure if these are going in my sock drawer or the gift drawer.

My sock recipe made with Mineville Wool Project in  #2909 - Sock Yarn.

And then I cast on another sock.  I just don' t understand why.

Old Crochet

Last night Hubby and I travelled to Mooretown to watch the 73's play.  Essex managed to win 3-1.  The last goal was an empty netter.  The game was exciting and worth the 2 hour drive through a lightening filled downpour.  Mooretown has an old-style arena with bench seating and little heat.  I pulled out this old afghan to take with us to sit on.  It adds cushioning to the hard wooden bench and keeps the ol' tushie warm.

My grandmother made this for me.  She took up crochet again later in life.  She was taught by the nuns in grade school in Montreal.  She made doilies and lace as a girl and young woman.  When I was a child she made me hats.  My favourites always had real bunny tails as pom poms.  Sometimes she added one and sometimes two to the hat.  Each time she made me a hat, the pom poms came off the old and onto the new.   Sometime in the 70's when her friend Barbara developed arthritis in her hands, her doctor suggested she crochet to keep her hands limber.  My grandmother thought it a wonderful idea for her hands too and started crocheting again.  Mainly she made these afghans.  All her grandchildren got them in various colours in the same stitch pattern.  She passed away in January 1980. 

This afghan and I have a long history together.  I lived in Winnipeg when she made it for me.  The colours are classic '70's and so is the yarn.  It was for its time cheap acrylic probably purchased at Woolco.  (Woolco was later bought out by Walmart.)   The colours have faded a bit but there are no holes or other evidence of wear and tear.  This is an acrylic that archeologists a thousand years from now digging up land fills will find in still pristine condition.  I wonder what they will make of that.

The original purpose was as an afghan to protect against the winter cold.  I used it as such for many years.   Also, for many years it slept in various cupboards as I moved from home to home.  I found the colours tiresome after time but could not bear to part with it.  For a few years it even  served as a blanket for the dogs.  No damage done.

It has been through the washer and dryer countless times. Now it has gained a new purpose and gets pulled out when ever we need something to sit on.  I foresee that we are going to spend the rest of our lives together finding new uses as we age.  It will be my executor who will decide its final fate.  I won't be able to bring myself to part with it.  This afghan is everlasting thanks to the acrylics of the 70's.  I bet there are still countless balls in stashes and  countless afghans still in use.

I haven't quite shaken the cough.  It is still with me but not as bad as before.  I have one antibiotic pill left but the rest of the meds are done.  I think it just has to run its course.

Because I haven't felt great this week, I wanted some comfort knitting and to me that means socks.  I started these thinking I could work on them from time to time.  Instead, I simply could not stop  until they were done.

See done!

I am keeping these.  These are from my go to sock yarn - Paton's Kroy - dug up out of my stash.

I thought when they were done I could move on to more knitting for the fair.  I must have been taking a nap when I wound up a skein of yarn I picked up at the Woodstock Fleece Festival.  I wanted socks  with a bit of orange in them.  I can't explain this desire but I think I went too far orange.

I added the loop to the Christmas stocking.

I assembled the tea cozy.

The shape is meant for a standard small brown betty tea pot.  I don't have one of those so my camel tea pot stepped in as model.  The tea cozy is symmetrical in real life and not misshapen at all.  I am  excited though.  I can add 2 more finished items to the fair storage drawer.

The fronts of the girl's sweater are done and the sleeves cast on.

I think I want to finish this sweater before I start a new fair project.  The reindeer is in the exact same state of assembly as last week.  At my rate of assembly of this one, I worry I will be in a panic the night before the entries are due trying to sew it together and hoping it does not look like an 9 year old did the stuffing and stitching.