There are few comic strips that make me laugh like Bill and Opus. Thankfully, this morning I found a website with LOADS of their comics. Thank god, for I really needed a good solid giggle this morning. I think I shall have to start sharing one a week. Enjoy! (Can’t find your spectacles this morning? Click on the comic and it’ll enlarge itself. *wink wink*)
So Colette sent me this YouTube video yesterday and I had to share! It made me a tad on the squishy side, I have to admit. That damn music didn’t help either. Enjoy, it’s pretty amazing.
“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” ~Henry David Thoreau
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Well goodness gracious. I haven’t been blogging lately, have I? I’ve been a wee bit busy. We had to go visit the vet 2 weeks in a row. I know! Those are NOT cheap visits either, by the way. But I am happy to report that Lucy and Oscar are doing much better, thank you. This just happened to be the month mommy’s home remedies didn’t work. Sadness. Well anyways. Here’s just some of the random whatnot that’s been going on around these parts.
This would the chicken formerly known as Eva Gardner. Now known by his fans everywhere as Rudy the Rooster…… or Rudy Every Gardner. We snuggle every morning, much to the chagrin of his “girls”.
Miss Greta is getting rather big, but still no eggs. Hurry up already.
The kids with “Auntie Nola”. Whatcha’ got in there, eh??
Of course we’ll sit pretty for ham!
We went for walks.
Sunday I went down to Olympia to visit dear sweet Colette. It was a glorious day. A day filled with sunshine, laughter, and beer. What more could you ask for?
Yesterday Danny and I went to his folks place, for his sister Jenny and the babies were there. Let me introduce you to David Nathaniel Butcher, Daniel’s new nephew.
Him real cute, isn’t he? Holding babies is good therapy for the soul.
Sweet baby. Sweet, sweet baby.
Quick! Grab the camera! Daniel is holding a baby. Not exactly his most comfortable thing in the world to do.
I think it eventually got easier. 😉
He likes ’em better this size. Apparently helmets are required for playing with Uncle Daniel.
Uncle Daniel helping Mr. Liam put his wellies on to go outside.
Red boxing helmet, check. Green wellies, check check. Big black dog, check check check.
Hello? Which part of “can we please go outside and play” did you not understand??
Proud Nanna.
David is here modeling this new baby bolero, knitted by yours truly.
Snack time. Snack time and SpongeBob SquarePants. They are quite the pair.
Cheeks you just want to pinch and kiss all day long.
And even more randomness……….
The Crocosmia are in bloom, which pleases me greatly.
No clue what these are, but they’re pretty, are they not?
So anywho, enough about me. What have YOU been up to lately???
PROBLEM:
Watch the following video and listen closely. You will see what I’m referring to.
What is a girl to do? I don’t think I can even have one within city limits! Oh dear. I shall keep you posted.
Brace yourself for YET ANOTHER CHICKEN STORY:
So monday night Daniel and I went down to the martini bar to meet Mitch, my friend recently returned from London. You remember Mitch, right? Anyways. Daniel and I had a few drinks, yada yada and then came home. We were pretty tired, so to bedfordshire we went. I remember thinking to myself that I really should put the chickens away, as I drifted off into an alcohol induced blissful sleep. I awoke at 5 am to screaming chickens. I bolted up, threw on my robe and ran for the door. Eva, errrr, MR. Gardner was running around with Fran-fran screaming his head off. And who do I see in the midst of the chaos? Charlie! Somehow in the midst of everything, we managed to FORGET Charlie and leave him outside all night!! I know! He’s such a quiet little guy, he’s hard to keep track of sometimes (in my defense). His muzzle and head was completely covered in burrs and he was having the time of his life chasing the chickens around. I had to check them, of course, to make sure he didn’t hurt them. This is the dog that went straight for the throat the first time he was introduced to them. He is a terrier, after all. At this point Daniel came out, roused by all the rucous that was taking place outside his home. At this point I also realized that Greta was NO WHERE to be found. Oh NO!!! Not Greta!! I run around the yard in my blue robe, calling and calling her. I looked for blood and feathers, fearing the worst. Nothing. No feathers, no blood around Charlie’s mouth. You can imagine my dismay. Finally Daniel insists that I come back to bed, since I had already secured the other two in the shed. He would “track” her in the morning. Don’t worry, he says, he’s really good at tracking animals. He’ll find her in the morning. You mean you’ll find her poor mutilated body, I lament loudly. Poooor poor Greta!!! I reluctantly return to my bed and the guilt washes over me. I cry and cry and through the tears I say “I never should have gotten chickens!! I am a BAAD chicken mommy!! Whhhyyy did he have to kill Greta?? *sob* If he was going to kill one of the chickens, why couldn’t it have been the rooster??” *wiping the snot that is now running from my nose* Daniel, as he hugs me tightly: “Babe, you are really the cutest thing on two legs.” Me, still sobbing: “I’m a baaad mommy!!” The need to sleep finally set in and the sobbing subsided. At 9, Daniel got up to let the puppies out. I heard him open the door, shue the dogs back, and go outside. I waited with bated breath, hoping that maybe Greta was out there, still alive!! I waited…. and I waited… and I waited. Finally Daniel came storming back in, came in to the room and proclaimed loudly “I am NOT going to chase that damn chicken around in my underwear anymore! *pointing outside* YOU go get her!!” Yay!!!! Greta wasn’t dead!! I ran outside to greet my sweet chicken, who I then chased around the yard in hopes of catching her. She was not wanting to be caught. And really, who can blame her, after such a traumatic evening. I finally caught her and held her tight, stroking her lovely feathers, whispering my apologies in her lovely little chicken ear. Daniel had earlier said something about dogs seeking out the weakest and dumbest of the bunch, and I couldn’t understand, for Greta is the SMARTEST of the bunch. Well wouldn’t you know, I was right. That darn little chicken ran into the bushes when Charlie went on his rampage and HID. She wasn’t going to come out for nothing and no one, not until she was absolutely sure the coast was clear. I have to tell you though, I still chuckle when I think of tall Daniel out there in his underwear, sleep mask still on his head, running around the yard making smoochy and clucking noises to the chicken! God, that man must love me.
“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that counts. It’s the life in your years.”
-Abraham Lincoln
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I feel as if I haven’t had the time to sit down and properly write anything lately. We have been going and going and going, it seems. But it’s sunday, my day to myself, my day to breathe. So I shall catch you up on all the week and weekend events.
For starters, you should know that last week, we were a family of cone-heads.
Both Lucy and Oscar managed to bugger up their paws, and being the mother that I am, self sufficient and one who hates wasting money, I fixed them up proper myself. Now, don’t get me wrong, Vets have a time and a place. That time and place being when I have exhausted every last one of my “tricks” and “remedies” and the creature is STILL sick or injured. I find it a waste of my time and money, however, to take them to someone who charges me $40 just to walk through their door, and then proceeds to leave the meter running as they tell me basically whatever I knew through common sense, draining and wrapping the injury and throwing a cone on the animals head with instructions to “keep him quiet.” Yeah, I can do that all myself. Have been for years. I haven’t a queasy stomach, so bring on the festering, oozing, hair-filled and encrusted wound, and I’ll fix them up right proper.
Lucy was with her cone how she is with her tail….. completely oblivious it’s there. Which means she runs it in to your shins, calves, ankles, and whatever else happens to get in her way. It was a long few days.
Oscar, on the other hand, was searching high and low for any way possible of getting the damn thing off. “Hmmmm, I wonder if I could scrape it off with the leg of this here barbecue.”
There was napping after long days at work. (I love how the man didn’t even bother to take off his shoes or his jacket.)
There was lots of snuggling and loves going on as well.
Kisses…..
nibbles on the chin…
the “ewwww, I’ve just been slobbered on” faces….
..a sweet look for the woman that loves and feeds them both…..
…and back to snuggling.
Then we had the 3rd of July. Lil’ miss Rose Golly through a delightful party at her sweet lil’ cabin, which happens to be on the water in Poulsbo, which happens to throw a huge fireworks display on the 3rd. 🙂 Good times indeed. There was good food and good drink…….
There was Brittany demonstrating how she knits. (Which is TOTALLY wonky, by the way.)
I mean, she sticks the one needle in her BELLY BUTTON for support!!! That’s my girl for ya.
And she wonders why I tease her all the time. I have my reasons. 😉
There were torches to light our way to the water….
There was a bonfire….
And of course there were happy boys with boxes of fireworks….
The 4th of July!!
The 4th of July was greeted with a surprise visit from Mitch, who has been in London getting his masters in fashion the past year or so. He and Joe, his BF, dropped in for a little visit and a few drinks.
Oh how I’ve missed that guy.
So Mitch would be the one in the pic cheesing out with me. Joe would be the cutie pie behind him. They stayed for a few drinks and they scampered off for another party. We had a BBQ next door to attend, but we all promised to meet up later for, you guessed it, more alcohol and more fireworks!
….more celebration.
Mitch here showing his patriotic spirit….. while sporting my pink scarf, of course.
We ended the celebratory evening with a proper drink. Okay, maybe a few proper drinks.
And there you have it, my week in a nutshell. I bet you thought this post would NEVER end. 😉 It was a good weekend, all in all. How was YOUR weekend??
I have more to post later, but I simply HAD to share this snippet I found on one of my knitting websites. It’s an actual knitting pattern, but this is the story BEHIND the pattern. I love the resourcefulness of some women. 🙂 Too good not to share!
– Six months after losing my right breast to cancer, I was invited to a party at the latest hot boite. Now, I usually avoid such places, preferring to spend my evenings at home, knitting hemp climbing gyms for my son’s pet snake or felted fishbowl warmers for my daughter’s Siamese fighting fish, but I needed a change of scene.
Finding the right outfit was a no-brainer. I have closet full of leather dresses and high heeled boots from my days as a Yarn Dom; “Get that sock finished NOW, you badly carded piece of roving or else!” Finding the right breast prosthesis, however, was a nightmare.
I went to every mastectomy boutique and medical supply store in the city. There were titties of every shape, size and skin color (from beige to dark brown) but none were what I wanted — perky, cute and comfortable. They were too heavy, squishy or ugly.
With a day to go before the party I was still without a titty. I considered going without one but my husband nixed the idea. I was already unbalanced, (but in a good way), he reasoned, but that didn’t mean I should look unbalanced.
Finally, in a state that can only be described as panicked desperation, I bought a “proper” mastectomy bra and a silicone titty that was touted as the “lightest and most natural looking” on the market. The fitter, a sensible no-nonsense lady, who had been fitting breast prostheses since before disco was hot, discouraged me from wearing any of my existing bras, “They’ll squash your prosthesis, dear and there is nothing worse than a squashed prosthesis!”
When I got home, I put on my new titty and bra and promptly broke into tears. The titty reminded me of raw liver, while the bra resembled the suspension system of my 1995 Volvo.
To cheer myself up, I rummaged through my stash looking for something luxurious to knit up. Then it hit me that I could knit myself a new titty; in fact, I had so much yarn I could knit myself a different titty for every day of the week, month, year!
I finished my first knitted titty an hour before the party and wore it with one of my favorite lacy underwires. When a friend, who had been following the whole titty saga, saw me she remarked, “You really did a great job! Your left breast looks almost as good as the right one — a bit lumpy but very realistic.”
“You know,” I replied, “It was my right breast that was removed.”
(Need a spare tit? Or know someone else who needs one? Find the pattern HERE.)
Today started out good for May-May Golly. She fell out of bed, threw on some clothes and ran to meet Rose Golly for some lunch. Late as usual, but better late than never, eh?
Aren’t they a cute pair?
(Unfortunately, they had to leave the horse at home. Horses apparently aren’t allowed in Silver City Brewery. Whatever.) Those two definitely ARE Salt and Pepper, aren’t they? Indeed.
Rose is here talking on the telly to her new boyfriend. May-May is quite happy that her lil’ sis’ has FINALLY found a NICE boy. Nice boys are hard to find now-a-days, you know. Rose likes him. May-May likes him. Even the horse likes him. He must be a keeper.
After lunch, May-May hurried home to get ready for work. Work was not nice. Work was, to put it frankly, poopy. May-May was SURE it was going to be a full moon that night. Either that or there was a goat in the audience. According to Rose, “goat in the audience means bad luck.” (Read the book, you’ll understand.) Anyways.
After returning home from work that was not nice, in fact was POOPY, May-May was overjoyed to see that she had received a package in the post! After jumping up and down with sheer glee, she opened up her package and found THIS:
A handmade bag, crafted with love by her beloved friend, Victorea. A handmade bag made with love for all May-May’s knitting accouterments and paraphernalia. Is it not just the LOVELIEST accouterments bag you’ve ever seen?? I know.
She even lined it with this delightful fabric! She even included pockets! For smallish knitting things such as stitch markers and sewing needles. *sigh* May-May is in love with her new little possession.
It was a welcome gift indeed. Nothing turns a frown upside down like a surprise package in the post. *happy little sigh*
Poppycock and Sunshine 
