Summer in the city

I won’t say hot time, summer in the city, since yesterday was the first actual hot day we’ve had t his summer. It’s been super mild and everything in the garden is so far behind. I was finally able to pick some tomatoes yesterday. They were tasty but I don’t think our yield is going to be that great this year. You can already smell fall in the air when the sun goes down and I’m back to wearing a hoodie when walking to the bus in the morning. Winter is coming! Thank you Eddard Stark.

So far this summer has been all about:

Gardening

More gardening

Fun with the spoils of the garden

Decorated bus stops by interbenchion.blogspot.com

Stella discovered the joys of the frisbee

New glasses were acquired

Silly faces were necessary to ease the pain of having to get progressives.

Sock Summit was attended. Learned so much and spent *so* much!

I miss you Sock Summit!

Oh Powell's Books. I could live in you forever!

Mmmmm, food trucks!

Except for this one. That is the worst name ever for a food truck. Blargh!

While sniffing for free wifi this was my favourite network name.

Irony? Going to Sock Summit and buying a metric tonne of sock yarn then casting on a shawl. Nicely done!

This is Dancette in Plucky Knitter Primo. Really nice yarn, REALLY nice. So, how’s your summer been so far?

So, anyone want a dog?

570 yards of Merino/cashmere blend.  Someone hold me.

I’m going to go drown my sorrows in wine and super dark fruitcake.  Sigh.

Wait, what?

So, a couple of friends and I are going to see the Dog Whisperer in October.  No, go ahead, you giggle, I’ll wait.  Heck, I’m giggling.  Wait ’til you see how much I paid for my not so great ticket.  Anyway, we’ll get to that.  First though, I received my ticket this week.  Have a look:

Okay, National Geographic Presents, right well that’s good, they do good work, glad to help them out, Cesar Millan Live, right, right, got that….huh?

NO DOGS PERMITTED

Really?  For $100 I think I should be allowed to take Crazy Stella to the show.  Wait, there’s more.  I’m in the cheap seats.  The good seats were $249 each.  And still you cannot bring your dog.  For $249, I think Cesar should come to your house, help you and your dog to live better lives together, and, yes, AND, do poo patrol in the back yard.  Just saying.

All that aside, you just know that someone will not read their ticket and will bring their chihuahua, El Diablo to the show.  I can’t wait to report back to you. 

Forced renovations

We noticed last night that the toilet all of sudden wasn’t flushing.  As we only have the one toilet in our wee house this is not acceptable.  Mr. B got up nice and early this morning and off to Home Depot he went to get an auger. $100.00, boom.  Not even 8:00 a.m. and we’re at a hundred bucks.  Gonna be a good day.

And he augered and he augered and no joy.  Toilet still wouldn’t flush.  Grrrrr.  Okay, next step, remove the toilet and give it a full internal.  Teehee.

Once the patient was resting comfortably in the bathtub, Mr. B could begin the scoping procedure.

Are you surprised that he has a tool for that?  I’m not.  It’s a tiny camera with a light on the end of a flexy arm.  He uses it at work to check for blockages in machines without having to uninstall them.  He’s a pretty smart guy.  Hmmmm, what can be the problem…what can be the.  Got it.

Yep, there it is.  That mass on the left side of the screen?  That is one of Stella’s racquetballs.  It would appear that at some point last night when one of us flushed the toilet and turned to the sink she hit the bowl for a drink and had to drop her ball first.

See, she loves to watch the water go round and round and then have a drink.  Simple pleasures.  Unfortunately, this simple pleasure was a bit expensive today.  We could not get the ball out of the toilet no matter what we tried.  It was up around the bend and was not willing to come out.

We could not save this patient.  A new toilet was our only option.  Back to Home Depot and another $100.00.  Pretty expensive morning so far, eh?

There she is.  All shiny and new.  An added bonus is that bowl, tank, and lid are all one colour.  This is a big step up for our funny little house.  The previous set up was a yellow bowl, bone tank, and white lid.

The man who used to own our house was beyond frugal and tended to salvage things and cobble them together.  Not too sure what to do with the old toilet now.  I’m thinking a nice red neck planter in the yard.  Class, we haz it!

Tuesday, better than Monday

I might have partaken of some retail therapy today.  Meet *Nicky the Nokia:

A Nokia N97 Mini.  Hmmm, what’s that?  I forget my cell phone at home at least 2 days a week?  True, true.  I quite often disconnect calls while trying to answer them?  Sure, I’ll give you that one.  But, I’m thinking of this as less of a cell phone and more of a Twitter enhancing device.  Also, I can now text without hitting ever single key three times.  Which I suck at.  Just saying.

We also hosted a meetup of the Terminal City Yarn Wranglers at chez beentsy this past Sunday.  No, I completely forgot to get any pictures.  Matter of fact, I didn’t see a single camera at the meetup so I don’t think anyone took picis.  Yeah, we suck.  Sorry.

I did get this picture of Stella though.

See, I thought that was a feather from the bird room stuck on her nose.  I was wrong.  Actually, this is what happens when you bug the seventeen year old cat, (Mo Cuirdh), for too long.  She claws you so hard part of her claw sticks in your snout.  I find it odd that Stella wasn’t particularly bothered by the claw stuck in her snout.  She’s a bit odd that way.

See, Stella is my answer to the entire concept of life being odd and unfair.  You may want to skip this part.  It may be more than you’re willing to accept, and that’s okay.  Honest.

Anyway, she’s pretty, therefore she’s not particularly smart.  You get to be one or the other, not both.  Sorry.  I hate to be the one to break it to you, but there it is.  Me, I’m usually pretty smart.  When I’m not, Mr. Beentsy tells me my hair looks good and then I know I’m being stupid.  It’s a beautiful thing.

Now, I’m going to go wander off and hope that I’m smart enough to set up twitter on that pretty new phone.

Side note, hubby is really agitated that I’m blogging about my new phone and not actually playing with it.  Snork.  Gotta go now.

*I reserve the right to change the name.

Who’s a lucky dog?

Abbie, of course.

The fabric store had cow print velour.  Of course I had to get some and make her a new blanket.  She’s awfully happy with it.

Later in the afternoon the sun came out a bit and Stella and I sat on the back steps and enjoyed the light and a wee breeze moving through the wind chimes.

It was lovely.  Apparently, we’re back to rain tomorrow.  Sigh.
Ending of a sunny afternoon, originally uploaded by beentsy.

Beets, it’s whats for dinner (last night that is)

Last week ( I think it was last week?), I put out a call on twitter asking folks for some dinner veggie suggestions.  Heather came up with one of my new favourites, beets!  Unfortunately I didn’t have any in the house, but the thought of those lovely ruby-red roots (nice alliteration eh?) stuck with me.  Finally, yesterday I could stand it no more and to the grocery store I went.  For those of you who’ve never cooked beets, be prepared for your hands to look like this:

This was after washing with soap and a nail brush.  I had decided that my beets wanted to be Borscht.  Wanna see some made crazy colour?

Can you imagine that colour in yarn?  Mmmmmmmm.  Hey, Yarnpiggy or Damselfly, can I dye with these things?  After all was said and done and cooked, super yummy soup with a sour cream topping and lot’s of fresh ground pepper looked a little bit like this:

It was awesome, and those little crusty multi-grain buns were the perfect addition.

Now, Stella would like to thank all of you for your well wishes.  She’s doing really good and her ear is looking great.  She’s still in the cone of silence for another week, but I think she’s sort of getting used to it.

I also wanted to answer some questions from comments.

• Monica asked how old Stella was.  She’s about 6 or 7.  She was an SPCA adoption so we’re not exactly sure.
• Elan suggested we get her a puppy friend so that one day (bahahahaha) Mr. B and I could possibly take a vacation.  I wish that would work.  Stella doesn’t like other dogs, even though she lives with two other dogs.  Mind you, she could just be doing a big act to ensure that she gets to go on vacation.  Hmmmm, I wonder if she’s that smart?
• Suzanne (No blog?  Why no blog Suzanne?  Join us!) suggested that maybe my heels are not as much the problem as high arches are for my sock shaping issues.  I think she is exactly right.  Yay, my feet are deep, not wide!  LOL.
• Ginger, you are absolutely right, Abbie needs some form of comeuppance.  I keep threatening her that I’m going to bring in Cesar Millan to whip her attitude into shape. 
• Lizz (I miss your blog posts Lizz. It was so nice to see you on twitter though!) spoke about how much she likes Guy Gavriel Kay and about another book of his, Ysabel, which I also really liked.  See, two sets of thumbs up.  He’s really that good, and Canadian.  Go on, give him a read. 

Okay, I’m out.  I’m making Chicken Madras for dinner and it’s time to get started.  Oh, wait, one more thing.  Look at this super happy killer colour sock that I’m currently knitting:

Take that grey and windy days!

How much?

Stella finally had to get her ear stitched up.  Her head shaking and rubbing it every time she could get out of her cone were just too much for the poor little ear.  It didn’t have a hope of healing on its own.

The vet kept her in overnight last night and she had surgery this morning.  She also got her teeth cleaned and a little bump removed from the back of her neck.  Just think how confused she must have been when she woke up this afternoon?  Hey, my ear hurts.  Hey, my neck hurts!  HEY!  What’s up with my TEETH????  Poor thing.

Anyway, $619.90 later and some post operative anaesthetic leftovers and you get this:

I can't hardly hold up my head. Turn the bowl for me, k?

This is her almost nodding off into a bowl of wet food.  She had to lay down to eat, kind of kept tipping to one side.  She refused to eat, drink, pee, or anything else while at the vet’s overnight.  They said she pretty much just shut down after I left and just starred at the wall and didn’t want anything to do with anything all night and this morning.  It was her first night away from her humans and she was not best pleased.  If we ever actually go for a vacation we’ll have to take her with us or she might just dehydrate or starve to death.

The cats were kind of freaked out by her.  I’m assuming she must smell funny, Beentsy and Mo Cuirdh keep wandering over and starring at her and sniffing the air like you or I might if there was something stuck to the bottom of our shoe.

Note the canned food in her cone.  Note her trying to lick up the canned food in her cone.  I could have watched that all day, but I didn’t.  I got a paper towel and cleaned her up.  Dog mom of the year, I am it.  LOL.

Best part, the vet tech was explaining all the post-op sort of problems that Stella may have.

• Lack of depth perception and balance, may walk into things.  Yeah, she already does that.
• May drink too much (due to the tube down her throat during the operation) and then possibly throw up.  Yeah, she already does that.
• Since her teeth were cleaned you may notice she drools quite a bit for the next few days.  Yeah, she already does that.
• She may get confused easily, wander off, and become distressed.  It’s best to keep her in a small area until she’s feeling better.  Umm, yeah, she kind of already does that too.

Kid you not, the vet tech was looking at me like, ‘Dude, what is WRONG with your dog?’  Meh, she’s just Stella and that’s what Stella is like.

Honest, it was the best ball in the world!

Which would explain why a fight broke out over its amazing bestnest.  Actually, it was the standard green racquetball ball.  Unfortunately, this one must have been special because it caused a dog fight of epic proportions in the backyard.  Unfortunately for Stella, the holder of the sacred ball, she refuses to drop a ball once she has captured it.  Not even if a small and amazingly aggressive terrier named Abbie is hanging off her ear.

If Stella had just dropped the ball and taught an incredibly overdue lesson to the aforementioned savage terrier, she would not have spent Wednesday night like this;

Note:  doesn’t she sort of make you think of the cover of Plague Dogs?  I haven’t read that book in years, made me weepy for days.

Anyway, she looks pretty cool, right?  Also, did you know that the canine ear bleeds like no one’s business when it has been bitten by a wee terrier?  Yes it does! Especially if the Stella that was bitten continuously shakes her head after the attack.  My kitchen looked like we had been entertaining the local chapter of the True Blood fan club by the time the evening was over.  Up the walls, over the cabinets/windows/doors, heck it was even on the ceiling.  I guess spring cleaning will be happening this weekend. 

So, I can hear y’all out there saying to yourselves, ‘Really?  Stella just accepted head bandaging and wrapping with no fuss at all?’  Yeah, no.  Which explains why today, things look a lot more like this:

The blue tape?  Yeah, that’s painter’s tape.  Hubby was afraid the Cone of Silence would scratch the new cabinets.  It also seems to help her understand her new peripheral depths, so that’s a bonus.

Sure hasn’t slowed her down though,

She still wants to see what you have in your hands.   Cause hey, it could be edible!

And that pretty much closes out this week.  Oh, and I turned 41 today.  I really don’t feel 41.  Most days I’m lucky if I feel older than an idiot teenager.  That’s probably a good thing though, right?  Sort of a bimbo young at heart feeling?  LOL.

Tomorrow, breakfast with the knitters at the local greasy spoon followed by an orgy of fibrey goodness, followed by dinner with hubby and my parents.  My mom is making me my most favourite dinner in the world, roast beast and tortured pudding.  Mmmmmmm, I don’t even need the roast beast, just the Yorkshire Pudding and gravy.  Nirvana!  My mom spoils me rotten.    She’s the best!

Ahhhhhh, that’s better

Final exam is in the bag, and I’m feeling a lot better about it than I did about the midterm, so that’s nice and I’ve made it home in one piece.  Dogs are strewn about the floor, fireplace is on, hot coffee in my cup, knitting at my side, and I’m just about to start a new book.  A novel.  For fun!  Luxury I tell you.   Oh, and the first snow of the season is just starting.

It’s been quite cold around here lately, well for us anyway, so I wanted to see if the pond was frozen enough for skating when I was up at SFU today for my exam.

Ummm, where’s the water?

More importantly, where are the fish that were in there a few months ago?  Hmmmm.

I did finally remember to take a picture of this mosaic wall while I was there.

I just love the colours in it.  Plus, it’s huge,

And, in case you were unaware, Christmas is coming.  Know how I know this?  Purdy’s has their wrapped boxes of chocolates out.  Those boxes come with pretty bows that are attached to stretchy ribbons.  Ribbons that just happen to fit Stella.

Sometimes, she’s really patient and just handles things so well.  Amazingly, this was one of those times.

Okay, I’m going to go read, knit, spin, drink coffee, watch Law & Order, listen to Christmas music, do laundry, and just generally relax for the rest of the day.  Think I’m over doing it? 

Oh, wait, one more thing.  You people with iphones and blackberries and such.  When you are on transit and there are Luddites like me around who do not have those things, we get bored.  Then we read your emails over your shoulder.  At least the guy on the train last night and I both seemed to.  We both kind of giggled while reading the same thing over someone’s shoulder, then glanced at each other quick, then at the person whose Blackberry we were reading.  Luckily they didn’t notice us.  It was an odd little moment of connection between strangers on and in transit.  Kind of cool.