Today's Knitting Climate

Ahhhh, it's a blizzard!!! Four whole inches. You east coasters are snickering madly when you're looking at 12+ but hey, this is the most we've had in ages. I was thinking, I moved into my house about 4 years ago and haven't had to shovel my driveway once. My driveway record is still intact because none stuck to the roads or sidewalks.

A snowy day plus a sick dog (more below) made for a perfect time to make some great progress on my Olympic cardi. I'm about 10 inches up on the back piece. I would love to finish it up tonight. So far, the pattern is very straight forward. Even Rebecca finds an acorn from time to time. I've read through the rest of it, and all seems well.

I hope to take about 4 days for the back (including ruffle), 6 days for the 2 sleeves (including ruffles) and 2 days for the front right which will leave 5 days for the finishing, building in some extra time if I get off schedule (and to let me pretend that even if that giant funny shaped swatch wasn't a perfect fit for the left front piece, I would have finished anyway).

My Elly-Girl

If you've read my blog for awhile, you may remember my Elly-Cairn's surgery for bladder stones last April. That was bladder stone surgery #3 in 2 1/2 years. We've taken lots of steps each time to try to prevent them but when I got home Tuesday evening, I found two places where she had peed in the house. This dog never pees in the house. Unless there is a problem. A urine sample delivered to the vet Wednesday morning showed lots of crystals (a precursor to stones), and Thursday, I dropped her off for x-rays. I told him to give me a call with the results but went ahead and signed off on the releases to do surgery. Being down this road before, I knew she'd need it. An anxious hour later, I still hadn't heard from them so I called. They had just finished with her and had great news for me.

NO SURGERY!!! He found a couple of small stones on the x-ray but decided we'd try to dissolve them with diet instead of surgery (you can do both things but in the past, we've opted for the surgery route as the best treatment). She had a couple of rough days (though she's acting just fine, for the most part) but this morning, she seemed to pee normally. She's on antibiotics and a special prescription for a month and after that time, we'll x-ray again and hope the stones are gone.

This dog has been with me through so much. I got her my senior year of college. I love both of my dogs equally and dearly but in different ways. Parker's my baby. I love nothing more than to snuggle and love on him. Elly's my best friend, my lil soulmate. Parker's 7, I've had him since he was 1 (actually, he came home 6 years ago this weekend!). Elly's 9, and I've had her since she was an itty bitty 4 lb ball of fire. Her first night at home...

To not leave my Parkie-guy out, here's a picture from the week I brought him home, in his very favorite position. You can't resist rubbing this belly, I promise!

Kentucky lost again yesterday. This time to Vanderbilt. Again. Swept by Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt. The school that disbanded their athletics department a couple of years ago. This sucks. Big time. I've joined the chorus of people saying that our coach needs to make some BIG changes at the end of the season in recruiting, coaching staff (fire at least 1 or 2 of the assistants), conditioning (they fired the strength and conditioning coach a month ago, the first casualty of this pathetic season, a move about 7 years overdue), and even within his own coaching philosophy. If he can't do that, I want him gone. This is bogus. We're Kentucky. We're the winningest basketball program of all time. We shouldn't have seasons like this. An off year for us means a 5 seed in the NCAA tournament, not not making the tournament which is what we're facing this year.