Another visit to the bridge

Harry Beary O'Carey Reilly Bach aka "the cowardly lion" went to the Rainbow Bridge this morning. Late last night he lost use of his rear legs. Mom and Dad kept him comfortable through the night, loved him and said their good byes. The vet confirmed their fears, he had ruptured another disc in his back. At his age, surgery would not be appropriate and there was no guarantee he would survive, let alone recover.

My parents made the most difficult decision and gave Harry the most wonderful gift.
He joins his family at the bridge, Casey, Max, Molly and Murphy.

Take care of each other...run, howl, eat all the greenies you can, and know we will all be together again some day.

We love you Harry...I will miss you and all the things that made you the King of the Six Pack.

Spring...

I am loving the Spring. It's been warm and breezy and GORGEOUS. My street looks amazing now that the dogwood are blooming. Sadly the daff's and tulips are just about done, so I have so major gardening to do this weekend...(hint to mother of rotini, help is much appreciated!)



And my favorite rite of spring, Maryland Sheep and Wool is NEXT WEEKEND. I can't believe it. I am even more excited because my MOM is coming with us this year!!! Speaking of mom, she's on Ravelry now, barbbach is her user name...so yes, you too can be friends with mom of knittyd!



I just returned from the Veterinary Social Work Conference in Knoxville, TN. First off, Knoxville is a lovely little town...and a college town at that. The University of Tennessee was having its orange and white (scrimmage) game on Saturday and the entire town was bleeding orange and white. The coolest thing I found out though, is the Univ of Tennessee, aside from being the alma mater of Peyton Manning, has a mascot named Smokey. Smokey is a blue ticked hound that bares a STRIKING resemblance to one Mr Finnegan Bach.













Cool, huh?

Anyway, after the conference, I'm now moderating the veterinary social work listserv. I'm proud to say after just 3 days we have over 30 members! It is great to have this discourse!

I am on chart 5 of 6 in Lotus Blossom!!!! It is knitting up so quickly and is just gorgeous! I see it being done in the next week or so...maybe by sheep and wool? Then on to Seraphim!

Okay, must do some work!

New photos of the most amazing barking dogs in the world

WATCH OUT THEY ARE FEROCIOUS AND RABID!!

19th Nervous Breakdown

So after I wrote that lovely blog about my selfish knitting, it came back to bite me in the ass.

I F***ed up Maude, AGAIN.

I F***ed up Sarcelle and decided I hated it in Helen's Laces...and that on those needles it would take an ETERNITY to knit.

And I decided I hated the Dale of Norway rectangle shawl. All of this happenend in about 5 minutes last Friday night. My answer...to have a Spring rebirth.

I put Maude away again. When I saw Courtney the other day and she could see the look of sadness on my face, she was sure maybe one of the dogs had eaten it...I WISH FINN WOULD EAT MAUDE! (that is a little dirty isn't it!)

I decided to put these projects that were not, 1) bringing any joy to my knitting life 2) sucking my will to live and 3) were making wonder why I knit at all, far, far away.

Into the stash I dove, and I found the gorgeous Peacock color Alpaca Silk that Wendy and Robin gave me for my birthday last year. I looked at my Ravelry Queue and decided this would become Lotus Blossom. So far so good. I will certainly buy Fiddlesticks knitting patterns again...very easy to follow; great charts etc. I'm almost done with chart 2 of 5 and I LOVE IT.

I also put together 2 awesome colorways of Socks that Rock for a Chevron Scarf (Last Minute Knitted Gifts). This will be my airplane knitting...oh yeah, going to Tennessee this week.

I also purchased Seraphim and will be starting that in Helen's Laces, colorway Devon. I'm feeling better all in all about my knitting abilities and my love of the craft. Now if I could just stay away from the Koigu silk blend...

In other news

My neighbors are driving me crazy. They hate all dogs...especially those that bark...oh wait, that IS all dogs. Eliza Jane seems to know JUST how to push my buttons and make me feel crabby and angry and vulnerable. Bottom line is, I live here, I have 3 dogs...sometimes there are six dogs...I didn't buy this house to be surrounded by screaming children...but 10 years later, I am surrounded my lots of little ones...so I'm thinking, should I start calling her everytime her kids cry? She also has a tendency to embellish the situations...bottom line is BEATCH, that I was home much of the day yesterday and the dogs WERE NOT BARKING all day. F***ing get a life! It is NOT A TSUNAMI!

My IBS is raging again (TMI I know)

Did I mention I'm going to Tennessee on Thursday...? ugh...

One good thing, I went to the Phils game last night and saw Cole Hamels pitch a JEM of a game...Phils won 7-1...it was awesome. Even better, Jen scored us Bob's boss' seats...in the 14th row, behind Ryan Howard...it was SWEET!

So it seems, in general, that I have the April blahs...at least Sheep and Wool is only 3 weekends away...

April is for selfish knitting

So, I've finished the two big baby projects for Heather and have now decided to devote April knitting to ME...ME...ME.

I picked up Maude again...thanks for the encouragement and coaching Courtney. I managed to knit 3 rows last night without major incident (knock on wood). I want to wear Maude on my birthday...

I am also working on a Dale of Norway lace shawl pattern; also in Koigu. God I love Koigu. I can't get enough of it.

Also working S-L-O-W-L-Y on Sarcelle...which I call my "concentration" knitting.

It's nice to put the emphasis back on me.

Yeah Phillies! First victory was hard fought and exciting...thanks to the Nats for walking in that winning run...there is NOTHING as exciting as a walk off walk, is there?

It's wet and gross out today and supposed to be like this for much of the day tomorrow. I encouraged the babies to spend the day sleeping as I would like to be...can't wait to go home for naptime.

47.5

So, when over a VHUP the other day giving mom and dad the grand tour, we weighed Finn.

He weighed in at...47.5 pounds!

Beagle basset my ass...he is a beagle bison alligator mix.

Rory, Harry and Luther visited and I snapped a few cute pictures...

As you can see, Finn is at least twice Rory's size...but at leasy they still fit in the recliner together.

And here is the old married couple, Lady Margaret and Lord Luther. They totally adore each other and snuggled for much of the day yesterday.

During nap time, I slept with 5 of the six pack. Harry is certainly an elder statesman...he chose to stay downstairs on the couch rather than take on the stairs mid day. He did snuggle with me last night though.

It was a quick visit for mom and dad. They went to see "Young Frankenstein" in NYC yesterday. I am very proud of their ability to navigate their trip and return in one piece.

They are on their way back to the Cape now...The Philly dogs miss the rest of the six pack already...poor Finn seemed so depressed this morning...for about 5 minutes.

Flash Gordon SUCKS

Yesterday was a high holy day:

Phillies Opening day at Citizens Bank Park.

Of course I had tickets.

It was Ellen's first opening day! Thanks for bailing little Petey!

The weather was lovely!





Perfect for opening day...wet, windy and cool (not cold). But the wet was really just a "mist" that subsided by the time we had parked and headed into the ballpark.

We headed right to my favorite spot: Chickie and Pete's for Crab Fries

And became one with the cheese cup

I also had my inaugural hot dog This one is for you Trish.

There was lots of pomp and circumstance; including what I thought was a giant slip and slide...







Sadly it was just MLB's version of a "red carpet." I still think it would have been better to have them run and slide in for an entrance.

There was one army jumper and a really big flag

And then it was time to play ball.

And yes, Chase and Jimmy both hig homeruns and yes, we were tied going into the ninth inning after brilliant pitching by JC Romero. And then, Flash crapped on our parade.

I know it's a long season...161 games to go...countdown to 100 losses, 99.

I love this team.