Tornadowood-Weaving Rainbow Academy (TWWRHS)

Tuesday update.. puppy news

Yesterday we went to the vet for a followup checkup & the vet was very pleased with how he is doing. He has nearly doubled his weight since we found him (he was nearly 12 lbs on Wednesday July 7th and lost another lb by the 9th).. he weighed in at 19.8 lbs yesterday and may well be over 20 now!

The vet thinks that he is 5 months old because of a tooth that she saw that is just now growing in. She thinks that he has a good chance of catching up to whatever size he is supposed to be... we'll see!

The vet's office was kind of amusing: there was someone with a large dog with her & she had picked up a smaller dog... the smaller dog was SOOOO happy to see the larger dog! I would have let Indy play with them or socialize in the waiting room, but I figure it'd be best to wait until he's got all his vaccinations. Normally I'm conservative about such stuff but after what we went through with parvo with Theresa's puppies back in 2008, I'd rather vaccinate. There is just way too much parvo in the area!

Haven't felt like knitting or drawing the last couple of days. I picked up 2 packages of inc brand gel pens from Dollar General and returned them because I had tried 2 or 3 of the colors in the non-glitter package & came to the conclusion that I'd just rather replace my other set of gel pens from Walmart with another of the same type. I'll do that next week. I really really REALLY hope that Walmart does not discontinue them, but if they do, well I guess I'll just have to find another type elsewhere (unless Walmart comes up with something else). The ones they have now are $9 and I think are acid free & archival. I found them in the scrapbooking section. When I replace the set, I'll try to remember to post the name of the set.

They are fun to use & the color laydown is decent especially for sketchbook use:

Above is a sample from my sketchbook from an April doodle...it probably isn't just the gel pens but also my other markers...

Actually I may not get the markers this month, may wait until after I get some acrylic paint, gesso & hardboard or/and wood strips to make some canvases...a few weeks ago, we found some canvas in a trashcan (probably from a crashed plane at an RC flying field) and have some that I bought a few years ago that was in storage...

July 24 Learn Nothing Day!!

Wow, it just snuck up... July 24th...

For more info go here and learn more about it!

Indy is doing pretty well... he went from 11.4 lbs to 17.6 in a 10 day period as of Wednesday July 21st. I'm guessing he's probably around 18 lbs now. We applied Frontline plus on Wednesday night & now he's looking a lot better flea wise.

He's either a low energy dog or is still in recovery mode. He's playful alright, but not what I'm used to seeing with puppies. Pixel was pretty active, ran around the house & such, but maybe Indy isn't a runner. I don't think we have past puppy abuse issues because he's not afraid of us (in fact he's like a very affectionate child, will climb into our laps & slurp) and didn't mind when I was sweeping the kitchen this morning... he either got lost or was dumped & when we found him, he was a bag of bones.

I saw don't worry about the past: Onward!

That said, Opus wasn't a super energetic puppy but boy did he like to chew... we got him when he was 7 months old and when we met him, he was running around the yard at the rescue place we got him from & would stop every so often for a cuddle... so maybe this is just how Indy is... if so, that's fine. I just hope that he'll be a fair match with Pixel when he's bigger. (Pixel has dominance issues, has to be the top dog)..

This is a photo taken today... No idea how the pepper sauce got between his paws... (it's the mild flavor, folks!! and he didn't open it...and it's empty...) (and I gotta wash the kitchen floor... tho for some reason around here, whenever I wash the floor, that's when something gets spilled or the kids track serious mud in... lol... fun times!)

Thursday Puppy update

Indy is doing better today... he's eating really well. He plays some, but seems to be on the quiet side. I don't know if that is because he's still recovering or if it's because that's his temperament. We'll see! He does get excited & barks when someone comes back after being gone a while!

Here's a picture of him with Boomerang. I admit I put Boomerang there myself. It does look like they may become buddies.

Gary cut the bandage off last night and it looks okay...

The vet said to wait until early next week to do something about his fleas. We'll either give him a Comfortis pill or use Frontline or Advantage..

Knitting

Yesterday I started another Fixation hat...top down. Now I'm wondering if I do the increases after doing approximately 1 or 2 plain rounds, will it get to a size where it'll be big enough to start the brim? It doesn't LOOK big enough but maybe it'll be okay. The first fixation hat I made didn't fit quite right... after I take photos of it, I'll rip it down a bit & redo it. The first one I did from the hem up to the crown (the "normal") way and started with a picot hem a la Claudia's picot edge

Monday update

Indy is home now! We picked him up on Monday afternoon & brought him home. He is still weak but is doing much better & is eating very well. He may be younger than we thought. I was thinking 4-5 months old but based on his teeth he may be closer to 3 or 4 months... I found a chart online here that shows you how to look for signs for how old a cat or dog is.

He's still not comfortable with the leash but I figure that will change as time goes by.

A few days or so ago, I discovered a writing website here and found that I can write the strangest things on there. I look for something to focus on... first time it was a warm up called "heavy metal hamsters" and today it was "strange lullabies for strange children"...

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but it's fun!

Sunday puppy update

Little Indy is going to be okay! Gary just got a call from the vet a little while ago saying that he's doing better, acting like a puppy, barking (help, LOL!) and eating everything that's not nailed down. He can come home tomorrow! :)

A week ago today, I was wondering why he wasn't interested in dog food, but ate the burger we gave him & stalked us for the burgers we were eating (cooked on griddle, so NOT grilled)...he was drinking well..then as the week wore on, I had to syringe fluids into him... it was getting harder & harder to get him to cooperate about stuff I was giving him via syringe: the only thing he was interested in was Nutrical paste.

Vet did transfusion & he's doing much better now. Just need to talk to her about what to do about his fleas.. we gave Goldie Comfortis & her fleas have cleared up & I think it's helping with fleas in general around the place.. but after a month passes & the Comfortis wears off, we'll put her on Advantage or Frontline & Pixel as well..

We got another kitten in June...a friend of the boys' aunt's husband rescued him from some dogs, but they couldn't keep him because their 2 year old was being too rough...
His name is Boomerang, Boomer for short.

It'll be interesting having a playful, energetic puppy in the house! Hopefully Boomer & Indy will play well together!

New puppy

On Sunday July 4th, we found a puppy about 1/2 a mile from our house... I was making dinner & Gary came in & asked me to help get him... my son Evan took over with the dinner prep & off we went. I got out of the car, let him sniff my hand & then picked him up. Felt like I was picking up a fur covered skeleton, he was so skinny... brought him home, he ate okay (just not dog food, gave him a burger)... he was quiet, so I wondered if he was sick...

Tuesday he had diarrhea & I thought he was too quiet, so I called the vet to make an appointment.. brought him in Wednesday, he tested positive for hookworms & the vet wanted to do a blood transfusion, but we weren't sure we could afford to do it. I had hoped to be able to convince him to eat, etc... pumped gatorade, yogurt, chicken broth, baby food (no onion in it!) into him and gave him nutrical (the only thing he seemed to actually like)...no luck there, so now he is back (at a different vet) getting a blood transfusion.

Here is a photo of Indy (Independence, Indy for short: we wanted a name related to July 4th since that's the day we found him):

Not sure if you can see his ribs or not but he is skinny skinny skinny... we think he is around 4-5 months old, he weighs around 10 or 11 lbs now, but would be around 30 (?) if he were healthy. He definitely needs to grow into those ears & that tail.

Hopefully I'll have an update over the weekend as to how he is doing!

I'd appreciate it if y'all would go to my website at this link to help with the vet bills...

On the knitting front, I haven't been doing much knitting this week... I sort of finished that hat that I made with Fixation yarn based on the TrouTrou hat pattern, but need to do another & make the sides longer...

Writing stuff...

Since I can't get this on the sidebar (and I'm not sure why), I'll do it this way... been writing a bit to try to work out some stuff in my life & sometimes writing from prompts from the Unschooling Writers email list is fun...

hmmm?

I thought I blogged yesterday, but there is nothing for June 4th! I had started a post about getting some stuff for chinese/japanese style painting, since carrying around bottled ink can be messy & dangerous!

I guess I just closed my browser without finishing it & lost it... So I guess I'm done trying to post daily... lol I'll try again another time when there's another daily blog thingie...

I guess this every day blogging business isn't for me! It was fun to try... so I guess I will go back & do my "whenever" blogging!! I prefer writing stuff in a paper journal anyway...

Today, the temperatures are supposed to reach 100. I just checked weatherunderground & it is only 93, so who knows if it will make it to 100 or not by 5!

Zentangles

Okay, so the photo is on the blurry side.. one of these days I'll get a scanner!

Sent out the best of 9... hope they get there in time!

Got a fridge in our place today, yeah!! One step closer....

Hometown Monopoly

So my youngest & I have been playing Hometown Monopoly.. that was a few days ago. It's more interesting than the original version because it has Fort Worth history in it. It's harder to FIND the properties while playing the game, but maybe this will change in time as we get used to playing.

Here is a photo of Mr. Jellybean's contribution to the game:

Need to browse through the thrift stores for more cool games!

Yesterday I made several zentangles. I'll try taking photos before sending them off, but I suspect a scanner would work better. We'll see!

I didn't knit yesterday, maybe I will today. I want to hurry up (????) and finish my spring forward socks so that I can either start a driving hat. Our van's a/c is borked, so we have to keep the windows open to stay comfortable... my hair goes EVERYWHERE... ugh. SO I'll make a hat, either with Fixation yarn or Panda cotton. Not sure which will be comfy for summer... not sure what pattern, maybe I'll do something like the Trou Trou hat so that it is an airy but hopefully snug hat.

I put the ???? up there because this project is over a year old. It was in my purse when we lost the house to the fire... was on a different set of needles because the other needles either got puppy chewed or zipper chewed... I seem to take forever with socks but fortunately my feet don't grow like children's feet do!

Tomorrow we're supposed to get a refrigerator delivered. I'm not sure what type, but it will help TONS in getting us back to our place...

NaBloPoMo?

Don't know if I'll try to blog every day this month or not, but I'll start with today! :) I'm not sure what exactly I'll do with my daily blog entries... but it'll include reports on progress in moving over to our place... art projects, maybe some photos.. maybe some things that the boys do as well...

This morning I called TXU our electric provider to find out what is up with setting up our electric service at our new place (where the house burned)... last week the rep I spoke to swore up and down that we were guaranteed to have service by midnight on Thursday and then again on Friday, guaranteed connection... apparently there were issues with a transformer across the street.

SO this morning I called them to find out what is up with getting service connected... the person I spoke to said that she spoke to Oncar (who provides the power) and they said that we need to get the place re-wired. I asked why. The answer was because there was a fire. Hello, the fire was in a different building that burned to the ground. Kapoof. Gone. So they asked about the meter... I told them the meter was destroyed in the fire as well. This is a totally completely different building. SO now I have to call Oncar.

I'll either have Gary call them by voice (I've been using the TDD relay system on AIM) or I'll call this afternoon...

Been working on the Mandala mystery & this afternoon may also see if it's too late to send some Zentangles in for an ATC swap with my Imagination Tribe group...

UPDATE 1:30pm: while we were out, we got a call from Oncar asking for directions to our place... on the way back we went by our place & there's a meter in there, so I guess we're hooked up now! It's a start...and I guess I don't need to call them after all...

painting with house paint

I got a few small (half pint sample) cans of house paint a few days ago & tried some out.. .I like the way the paint goes down... one thing I noticed is that mixing colors doesn't work as well with house paint as it might be with acrylics... I haven't tried much in the way of painting in a long time, so this is kind of new to me...need to find out more about different acrylic brands & get some...

Also got a sketchbook with handmade water color paper... I got it from Hobby Lobby & used a 40% off coupon.

I was afraid to do anything with it at first, but had a little fun testing the colors from my Van Gogh watercolor pan set... something about the piece I did last night reminds me a little tiny bit of Joan Miró. Maybe I'll take a picture later!

Eventually I'd like to get a suzuri ink stone & ink stick, but will save up for it! That should be less messy than bottled ink!!

Been knitting a row here & there... mostly on a pair of socks I started last year!

Just stuff

oops, didn't post anything in April, but I guess I'll put in a couple of entries this month to make up for it!

I've been doing a little bit of painting... since I don't have a local art store (unless Michaels & Hobby Lobby count & even they are NOT local), I either order online (which I haven't done)... what I am playing with now is housepaint... Lowes has 1/2 pints available for a reasonable price & I've been using those... and need to get more. I may order some acrylic or oils later on. We'll see!

No photos until I get new batteries for the camera...the ones in there are dead.

This place doesn't really have a good place to paint or do artwork, but I think the double wide might. For one thing it is roomier overall. We haven't been able to get the septic system for the other place yet (and without it, the water company will not deliver).

Not much else, except I'm toying with the idea of putting henna & cassia in my hair. I'll decide if I like it once I do a test on hairbrush hair!