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Canine genetic research
If you have a purebred dog, with papers or not, you can help with the research into canine genetics and diseases by contributing your dog's DNA to the University of California at Davis' Veterinary Genetics Laboratory. Go here for more information and instructions on how to order a (free) DNA sample kit. I'm doing this with two of my dogs, both purebred rescues. One of them is even a dog that they don't have a lot of samples from, so he's very valuable to them! There's a list, so you can check to see if your dog is on their highly desired list, but it's important to contribute any DNA, even from more common breeds. Since one of my dogs has an eventually fatal genetic disease, I think it's very important to further any research that might help indentify the genetic underpinnings of canine disease. I hope you do, too! If your dog is a purebred, please consider participating! If your dog isn't, but you know someone who has a purebred dog, please pass this along. Thanks!
Potatoes!
We have a potato! A little tiny baby one, but we have successfully grown at least one potato!  It's maybe an inch long. Here are the pretty potato flowers. I didn't even know that potatoes flowered.
8 books
 Wonderful thrift store find. Eight trade paperback books, all fairly hefty, a couple that I've been wanting to read. Bought for a grand total of $2. Click on the photo for a bigger one so you can read the titles (I'm far too lazy to type them all in). Has anyone read any of these? What did you think?
Pumpkin update
 Remember that pumpkin plant I showed you a few days ago? Well that blossom on there actually became a pumpkin. And pretty damned fast. The little tag next to it says that it's a snackjack pumpkin, but things got moved around a little while planting, so I'm not positive that it's telling the truth. I've got another squash-y looking thing on another plant, but it's yellow and I'm fairly sure it's a zuchinni.
90 degrees
That's how hot it was at 11:00 this morning when we gave up working on the front porch and decided beers were in order. This is how far we got: It's two-fifths done. The two easy fifths. Two of the other sides are encroached upon by the big evil rosebush and the center section will have a four foot wide gate in the center. It's possibly the tallest porch railings I've ever seen - 3' 10" (I just had Jeff go out an measure). Even Indy will think twice about trying to jump that. Since our house was built in 1926 by carpenters who didn't own squares, each part has to be customised to its particular section. It's a royal pain in the ass, but now that two of the sections are up, I can see that it will be worth the effort in the end. Or so I keep telling myself. :)
Hillbilly Knittin'
Crochet has been termed " hillbilly knittin'" by some. I think that I proved that today. I was crocheting, a snoozin' coonhound at my feet, drinking a beer, watching my shows on the tee-vee. Whoo, baby! Labels: crafts
Males.
They are, I jest not, both watching TV.
Holiday madness
It's nearly July, and that means that for crafty people, it's time to start thinking about the December holidays! And by December I'll have another neice to think about, too. I'm planning to do my usual canning at the end of the summer to get the chutneys and such done. Surprisingly, my mother-in-law loved the cherry rum preserves, so I may make that again. I'll also continue the candy making that I did last year. Not only was it a lot of fun, but people seemed to enjoy getting something different. And Jeff can help with candy making more than with cookies, which is nice. I've already started one scarf with some recycled yarn, and I think I'll have enough to add a hat to it. And maybe at least trim on some store-bought gloves to make a set. That's for a sister-in-law. For the kiddos, I'm thinking they'll get one sweater each, plus a toy. They'll all be getting plenty of stuff from their grandparents anyway. The women are easy: a shrug, a bag, a poncho, a scarf and hat set ... it's the men that are difficult to make for. Hats and scarves for some of them, but not all of them. Anybody got any ideas?
30 meters
30 meters. That's how far - at the max - I was from a corner with a crosswalk when I watched a mother with her three boys, all under ten, jaywalk on a busy downtown street. Oh, she made them all hold hands, and she was careful to look for a fairly big break in the heavy traffic, but what are the odds, do you think, of the boys doing that when they're by themselves? Because since Mom did it, you know they think it's OK. So they're going to do it, too, and not just on nice, slow residental streets. And they're going to get squished, and Mom is going to blame the driver, not her child who learned from her that it was OK to take unsafe shortcuts on busy streets. Natural selection at work, I guess.
Yet another home improvement project
The front porch. We repainted the porch (and steps, which you can't see) in a gray skid-proof paint. Now we're adding a railing. Of course, first we have to paint everything. Our front porch is pretty darn big, and we never use it because when we do, we always hear strange crashing noises as the dogs cavort inside. We'll put up a gate in front of the steps and be able to bring the dogs out with us (the railing will be 4 feet high). Our goal is to have it done by July 4. Those two chairs that you can see in the background are alley finds that I've spray painted. I suppose I should make cushions for them at some point now, huh?
June Bug
The rare Goober Bug starts out life as an owl, but mutates into an insect at some point during its maturation. Its wild colors discourage predation, as the clashing colors cause predators to cringe and cover their eyes. The Goober Bug is not poisonous, but may cause a lack of fashion sense. Labels: crafts
Pumpkin
One of two varieties of pumpkin we planted: Fairytale and Snackjack.
Indy, the Infinitely Patient
 For all his mental issues, Indy's just about infinitely patient with the obnoxious Kaylee brat.
Amigurumi-Along!
In my quest to get started on my 101 things in 1001 days, I've started an Amigurumi-Along! Come on, join in. You know you want to!
101 things in 1001 days
What can you do in 1001 days?
Here's what I'll do.What will you do?
Recycling
I found what I believe to be a cashmere and angora sweater at the thrift store this past weekend. The yarn is beautiful, but the style? Not so much. 
(It's more purple than pink, really)
So I ripped it all out and came up with a nice bunch of yarn. About 4.7 oz. of a light worsted weight yarn of a type I'd never be able to afford.   I'm already working on a christmas present from it - a lacy scarf. Not bad for $2!
The front yard
For those of you who have been impressed by our gardening endeavors, let me present the other half of the front yard: Pretty much a mass of weeds with cannas struggling to take up the slack. So don't be too impressed with our gardening, OK? PS: There are still some sparklies left if you want to join in the fun!
No internet!
My god, how did I survive the weekend! Our internet went out on Friday night and came on this morning. Gah, did that suck! On the plus side, though, we got the first coat of paint on our porch. Sometime this week we'll get the second coat on and next weekend we can start painting the railings. Our goal is to have the railings up by the July 4th weekend. It looks like we might make that! Also, since I couldn't sploff about on the web, I got some crocheting done. Meet Calliope (pink) and Gary (the kumquat): They're from my Japanese crochet book that I got last week. There were only a few things that baffled me, but I just made up what I couldn't understand. I think they turned out pretty good. Labels: crafts
Do you speak Japanese?
Amigurumi are just the cutest things. They're Japanese crochet ... thingys. Mascots. Goofy little things. And I'm just enamored of them. So I gave into the eBay beast and bought a Japanese amigurumi crochet book. Problem? All the directions are in Japanese. I can follow the charts, but there's just some stuff I can't get. So what did I do? Don't tell Jeff, but I bought another Japanese book. Logical, right? So look for amigurumi in the future. Labels: crafts
Sparklies!
A while back, I was given a gallon-sized ziploc bag of sequinned goodies. I have culled my favorites from the herd, and now I hold the rest up for grabs. Here's the deal: you click on the photo below and email me which pretty, pretty sparklie you're interested in (they're numbered, for ease). I'll list on that page the ones that have been spoken for. One caveat: you have to share a photo of what you do with it. Preferably by the end of July. To be fair, I'll be on the same timetable. So come on, join me in sparkliness today!
T.T.U.T.S.
Cordy awaits the appearance of The Thing Under The Shed.  My guess is that the shed is the summer home of our house mice. But it could be chipmunks. I'm betting on mice, though, since Cordy is a mighty mouse hunter. Or at least, mouse huffer.
She did, in fact, kill a squirrel this past weekend. So I guess she may be a mighty hunter. Of course, the squirrel did fall, and she was inadvertantly helped by Kaylee, who just wanted to check out the new squeaky toy. Cordy has been full of herself since then, kicking the shit out of the other dogs and generally being a pain in the ass.
Stupid squirrels.
Portulaca
Portulaca, AKA moss roses, are one of my favorite plants to grow. They thrive on benign neglect. My kind of plant.
You should read this stuff II
(Note: the links are for more info only. Buy them at your local bookshop. Or, better yet, get them from the library.)
Stripe
Remember that gremlin called Stripe who caused all the trouble in the movie? Kaylee reminds me of him sometimes...
But not as much as Indy, who has managed to escape from his crate three times in the last week. This is not good.
The creepy garden is done!
Jeff worked his ass off, and now there's no more grass for him to mow in the front yard! A trip to Anderson's yesterday provided us with the remaining plants (mostly succulents) to spread out over the hill. And we got a castor bean plant which will grow up to fifteen feet tall. Highly poisonous, or I'd love to have it in the back yard. Next project is to sand and paint the porch in preparation for putting up railing so we can actually enjoy the front garden. We start that next week.
Floppy dog
After Kaylee has a fever, she gets pretty tired for about 24-36 hours. She collapses into the closest bed at the slightest opportunity. And, apparently, her muscles decide to take a break, too.
Thrift store finds
Among other things...
 It's really more on the melon side of orange - not so safety. From Gap. $1.50. Previous to showing these to Jeff, I had shown him another pair of patterned trousers, but much, much less ... loud. His response to those had been "wow!" When I showed him these, he said, "I used my 'wow' too soon..." I think I can actually get away with wearing these when we are officially business casual this summer. I may have lied, G. This may be a wear-on-the-plane-to-Surffest top. It's all sparkly and fretted and entire load of wash with silver.
Princess & the Pea
Yes, that's three beds stacked on top of another - and Kaylee's favorite spot currently.
The garden - current highlights
Kiwi:  The kiwi fruit are the little ovoid things in the middle. They're supposed to be completly edible (i.e., no fuzzy outsides), though we didn't get enough fruit last year to test. This year looks better. Cannas: We have more of these freakin' things than we know what to do with. We got one box from Jeff's dad last spring and pulled up three boxes worth at the end of the summer. I know for a fact that I planted some of these upside down, but they still came up. We have another raised bed the same size full of them, plus they're planted along the front of the house and in one of the front beds. They thrive on neglect. Note the scareflamingo to keep the dogs out of the bed. Dinosaur food: That would be the non-scientific name, of course. It's really a giant gunnera. Right now, that's only about eight inches tall, but it should get to at least five feet. It's Jeff's baby.
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