Dog Caught in a Bucket

Finished Object Report!!! I finished the Bucket Hat on Sunday evening while watching Big Brother (omg... anyone else annoyed beyond belief by Ronnie and Chima?!?!). Overall its a very quick knit, but it stayed OTN for a few weeks because it was my track knitting for Matt's past couple of races wins (he's now won 4 in a row - woo hoo! I'll post some pics later this week).

Don't you just adore my model? Sophie was so cute with this one that I literally had tears running down my face from laughing so hard during our "photo shoot" Sunday night! The other kids gave it a shot too, but no one rocked it quite like Sophie...

Zeus and Tut gave respectable attempts (click linked names for more pics, you know me and the camera)...

Lola (yes, that's her under there) thought you might want a better view of the lacey pattern...

Yarn is Rowan RYC Cotton Jeans in the Sailcloth colorway. I absolutely loved working with this cotton and will use it again. I picked the color to have a somewhat neutral summer beachy-hat (not that I go to the beach, mind you) and as you can clearly see, it turned out to be very suiting for Princess Sophie.

I haven't decided just how much I like this hat on me yet, but its definitely got a cuteness factor. Matt's first reaction was "you look like you're ready to go fishing," so I guess it does suit the summery/beachy feel. Now to get brave enough to wear it... in. public.

Sophie says "OK, you got your shot... photoshoot over."

A Little Fill-In...

TGIF!!!

Time for some fill-ins...


1. Frozen meatballs, some jar sauce and sub rolls make a quick and easy dinner.

2. Knitting the Threads of Time is the book I'm reading right now (yeah, I had to put it down long after my review... usually knitting wins out over reading time).

3. July brings back memories of camping... before we had 4 dogs!

4. Deleting and blocking was obviously a statement on her part as to what she thought of our "friendship."

5. They say if you tell your dreams ... well I suppose then someone will know what you dreamt of, right?

6. I really don't want to think it over, I've had enough.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to sleep!, tomorrow my plans include dinner with Matthew, Jill & Emma and Sunday, I want to see my honey win another race!

Dog Digs Own Bed

Happy Doggy Day... almost Friday! Although I kept thinking yesterday was Thursday, so I'm kind of disappointed today.

We've actually seen the sun for four whole days this week! Woo hoo! (I probably shouldn't mention that we're expecting rain later today and Saturday) I think it'd been so long since we had a sunny day that even though it wasn't actually that hot, the bright sun blinded us made it feel ten times hotter than it actually was. So what's a dog to do on a warm, sunny day?

Well if we're talking about Zeus, the answer is... make himself a nice outside bed, of course!!!

"What Mom? At least I didn't dig it in the middle of the yard.... and I didn't dig a hole, just a bed!"

So true... he just dug his own little cool spot under the over hang of the house. Who could argue with that? Or this handsome face!

I absolutely love this shot... my big guy almost looks like a tiny puppy again (awww... look at that cute puppy fall shot)!

He's even got his puppy curiosity going on lately...

OK, so this post was all about my moose today, even though I have a tun of good doggy pictures to share (its that whole finally downloading pictures thing). I'll just have to save those 100 pics for later and leave you with the whole gang keeping an eye out for critters in the yard (please excuse their creative windowsill artwork, thank you...)

Lions and Tigers and Bears... vacation recap part 5

Happy Wordless Wednesday! Today is all about a final vacation recap with pictures from our day spent at the amazing Tiger World in Rockwell, NC! This is truly one very special sanctuary run by an amazing group of staff and volunteers. I was so intrigued that I'm actually working on becoming a long-distance volunteer myself (and we'll certainly be back to visit each time we go to Charlotte)!

Warning.... picture heavy post! Did I mention we have 350+ pictures from this year's Charlotte trip... well over 1/2 (maybe 2/3?) are from Tiger World! Enjoy...

Aren't they just beauteous?

This adorable little baby was only a day old when we visited!

The bears, Brutus and Cleo were really fun to watch. We came back to them several times, once finding Cleo wrapped up in a garden hose, rolling all around having the time of her life... apparently a volunteer mowing the lawn moved it too close to the enclosure and she stole it, resulting in some amusing tug-of-war games between Brutus, Cleo and two staff members...

This is Miracle ... she was born at Tiger World.

Some various beauties..

I feel in love with the tortoises, who were fun to feed!

More big kitties...

I'll leave you with Mufasa, who was having fun charging at the fence... I was told that he doesn't usually greet visitors and must've liked us... awww!

Foxy Tuesday

Happy Tuesday (although I'd really wish it were Friday)! Hopefully this week goes by smoothly... and fast!

I'm also hoping to not be woken up at 4:00 am again this week by a blood-curdling scream from our newest Wild Animal Kingdom member, Mr (or maybe Mrs?) red fox. Yes, that's right... we were awoken from a dead sleep early Monday morning to the awful sound. I'm still not sure what the distress call was all about, but it sounded like what I would imagine would come when a Mama fox had just lost her young or a fellow fox was hit by a car or something. We didn't see any signs of a struggle (or loss of life) the next morning, so hopefully it was just a tactic used to scare another animal away. The fox was back in our front yard yesterday evening around dusk and I was able to get a couple of pictures after Princess Huntress Sophie alerted the whole house that there was something in the yard. She's taken a keen liking to sitting on in the window and just watching for wildlife...

I had seen a fox walking down the side of the road (entrance to really wooded areas) a couple weeks ago and saw something late Saturday night on the way home that I think was probably the fox as well. We normally don't see too many fox around, especially in our yard. The town is doing some work along the old carriage trails in those woods (think they are paving them to prevent the dirt bikes and make them more useable for walking, bicycling, etc) and I'm really starting to wonder if they've disturbed some dens in the process. Or perhaps with all of the rain we've had, some may have been flooded or collapsed. Remember we had the skunk family relocating across the bottom of a driveway last month? hmm...

Our (or one of?) resident bunny was also back yesterday. Apparently he likes bird seed because he kept coming back to the feeders, sitting under them and munching away. I managed a couple of pics from inside (he'd scatter every time I opened the door and the dogs started barking like crazy), including this cute "cotton tail" shot (you'll have to click to see it) and this action-hop shot...

3 of my 4 security alarms keeping a close eye on Mr Fox last night...

I've just downloaded tuns of pictures, so stay tuned for more "catch up" photo posts this week. I need to post a final Vacation Recap with photos from Tiger World and I've got a bunch of great new doggy shots to share! I'll leave you with some pics of the day lilies on the side of the house...