Dog of Heartbreak

So there I was, kicking butt on the liners that I learned to sew yesterday...

Getting all thready......

And sewing ends....

... when this sweet boy (with C) came into the shop, walked straight over to me, and laid at my feet in the same weird way that Goober does.

He had a collar on but no tags. He was unbelievably sweet and such a good boy. I grabbed one of my cheese sticks that I keep in the fridge and enticed him back outside and walked him around to see if anybody belonged to him. No one did. 

He followed me back into the shop and eventually was put outside. I could hardly handle the idea of him walking away without knowing that he would be safe, so I begged my trusty people at home to please come downtown and pick him up and see what we could do about getting him home. Or keeping him. I was also fine doing that.

So here came the dog catchers:

(C looks on)

First, since we weren't sure what to do, Hubby and R took the dog home. He played so well with Goober, and we started to get excited, thinking that this sweet boy might be available to adopt. They ran and played for quite a long time. The dog also ate two bowls of food. 

Next stop was the vet to see if he had a microchip. He did, so they visited the Humane Society to see if they could find the owner.

Hubby and R had the hardest time leaving him there. The employees told them that the owners had five days to claim the dog, and if no one came for him, we would have first dibs for adopting him. 

As the hours went by, and his picture didn't show up on the Lost Pet section of the Humane Society website, it became obvious that his family had found him and he would not be ours. We allowed ourselves to get our hopes up and were quite disappointed, but we were still happy that he was back with his family.

And now we're looking around for a new best friend for Goober.

In other news: C the chauffeur:

Stuff I sewed today

Ends.

Binding.

Bunny ears (just made them pointier).

BONNET LINERS!!!!

I've discovered that the quickest way to get Nick motivated to have me learn a new skill is to start working on something the boys should be doing. The binding and bunny ears did it. No sooner was I working on that stuff than he noticed me and said, "What could you be sewing right now?" 

So he had Yvonne teach me to make liners and I have never felt more clumsy in my life. Fun fact about me: I was a smart kid, but I couldn't remember which hand was my right hand and which hand was my left hand until I was in the second grade and started playing the organ. I remembered that today as I was trying to put these three pieces together. For a while it seemed impossible.

I picked out quite a few mistakes, was covered with white thread, and at one point had all four of the other sewists out of their seats, trying to help me learn how to put together these stupid things, but by the end of the day, I was sewing liners and they were looking just fine. 

I love the production team. They all did a great job of teaching and encouraging and cheering, and laughing with me when I messed up again. Candy told me the story of Chelo not even knowing how to sew when she hired on. Between March and July of that year, she went from only being able to iron, to sewing binding on the bonnets - huge progress. "So you can do it," Candy said. 

I work with the best people.

Other big news: C passed his driving test today! He's now a legal driver! He'll be able to get his license as soon as he can get an appointment at the DMV, which has no appointments available for weeks. He and Hubby had to take on the turd-resembling driving school office people and instructor, but it finally happened. We have another driver! 

And: R "needed" Cold Stone again this evening. We were too weak to argue.

Father's Day Feast

After yesterday's landscaping exploits, I was sore and tired, so today I slept in late and stayed in bed till noon and took a long hot bath. Then I prepared and handled raw food.*

I wanted to make Hubby's favorite foods for Father's Day, but since we were out of town that day, I did it today instead: chicken enchiladas and chocolate pie. We ate and were happy.

This sunset happened:

And that was Sunday.

*Overboard

Mood

After Starbucks breakfast and buying a new extension cord for the garden tools, Hubby and I worked our butts off in the garden this morning. We spent about four hours pruning trees and cutting up the wood, weed-eating, battling blackberry vines, and loading all that icky yard debris into the bins. We also chatted with our next door neighbor Ben through our shared fence. He's very sweet.

I have to say that I deeply, deeply, deeply love my weed eater and my chainsaw. Anytime I can spend using my tools (and with Hubby) is quality time. The yard looks much better and we now have a cute little woodpile ready for the fire pit and backyard s'mores parties.

My mood afterward:

This morning Chad, the least-intelligent of the four cats, escaped the backyard and took on the gray neighborhood cat he'd been feuding with. B found him out front, by his car, and brought him inside. Later, we noticed him limping heavily with a big nasty wound on his back paw, so B and R took him to the vet and left him to be seen.

He'll be fine. The vet gave him pain medication and an antibiotic that he eats with tuna, and he can't go outside for a week.

For dinner, we deserved some Red Robin.

After eating dinner and picking up loopy Chad, we spent some time with the kids and the grandkid. She's so close to walking. It's exciting.

Hubby bought a drone that arrived today; he and C had fun flying it all over the backyard. H worked and then met up with friends, so we didn't see him much.

R had her friend Em over to play and we had a nice quick chat with her dad when he came to retrieve her. With the pandemic happening, any little chat with anyone outside our family or co-workers is quite nice. Before this, I took having those random conversations for granted. I even tried to avoid it sometimes.

I went to bed before 10:00, exhausted. What a great day.

L's Birthday

We love our L!! We're so glad she's part of our family.

After work, I made The Cake (for the uninitiated: a devil's food cake frosted with chocolate sour cream frosting) for L's birthday. Rather than the usual two round or heart-shaped layers, I used B and L's pans and made three layers. I'm no cake decorator but they turned out pretty cute:

Cake was eaten, gifts were given, a good time was had by all.

Out Back

Me in my happy hammock

Work went well today. I worked in shipping before lunch and sewed after lunch - perfect. I won't have to work in shipping tomorrow as originally planned. Also, I have been formally given a full-time 30 hour position, which means I now get paid for vacations and holidays. I am a super happy girl.

Now that Chad and Wednesday, kitty brothers extraordinaire, are chipped and neutered, we've been letting them go in the backyard. They're too stupid to stay in our front yard if we let them out front, but for now the backyard fence is keeping them contained. They love being outside. Goober loves being with them and chasing them, which they tolerate for a while and then run and hide under the deck.

Our next pet-related item of business is to get Catness back upstairs, and used to the dog, and her two kitty brothers that she knows nothing about, because she's lived downstairs ever since Goober came home. She's very fat now and could also use the outside time (rather like me, wink).

I was joined by these chiller-outers:

So much coziness.

A crappy day. But...

Tonight I made burritos for dinner and decided to sew while Hubby and R were at soccer. I braved the basement and brought my sewing machine upstairs and dusted it off and plugged it in and turned it on.... and it started running by itself. Yikes!

So I looked up this particular problem online and learned that it's a foot control cord issue, so I found a replacement on a website and ordered it. It'll be here next week. There goes my evening of sewing, but at least I'm that much ahead for next time. I might cut some quilt pieces or cross stitch. 

Piano: Today I picked out "Desperado" by ear and got it down pretty well. (Key of G major.)

It's B & L's last night of their big camping trip. A couple of B's old coworkers came and joined them and camped the last two nights. Here's Baby R playing with their three-year-old daughter, Lacey:

🍒

Cooling Off

After a nasty hot day in The Sweatshop (socially it was a fun day, physically it was gross and sweaty), we ran up to Lewisville Park in search of relief. 

Some other people had the same idea:

But oh that water was cold and lovely. I couldn't go in past my belly button. The girls swam and Hubby and I mostly waded.

Yay for not being hot anymore! We bought dinner and drove home to find C at home with his two old friends, Noah and Titus. 

Meanwhile, B & L and Baby R are enjoying some chill time too:

Sunny Sewing

Life is good here in the window. I sewed ends on bonnet strings all day.

After work, we found some cozy shade:

Father's Day

Where we stayed:

We ate breakfast at Pig N Pancake, packed up the car, and headed to the beach one last time. What a gorgeous day:

Sing along with me now: "Summertiiiiiiime.... and the traffic is crappy"

After arriving home and unloading our stuff from the car, we had the misfortune of having Chad the cat escape the house and run straight for the next door neighbor's backyard. And it had to be THOSE neighbors. I tried to coax him away but he and a gray neighborhood cat were growling and snarling at each other and there was no persuading him to leave.

Eventually, neighbor lady came outside and tried to help the situation by hosing down both cats. I was trying to avoid talking to her and her husband, but I also needed to grab him and get him home.  Ultimately she noticed me and invited me to come in and grab him if I could. Her husband joined her. They were both very pleasant but I don't trust them after the whole unpleasantness that happened prior to this.

At any rate, I'm glad they were nice about it. And Chad is grounded.