Seriously?

I found this in my drafts - a post I wrote in August and then never finished. It still made me laugh, and shake my head in disbelief, so I decided to publish it now for your entertainment. And maybe you can tell me where I can move that I won't have to deal with fleas.

(Assistant on the phone behind our examining room.)

Okay, that's a tape worm you saw. We can give you something for her.

.....

No, they're not transmitted between pets. They get them from fleas.

.....

Well, fleas are very, very small. If you look around the base of her tail, you'll see little black specks. Those are fleas.

At this point, I pick my jaw up off the floor at the idea someone doesn't know what fleas look like and leave the room with the tech for a different test. I am gone for two or three full minutes, and when I get back she is suggesting he bring the dog in the next morning and she'll show him what a flea looks like.

(Assistant to the Tech who has gone back)

He's going to bring her in tomorrow, so we can give him dewormer and show him what a flea looks like.

He really didn't know what a flea looks like?

No, he said that he saw them when he went to the dog park; that they were flying around there.

Um, yeah. If its flying around, its not a flea.

I'm still thinking about it, and trying to figure out how it is that a dog owner doesn't know what fleas look like. He can't be from Florida. Are there really places where you own animals and can't identify a flea?

Odds and Ends

My Ribby Sweater is finished and fits over my head. Its been finished for months, actually. It was ready in time to take to Bulgaria, and it got alot of wear there. Just not when anyone was taking photos of me, apparently. Now that we're getting cooler weather here, at least in fits and spurts, its starting to get wear here. I still don't have a good photo of it, but since you can see its a sweater and I'm wearing it I'm posting it.



I've started a Christmas gift quilt (for a family member, none of whom read my blog or even remember I have it) that is way outside my comfort zone. Its super simplistic and modern, stretch number one. And it involves curved piecing, stretch number two. Each half circle block (half circle, not the whole circle) takes me close to an hour. Whew. Thankfully, I'm only planning on four circles. The rest of the quilt is just a big block of the gold. I think I'm going to like it, and I know I'm going to be proud of it. (And its exactly the recipients style, so I know she'll love it.)

I'm considering seeking out a machine quilter for this one. I've never done that before. But, I'm going to feel rushed by the fact that I really want to give it for Christmas, and my quilting skills aren't all that great to start with. With the big expanse of solid gold to fill in, I think my stitches will really show and I'm not sure I can live up to that. I haven't decided, though. The opportunity to do some fun quilting in that big expanse of gold is also pretty hard to pass up.

How to Shorten Your Doggy Life Span

Its a good thing she's cute, because the little dog is doing nothing to help my efforts to get more sleep. Mostly its been small things, like waking me up to help her get back under her blanket, but the other night she took it to an entirely new level.

She sleeps on a large pillow with a fuzzy blanket to curl up in. I always put her pillow on the floor right below me (see above for tendency to wake me up to help with her blanket). Apparently, she woke up the other night and wandered around doing whatever it is she does in the middle of the night. I half registered the clicking of her little nails on the floor, but I was most definitely asleep. Until, that is, she tried to return to her pillow. All of a sudden she was snarling and squealing, the frightened snarl she gives when she is in danger or really upset with Lily. I woke up with a rush of adrenaline, and Alex immediately flipped on our bed light. Had an animal gotten in to the house? Was she hurt? No, she was running away from her pillow, and then she stopped and looked around, confused.

There was nothing and noone there. Nothing. She had scared herself. I'm guessing she touched her furry blanket (the one she sleeps under every. single. night.) and thought someone was in her bed. After a little reassurance from us, she settled down and went right to sleep. I, on the other hand, was awake for an hour as I waited for the adrenaline rush to subside. It was 12:45 in the morning.

It's a good thing she's cute.

Venturing in to a New World

My low battery light has been blinking for weeks. I don't know where the energy sucks is, but its sure draining out of me at an alarming rate. The fatigue was the final push I needed, though, to venture in to the world of eastern medicine. Several people whose opinions I trust have urged me to try acupuncture. This week I finally did. Diagnosis: I have a kidney/liver imbalance, which has nothing to do with my actual kidneys and liver but is instead a water/wood imbalance. Yeah, I don't understand it either. I just told myself this is a completely different framework for understanding the world and you should just go with it.

I didn't know what to expect, but when the doctor had me feel the needle I was startled. It was thin and flexible, and felt more a hairbrush bristle than any needle I've ever touched. She inserted them at strategic points (the rhyme and reason to which I couldn't discern, but pretty much correlating to the spots the massage therapist always focuses on) with a little tapping motion. They just barely broke the skin and didn't hurt at all, with the notable exception of one spot on my hand she warned me would sting. Frankly I prick myself with needles and pins much harder than that on a regular basis. I didn't realize she'd leave them in so long, but soft music was playing and it was a nice excuse to lay still and just let my mind wander. I wasn't at all uncomfortable, so it was almost a nap.

About half way through, she also used cupping on my right leg, where I have the most inflammation in my muscle. I'm sure there was another explanation for what was happening there in eastern medicine, probably blocked qi or something similar. Again, I'm acknowledging this is a framework I don't share and just going with it. But, I can tell you that western medicine says that's exactly where I have alot of inflammation. It was just gentle sucking pressure.

I can't say that I feel dramatically different now, but then again one treatment is rarely enough to change anything significantly. I do notice that today, when we're having a huge weather change, my leg barely hurts at all and most of my aches are in my shoulders and spine. (She focused on my leg, because that was my primary complaint when I went in. That and the blasted fatigue, which is definitely not better yet.) All in all, not a big deal and worth a try.

Though, I was a little weirded out when she used a needle right between my eyes.

A Lark

This is the project on my design wall this weekend. The design wall I created specifically to be able to do this project.* I've always had a well-defined plan before starting a quilt. Not necessarily a pattern, but always a clear plan where I've done some math and drawn out a sketch. But this week I launched in to a completely improvisational quilt. It started with the large bird in the middle and one of the rail fence sparrows. Then I hung them up on the wall for awhile before deciding to make three more sparrows. That hung overnight, and I'd stop by the sewing room just to look at them hanging on the wall and to occassionally audition ideas for what became the floral pieces this morning. I've never worked on a quilt like this before, and I'm loving it. I find my cutting and piecing is actually significantly more precise, because I'm working in smaller steps. (And I definitely don't miss cutting 125 squares at a time.) And its fun watching the quilt unfold naturally. I don't even know what size its going to be, and its already one of my favorites.** Now I'm contemplating what's next. A 1" brown frame? The bird sillhouettes down the sides? 3" blocks of both or maybe even other fabrics as well?


*By "design wall" I mean a craft size package of batting hung on the wall beside my sewing machine with push pins.
** I'll admit I'm hoping for a lap quilt I can keep on the couch, and not a baby quilt I'll be giving away. But, I honestly don't know yet which it will be and since I'm the one designing that is wild. Follow the fabric...

Items of Interest, at least to me

Things about Rousse, Bulgaria that will probably surprise or interest you:

• Living spaces are small. Appliances are small. Personal space is small. Europe is small. You can get to Vienna from here, by bus, in well under a day. If the cafe is out of tables, someone will ask to share yours. (At least my experience is they will ask; in the german airport they just sit down in your empty chairs.)
• Showers are not in a separate space, but are in the middle of the bathroom and the drain in the middle of the floor. I have never seen a bath tub. The toilet may also be in this room, or it may be in a separate room. (I much prefer the latter, so I don't have to figure out how to shower without getting the toilet paper wet.)
• If you use a public restroom, there is the possibility that you will need to pay and/or squat.
• When you visit someone, you will sit at the table and you will be offered food as well as drink. You should accept, because if you don't they will just assume they haven't found the right thing to offer you yet.
• You will probably spend the evening drinking, discussing politics and swapping jokes. You will be asked for American jokes; I suggest you do some research because you won't remember any on the spot.
• If you ask, there's a good chance that any cafe or restaurant will have a menu in English and the server may very well speak some English.
• The waiter or waitress, however, will probably be intimidating. Its less scary to go in to a small store than to try and order coffee at a cafe. They also expect to be largely ignored by the customer, and if you ask their name or initiate any conversation it will be a surprise. For some it is a pleasant surprise.
• Regular coffee here means espresso. They will probably have nescafe and might have cappuccino. They will not have drip coffee. I don't know that they even know what a latte is.
• Pizza will probably have corn on it. And maybe an egg.
• Bulgarians are still pissed off about the time they spent under the rule of the Ottoman Empire, which they call the Ottoman Yoke, and they build monuments to the revolutionaries and soldiers that helped free them.
• This is because it lasted 500 years - this is more than twice as long as our country has existed.
• They do not consider themselves in any way, shape or form, Turkish or related to the Turks. And muslims are very much a minority. 500 years or no.
• Many gypsys live in Bulgaria and always have. They are not considered romantic or exotic, and though their music has had significant influence many Bulgarians still have mixed feelings about it.
• This is very much a cash economy. Most stores don't have cash registers. The person in charge of taking the money simply has a purse or wallet from which they make change and where they keep the money.
• I can not figure out if we pay tax on anything other than electronics, and it seems to be factored in to the price advertised. Maybe. I'm still a little confused on this issue.
• Family is huge and sprawling. Your parent's cousin is your uncle, and your cousin's child your nephew. There is a term to define the relationship between you and your child's mother-in-law. It is very common to call someone by their title (wife, brother) when addressing them or talking about them. I wonder if this is because names are recycled so much within families.
• There are parks absolutely everywhere and the children run free in them until 10 or 11 at night. Most restaurants have a play area for the children, and it is expected they will be running and playing. After age 5 or so, parents only expect them to check in every half hour or so and older children much less often than that. However, any older person feels free to correct a child that is not behaving properly.
• The soil is amazingly rich. Flowers, vegetables and grape vines are grown all around the base of apartment buildings.
• Stray dogs and cats roam the city and are routinely fed at restaurants. They are immunized, spayed/neutered and released by the city unless they become aggressive. They are not aggressive and I have not seen any animal waste in a public space. Pet dogs are kept on leashes at all times.

Well, crud

The Ribby Pulli sweater has been washed and blocked for awhile, but what with the 90 degree heat I haven't been ready to try it on. Today, as I finally started pulling clothes to pack for Bulgaria, I decided to try it on before putting it in the suitcase. It does not fit over my head. No, its not a bit snug or uncomfortable. No, getting it wet and stretching doesn't help. It's not close. It. Does. Not. Fit.

*Sigh*

So, I'm spending my football knitting time today ripping out the funnel neck, picking up stitches - more of them and with a larger needle size - and trying again. I guess that answers the question of what knitting I want to put in my carry on.