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.