Security Device on Charger

 Good morning,

We just got a new dog bed with the intention of putting it in our bedroom for Erik since he is having problems getting up on our bed now.  He's 12 years old and feeling his age.

Well, the new bed never got past the living room and it was Wendy who commandeered it.  The three "kids" all seem to work these things out among themselves.  We do have a comfy bed for Erik upstairs in the sitting room so he has a place to bed down near us at night. 

 I wouldn't wake Wendy up and move her for anything.  You know what they say about "sleeping dogs...."

:),

Lois

The New Dog Treat

 Good morning,

Our seven year old Wendy (she's the lovely lady in the blog header) is having some skin issues.  Her diet is the same as the other dogs so the vet thinks it has to do with an allergy.  We've decided to omit wheat first to try to isolate the problem so the first thing to go is the traditional dog cookie.  

Labrador Retrievers will work for food - big time!  Our pups get treats liberally for doing the things we ask them to do throughout the day and during training. 

The pups like veggies, especially carrots so we are giving these in place of the dog treats we had been giving them.

 So, yesterday morning I rinsed the contents of a bag of baby carrots,

 Kjell and I each cut piles of them them into pieces,

and made them available to use in place of the classic Mother Hubbard cookies they had been getting.

It was very interesting that all of the pups are just as happy to get a small piece of carrot as they were to get the traditional cookies.  Hmmm.  I should have started this sooner!

Happy Friday!

Lois

The Healing Therapy of Crochet

 Good morning,

Yesterday I had surgery for two dental implants.  This time it was different than previous implants because the new doc (previous doc retired) prescribed a medication for me to take before I arrived at the office so that I would be "groggy" by the time I got there.  Of course, My Honey drove me to the appointment and brought me home. I was given other medications after I arrived at the doctor's office.

 After we came home and I had a nap, I found comfort with the relaxing rhythm of crochet for the rest of the afternoon as the various medications wore off.  Yes, I'm still quite sore, but sure am glad the surgery is behind me!

That medication that I took in the car on the way certainly did its job for the surgery, but I don't understand why anyone would take any of that stuff for fun. 

All the best,

Lois

Flowering Weeds

 

 Good morning,

Sometimes looking closely we find beauty where others see weeds.

 These pretty lavender/blue flowers are blooming at the base of a tree in our front yard.  I snapped the pictures in bright sunlight with my phone camera.

Happy Summer!

Lois

Summer Salad

 Good morning,

We've gotten into this salad thing this summer.  It's so easy and even fun to make these.  I cut up some lettuce, add a little dressing and toss it.  Then I add whatever I find as toppers and we feast. Prep time is no more than ten minutes.  Every time it's a little different, but always delicious.

What's your favorite quick summer meal?

Lois

Family Reunion at Dock Diving Event

 Good morning,

Yesterday, on the last day of the three-day dock diving event, we had a family reunion!

In the center of the image above is our Elsa, on the right is her Mom, Hannah.  And, that cute little lady on the left is Ember, Elsa's niece/Hannah's granddaughter.

What a darling family picture!  The image is courtesy of our daughter, Catherine.

:),

Lois

Two New Dock Diving Titles!

 Good morning,

Wendy and Elsa are competing in dock diving this weekend!  Catherine, their trainer/our daughter, is doing a fabulous job with our canine athletes!

Wendy has earned Dock Senior Excellent 2. 

Our baby Elsa has earned Dock Senior Advanced.

In this image you can see the lake where the competition is held.  I just love Catherine's shirt with the cannon ball jumping Labrador.

The ribbons they earned are beautiful!  We are running out of room to display all of the ribbons, awards, and titles they have won.  Perhaps we need a bigger house!

Congratulations to Catherine, Wendy, and Elsa!  They certainly love doing this!

All the best,

Very Proud Mom

Understanding Engineers

 Good morning,

A friend posted this on FaceBook.  I got such a kick out of it that I copied it to share here.

We need comic relief sometimes, don't we!

:),

Lois

WIP This Week

 Good morning,

There are flowers "growing" in a box next to my recliner in the living room.  

This is the beginning of a large afghan blanket.  The colors are so very pretty and offer so many opportunities for colors to blend with the "flowers."  At the moment and unless I change my mind before I get 80 of these finished, I'll be using white, lavender, and pink for the next three rounds. 

 What are you making, baking, growing this week?

All the best,

Lois

Number One Son

 Good morning,

Our Number One Son and family were in town this week and were kind enough to take us out to dinner at Izzy's.  We remember the original Izzy's in downtown Cincinnati more than 50 years ago.  We're delighted the restaurant not only still exists, but the food is just as good or better than it ever was.

It was wonderful to see our son and family!  This was the first time since before Covid so getting together was long overdue.

Happy Summer everyone!

Lois

 

Pork Loin

 Good morning,

I recently made a pork loin in the oven.  The two parts in the package fit nicely into a flat corning ware dish that I lined with aluminum and folded tightly over the loin to bake at 350 F for two hours.

It seems every time I make this, it's a little different.  This time it was dry onion soup, mustard, apple sauce, and fresh very locally grown rosemary.  I often use honey in place of the apple sauce.  It's just whatever I have available at the time.

 The locally grown rosemary couldn't have been fresher.  I cut this from our half barrel herb garden on our patio.

I cut a little more than I needed to bake the pork and to decorate the plate for serving.  What I didn't use for the food I cut up and tossed on the carpet, then swept it into the sweeper.  It's amazing how much better the vacuum sweeper smells with a little fresh herbs.  Lavender does the trick, too.  :)

Enjoy!

Lois

African Violets Continue to Please

 Good morning,

These African Violets are so very happy this summer!  They live near the French Doors at the front of our dining room where they get indirect light.  The flowers at the bottom left of the image are new this year.  The solid purple have been here for about six years, and the purple/white have been here about two years.  

I would love to have more room for these so I could expand my variety of colors.  Of course, I would cover the entire house with flowers if I had enough sun for them!  

Happy Summer!

Lois

Summer Food - Ribs and Salad

 Good morning,

I made baby back ribs in the oven since it was raining the day I had thawed them out to prepare.  I think I like them just as much or even better than preparing them outside.  That's Stubb's BBQ sauce.  Oh, yum!

 We paired the ribs with a simple salad for a perfect summer meal.

What's your favorite summer meal?

All the best,

 Lois

July Fireworks Flower

 Good morning,

Our bright orange Day Lilies always bloom in July just in time to be our garden fireworks.

These came with the house 42 years ago.  I've moved some around the property so they pop up just about everywhere now.

Enjoy!

Lois

The Fountain Arrived

 Good morning,

The little solar powered fountain for our fish pond arrived and is now in service.

 This little thing is just darling!  Thank you, Catherine, for finding it and ordering it!

We have also ordered a light and a larger fountain for the pond.  They are all solar powered which is great!  We have electricity out to the pond and use it for the heater in the winter, but it's good to use solar powered devices when possible.

Happy Summer!

Lois

Lab Assistants on Standby

 Good morning,

Our Three Lab Assistants appear to be taking a break, but they are always on standby. That's Elsa in the image above.

 Erik is doing a good job of appearing disinterested, but should I get up and move toward the kitchen, bathroom, basement, outside, he'll be at my side. He won't care where we are going, he just wants to go along.

 Wendy is in the line-up of assistants, too.  

Our assistants often provide more assistance than we need, but we wouldn't have it any other way.

;),

 Lois

My Honey's Smoked Salmon

 Good morning,

My Honey is the Master Chef here when it comes to smoking meat and fish.

 One of the wonderful things about smoking salmon is that it doesn't take long at all.  This one was about one and a half hours to be finished perfectly.

 We enjoyed the salmon with my special baked beans and potato salad.  

Yum!

:),

Lois

Relaxing on the Patio with Ginger Beer

 Good morning,

We really like this stuff from Down Under!  It's non-alcoholic and delicious.

I guess the best description is that it is a glorified Ginger Ale, which is perfect for us.  Catherine picks it up for us at Costco.  Thanks, Catherine!

What's your favorite summer drink?

:),

Lois

Pink Hibiscus

 Good morning,

This is our first Pink Hibiscus of the season.  This one is near our firewood log rack in the back yard.

So pretty!

Enjoy,

Lois

Spring Cleaning for the Fishies

 

 Good morning,

Catherine, our daughter, has been so very helpful with our gold fish pond.  For nearly 40 years I cleaned the pond each Spring and Fall.  My back doesn't cooperate any more so our very sweet daughter has volunteered to do it.  

There was a whole lot of "stuff" on the bottom of the pond that she scooped out, making sure she didn't lose any fish with each scoop.  Our ten fish spent 24 hours in these containers while their new, clean water de-chlorinated. 

The fish pond is self sustaining with plenty of food for these fish to grow big and fat.  They were tiny "feeder fish" when Catherine purchased them a few years ago.

 Twenty four hours after refilling, we returned the fish to the pond where they are very, very happy - they told us so, you know.

Here's how the pond looked "before cleaning." The fish do best with some debris in the pond so they have places to hide and shade from the sun.  The green object you see on the left side of the image above is a solar powered aerator.  We've had this one for a few years and some solar cells seem to be damaged so will replace it this year.

Catherine ordered a small solar powered fountain for the pond, too.  Stay tuned and I'll get some images of the fountain and other new additions to our favorite little back yard attraction.

Thank you, Catherine!  The pond is so much fun for all of us!

Love you,

Mom

Las Vegas

 Good morning,

Catherine (our daughter) went to Las Vegas with a friend and look what we got!  

T-Shirts!

;),

Lois

Kjell's Amazing Hawk Images

 Good morning,

Kjell has been enjoying the beautiful weather this Spring and Summer.  He has been sitting on our patio recording the wild life we enjoy right here in the heart of the city.  

Be sure to scroll through all of these amazing hawk images.  This series was taken all at one time, but the hawk returned several times during the week for additional photo shoots.

 

We have lived in our home for 42 years so have seen many changes in the types of wildlife.  In the past eight to ten years we have seen the lizards, deer, and coyotes arrive.  The hawks have been here most of the time, but aren't always so available for photo opportunities.  We still see ground hogs, possums, porcupines, and skunks.  There are fewer rabbits and feral cats have all but disappeared since the coyotes and hawks have established a solid presence here.

Kjell's images are amazing!

Enjoy,

Lois

Needlework and Wood Working Update - July, 2021

 Good morning and welcome to this month's Needlework and Wood Working Update for July, 2021, where we collect the images of all of the items we have completed this month.

Above is a Celtic Knot inlay pen that My Honey made for me.  Fabulous!  I love his turned wood pens. The balance is perfect for my hand and the smooth wood is warm to the touch.  We have other pens in the shop here from $53.

 I've posted pictures of this as it was made and built in our back yard by the garage.  My Honey built it for me so that I could have flowers in containers since my back has told me to stop crawling around on the ground to work in the garden.   This plant stand won't be available in the shop.  I can't imaging trying to ship it. 

We had orders for seven of these Pet Kennel Tags this month.  Since they are personalized, I'm showing a picture of one made for one of our dogs.  $12 each.  More information and images here.

 This was another month for Afghan Blankets, too.  This Shades of Teal and Purple Blanket was a joy to make.  $80.  Ready to ship.  More information and images here.

This generous size afghan blanket features close stitches in a textured design which provides for a very warm fabric. $110.  More images and information here.

This large Lavender Green and Cream Baby Blanket features a matching hat with flower (not shown in image above).  Set $50.  More information and images here.

This Lady Bug Baby Sweater Set and Toy are back in the shop this month.  I made one last month that sold quickly, so here's another.  These sets are so darling for a photo op and every other event.  $60.  Info here.

This Nordic Intarsia Knit Hat is made of very soft Alpaca Wool Blend Yarn.  It is so wonderful to touch and wear.  $40.  More info here.

This 20-22" Cloche Hat is a lovely delicate lavender color.  $8 and available here.  There are more than 40 similar hats available in a variety of colors, designs, and sizes here.

Come see what else we've made here:  EvensensProductions.com

So, that's it for this month!  We sincerely appreciate your encouragement, likes, shares, favorites, and purchases, too!

All the very best,

Lois