Knit and the City

Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

Holy Cow!  It's been a month!

My time has been sucked up by my new obsession.

That's right.  I bought me a smoker!  I had been debating between a charcoal one and an electric one.  When I found this at Cabela's for $120.00 my decision was made!  This thing is awesome and now I think I'd like to add BBQ Pitmaster to my resume!

So far I have made pulled pork, chicken, baby back ribs, beef ribs (2x, first time fail but ended up being an awesome chili), snapper and today it'll be salmon.  I went out and bought 6 different types of wood chips to use.  So far, my favourite is whiskey oak.  Imagine that!

Chicken ends up delicious.  Here's some that got glazed in some of my BBQ sauce for the last couple hours of cooking.

I can't tell you how excited I am to drag this thing out on the weekends! 

 

There has been some knitting.

This is a GAP-tastic cowl I made for myself.  Yarn used is Bernat Mosaic.  I love the colours.

I also completed another Wingspan.  I have a third one on the needles now.  It's a great pattern.

Lastly, I've been debating about cutting my hair short again.  This is the longest I've had my hair since I was about 6 years old.  I usually wear it down for a day or two and then end up pulling it back or up for the rest of the week.  Booooorrriiiiing.  Last week when I was getting a mani-pedi, Susan, one of the estheticians, was showing off her new curling iron and had a go at my hair.  Loved it!  Now I've curled my hair at least 3 times since then!  Even though it takes at least an hour!

What do you think?

I know I don't look it but I really like it!

Happy Birthday Ella!!!!

You'd think after 14 years she'd get over her camera shyness! 

If we go by the standard 1 dog year equals 7 human years it would mean she's 96!  But actually the calculation is 10.5 for the first 2 years then 4 years per year after that.  So that makes her about 69 in people years.  She's hanging in there!

June 2000 I was introduced to my baby girl.  She's been a love ever since!  She is such a silly, goofy, klutzy dog and we love every inch of her!  Happy Birthday Ellafanella!

 

In other news, Sarah has pulled through her surgery and is on the mend!  Her heart was solid throughout the day long dental procedure.  As you can see, there ain't many teeth left!

The vet showed me the teeth he removed (I quickly counted about 20) and they were disgusting.  Above the gumline they looked okay but below to the roots they were black and rotted.  The infection perforated her jaw in a couple spots.  No wonder she's been out of sorts!

We brought her home like this:

She was feeling nauseaous and very unsteady.  We got her tucked in and she rested well most of the night.

The next day she looked like this:

She's up and about.  Still a little unstable and looking like a bee bit her!  Even so, you can tell she's feeling better.  She seems to have a little more spark.  I can only imagine how the infection was making her feel.  I'm sure now that's what caused her heart condition as well as her kidney failure.  Oh, didn't I mention her failing kidneys before?  The good news is that the Fortekor they put her on for her heart is working great and the side effect is that it reduces the urea and creantinine output by her kidneys.  Win-win as her urea and creatinine are high thus slowing down the rate of failure.

I hugged my vet after we loaded her up for transport home.  He was so happy that it went well.

Check up next week!

Old Dog Update

Old Sarah headed back to the vet today for a check up.  The meds she's on to lower her blood pressure seem to be doing their job well.  Her heart rate is down and beating with a much more regular beat.  The vet has scheduled her for a dental even though she is a higher risk with her heart issues.  He feels that her teeth might be the cause of her poor overall health.  I trust his judgement and expertise.  So 3 weeks from now we will have a very long day of worrying and hopefully a happier, healthier dog at the end of it.

Happy Birthday Sarah!

Today is Sarah's 13th birthday!

I cannot believe it's been a little less than 11 years since she came home with us.  She has been a wonderful, loving, obedient, perfect pet.  I wish she could be with us forever but I know that's not possible.  We are taking extra special care of her now, which I'm not sure how that's any different than before.  We love every moment with our Poopinarah!

No Rest for Old Pets

Having a houseful of elderly pets can be a challenge.  Old Ellers has made a remarkable recovery and is puttering around like her old self.  Occassionally she gets frisky and that usually ends up in a spectacular sliding Bambi type crash to the floor.  Thank goodness, no injuries yet.  Just very happy she's feeling better.

Now our Sarah is having troubles.  She's a year younger than Ella.  Just turning 13.  She's just been punky for a while.  Mopey, coat dull, having some issues getting up the stairs, poor balance, bad teeth, just out of sorts.  We took her to the vet and in addition to a geriatric blood panel they decided to put her on some antibiotics for her teeth and to prepare her for a dental cleaning and extractions.  They took x-rays of the rest of her and everything looked good.  We set an appointment for 2 weeks later to follow up for the dental.

Two weeks later she's back getting checked up and her heart rate is up to 160 and arrythmic.  Her blood test results are all out of sorts.  Uh, that's not good.  She can't have anaesthesia or her dental work done if her heart is out of sorts.  He asks us to keep her on the antibiotics and to bring her back a week later.

Last week she gets checked over again.  Her heart rate is down and beating more regularly.  He suggests another blood test to determine what's going on with her heart.

Test results back and her results are >3000 pmol/L.  According to the test '>1800 pmol/L (means) The likelihood that clinical signs are due to heart failure is high.'

He's put her on Fortekor to reduce her blood pressure and says she will have to stay on it for the rest of her life.  According to a little internet research that's, at most, a year.  Six months or less is more likely.  It's depressing.

Back to the vet next week for a follow up that the Fortekor is working and not damaging any other organs.

Will keep you updated.

Fly Me to The Moon

The secret is out!  Wingspan has flown the coop!

There it is wrapped around it's new owner!  I knit it up as part of Terri's Christmas present.  That she received in February...I am so terrible at timing.  This year, I'm blaming the Mrs. CB!

F.O.'s Forgotten to Share

I was taking pics of my recent F.O.'s and realized I had a couple I forgot to share. So check out the photo album!

In other news, we have a new addition to the pack.

Meet Ruby!  She's not really ours, we're just taking care of her for a while.  Ruby is my mom's dog and we're looking after her while my mom gets some of her health issues resolved.

It's very different having a young one in the house.  She gotten much better at not knocking old Ella down or stepping all over Sarah when she's laying down.  She's incredibly smart.  I bet I could teach this dog to stand on it's head!  We're working on 'smile' where she bears her teeth on command.  Right now she only does it when you come home and she's happy to see you or when there's dinner happening.  If you didn't know Ruby it would scare the pants off you but we find it pretty cute.  It only looks like she's going to rip your throat out!

 

 

Mrs. Mom's CB Camp Jacket

Finally finished!  Very happy with the way it turned out even if it's a little on the large size.  I did felt it slightly yesterday.  Just enough to shrink it a little bit but not so much as to lose all the stitch definition.

BFF

I was lucky to receive a lovely Rae scarf for Christmas.  Handknit by the bestest friend EVAR!

Three Little Lumberjacks

Such fun to knit up!  'Lumberjack' by Faye Kennington.