You will never find time for anything. If you want the time, you must make it. ~ Charles Buxton
:: tap tap ::
Is this thing on?
It’s been quite some time since I posted so (of course) I have a ton of pictures.
I lost my knitting mojo for several weeks, but recently found it and started knitting again. I’ve been working on two projects.
Socks:
Scarf (started last winter):
Besides knitting and dogs, one of my passions in life is classic movies. TCM (Turner Classic Movies) recently had a traveling exhibit of movie memorabilia and it stopped in a nearby city.
This Oscar was awarded to Casablanca:
This costume was worn by Rudolph Valentino in The Sheik. The detail on this costume was amazing. The colors were still vibrant. It’s hard to believe this costume was used in 1921. It looks brand new.
This costume was worn by Christopher Plummer in The Sound Of Music. My only complaint about the exhibit is that the lighting was awful. It was impossible for me to get a good photograph of this costume. In person the dark colors of this costume ware still rich and the details are striking.
This dress was worn by Vivien Leigh in Gone With The Wind. In the movie this dress was a vibrant blue/grey. It has definitely faded a bit and has some noticeable damage (stains and repaired rips/holes), but it’s gorgeous. The detail on the dress is stunning. The most surprising thing about the dress is that it’s corduroy! I had no idea.
I was driving home from work one day and spotted this:
It turned out to be a salvage yard fire.
I had never been this close to such a big fire and it was amazing to watch.
No one was injured and no occupied structures were destroyed.
It’s been a ridiculously mild fall here. We usually start getting snowstorms in October. It’s now December 12 and we haven’t had one snowstorm. It hasn’t even really snowed yet and it’s been quite warm. We even had a streak of 80 degree days in November. The dogs and I took advantage of that heatwave to hike our favorite spot.
There are not many picture from that hiking trip. This is because a couple of miles into the hike I fell and twisted the hell out of my ankle. I’ve had a lot of ankle sprains in my life (I am a bit of a klutz) but this is the worst one (by far). I couldn’t walk the dogs at all for two weeks.
It’s now five weeks after The Fall. Recovery has been steady, but slow. I’m able to walk the dogs 4-5 days a week and for 40 minutes each time. (We usually walk 7 days a week for 60-90 minutes.) I’m not able to walk on uneven surfaces (only paved roads) so we haven’t even been able to go to the dog park. I’m hoping to be back at the dog park by the end of this month and back to hiking sometime next spring.
Since my walking is limited I’ve been amusing myself by taking pictures of the dogs. Sadie is absolutely adorable when she sleeps.
Luka hasn’t been left out of the picture taking:
Luka loves sleeping in his crate even when the dog bed isn’t in it (it was being washed):
My boy is very photogenic.
Finally, if you love dogs, go here and enjoy a laugh along with Tank (although I’m not sure she’s laughing). For her sake, I hope this winter is a short one. 
Follow your inner moonlight; don’t hide the madness. ~ Allen Ginsberg
My camera is home and the weather this weekend was warm and sunny. The dogs and I headed out for an adventure.
The leaves are changing
and the views were (as always) gorgeous.
We hiked through the trees.
Across the fields.
Up into the foothills.
And then we reached the highest point where we overlooked the plains.
This high point was also our destination.
The reservoir!
I once again tossed some dog treats in the water for the dogs to retrieve.
I also shot a video of Sadie swimming for treats. You can see it here
Sadie knew that the dog treats were in the backpack and took it upon herself to guard that backpack.
I love watching the dogs play in the water.
Once the dogs started getting tired I was able to snap a couple of good portraits of them.
It was a wonderful day.
I’ve talked before about how Luka loves to burrow and sleep behind my furniture. Because of this, I’ve suspected that Luka would like a crate. Since a Luka-sized crate is not in my budget I’ve been looking for one on Craigslist.
A couple of weekends ago I was driving home when I passed a yard sale. There was a huge crate sitting in this person’s driveway so I pulled a quick U-turn, counted the contents of my wallet ($30) and asked them how much they wanted for it. I nearly fell over at the answer: $5. The crate was filthy (it had obviously been used outside) but I stuffed it into my little car and brought it home. An hour outside with the hose and a container of Comet restored it to nearly new condition.
The verdict:
Luka loves it. He spends about half of his time in there now. This is easily the best bargain I’ve ever scored at a yard sale.
The crate is huge and took the last bit of floor space I had left in my tiny living room. The top of the crate is also a wonderful end table.
The other morning I finished my breakfast, put the bowl beside me and told the dogs they couldn’t touch it. Luka sat like this for about 10 minutes before I caved and let him lick the bowl. How could I resist?
Life is too deep for words, so don’t try to describe it, just live it. ~ C.S. Lewis
Summer is hanging on here in Colorado. When the dogs and I set out for our weekend adventure it was around 80 degrees and the sun was shining brightly. It was a perfect day for exploring. The only downside is that my camera is still in the repair shop so I (again) only had my iPhone for pictures (and video!).
We went back to our new favorite place. There are miles of hiking trails there and we just wandered around and enjoyed the day.
Besides views of the mountains some of the trails also overlook the city and the plains beyond.
Even Luka seemed to enjoy the view.
The highlight, of course, was the reservoir. We went there twice during our wandering and the dogs loved every minute of it.
Luka was very happy to be back in the water.
Sadie swam, too.
Sadie’s swimming, though, doesn’t just happen. I have to throw Milk Bones in the water for her to swim. I videotaped it this time. You can see that here.
I’m hoping to have my camera back soon so I can take some quality pictures of our adventures at this place.
I’ve made a lot of progress on the socks.
Sock wearing season is fast approaching and I can’t wait to wear the new pairs that I’ve knit since last winter.
Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself. ~ George Bernard Shaw
My camera is still in the repair shop so I’ve only had my iPhone for taking pictures. The quality isn’t great, but I have taken some pictures this week.
We had some very hot (in the 90′s) weather last weekend. Luka does not like hot weather. He would stare at me with this face like he was saying ‘please, make it stop’.
Sadie deals with hot weather by letting it all hang out.
We went back to our new favorite spot this weekend. We did more hiking.
But the real fun happened in the water…
…running on the shoreline…
…and playing fetch.
All of that fun means lots of sleeping that night.
And a lot of dog sleeping means knitting time for me.
To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass is more welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug. ~ Helen Keller
I recently discovered a new place to take the dogs on our weekend adventures. It has everything we love.
There are hiking trails through the woods.
There are hiking trails through fields.
Some of the trails are quite wide and allow us to spread out.
Some of the hiking trails have great views.
The trails are well marked.
The hiking trails are wonderful, but the reason we first went to this place (and what keeps us going back) is this:
The dogs finally have a place to swim.
Note that when Luka swims he does not get his tail wet. He holds it up out of the water like a flag or a sail.
When they’re not swimming the dogs enjoy exploring.
They also enjoy tearing along the shoreline like maniacs.
Sadie barks with joy.
Luka sits quietly and does his impression of a drowned rat.
The dogs also take a moment to enjoy the day.
We’ve definitely found a new favorite spot.
This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Finally, I have a finished project.
I’ve been knitting a pair of socks a month in 2010. However, I started these socks on Memorial Day and finished them a couple days ago. It’s been a busy summer and often it’s too hot to knit.
The yarn is Knit Picks Felici and I was happy with it. There were a few places where the yarn was white and a couple more where the color wasn’t saturated, but it’s cheap yarn so that’s okay. My other Knit Picks socks wear very well so I’m tolerant of color issues if the socks don’t fall apart.
More sock details and pictures are here.
I need to pick out yarn for my next pair of socks. I’ve been on a striped yarn kick lately, but I think I might want to break out of that.
I live near a school with a playground. A couple of weeks ago the school fenced in their playground. I was thrilled to see this because I finally have a spot near home where the dogs can run loose (our park is an hour from where we live and my yard is too small for the dogs to really run).
Sadie loves to run (while Luka sniffs every blade of grass).
Luka also likes to run.
Luka also likes to run down the slide (I’ve got to get a better picture of this – it’s hilarious).
Sadie’s favorite part is the soft grass.
I will never use the word “ladylike” to describe my dear Sadie.
I’m so grateful we now have this place so the dogs can run off leash more often than once a week. Running makes them happy. And that makes me happy.
Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you. ~Annie Dillard
I finally had a moment to download the pictures on my camera and my phone. I didn’t realize it while I was taking them but most of the pictures were of Sadie.
Here she is napping in the sunshine.
I snapped many photos of Sadie running and barking at thunder and this is one of my favorites.
A couple of months ago I bought Sadie a swimming pool. For a few weeks she just used it as a giant water bowl. She finally figured out what it is and she loves it.
Sadie loves all water except for water in a bathtub. She’s especially fond of mud puddles. It’s been a rainy summer here and there’s a dirt road on our walking route that has a huge mud puddle. Each time we walk by this puddle Sadie has to take a dip.
First she walks in a circle.
Then she finds the deepest spot in the puddle…
…settles in…
…and enjoys the water.
When she first started doing this I tried to distract her from the puddle because she ends up a muddy mess. I soon gave in because is makes her so darn happy.
We’ve spent some time at our park recently. The dogs enjoyed running through the stream.
And running along the trail.
We were at the park one evening and enjoyed relaxing in the setting sun.
Sadie did a nice job of posing on one of these trips to the park.
Luka thought she was a camera hog so he got in on the action.
I love this picture of Luka.
He’s not looking so photogenic now, though. Shortly after I took the above picture he rolled in horse poop. The only way to remove it was to cut it out. The right side of his mane is now super short so he’s a tad lopsided.
My beautiful environment has also been putting on a show lately.
The sky continues to be a brilliant blue.
The flowers continue to bloom.
One morning last week there was a lenticular cloud over Pikes Peak. I’d never seen one over the Peak before and it looked spectacular.
Finally, we were walking yesterday and a storm moved south of us. The rainbow was gorgeous.
Girls in front of waterfalls
I took this picture on June 4, 2009. Kishka, Sadie and I went hiking and our destination was the waterfalls. As always, I snapped a bunch of pictures.
I was trying to get one of the girls looking at the camera with the waterfalls in the background. I did not succeed. I did capture this shot and I love it.
When I look at this picture I’m transported back to that day: the sun on my face, the sound of the waterfalls and my two best friends at my side. Simply wonderful.
In summer, the song sings itself. ~ William Carlos Williams
I’ve snapped a lot of pictures over the past couple of weeks. Here are my favorites.
The prairie:
I pulled off the road to take this picture. I love how the clouds and plains seem endless. It seems like many people think the prairie is boring, but I think it’s beautiful.
The stream at the park:
It’s been horribly hot here so even when we go to the park in the early morning we spend most of our time in the water. The dogs love to splash and run through it.
Monsoon season is here and that means lots of clouds in the afternoon. Here’s some over the foothills.
The Black Eyed Susans are out in force.
You can also see the flowers in this picture of Luka running up a hill.
It’s been a beastly hot summer here. Luka spends most of his time lying in front of the screen door, waiting for a breeze.
Our afternoon storms don’t always bring rain, but always have thunder and lightning. If it’s thundering we don’t go for our walk. This makes Luka sad.
We’ve made a couple of trips to the park, including a trip after work. (The dogs were SHOCKED. We never go during the week.) I liked how different the light was in the evening.
Summer fun means a lot of naps. Sadie has been perfecting her napping technique.
Knitting progress has been very, very slow. When it’s nearly 100 degrees I can’t bring myself to play with wool. I do hope to finish a pair of socks soon, though.
EDIT: Most of my favorite bloggers are on Blogger. Blogger has decided that I can’t comment on their blogs. Every single time I get an error message. If you’re on Blogger, know that I’m reading, but I can’t say anything. 
Sam and Kish
I took this picture on October 11, 2005.
A strong winter storm plowed through Colorado. After the storm subsided I took the dogs outside to explore the frozen landscape. Samantha and Kishka climbed up on a snowdrift to survey their kingdom.
I snapped the picture but didn’t realize how cool it was until I downloaded it.
I love how the blue sky contrasts with the white snow.
I love how the two dogs are perfectly positioned and looking in the same direction.
Most of all, I love this picture because it reminds me of two very special dogs.
