Dogs on Thursday!

Ok...so I know you're wondering...the official decision is that Frankie is now a part of the Barknknit pack! He's fitting in well. We are starting to crate him because he's been marking the house and so we need to get back to serious potty training. He was doing great that first week but I think he's coming into his own. The 30 days are not up but we have decided that it's been 2 weeks and if the owner has not appeared by now that we are keeping him. He's getting neutered tomorrow and he's officially a pack member. We've started teaching him to sit and teaching him his name. Special K is doing great helping with this. We've also realized that Frankie is not a runner and he can hang out and train off a leash in our front yard.

Jackjack and him have bonded as well. They are too cute together. Jackjack is not affectionate with him but lets Frankie get pretty close and also doesn't mind being licked by him. :) Here is proof. They are just too cute!

Frankie also has figured out that the most comfortable spot in the house is by someone. Here he is bonding with Sharimom while she was here. :) I love this picture with the 3 of them on the couch. And sunday night, we had our friends Phil and Catie over for leftovers and they brought their dog Ginger, who like Abby and Frankie LOVES to play. Jackjack saught refuge with Sharimom and Kenny on the loveseat. He's kind of hard to see because he's so dark but there he is. :)
And since well...this is a knitting blog too. Here is the picture I promised of Sharimom in her monkey socks! They fit PERFECTLY!! I like knitting for her so she should probably expect more knitted items. :) And Sharimom if there is something you would like..just let me know!
Ok..well...I hope you liked the triple posting! Have a great day and don't forget to check out the DOT post this week!

Saturday night concert!!!!! Night Ranger and REO Speedwagon!

Saturday night, Sharimom, Special K, and I headed to the Night Ranger/REO Speedwagon concert at Ruth Eckerd Hall. It was my first time going to a concert there and honestly there is NO bad seat! We sat kind of high up in the middle but we still could see really well!

First up was Night Ranger, and literally the moment Sharimom and I stepped into the hall the lights went off and they started! I didn't know too many of their songs but they rocked! Sharimom knew them all and had a blast!
Last up was REO Speedwagon. I knew a couple more of their songs and they were good but the lead singer was bit too political between songs. They were still good!
I took video of both of them but the Night Ranger video all you could hear was the electric guitar so I figured wasn't worth putting up! But it was of their Sister Christian song.

Here is the video fo REO Speedwagon. You may recognize this song. hehehe

We had a great time at the concert and I'm so glad that Sharimom was here and that we got to all go!

SK's birthday party!

Ok...we are going to triple post today! :) This last week was Special K's birthday weekend. He turned the big 25 on Friday and I threw him a birthday party. His mom also flew in Friday to spend the weekend with us! It was great having her here! I miss her already! So...this weekend was jam packed full of activity...that's why we are triple posting!!

First off was Friday, the birthday party! We had family and Kenny's friends over for pulled pork sandwiches, ribs, and the fixins. Some brought Special K gifts even though he said he didn't' want any but I think he liked all the ones he got!

Special K with his mom Sharimom

Special K and me...

Even though we are Cubs fans, my brother-in-law works for the Rays so SK got a Rays shirt. We root for them when they aren't playing the Cubbies.
Special K getting a golf ball retriever from his buddy Jason. Phil and Catie are in the back.

Special K getting a new fishing pole from his dad and step-mom.

SK saying thank you.

Abby making sure that people were paying attention to her.

My family sitting around chatting away.

Frankie enjoying the attention as well. :) I love this picture of him! That's Catie holding him.

And just so I don't get any comments that Jackjack was neglected. Here he is getting attention as well. :)

The party was fun and it was the first time having my whole family over for dinner. The dogs behaved themselves other than Jackjack wanting to steal napkins, Abby wanting to eat food out of the garbage, and Frankie trying to grab someone's plate. But all those are to be expected and people were watching them.

Kong time. :) Loads of videos!

On my way home yesterday, I stopped to get some more of my favorite dog shampoo which is Tropiclean Papaya! I love how the smell stays for a while and it smells so good! It also makes them really soft. So, while I was there picking up dog shampoo I saw that they had medium dog kongs for only $6.49! It's nice that all the small dog stuff is so much cheaper! I got the Kong because I haven't been giving my big dogs them because it would be unfair and he would try to get theirs. :)

I got the Medium Puppy Kong and it came with a treat so after I let them out to potty, I gave them each their kong because I wanted to see how it would go.

Here's Frankie figuring it out.

and more of him. He's so excited!! And Jackjack finished his too fast and came to see what I was doing. :)

Here's Abby with her Kong. Like the beach towel to help with the water dripping from their mouths as they walk away from the water bowl. :)

And since Jackjack was done and walking around aimlessly searching to steal someone else's Kong. We did some quick training. :) He's so cute!!!

Well, I hoped you liked this post full of videos! I figured I'd leave you with something fun before I disappear for the weekend. I will try to take lots of pictures and hopefully get a podcast and more blogpost up. I was super moody last night and decided it was not a good idea to record a podcast while wanting to cry or scream. It's that time of month and I needed to relax. :)

Today is better and it's Special K's birthday! He turns all of 25 years old. :) His mom flies in at 2:30 today and I'm super excited! We'll pick up an ice cream cake on the way home!

Happy Day! Happy Day!!

DOT, WIP, and more.

Because I love my MIL and really don't want to be ruffed up when she gets here tomorrow. Here is a blog post! I'm very sorry for neglecting my blog. I've been busy at work, knitting a ton, cleaning house, cleaning dogs, and my back has been hurting. My back is finally feeling better and since I've been on the phone all day at work and needed a break...figured I'd post. Also, I have some great pictures! :)

First off...since Frankie has figured out which is the best chair in the house...Jackjack had decided that he would try it out too. As you can see, he agrees and I have officially lost my brown chair that I found at a rummage sale at my church. :) It's ok though...they will get out if I ask nicely.
Also...the two boy pups in my house have started bonding. The first sign was this....

When Frankie first came home, Jackjack would not get in the bed if Frankie was up there. This caused issues since Jackjack LOVES the bed! Well...I think he realized that Frankie isn't going any where and that he would have to get used to it. The next thing I do not have pictures or video YET! When I went home early on Tuesday because of my back, I pretty much laid on the couch with the feet up. Jackjack was on the loveseat and Frankie jumped up there and started licking Jack's face and ears. Jackjack has NEVER let any other dog do this. He usually gets up and walks away or moves away. I have now seen this happen multiple times and ever time I'm shocked! I think it's so cute!!

Abby and Frankie are different. They play contstantly...it's quite ridiculous. If they aren't playing they are sleeping. :) They play outside inside and in any room of the house. They have even tried playing on the bed while I was in it. That did not go over well. :) Frankie is not scared of Abby and even when Abby plays a bit to rough and I have to say something...he goes right back for more. :) This has given poor Jackjack a break and now he can choose when to play instead of being constantly harrassed by Abby. It's kind of ironic because now Abby has a doggie like herself to harrass her. :)

Ok...well....I've been knitting. I completed the socks for the MIL who threatened to ruff me up if I didn't post. :) And she will get them tomorrow when she gets here...as long as I don't get ruffed up. :) I'll take pictures of her in them to share on the blog.

I've also cast on for something for my dad. Since he reads my blog, all he gets to know is that for his birthday he is getting something knit from me. :)

I'm pretty sure he can't tell what it is from that picture! It's coming along nicely and faster than I had anticipated. And yes, I know if he does research he can easily find out what I'm knitting him! :)

I've also started knitting fingerless gloves out of my handspun for my co-workers. Two of the girls at work have birthday's in May along with me so I'm making them fingerless gloves for our freezing work place. :) This is the ones for MK out of the hanspun yarn that I dyed with the Love on it. Here's link to the post I shared pictures of the fiber.
Well...again I'm sorry for the neglect! I promise to get better at posting. I really need to fix my camera so I can get soem better pictures on here. Tomorrow is Special K's 25th birthday and we are having a party at our house and his mom is flying in for the weekend! We are going to have a blast!! We are also going to a REO Speedwagon/Night Ranger concert Saturday night!! His mom coming was supposed to be a surprise but Firefox and gmail messed that up...it's ok because he's had a rough week and has had something awesome to look forward to!!

Hope everyone is having a great DOT and don't forget to go over and check out our contest winners! Also have a good weeekend and I promise to try to post. I'm hoping to get a podcast out tonight because I have a great interview and other fun stuff to talk about!!

Happy Knitting, Spinning, and Dog loving!

Our stray "Frankie"

Well...I guess I should tell my blog readers what's going on. :) I talked about this on yesterday's podcast episode so if you want to hear more details check www.barknknitpodcast.blogspot.com. ;)
So, Friday my sister found three stray dogs hanging out under her truck when they got home from the beach. I called her to check in on my way home and when she told me this I headed over there. We decided to call animal control but there was this one that was just too cute and I couldn't let them take him. I talked to the animal control guy and he said I could keep him and they could take his information and if someone calls about him they will give them my number. After 30 days if the owner does not claim him than we can keep him. Well...to make a long story as short as possible. Kenny was not too happy I brought him home but we are keeping him until monday and then are going to decide whether we want to find him a home or keep him. He's very friendly and seems to be getting along well with our dogs. He is potty trained and only had accidents when I first brought him home.

He's not neutered which I thought would be a big issue with Jackjack but it hasn't been. He seems about 5-6 months old or older. He's 15 lbs and has bassett legs. I have not completely fallen in love but it's hard not to. I want Kenny to make the decision to keep him or not so for now I have to be able to let him go.
Other than that, my weekend has been cleaning the house and dogs, spinning, and knitting. I've gotten a lot done and it feels great. Well, I'm going to get ready for church and I'll keep you all posted on what we decide. :)

Happy Easter Weekend.

Dogs gone wild....for DOT!

Ok...so I figured I'd share this little naughty thing that Jackjack does and drives both Kenny and I crazy. But again he's so cute. :) First a little background, this happens EVERY time the neighbor dog Nikko is outside. Nikko is a sweet small white poof of a dog and is really no threat or ever has been to Jackjack. They have not yet met because well...I'm not ready. I think I will need to introduce them soon so we can get these barking sessions to stop but I only have met the neighbor girls, not the mother or any other adult. And I feel before I either grab their dog and introduce him to Jackjack or take Jackjack in their backyard, I think it would be best to talk to an adult and find out if the dog is neutered...which may be causeing all the barking. Since Jackjack always feels he needs to make sure the other un-neutered dogs know he's big and bad...no matter how small.

Just a quick note, Jackjack has never hurt any of these dogs that he barks at. He doesn't bite them but bark and run around them. :) Like he does in the video but closer and without the fence. :)

So, just so you know the sequence of events of how this starts, Kenny or I will let them out and 2 seconds later this begins....

After I took this video, I did what I normally do. I get Jackjack and make him sit next to the fence and calm down. He can look but no barking. SK doesn't do this but I feel he needs to learn to be calm around the dog on the other side. Trying to teach him there is another way. :)
He's so good when he just sits there and stays. :) After this was taken, we came inside so mom could go to work! OH and we had already been for a walk before all of this...you would think Jackjack would be a little tired. :)

And becaus she is cute and crazy! Here is Abby smelling the fence pole instead of coming inside. :) She is just too silly.

Hope everyone has a great DOT day! And don't forget to go check out our post this week and join our contest!

Happy Dogs on Thursday!

Monday...Catch up.

Hi, how is everyone! I've been doing well. Sorry I just left you with the sad post and then nothing. I've had a busy weekend. I've been obsessed with gift knitting and spinning for these gifts. I made a list last week and now I just want to knit it all. In the past four days, I've spun up 2 different 4 oz rovings and plyed them!

Here they are:

The red, white, and specks of black is my own hand dyed merino. The purple/brown is BFL from yummyyarn.etsy.com. I love her rovings.

So, this Saturday, I spent it mainly running around like a mad woman. I went to my spinning meet-up and had tons of fun. Then helped them move the library and found some great books to check out! Then hung out with SK for a little bit and headed out to dinner with some college friends for my friend Darci's birthday! It was a fun night!

Sunday, I cleaned the floors and the dogs. SK had cleaned the rest on Saturday. Then we headed to the beach. Isn't he cute driving, while I of course knit?

When we got there, SK headed out to wade fish and I set myself up on the beach and got settled to catch some sun on my back, since last time I burnt my front from not flipping because I was knitting. :) Well, then this pack of people, like four families and their kids showed up and I got a crab dropped on me and my blanket stepped on. I wasn't happy. After they left I was able to relax and get back to my knitting for a bit. Here's what I was able to get done. :) I also got a lot of podcasts listened to. :)

Well, today was a good Monday. One of the better ones I've had. I'm now waiting for SK to cook dinner and am heading to spin up some black merino to make my sister a hat. I decided that the Felicia colorway was a bit much even though I LOVE it. So, I'm going to spin up some black and use it to knit a hat with the funky color. :) I think she'll like it better.

Well..hope everyone is having a good week!

Gnat

Treydog's good bye.

This week has been a bit crazy. So, I figured I'd tell you all this story.

The Yella Dog

How we met:

When I first got Jackjack over 3 years ago, I used to take him to the dog park ALL the time. I was teaching part time and I had Friday's off so we'd spend the afternoon at the park. When my dad was here, he came with me. We had gone to get bagels and then to the dog park with Jackjack. We sat outside the park and ate our bagels first then headed inside. Now Jackjack was a brat at the park and I tried my best to keep him from being that way but this is before I knew what I know now. :) We'll just say that. So, Kelly, Treydog, her golden, and Nicholi, her dachsund were in the park and we came in. I went over to Kelly and told her as I always did to the other people, that Jackjack is not aggressive and he won't hurt your dog but he will bark a bit and then leave him alone. And right on cue he barked a bit and then ran off. :) As Kelly and I started talking more because we were the only ones in the park, she mentioned that she used to do dog training. She was in Law School and working for a local Pet rescue. I said well can you help me out? She said sure. We planned to meet the following Friday at the park.

So, the next week we met and continued training from there. I'll try to keep this as short as possible. :) Well, as we went from dog trainer/dog owner to friends, Jackjack and Treydog became closer and closer. It was crazy to see when they would see each other. It was like TreyDog would smile...he had a GREAT smile! Jackjack would wag his tail and run up and say hi and then they would play.

For months, Kelly, TreyDog, and Nic would come pick up Jackjack and go to the park while I was at work. Now, you can imagine that if he was getting to go to the park EVERY time he saw them...they were his favorite peps. :) Kelly helped Jackjack learn to greet dogs better at the park and he eventually lost his crazy eyes outside thanks to her. I owe her so much that it's crazy! I've learned a lot from her and she has done so much for us. She helped convince me to get Abby and came with me to pick her up. :)

As time went on and Kelly had her baby, we've seen less and less of Treydog but when they came over a couple months ago, Jackjack freaked out in a good way. They played and romped around. It was great.

This week:
So, Monday night I was at home and I got a call from Kelly. TreyDog had been in and out of the Vet all weekend but he had just had a seizure and she needed me to come and go with her. Micah, her husband had to stay with the baby and she couldn't go alone. So, I ran over and told Kenny and raced over to her house. When I got there, Micah was bringing TreyDog out to the van and he looked bad. Kelly got in the back with him, and I jumped in and we headed to the ER vet.

They had seem him last night so one of the techs that came out knew he looked worse. They took him back and left us in a room to wait. We waited and waited and it felt like forever but eventually they let us back. He looked better now but still had an extreme head tilt. The Vet said that she thinks he has Vestibular Disease which is when they have inner ear or brain issues and causes them not to be able to right themselves. They told us that he would need to stay over night and that Kelly could come back and talk to the day doctor in the morning. So, we went home.

Tuesday morning, she went in and TreyDog was really bad. She said that he wouldn't lift his head and the day doctor said that they think he has a brain tumor. They discussed their options and in the end they all agreed it would be best to put him down. She called me in the afternoon to tell me and that's all she got out. There I was at work and I couldn't stop crying. It's TreyDog...

I was able to get myself together at work but when I got home and saw Jackjack I lost it again. I'm pretty sure I freaked him out. He comforted me along with Abby but when I got it together he went to the other side of the room and just watched me from afar. I don't think he knew what to do.

Well, I think this post is long enough but I just wanted to tell you all what happened. I am really glad she called me and that I got to see him before he passed. I will miss TreyDog and I pray for peace for Kelly and her family.