Noxious fumes

Perry has been attempting to gas us out of our home.
I am convinced of this.

He is letting loose the most noxious, vile, unearthly smells you can ever hope to survive.

I wonder if the CDC should get involved.

I hope this is temporary.

It's closing time for the cottage

The time has finally come.

Actually, it snuck up on us.

Scott and I will make the drive up to PEI tomorrow after I get home from work to close up the cottage for the winter. This will be a first for us. We have closed the cottage a whole bunch of times before, but it has always been after being up there for 2 weeks.

This time we are driving up just to close.
I am dreading this, I am not happy.

Perry, along with his pooping problems and the steam cleaner, are staying with Jape and Suzanne. He hasn't had an accident in the last two days, so our fingers are crossed that he won't have another.

I am going to have to get some serious sleep tonight, and possibly a small nap after work tomorrow. I really hate feeling like a zombie, but for this trip, I feel it may be inevitable. We will try to get this done as quickly as possible. Ghaa!

Mom's Surprise 70th

My sisters and I planned a surprise birthday party for my mom. The surprise was last night, and it was a total success. I couldn't have hoped for a better turn out.

I have neglected to post any plans on here previously in case mom checked out my blog...which she never does, but you never know. I have told her to check it from time to time in the past.

Anyhoo, the night turned out fabulously even after my almost meltdown. I had spent the last two days not sure that the lodge would remember that I had rented the space. I made the deposit approximately a month previous, and checked the place out. It looked good, I was feeling good. Then a couple of days before the party, I tried to call to confirm, and left a message, no one got back to me.
I then called early on the day of, and left a message, and no one got back to me...
I then was forced to call George Parrelli while he was at work at the Pleasant cafe bartending (he is a member of the lodge, a true old timer) and he gave me Andy's home phone number. I called Andy's home, spoke with his wife, and she put my mind at ease.

So, all went off without a hitch. I am pleased with the results. Mom got lots of gifts from people she loves, and was totally surprised.

Here are some pics...
A photo of what you saw as you walked in.

A matted invitation ready for signatures, along side the present table...

The birthday girl greeting her friends and family, here she is greeting my Aunt Elena


The birthday girl (in the center wearing a tiara). She was so surprised. This pic is after she had calmed down and greeted everyone. She is relaxing watching the juggler show.

Peter Panic the juggler/commedian. He did a great job, we had a lot of fun.

Peter almost rolled over Maria. She is okay...heehee.

Everyone had a great time, including Dolly the birthday girl.
I just got off the phone with her tonight. 1 hour 21 minutes 46 seconds. She is clearly still beaming. Happy birthday mom!

Sick Dog? I've had enough!

Perry is becoming as much of an embarrassment as my broken zipper.

This dog is still sick, but not acting like it (unless you count the endless diarrhea). I am at my wits end!

Scott and I woke up once again to a treat of loose stool in the book room this morning. This may garner a sympathetic reaction to readers of all ages, but our bedroom door was open and there was no whining, scratching, yelping, or general "I need to go out" type behaviour. In fact, I was in half sleep most of the night and morning, and heard nothing...NOTHING!

This leads me to believe that either Perry has totally lost his ability to hold any type of stool with no modesty, or that he thinks it is okay now to just shit in the same spot whenever he feels the urge. I say the same spot, because it has been the SAME SPOT for the last 3 accidents, and I use the term 'accident' loosely.

I am extremely thankful to my friends J and S for allowing us to hold on to their ultra powerful carpet steam cleaner, since it has been in use for the last week and a half. Thanks J and S!

So tonight, I fed Perry for the last time at 6pm, hoping to limit his 'need' in the morning.
I still await the results from the loose stool sample I brought to the vet on monday. He is acting very energetic and eats his food quickly. He is not acting like a sick dog at all. He still looks skinny, has not gained any weight, and Scott observed this morning that his last 'mistake' smelled like fresh dog food. A little disturbing, but we can only wait and see.

Scott covered the offending spot to 'shit on' with newspaper before he went to bed. I am hoping that either Perry gets confused by that and wakes us to go out, or he just fucking shits on the paper!

So J and S, are you ready to watch P next week? Ha!

No one's got my back.

I just changed for bed.

While undressing, I noticed that the rear zipper on the skirt I was wearing was all the way down.
The only thing keeping my skirt from falling down was the catch at the top.
How embarrassing.
I've been showing a little slice of my aqua blue undies all day long(or at least since the zipper fell down).

I am now in a state of self-conscious distress.
Thanks for reading.

Alien Amoeba Pendant

So, the pseudopods are more round in this version, but all I could think of was an amoeba when I look at this. So maybe this is what an alien amoeba looks like...who knows?

I melted the balls using sterling silver scrap wire and sheet. I formed the bezed using fine sterling bezel wire and soldered the bezel and melted blobs of silver onto a backplate.

I sawed out the design, which rounds each and every sterling ball and then filed and sanded until I could file and sand no more. I think it still needs some more, but after two days on this project, I just would like it to be finished. I oxidized and polished it. I may work more on this in the coming weeks, but tommorow I will just wear it as it is. I am happy with the outcome, but it could be better.


There is a gouge in the bezel (between 9 and 10 on a clock) which will not come out, but I am fine with that if I keep this for myself.

This is quite heavy for its size, the balls are solid sterling and the backplate is 24ga. I will wear it tomorrow and see if I get any feedback on it.

Perry's Prognosis

The vet called tonight at 9:30pm. Yeah, 9:30pm.
I was so nervous all day wondering what the hell is wrong with my dog, and everytime I called the office, I was given the same mechanical statements, I would get a phone call. I didn't expect it to come so late. Scott and I were watching 'What Perez Says' when the call finally came in. As a matter of fact, Scott had just said something like "we aren't going to hear tonight" when I shushed him cause my phone was ringing.

So, the vet told me that Perry's problem is not serious, it is not something that cannot be managed or cured. His bloodwork came back good, and his urine tests, too.
His problem is that he has NO bacteria in his intestines. Or at least that's what I got out of the conversation. There was a whole lot of medical mumbo jumbo that I am too innocent to comprehend, so...

Here is my take on the prognosis...in laymans terms:

Perry has evicted the good bacteria in his system. He told 'them' to get the hell out by not eating. This has caused a whole lot of diahhrea and a bit of vomiting. The food that he has been getting down is being all curned up by his stomach acids, but when the churned food gets into his intestines where the good stuff happens, it is not being absorbed into nutrition, it is just coming out. He has not been getting any nutrition out of what little food he has been eating. So, he has been losing weight, too.

The food that I picked up at the vet is a bland, easily digestable canned food that Perry can't get enough of. He actually scratches at his bowl for more...he has never done that with any other food. He had two cans yesterday, and three today.

Unfortunately, he still has diarrhea. I expressed my concern to the vet, and was told to start mixing in some good bacteria into his food. So I will pick that up tomorrow at the vet office, along with a different type of food to feed him until the diarrhea stops.

Perry is already acting alot better and hungry, which is GREAT, and I am sure when he gets his buddies back in his system, he will be having some great sturdy girthy poops once again.

I am so relieved. I hope the bacteria treatment works.

My P-Love is ill.

I am afraid my poor P-Love is sick. Really sick.
Perry has had diarrhea bad for the last 4 days that I have noticed, and loose stools for a lot longer than that.
He has been losing weight, most noticably to me the last week or so.

He lost his appetite for his food about 2 days ago, and would only take snacks willingly.

So this morning I awoke, took a shower, and got ready for work, all while P stayed at the top of the stairs between the bedroom and bathroom doors. I walked over him about 6 times. I finished getting ready for work, walked downstairs to find about a 5 foot length of diarrhea on the carpet along with 2 small piles of vomit.

This dog does NOT make a habit of shitting in the house. He can actually hold his needs for hours and hours usually, so I knew something was wrong.

I called Julie (the shop needed to be opened), called the vet, and called Scott.
The vet accepted my plea for Perry to be seen immediately and I rushed him over.
He was examined, prodded, had blood drawn, and I was asked a million questions. His temperature was elevated, he was dehydrated (not so much so to require an iv), and his weight was 6 pounds lighter than his last visit (June).

So, until I get any blood work results, I am left with 3 scenarios. I am sure the vet wants to rule out the worst first and then focus on lesser problems.
I left the vet with my sick dog with the knowledge that we could be facing cancer, lyme disease (kidney shutdown) or a gastrointestinal disorder.
As you can imagine I am quite beside myself over this at the moment.
I was also asked to gather a urine sample to bring in, I wondered if I would be able to do this, but I was successful this evening, so it is in my fridge right now in a little test tube with rubber top that the vet gave me.

I do have some good news tho. I also left the vet with some medications and some prescription canned food. I fed Perry a half can when we returned from the vet, along with the first of his doses of meds. He gobbled up the food.
I went to work fully expecting to come home to another mess of diarrhea and vomit, and I didn't. Perry actually was hungry when I got home, so I fed him the other half can and he gobbled that up, too.

This evening he was ravenous, I fed him a whole can and he wanted more. I gave him his night meds and he seems to be doing better. Both the meds are for intestinal disorders. One actually is prescribed for ulcers, too.

So, I am beginning to be a bit optimistic. I fear the worst, but I am hoping for the best. I know dogs don't live forever, but I am not done with Perry yet!
I will bring the urine to the vet in the morning and ask about the bloodwork, I hope they have something to tell me. I will post when I hear more.

Filigree pendant and earring set

I really thought this would come out a whole lot better than it did.
I am not completely happy with this set, but I will still wear it and get some feedback, maybe someone will like it.

Filigree is something I have been thinking of trying for quite some time, and I had mastered it in my brain a long time ago. I didn't realize that my brain's idea of this design and my actual execution could be so different. I really had this all figured out, but the finished pieces are not up to par to my original idea. I will practice more and maybe someday I will have something to be proud of.

I wanted this to be totally plain, but since the outcome wasn't so perfect, I decided to texture and hammer a bit to mask the mistakes. There are a couple of joins that didn't solder, too, so don't be too judgemental, I already know they are not perfect. Enjoy.


I don't know if you can tell by the pictures or not, but the earrings are much nicer than the pendant. I will try again, and post my next attempt.
I still really like the design, but I think I can do better...yes...for sure I can do better.

Field Hockey!

My sister-in-law Denise called me earlier tonight to get some ideas on some jewelry items she could sell at consessions at hockey games her daughters were involved in.

I tried to brainstorm with her on the phone, and came up with some ideas involving making a design she made using polymer clay. Then I would take her clay design and make a mold of it. The mold would then be used to fabricate the design using precious metal clay (PMC). I am not a teacher, but I was willing to try. Anything to help my adopted-by-marriage sister.

I was thinking that I would make a mold of her original, and instruct her on how to use the PMC to create silver charms out of it. This would have been a whole lot of work for an already too busy gal as her, but that is what we ended up deciding upon...well.... I brainstormed by myself later on tonight, and came up with something that she may just like even better.



So, here is what I came up with, it involved 1/2 round wire, a hammer, a screwdriver, and pliers. This took a total of 5 minutes to complete (without adding the chain). I added the chain because I plan on giving this necklace to my jr. varsity hero Leah (#2 niece) but I think Denise could sell these pendants easily at games for some profit. I will attack her tomorrow with my newly revised idea and see what she thinks of it. I think the less time she has to work on it the better. She is a busy gal as it is.

Late Saturday Night Rambling

September, I can't believe that it is already September. I can feel the fall in the air already. It is so cold this evening, I am shivering as I post. I closed a couple of windows, but this is the season of anything goes weather, so I didn't close them all.

Last night Scott and I met Jape and Suzanne for dinner, we went to Bamboo for sushi. It was really really good. Suze and I split an order of toro...mmmmmmmm, expensive, but worth it.

Before I met them at their house (Scott was already there), I made a new ring. I struggled with the filing to make the pieces fit before soldering until I decided to just smash and solder...and it worked! Anyone interested in this particular technique that I frustratedly stumbled upon can feel free to ask, I have no secrets! I will spare the gorey details for now.

Here is the ring.

After struggling for about 1 hour trying to get the sides of the shank to fit perfectly to the circle for soldering, I gave up and just smashed the ends of the shank with a planishing hammer and soldered it to the back of the circle. Okay, non-secret revealed. There ya go.

I love this ring, I wore it all night yesterday, and most of today. I don't have it on right now, or I would be staring at it on my finger and making boku typo's.


I have tomorrow off, I plan on cleaning and straitening up the house (yeah, laugh all you want Suze and Jape) and cleaning the bathroom so I can finally have some guests over. The summer seems to have been my cleaning season off. I aspire to have people over, I really do. Ughhh!