WHAT AUTUMN DOES TO ME . . .

We are forecasted for a hard frost tonight, and all that I had outside that was special was this little lavender that I planted this summer and it was just too hot for it to grow much.  So I brought it in the house and hope it grows this winter.

Makes me think of knitting and finishing this particular project, some thrummed mittens I started a year or two ago!

Brings memories of my son and my favorite pup, Otis.  You really can't tell but Oatsey was wearing his tux in this picture, which I made for him to wear to Mike's wedding but alas, he got sick and couldn't go!                
 
Makes me think of Zkhat who is always looking for a warm and snuggy spot to snooze in when it starts getting cold.

And I am going through old pictures so I think of my dear Grandmother who graced my life until I was about four years old.
She was a teacher who loved prose and poetry her life long.  This picture is of her and her cousin.  She is on the left  and look at that gorgeous head of hair! 

       

She loved this little poem

Build a little fence of trust around today

Fill the space with loving work and therein stay;

Look not between the shelt'ring bars upon tomorrow,

But take whatever comes to thee

of joy or sorrow.

She left me letters written to a 4 year old that I treasure!

Happy Fall to Everyone,

Jo, Stella and Zkhat

                        

Cat in the Bag

For those of you who might not know, Victor Adamus was the author/editor of the Cat in the Bag blog.  Every day since I found this blog when I first began blogging, it was always my first blog to open . 

If you like this kind of blog, click on the above link, and spend some time visiting.  See how far back you can go and how many good laughs you can have.

Cat in the Bag was full of good jokes, cartoons, politics,  and unusual things that you just didn't find anywhere else.  Saturday wasn't Saturday, it was CATurday and full of his love of cats.  Sunday was cartoons and weekly news wrap up, along with Vic's pertinent comments.  The rest of the week (and he seemed to never miss a day until his health stopped him) was all the fun and interesting tidbits he found out there on the 'net.  Now and then  girlie pictures!

We will all miss Vic very much, and I will miss starting my day with him and his quirky sense of humor. 

I can only imagine how much his family will miss him.

Victor Matthew Adamus

December 27, 1947 - September 18, 2012

With deepest sympathy to Ann, and their children, and grandchildren.

Jo, Stella and Zkhat

A Conversation between On-line Pals!

This is a conversation between Shado Curran of AZ and Stella McKnight of MN.



Shado



Stella

Shado:  Its me, your bud Shado in AZ. So how are you doing?  What has been happening with you this summer?  We had a lot of record hot days and sometimes you almost felt sick over them.  But last week it rained and we think maybe its cooling off.

Stella: Same here, Shado.  It was just a cooker, hotter than I can remember, but its cooling off little by little.  Maybe we would get snow in October this year, that would be so nice, because I love the snow, do you? 

Shado:  Do you know that I had to go to the vet and I had an accident there? I would love it to never have to go to the vet, don't like it a bit.  This time they did not stick the thermometer up my butt which was lucky for them!  The Doc checked my teeth, my ears and eyes and when he checked my legs for mobility, I showed him how mobil I was by tearing off across the floor like a missile.  My peeps were sitting on the floor and when I made that move, I tore a dewclaw and boy, did it hurt.  My peeps worked to calm me and then the vet wrapped my paw in gauze and a secure wrap.  I got my shots and then got outta there!  A few days later they took off my classy red wrap and it was all healed nicely.  Next time I go I have to take a tiny calming aid pill before we leave.

Stella:  Ouch!  That sounds terrible.  I guess you just hate to have the vet even touch you, right?  My vet leaves lots of the work to some techs who work with him, Peggy took some of my blood but I didn't like it so I pulled my foot back.  She guessed she had enough for her test, and she listened to my heart and did the eye, ear thing.  So I am OK, my vet is  a country guy who takes care of a lot of cows, horses and piggies, so he is busy all the time.  He has to go to them, because my mom says who would bring a cow to the vet, a dog is bad enough!  (She thinks she is funny!)

Shado:  We hope we are going to go hiking up in the mountains this fall when it cools off.  Do you have mountains where you live?

Stella:  No, just hills and 10,000 lakes here and there throughout the state.  Here is a picture of me and our friend Glen at Lake 1938 this summer. Its mostly nice at the lake but then some wise guy decides to shoot off some fireworks and I get so scared!

Time to go I guess.  You are probably playing ball with Mr. E right now and having a good time.  Write again soon, Shado, and we can find more to talk about! (Like your sweet sister Sophie Devereaux!)

Kisses,

Stella



9-11 Patriot Day

Hello Everybuddy,
This morning I enjoyed reading one of my favorite blogspots, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Man, a wonderful gardener with gorgeous pictures of what he grows.  Todays blog was a little different though, it was mostly about visiting New York City and 9-11, a day none of us will forget.

If you would like to read it, visit
http://nittygrittydirtman.wordpress.com/2012/09/09/lessons-learned-from-a-911-survivor/

My little story has to do with how I heard about 9-11.  My sweet Scottie Otis and I had gotten up early and decided  it was too beautiful a day to stay home and we took a long walk to to our lake.  If you use a lot of short cuts and long cuts, you can make it about three miles and its beautiful all the way.  Lots of trees in multi colors,
and cottages to see, sometimes sail boats out, people fishing.  So Oatsey and I enjoyed our long, warm walk and arrived back home around 10:30. 

 The Little Oatboy headed for a nap, and I sat down at the computer to check e-mail.  One from a favorite person in Norway!  At that time I ran a quilting list and she was one of my favorite people.  Her letter began with how sad she was that this terrible thing had happened to my country and she just couldn't imagine what would come of it!  You can imagine what a shock these words were to me. 

I  turned on  the television immediately, and saw the pictures of the hit, the explosion and the utter horror on everyone's face.  Like everyone else, I was glued to that screen all day long, and more many days afterward.  I wrote Sol a note, thanking her for writing so immediately.  Then several years later, I wrote her and told her how amazing it had been to hear from Norway what was happening in my country.  She said she had no recollection of writing me or anyone on that day.  The only important part of this is how small our world has become.

I hope a museum is built on ground zero and that small children might learn to remember those dates too, and honor not only the people who perished, but those who bravely climbed the steps of the buildings, who searched for bodies, who are now suffering from the results of being in the debris.  Surely we can never forget it.

Jo, Stella and Zkhat

Not that it matters, but what am I?

Happy Sunday evfurry one!

Some of you might remember when I first got started blogging and you saw my picture of how I looked when I was in the slammer for three months.  Some people thought I was Border Collie/Lab mix and others thought I might be Spaniel/ Lab mix.

Because I was pretty pushy, and very willful, my Mom thought that I was Borador (Border Collie/Lab) and that is what she called me for a long time. 

However, (and you saw this photo yesterday) when winter comes my furs are curly and thick, which is more Spaniel like.  So my Mom looked up some things about the Spanador and she found lots of things that are just Me.

Living with a Spanador

Personality: The Spandor is a happy, friendly, loyal, jealous, crazy bundle of joy that loves walks other dogs and people. They love playing ball and carrying one around. They just love everybody and everything. (This is not me, I am no ballplayer, but I do love peoples!

Temperament: The Spandor is never agressive but loves a good play fight. They are very sweet, playful dogs who can be reserved around new people until they warm up to them. (This is me!)

Family Dog: The Spanador is a great family dog. They are typically very gentle with children, smaller dogs and cats. They can be rambunctious at times so care should be taken around the elderly or small children. (This is me, too, I just get carried away but try not to with little people, I just love them, and I don't hurt old peeps because my Mom is one.)

Shedding: Depending on the coat, the Spandor can be a low to heavy shedding dog. (Woo, ask my Mom, every morning I get a brush, and its full of my furs.)
Grooming: The Spanador requires daily brushing as their coat gets matted easily, especially the fluffy hair on the legs during the winter.
Training: The Spandor is a great dog to train. They may have some jumping issues though and should be trained not to jump at a young age. The Spandor may be hard to crate train as they do not like to seperate from their owners or other companions. Start crate-training at a young age to help eliminate this. (This is me again!, I love to jump and get in somebody's face, but my Mom has learned to train me not too.  It is hard for both of us, but she keeps at me!  She has also taught me basics and to shake paws ( I love to do this with peoples I meet!)

Behavior: The Spandor is a loyal, smart, energetic and loving dog who absolutely loves attention. (This is me, but I also love my bed!)

Barking: The Spandor barks when they want to play, feel scared or threatened, when someone comes to the door or sometimes in their sleep. They have a deep, Lab-like bark and like to grunt. (This is me too, and my Mom didn't get the grunt at first, but now she hears it sometimes.  After I get up from a nap, I go find my Mom and bark at her a couple of times just to say " hello, I'm back on the job!"

Weather: The Spanador loves all weather. (This is somebody's dream because I hate storms, thunder, rain and wet feet, don't like the summer heat, but I do love spring, fall and winter!  Especially tromping through the snow in winter.

Exercise: The Spanador loves walks, the park and the beach but they can also be happy curled up on the sofa beside you. They are happy with one long walk and play daily as well as longer country walks. They can be over exercised especially when young so you should build up to longer walks and make sure they have a day of rest every couple of days. This is pretty much me, I know I can be overexercised when its hot like yesterday, but mostly I hang out in my back yard then.  In the house, I love to play with squeaky toys and have everyone I have ever got.  I only wrecked one because I didn't like its face or color.

Physical Ability: The Spandor can be a jumper, with the ability to jump on to or off of tall objects. They can even jump very high to see out windows. (Yep, I can do this but my Mom sort of discourages it.)

Size: The Spandor is around 20 inches tall. (This is exactly what I measure, exactly!

Companionship: The Spandor makes a great companion dog. They love being with any living thing. They are very social and loyal dogs. They love to sleep right in your lap no matter how big they get. They don't like being left alone and will follow their owner from room to room. (This is me, right on the money!)

Eyes: The eyes of the Spandor can be blue or brown in color. (I'm brown but the only blue eyes I see are those beautiful Huskies, like
the OP Pack!
Body: The Spandor has a small to medium, athletic body like a Labrador Retriever, but with shorter legs. (Thats me too.)

Forequarters: The front legs of the Spandor are shorter than a Lab's.

Tail: It is possible for the Spandor to be born without a long tail looking like it was docked halfway up or they can have a long tail. (My tail looks like its docked half way up and its thick, very expressive.)

Color: The coat of the Spandor can be black or light tan with a few white patches and markings. (I have a very small white star on my chest.)

Coat: The Spandor's coat is medium to long, very soft, shiny and can be curly. (Thats me, curly, curliest in winter!)

This is too long, I guess, but its been fun finding all of this stuff out.  So I think you can call me Stella Spanadora which sounds cool, doesn't it!

Cheers and hugs,

Stella Spanadora (formerly Borador), Zkhat and Jo