Contentious Relationship

It may be hard to believe but Mabel and I actually have a somewhat contentious relationship. Yes, the dog and I don't always get along!

Like that distrustful, side-long look she always gives me when I take a photo of her - but always looks square on at the camera when her Auntie takes her picture, she knows how to get under my skin.

Last night, the BFF dropped off some of her fabulous ribs.... a dish I would normally share with Mabel. But, since her recent illness coincided with her bringing a strange rib bone home and puking, I decided to only give her meat. NO bones.

She was happy with the meat but kept looking at the plate of bones. So I got up and discarded them in the kitchen trashcan. As soon as I had gotten comfortable in the living room, building kits for my classes, Mabel started digging deep into her toy box. At the very bottom was a very sharp, pointy marrow bone, long-since licked clean.

She took it to her bed and proceeded to break off many nice long shards. When that didn't phase me, she started to eat them! I dug out the foil I had wrapped those rib bones in and negotiated a trade. Mabel was quite proud of herself!

After she ate a few bones (no tummy trouble either!), she started her usual schtick of wanting to be on the sofa with me. As I was counting tiny little crystals and knew I was going to get up and work on my taxes (thus losing MY spot on the sofa), I told her "no" repeatedly. Which turned into "NO!!!"

Hours later when I was done with my work, I sat on the sofa and patted her spot, indicating that she could join me. She got up from her bed -- and turned around to face the door!

I wonder if the Dog Whisperer offers couples counseling?

Creekhiker - One World, One Heart

Before the Storm

It's that time of year! The One World, One Heart International Blog event is HERE! This is a fun way to explore new blogs, win prizes, meet other bloggers and have fun in the blogosphere! You can read more about it on our host site:

Now, here's what you are playing for:

This off mandrel glass heart was made by me, Holly Dare. It was made with dichroic, aventurine and high silver glasses. There is no pink in it... that is a reflection of my shirt (ARGH!!) which should give you some idea of how reflective this bead is. It will arrive, ready-to-wear, on a black ribbon necklace (from Jamn Glass). Measures: 1.8" tall x 1.2" wide x 1/3" thick.

Simply leave a comment to win. Make sure I have some way of getting in touch with you if you are the winner...blog, email or website contact page.Winners announced February 15th.

I'm also giving away another prize on my bead blog and there you will find links to some of my beady friends who are also participating in this event. My lampwork bead promotion group, The Fire Divas, is also hosting a giveaway with several chances to win on that blog and links to other Divas who are also hosting their own OWOH giveaway! Please check them all out!

Winners announced February 15th.

About the Creekhiker blog: Creekhiker is my blog about life with my "rotten-weiler" in the foothills of Southern California. The people we meet and the beauty we encounter on our daily hikes are often featured here. I hope you'll come back and visit again.

She Wants What She Wants

For anyone who's been following along on Facebook or Twitter...Mabel has been terribly sick and while she seems in good spirits, she's not eating. She gets excited when I'm preparing food but when I give her a bowl, she curls her nose and walks off. I'm really worried!

But, things are still fun and interesting around here. With all our rain, I haven't done laundry in ages and with a busy week at the Hobby Show, I HAD to do some washin'. And, as I have a Depression Era mom, I hang my laundry to dry. (Dryers are for heavy things like towels and blankets!)

Since I had so much laundry and our winter daylight doesn't hit my clothesline in the afternoon, I took advantage of the jeep:

Mabel Lou also took advantage of the jeep to make her wishes known:

They Meant Well

Our storms this week have been making news. This the most rain we've seen since January '05 and that storm changed the path of the creek! I've been out to the creek twice daily for the last two days to check on the flow and shoot pictures.

When the clouds broke last evening and I drove down there, I was dismayed to see so many cars. I admit my disdain for folks who come out to the creek only when she's raging and in a foul mood. I prefer our regulars who love her when she's happy and calm or even sad and dry.

But I quickly realized this was no ordinary crowd. In addition to all the cars, there were news vans and beyond the dogleg in the road... at least a dozen fire trucks. As I parked, I saw a low flying fire chopper. This usually means a person is in the water.

After making my way to the levee, I found some of my regular hiking crowd and all were laughing. It seems a chopper spotted a tent, isolated on all sides by raging water and there were bicycles there so they thought people were stranded. As soon as they described the tent, I started laughing. Every hiker knows that tent. It's belonged to a local homeless guy called Uncle Billy. Uncle Billy left that tent at least three years ago. He even lived along one of our main trails back in the summer.

The parade of fire trucks leaving

But no one from the fire department asked any of us... no, they called out the whole battalion and spent a fortune on rescuing... an empty tent! Much ado about nothing...

As they all packed up to drive back into town, the sight that made me giggle the most was a fire truck pulling a jet ski! A jet ski??? In the Tujunga river??? For those not familiar with this area, the translation of Tujunga (Ta HUNG a) means loud boulders or clanging rocks. You couldn't get a jet ski down the river on a good day, much less when she's chocked full of soot, ash and fallen trees! What were they thinking???

Drama before Breakfast

We've been to the creek several times in the last 24 hours checking on the creek in between storms. But this morning's visit was most stressful thanks to my personal little drama queen.

We ran along the levee to take some pictures and decided to head over to see dirty creek. Mabel alerted and took off into the brush and immediately reappeared with a HUGE choya stuck on her nose.

She wouldn't let me near her to pull it out so there was nothing to do but race home. In the car, she was licking that cacti!!! She used her paws to try and pull it out and induced a sneezing fit, all to no avail.




Once home, I woke up the hiking buddy to come down and help. Every time we came near Mabel with the tweezers, she pulled away. I held her down with my palm over her eyes and HB pulled that thing out. We then realized she had gotten part of it in her foot and we had to work on that.

Afterward, she was quite the needy pup, not wanting to leave my side. Poor little drama queen got an aspirin with her breakfast and slept until 3!

Winter Sepia Creek

Mabel Lou In Action

I know this pic is blurry but I just love the look on Mabel Lou's face and her strong body in action.

The Not-so Smooth Criminal

I'm an honest person. I'm the type that counts my change and if I've received too much, I give the excess back to the clerk. But today, I became a thief.

It started innocently enough. My plans for the day were to ship some orders, torch and take Mabel to the middle arroyos for a long hike. After torching, I got ready for the muddy walk. I hesitated in the kitchen...."Am I hungry?" I had had a large, late breakfast as well has a handful of nuts while torching... "No...just go."

We jumped in the jeep and just as we got off the freeway, I felt it...annoying hunger pains! The only fast food places between me and the arroyo were two yogurt shops and McDonalds. I turned into the parking lot and should have been suspicious that there was no parking on the east side of the building. I couldn't access the west side because of the twenty or so cars in the drive through.

I pulled a U turn, exited the east lot and went in the wrong way to get the the West side... still no caution bells going off. I went inside and suddenly realized that school had just let out. McDonald's is the first thing between FOUR schools and the little town.

The cacophony of screaming kids in the packed lobby was unbelievable. They were screaming across the the lines to each other...asking for money, why didn't you walk with me, where have you been...

You know, when I grew up... back in the dark ages, kids went home. We didn't head to the nearest fast food joint. No wonder we have such an obesity problem in this country. I have no doubt this McDonalds took in around $4,000 just after school!

I was so unnerved with all the screaming and running kids. It was so loud in there, I had to scream my order across the counter to be heard. When the clerk asked a question about my order, she had to scream to make me hear her.

Everyone would step aside and wait for their order but the restaurant was really hopping. There were fries coming out of the fryer constantly. I had barely waited a minute when a clerk approached and said, "Six piece?"

I said yes, grabbed the bag and ran out of all that noise. Backing up in the crowded parking lot, I found something extra in my bag: a large order of delectable, piping hot fries. I sat there...did I pay for these? No... do I pull back in and take them the fries? A teenager honked at me for blocking traffic and so I did it... I made off with those fries!

I decided they were my bonus for putting up with all those screaming kids! Of course now, I feel guilty on more than one level.

And, I still need to hide the evidence.

Puppy Love

Finally! A photo of Mabel with her boyfriend Maxi:

You Would Think...

You would think I may have gotten tons of stuff done since my return to my real life on Christmas night. You would think that:

• I would have looked for a job...but you would be wrong...No one is in and my resume would be at the bottom of a huge pile when the HR types return to work.
• I would have finally made some headway in switching my art studio over to a jewelry studio - or at least cleaned it enough to walk in there...but you would be wrong. It's still utter chaos. Which means my family room where I store my jewelry supplies is also still in chaos.
  
• I would have spent days on end with my torch...but you would be wrong. While I have sketched and planned, my torch is covered in cobwebs.
• I would have seen many films...but you would be wrong...I like movie theaters when there aren't too many people there. LA during the holidays = crowded theaters.
  
• I would have spent many of our cool nights by the fire...but you would be wrong. I freaked when I realized that our crappy government has the authority to give me an expensive ticket for heating my own house as I see fit IF I do it on a poor air quality day. And unlike Northern California, our local government doesn't tell you exactly when a poor air day is.
  

So what have I done for the last nine blissful days? I have:

• Slept
• Hiked with the pup
• Napped with the pup
• Had on 99 Cent store shopping spree with the BFF
• Cleaned out my fridge (only to investigate a hideous smell that HAD to go! (A FOUR year old brie had fallen behind my drawers and even though the fridge had been cleaned many times in the last four years, I never found that!)

That's it. It's funny how I always want time to ...do whatever I want. I always think that means time to organize or torch. But apparently, it means doing nothing and doing that with Mabel.