Salad Days

She sure loves eating her greens!

I Told You She Shares

My mom has been in town from Baton Rouge to celebrate her 91st birthday with Mabel Lou and I. My bestie and her sweet mother-in-law cooked dinner for us twice while Mom was here!

I didn't want the pups bothering the older ladies. Since the property is huge and Mabel is nosy and does not see fences as a boundary, I placed her bed in the courtyard and tied her to the table, knowing Bart would hang out with her.

But I didn't know he would steal her bed!

And my sweet girl didn't seem to care! 

Crafty Wall Hanging

It's been forever since I posted something crafty here. And since the bead blog is about beads and the stamp blog is about stamps... and this is neither, I thought I would share it here.

I don't remember what artist did this on Carol Duvall, but it's just my kind of craft... it looks nice and is super easy to make! It's one of the few things I saw demoed during the week and went home and made it! Mine is starting to look a little worse for wear but it has been hanging on my wall for 14 years!



Save for the pieces where white is showing...it looks like stone. Here's what you need:

• Water Putty - from Lowe's or Amazon 
• Scraps of 1/2 styrofoam
• 16 or 18 g wire
• Scraps of felt same size as Styrofoam
• Putty knife
• Soap or candle mold...something decorative and small
• White or Styrofoam glue
• Thinned brown paint or brown ink
• Paint brush
• Paper towels
• Wire cutters
• Round nose pliers

Steps

1. Mix some water putty as per directions on box. Pour into the candle / soap mold and allow to harden. When dry, remove from the mold.
2. Cut your Stryofoam into desired shape. I used a rectangle and two squares. 
3. Cut your felt to match your foam shapes. Set aside. 
4. With putty knife, spread water putty onto the sides and front of your foam shapes. Messy looks more rugged, like a real piece of stone. 
5. Spread a little putty onto one of the shapes from the mold and press into the front of the foam piece. I used three leaves on my rectangle and only one on the squares. 
6. Let everything dry. 
7. If using acrylic or house paint...thin it down with water. Or use brown stamping ink. Brush on and rub off with paper towels to age the putty. Think about shadows and light... where would the relief piece naturally be darker??
8. Glue the felt over the back. 
9. Cut a small piece of wire and bend it into a wide V from the middle. Grab one end of the wire about 1/4" from the end and bend it back up toward the middle bend but away from the overall wire piece. (See illustration below.) Repeat on other end. 
10. Insert wire through the felt and into the foam to hang the piece from 

This shows shows the bends in the wire from the front and the side. The little end is inserted into the foam and big bend serves as a hanger.

The beauty of a piece like this is that it looks much heavier than it is yet it can be hung from a sheet rock wall with something as tiny as a brad nail.

Review: Nutrisource Salmon Treat

Hey Mom! Isn't is about time to review something wonderful from Chewy.com???


Mabel Lou, you don't know it's wonderful until you try it!

But everything they've sent me has been PAWSOME! 

But still Mabel, you have to taste it and give your honest review and... you promised you'd let Barticus come help you!

I did???? Why would I do that??? 

Because he's our friend and we LOVE him!

But Mooom... Bart's kindy picky! What if he doesn't like the treats??? 

Well then, your review will be super honest!

Alright Mom, wha'did Mr. Chewy send us?? 

I've been wanting to find a good fish based treat for you since your tum has been so finicky as you've gotten older, so Chewy sent us some NutriSource Soft and Tender Treats in a salmon flavor.

That sounds yummy!! What do you think about Salmon treats Barty boy???

Uh good good, those sound good! OpenemMom OpenemMom OpenemMom!!! 

Be PATIENT Bart! Chewy always sends the best treats and besides, my mom has to take the pictures with the flashy. 

O.k Bart, you're our company so you get to go first. 

Oh Geez Mom! You KNOW he eats SO SLOW!

Still waiting..... 

Nope... STILL waiting.... and.... HE LIKES IT! SCORE!!!

My turn!!! FINALLY!

 

As predicted, they are totally PAWSOME! Can we have MORE??? PLEASE???

Hey Mabel, it looks like you have my snooter in your mouth! Heh heh!! Don't eat me! Wait for the salmon treats!

Oh My Dog! I think I'm in love!  Thank you so much for letting me help you review them!

Welp, that's it folks... eight paws up from me and the Farticus! 

Creekhiker was not compensated in any way for this review. Mabel Lou was given a free bag of dog treats to eat - or not - by Chewy.com

Mutt Mitt - Piece of $h17!

Now that our rugged trails have new signs declaring them a "park," someone comes around from the rangerdangers and puts out poop bags. They are made by a company called Mutt Mitts and they are worse than crap!

They are apparently made to be biodegradable but I think that's what makes them worthless! Usually by the time we get to end of a box, they are falling apart! Imagine scooping poop with this:

See that torn side seam? It's like that on both sides!

Even worse, all the little bits stick to everything!

Mutt Mitts do not do the job they were intended to do and if you hike around here...BYOB!

Creekhiker was not asked to review crappy Mutt Mitts but did so out of sheer frustration!

That's MY Duck!

I saw Ms. Mallory tonight. I know it's amazing that I can tell her apart from all the other ducks in the pond... but I can. She's loud. She's bitchy. She complains A LOT! And she's smaller than the other she-males.  I feel I know her as well as I know Mabel!

She was complaining and fussing and I walked through the shrubs to see her. The closer I got, the louder she got. Just as I got my camera out, she took flight!  All red arrows point to her and her thrashing wings!

She circled me constantly, fussing the whole time and diving toward me.  Finally she landed:

And kept fussing until Drake landed beside her. His presence seemed to calm her a bit, as did Mabel and I leaving the tall shrubs where I'm certain there are some eggs....

I'm happy my girl has decided the pond is a nice place to live. My pool still hasn't recovered from the last round of babies two summer ago!

Meet Our Team

O.K. This was a stolen idea I saw on Facebook which featured shepherds. Nothing against shepherds but I really wanted one with rottens!

Naturally, I had to put the QBoE in charge with Otto as her assistant...Photo from last summer at the ponds from my collection of photos for the never ending "Stick 101" post!

2014 Things - Week One

I wrote this post the first week of January... and my OCD kicked in. I became obsessed with counting. It was NOT healthy! So I stopped worrying about the number. It's still a good objective so I'm sharing it with you now.

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I read this post about getting rid of 2014 things from your home in 2014 and knew I wanted to give it a whirl.

I need to make some changes in my life... my house and my life are so full of stuff. And I'm tired. I'm tired of moving it around. I'm tired of talking to people on my doorstep because I fear their judgement. And with the possibility that I will need to give up 2+ rooms of space should my Mom need full time care... Things need to change! 

I didn't know I would be starting this but I had already cleaned out a liquor cabinet on New Year's Eve. I'm not much of a drinker and I have no intention of throwing parties any time soon. Most everything in the cabinet was purchased for my last birthday party... in 2001! I only kept the cooking sherry, Xiaoshing wine, and a bottle of Bourbon just in case.  I will use the room to keep dog food off the laundry room floor.

I'm hoping this diary will make me more conscious of the stuff I choose to fill my life with and why! 

Outflow:

1/1	6 bottles of liquor	Given to a friend who will use it!
1/2	2 mini bottles liquor	Given to the same friend above
1/2	1 bottle non-alcoholic cider	Used it to water my narcissus and recycled the bottle.
1/2	12 hair combs	Donated to Veterans Thrift Store. Why do I buy things I have too much hair for??
1/3	zero actual progress	Posted some ads for things I want to sell and made contacts for some donations
1/4	Yard long strip of sequin punch	Trash...
1/4	Tub of Margarita salt	Given to the friend who drinks

Inflow:

1/3	Bathroom rug	Nice find at the thrift store. Tired of cold feet.
1/4	purchased a salt set for the shakers	I'm NOT counting the food but I did give the salt tray and two of the spoons that came with to the bestie. She gave hers to her mother and she loves having flavored salts out. My kitchen is not big enough for such a display!
1/4	Tall skinny dog food container	Will fit in my newly clean kitchen cabinet and keep me from going downstairs twice a day to prepare Mabel's meals. That's a win to me!

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So while I'm not counting per se any more, I have made amazing progress. I've got a 18 x 18 x 12 box in the shop that I'm filling with art supplies for a school in MN. I got rid of the stereo speakers that were taller than my waist and right now, my patio bannister is lined with boxes for the Vets Thrift store.

What amazed me as my bestie and I cleaned my downstairs den is that for everything I parted with, another item needed that space... sigh.

Bad Dog Mom?

For my birthday,  I took Mabel for a special hike (since she didn't get a special hike for HER birthday) and then we met up with Bart and his Mom at the Habit for burgers.

I was most surprised that Bart's mom did not buy him his own cheeseburger! Just look at the poor starving boy staring longingly at his mom's fries...

And here he is eyeing Mabel's cheeseburger that I'm cutting up.... Poor Bart. He's the only one at our table with no cheeseburger...

And while Mabel Lou may be the Queen Bitch of Everything who NEVER shares her tennis balls or stuffies, she's a peach about sharing her cheeseburger with a hiking buddy!  She graciously shared her burger bite for bite!  And Bart even sent us a sweet email thanking us later!

Now, we all have to work on Bart's mom and make her see the wisedom of buying her boy his very own burger! Next time you visit them on the RottRover Blog, be sure to let her know! ;-)

Post Storm Pics

 These are some shots from Dirty Creek after the storm.  The floodwaters flattened all the greenery and the creek was way out of its banks. 

 

The ducks relished the extra swimming area.

Its Tilla Boy

The answer to yesterday's post! We ran into Tilla and his dad checking out our revived stream. His winter furs have grown in and we could not believe how curly they were! It didn't help that the dogs were darting into the creek and getting wet...but seriously, I know many a lady that would pay good money for those curls!!!

Can You Guess?

What is this?

Rainy Hike

Unless you've been under a rock, you've heard we got some rain. First, I'll show you a pic of Mabel in the creek the day before the rain....

 

And here is the same spot the day after:

Miss Thing was NOT a happy camper. Our hike was just laughable. Mabel usually loves to go out rain or shine... but not that day. Just as we got to our parking spot, the rain picked up. 

I have to tell you a bit about my 16 year old jeep. The locks don't work properly... particularly Mabel's door. And the alarm will lock all the doors but hers but if I open her door to lock it... the alarm kicks in! And... the key fob no longer unlocks the doors or it will unlock but not turn off the alarm. Locking the car is... complicated! 

I ran around to the passenger side, realized Mabel's door was locked. I had to: unlock the front, reach in and unlock the back, lock and close the front, open and lock the back letting her out. Just as I shut her door and the rain starts to pound, I realize I've left the umbrella and leash in the car! Lather, rinse repeat! 

I was struggling with my old and underused umbrella in the rain, outside the locked car when I realized that while my back was turned dealing with the umbrella, Mabel had simply walked around the car once and gotten back in and was now locked inside!  Shortest hike ever!!! 

I gave up and got in the car thinking I would go check on the river flow on the levy and we would call it a day. 

I had to open Mabel's door to get my umbrella and...the girl jumped out and took off!  So off we went down the rainy levy. 

It was raining so hard... and it was raining sideways!  It was so cold, my fingers felt like they were being pierced by thousands of needles!  The wind was so strong! 

Mabel seemed miserable by the time we got to the end. She took a look around and instead of heading down to the water, like we always do... 

The girl took off for the homeless camp! I think she was looking for shelter!
 
 I gave chase and leashed her up.  We snapped that pic above (#2) down by the river and headed back to the car, fighting wind and rain and cold all the way back.


My old umbrella finally bit the dust mud half way back... Ain't nobody gonna write a song about this umbrella...

The next day, we made sure there was no way we'd get caught in the rain... Mabel used to love hiking in it, but I have to be aware that my girl is older. I have to listen to her needs...

Speaking of older... Monday is a big birthday. I hate my birthday.... and I've written about it ad infinitum here. But I bring it up because... it's the BIGGEST sale of the year on my glass beads and jewelry. 39% off! Details and shopping codes in my newsletter.