KNIT, KNIT, KNIT

It is the time of year when I just go crazy knitting. Every spare moment is spent with needles clicking, yarn unwinding and a dazzling piece of art developing. I love the smell of the wool as it rustles through my fingers. I love watching the pattern come alive. I love having our little dogs right there beside me guarding my every move.

Today was no different as they took up their respected positions on the living room lounge chair with me. They both lay so close to me that sometimes Diesel's fur gets tangled in the yarn and he becomes part of a stitch. It was peaceful, quiet and relaxed.

Then I heard it. The rumble that comes with a SoCal earthquake. But it happened to quick, not an earthquake. I realized that one of my pooches had just broke wind. No, that wasn't it. Wait. What?

Dakota was snoring like a sailor too long at sea. This 17 pound mutt sounded like an 18 wheeler crashing through the house. This tiny little female hound was making a sound that rattled the windows.

So much for quiet at the Roderick's.

NEW CLASS

Addison comes home from school today and I greet her with a smile and a question. "How was your first class of the new term?" She muttered something about a brain formation class and I thought that odd. She is in a fashion design school and brain just didn't ring true to my way of thinking. I continued with "a brain class . . . really." To which she replied "No Mom . . . a brand formation class. You know brand names."

My bad. I'm Roderick.

CRAZY WEEK

It has been a crazy week at the Roderick's. Fall seems to bring all the "busy" with it. Time changes at church, staff changes as well, kids back to school, holiday plans in the making and knitting, lots of knitting.

This fall has brought new challenges. Scott's dad is seriously ill and his mom has health challenges of her own. Scott tries to get down to Carlsbad as much as he can but his work right now is in a crush mode with many new issues rising to the surface. We are determined to weather the storm.

Addison is looking at some dental surgery on Wednesday. She's got all kinds of teeth stuff going on from implants to orthodonture to wisdom teeth. It all falls right in the middle of her 2nd term of school and she is a wee bit stressed about it all. I can't blame her.

So needless to say the blog has suffered a bit. But we're Roderick's. We will muddle through.

HOPE COOKED

Hope cooked dinner last night and it was so awesome. I can not tell you how excited I was that she had taken on some responsibility in the kitchen. She's always been the one who didn't want to do anything near a stove or an oven. She made a fabulous grilled chicken ceasar salad from start to finish including the grocery shopping for the ingredients.

And she helped me cut out felt pieces for a project we are doing in the Treehouse. We sat there and cut and laughed most of the afternoon. Scott watched soccer, Addison was hanging out and Hope and I were armed with scissors. We didn't have a pattern, we just freestyled. It was a very cozy Sunday afternoon at the Roderick's.

We were shy two girls but we're Roderick's. We will find a way to survive.

VET DAY

Today was appointment day at the Vet. D&D had shots, check-ups, weigh-ins and meds. They were itching all weekend and I decided enough of that so we combined routine/regular visit. We returned $600.00 lighter with healthy dogs, allergy pills and flea eradication product (all prescription of course). Next year we add dental care at their annual visit.

Whew! We love our dogs a lot.

THOSE DOGS

Diesel loves to watch me in the kitchen. He sits on the couch and peeks over the top for a view of every angle and my every move. So when Scott came home it was only a matter of time before he decided to test Diesel. Dakota is too short to see over the couch or she would have met the same fate.

Scott and I were by the sink and slowly and stealthly squat to the floor and tap lightly on the dog dishes. Yep. The tinkle of dog tags meets our ears and two little mutts come running in to see what's up in the kitchen.

Hmm. Did I feed those guys today?

TANK

Our friends, the Hurdles, have a lab named Tank who is not the smartest dog in the litter. He's the one they watch attack the sprinklers for hours on end. Of course, Don and Cherylynn watch him perform this task, so I don't know what that says about them. I am not here to debate about the "smartness" in the family. I want to share a story about Tank.

Cherylynn noticed that Tank had been feeling poorly. You know, just not behaving like Tank normally does. A few days pass and suddenly Tank perks up and has regained his usual curious demeanor. The Hurdles are once again happy.

As they clean up dog poop in the back yard, those of us with dogs know how much fun that is, Cherylynn finds an unusual pile of Tank vomit. That's right vomit. Dog people know the difference between poop and vomit. This was vomit. Not only was it vomit, it was an unusual amount of vomit and strangely familiar.

Seems our friend Tank had got into Nathan's closet and gobbled up a whole bag of Easter grass. This is very harmful to dogs. In fact, if not caught in time can cause death. Tank took the high road and avoided a very expensive visit to the vet.

Tank should be a Roderick.