Another Loss.

Aaron and I had a fantastic time visiting with our buddies in Chestertown, New York.  It's always nice to take a break from the everyday, and see some close friends (and new friends), and celebrate the happy parts of life.  I planned on coming home, and making a happy post, with joyful photos, but sometimes life just gets in the way.  

Around noon my stepdad, Andy called me while Aaron and I were on our way home with absolutely awful news.  My mom and Andy had to rush Moose to the pet hospital.  They had noticed a swollen bulge on his tummy, and the night before he had three accidents in the house.  They didn't see him make them, so they weren't sure what end it had come out of, but they thought it might have been throw up.  In the seven weeks we've had Moose he was always great about letting us know when he had to go, and he only had one accident on the second night we had him.  

They got x-rays done, and a little while later they let me know what the veterinarian's diagnoses was.  He had a strangulated hernia, which would mean ultra super expensive surgery, that they wouldn't be able to guarantee that a few months, or a year down the road it wouldn't happen again.  Permanent debt to the vet.  Or let him go before his colon ruptured through his hernia.  

We rushed home to spend a few moments with him, and to be by his side for his final seconds.  It was a terribly hard decision, but we just don't have that kind of money right now, and we can't take on that much debt.  And like the vet said, sometimes it's easier for the animal to move on to the other side.  Moose is in a better place now.  

The day before we left he seemed a bit sluggish, and he wasn't going up the stairs.  I thought he banged up one of his knees on the steps, because almost daily he'd slip up one step, from running up them too fast.  I couldn't have imagined it was something this severe.  The vet said it could have been hereditary, and something he had been living with, or there could have been an incident like a dog fight or if he fell.  Besides slipping on a step or getting a little wild on his walks, we can't think of anything that could have happened during the short time that we've been caring for him.  

Sometimes our bodies just fail us.  Young or old.  Animal or human.  

That's all I got.  It's beyond hard losing two animals less than a few months apart.  Hope you're having a better day than I am, and happy DIYing, chris.  

Photo An Hour #3 (( Part 2 ))

Hi ya!  Happy Thursday!  I'm back again with the second half of my third Photo an Hour from June tenth with my macro lens.  

1:30pm - 2:30pm

A little overlap from where I left off yesterday, hanging out in the back yard.  Moose joined me, and I caught some super cute close-ups of his adorable nose and ears.  I can't get enough of his handsomeness.  

2:30pm - 3:30pm

As the sun started lowering toward the horizon more mosquitoes where lurking around.  This one didn't survive the battle.  

3:30pm - 4:30pm

My latest DIY that I finished recently.  Photos and a tutorial to follow in the future.  

5:30pm - 6:30pm

I took Aaron outback to take some outfit pics, and of course i had to snap a few of my own.  This t-shirt is perfect for Aaron.  I always smile when I see him wearing it.  

This was the first thing that caught my eye when we walked outback.  I love the way the sunlight is making the lush green leaves glow.  

This lovely lily was growing in a bunch of weeds around this cinderblock.  So lovely.  

I loved the color of my sweater against the green.  Makes me think of watermelon, mmm.  

That's where I ended my photos for the day.  Of course I didn't go to sleep at six thirty, but as the sun lowered to the horizon, the more buggy it got, and the less I wanted to hang out in the sun taking pictures.  Plus by this point I had tons of photos, so I thought I reached my goal for the day.  I enjoy Photo An Hour days, because it really has me thinking outside of the box to push myself to get creative beautiful photos.  I'm always excited to upload my photos, and share them with ya'll.  Hope you enjoyed, and happy DIYing, chris!  

Photo An Hour #3

I did a Photo An Hour with my macro lens on June tenth, and I have a ton of photos I love.  I went through them multiple times trying to narrow down my selection, and even though I only photographed between six thirty in the morning and six thirty in the evening, I have nearly twenty photos!  I don't want to inundate you, and slow down everyone's computers more than I already do, so I'm going to break this into two posts.  :) Enjoy!

6:30am - 7:30am

Everything is going to flower in the garden right now, and I'm sad it's the end of the broccoli and lettuce/spinach.  Though, the flowers are lovely.  So we let them keep growing, even though we probably should have pulled them, and planted something else by now.  Oh, right, what was I doing in the garden this early?  Letting Moose out.  That's the second thing I do every morning, right after I put in my contacts.  

7:30am - 8:30am

Speaking of Moose.  What a silly dog this little man is.  He doesn't leave the back door if I don't go outside with him, and he needs to go on two walks a day.  If I delay his walk at all, he bounces everywhere at home AND on the walk!!!  He's so darn excitable, and cute!  I can't get enough of him.  He's always good for a laugh.  

8:30am - 9:30am

While on our walk I spotted two awesome fungi!  I never noticed seeing the Devil's Dip Stick around before, but a while back Kaylah on The Dainty Squid posted some photos, and I was enthralled.  I wanted to find one, and I just so happened to down the street from my house!  I don't normally walk with Moose and my camera, but I had to head back out with it to get both these awesome finds.  I love the colors in the conch mushroom.  Not a typical mushroom color for this area.  

10:30am - 11:30am

Checking out my pocket contents on the back deck.  A doggie poo bag, some rocks, a button, and a penny.  If I see a button or penny on the ground, it will end up in my pocket.  I have a hard time resisting collecting a rock on every walk I go on.  I could probably fill a house with rocks, if I didn't curb my rock addiction.  Hehe.  

11:30am - 12:30pm

Working on a DIY.  I was enjoying sitting out in the sunshine.  I have to smile watching the sun create dancing shadows over my handy craft.  

12:30pm - 1:30pm

Salad for lunch.  We grew all the greens ourselves!  So tasty.  I also threw on some cherry tomatoes, cucumber slices, chick peas, zucchini triangles, bacon bits, parmesan cheese, and blue cheese dressing.  When I was little my salads would mostly consist of chickpeas and tomatoes drenched in blue cheese dressing.  Well, I guess some things don't change.    

1:30pm 2:30pm

Laying out in the backyard while working on my DIY.  

This Is where I'll leave you for tonight.  Sorry this post is so late.  I kept putting it off, and half forgetting that I hadn't completed it yet.  Happy DIYing, chris.  

Doggies & Mushrooms

 These photos are from last weekend.  We took Moose for a walk at one of the local State Parks.  He was extra excited about the car ride, and completely mad for the walk.  He's a wild man!  By the time we got half way through, he was running between shady spots.  At one point he just plopped himself down.  Silly dog.  

I should take actually outfit photos of this get-up.  Ha!  Did I just say get-up?  Anyway, I love the top.  It used to be my mom's when she was in her 20's.  It has cute delicate sleeves, with the sweetest little flower cutouts with embroidery all over it.  So feminine, and genuinely from the late 70's.  I don't wear it that much, because I don't like washing it.  It's mostly white, and I'm clumsy.  I try to take good care of it, because i'd  like to keep it forever.  :)  

I love mushrooms!  I love to eat them, photograph them, and I REALLY want to try growing them!  I'd love to try some of those ultra cool heirloom varieties, like oyster mushrooms, or shiitake.  I'd start out with one of those handy mushroom grow kits (click on the links).  Until I try my hand at that, I'll be satisfied with photographing them.  The bottom two photos are the same pair of mushrooms, and I found them in our front yard.  They were right next to our car parked on the street. I had to lay in the middle of the road to take them, but I didn't care.  I think I might have gotten poison ivy/sumac when I photographed the one in the state park.  Or Moose got it on me when he rubs is paws on my legs.  

I never had any poison ivy reactions until the last couple years.  I'm totally disappointed in that changing about me as I get older.  Poison ivy reactions are absolutely no fun.  Besides the horrible iciness, they leave terrible ugly rashes for days or weeks on end.  The grossest part ... the rashes leak.  Ick!  Now that I've grossed you all out, I'm going to go get dinner ready.  Happy DIYing, chris.  

Happy May 5th!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!  I had to work this morning, two communion groups & individuals all before noon!  Whew-wee!  Those things are hard work, so it got me thinking about relaxing, and having a lil' Mexican inspired celebration.  Not that salsa and tequila have all that much to do with Mexican heritage, freedom, or the the Battle of Puebla where they defeated the powerful French army.  But I suppose they have more to do with May-he-co than my go to alcohol - whisky, or my go to snack - cheese.  I always enjoy make (and eating!) themed food.

I love green salsa, but since this was my first attempt I was afraid to only make the verde kind.  Plus who doesn't like regular tomato salsa?  

This recipe is called Tomatillo Salsa Verde.  I have been a little out of my head lately, and I just realized I never read the directions.  Apparently, I was supposed to roast or boil the tomatillos, opps!  Oh well, it still tasted good.  

This recipe is called Fresh Tomato Salsa.  Both recipes I found on SimplyRecipes.  When I'm looking for a specific recipe I google image search the name of the dish, and pick the best photo that has a recipe with it.  I use a similar technique when buying cookbooks, because if there is any book you should judge by it's cover it's definitely a cookbook.  :) Besides Joy of Cooking, if a cookbook doesn't  have great photos to accompany the recipes, then I wont be buying it.  

The verde salsa had the perfect amount of heat for me.  I recently went to an authentic taqueria, ya know, authentic in the way that the menu is in spanish, they also rent DVDs and CDs, and I get funny looks for pronouncing carnitas wrong.  When the lovely lady was bagging my food, she stopped to ask if I wanted salsa, and I could tell she definitely did not expect me to pick the green kind.  It usually has a little more kick to it than regular salsa, but the spiciness is lighter than hot salsa.  I love dribbling it over some melty enchiladas.  

AND I spent the rest of my day hanging out with our new ... DOGGIE!!! YAY!  We inherited him from my Great Aunt.  I never knew her all that well, but my Grandad had reconnected with her in recent years, and back in December her health turned for the worst.  She's been in the hospital since, and it doesn't look like she'll be coming home.  Before her health declined she had asked my Grandfather, when the time came to find her pup a good home.  It's a sad circumstance to become a dog owner, but we were happy to give the little guy a home, and keep him out of the shelter.  Plus isn't he just so darn cute!?!

He came with the name Scooch, but that's not really our style.  His new name is Moose.  Mostly because he makes crazy noises when he gets excited especially on walks.  Kind of like a goose really, but we didn't think Goose would make a good dog name.  It mostly makes me think of goosing someone, thus that name was decidedly not a winner.  Though moose rolls right off my tongue, and we can call him Moosie.  Plus it's obvious that I like naming my pets after other animals (ie. our recently passed cat's name was Cricket, ya know the bug, and bugs are animals right? awe, I miss crick, she was a sweet kitty ... )  

Anywho, hope ya'll are having a great weekend, and happy DIYing, chris!  

P.S.  See I told you I haven't been with it lately, I totally forgot it was saturday, thus missing Saturday Blogger Love.  Ut-oh, how about tomorrow?  Silly me ...

Dog Brooch Make-over

We went to a dog show today, because I love doggies.  I want one soooo sooo sooo bad!  I feel like I've been waiting forever for the right time to get a puppy.  We saw so many cuties today, but the waiting continues, cause you can't buy dogs at dog shows.  Or at least not the two I've gone to. 

When I got home I was inspired to work on my doggie pin DIY.  I've had this dog pin since I was a kid, so I thought it was time for a little make-over.  This DIY is easy as pie, and faster than the road runner!  I used acrylic paint and a small wooden stick, a toothpick would work too.  I keep small tin lids to use as paint trays.

Working from the bottom up, I carefully made polka dots on the little pin.  I made dots in a straight line, and worked my way up, off setting the next line from the previous.  

The paint dried in minutes, and I was able to put it on for some pics!  Actually I haven't taken it off, because I think it's so cute!  

Hope ya'll had a great weekend, and happy DIYing, chris.