I have been having a problem with my stitching mojo. I do not know if it is the projects I have been picking up or what. I pick them up for a few days but they are not speaking to me. So I went through my cabinet today to see what else I had. This old WIP was calling to me. It is MLI's Lady of the Thread. I put it away in 2009 because there is an error in the mirror somewhere. I feel a bit more patient about looking for it now. She is beautiful and would look so cute in my craft room. So I think I will play with this for a while.
We had some excitement around the cozy cottage today. I have mentioned that my neighborhood is under attack by gophers. I have a few hills and holes in my yard and they are attacking the roots of a couple of my plants. Liesl has not even been a deterrent. So I have been researching some safe ways to discourage them include some yucky (but safe, non poisonous, non-toxic) smelling stuff that you put down the holes to try to encourage them to pack their bags and leave.
It was cold and gray today. I did not feel like being cold outside, so I just ran errands. I figured that I would get back to the gopher battle when it was warmer after work this week. So after I got home I puttered around the house. I thought I might trim up the hair on Liesl's legs so I set up her towel, scissors and brush on top of the washing machine in the garage. Then I got the cheese out of the fridge and crackled the plastic. Cheese helps to make the haircutting process go a bit more smoothly. Liesl's love of cheese is legendary and she can hear a package of cheese being brushed up against in the fridge from the backyard. When I crinkle the package I swear she can fly because she just appears and I do not even hear her coming.
So I crinkled the package. No Liesl. I went to the back door and crinkled the package loudly and said, "Liesl, want some cheese?!" Still no Liesl. This is totally not normal. I got a little freaked out and went looking for her. She was behind a hedge in the yard and her attention was focused on something behind a flower pot. That was when I saw the gopher. A literal blink of an eye later, she had it and was violently shaking it. (It is one of the things mini schnauzers are bred to do, hunt vermin.) I freaked out a little bit and yelled at her to drop it (I am terrified that neighbors have used poison and she could be secondarily poisoned.) She was pretty proud of herself. I realized that I needed to tell her she did a good job, even though my heart was pounding in my ears.
Ol' Patti here does not deal with death well. Not only can I not remove anything that is dead, I can not even look at it. But, it had to not be in my yard anymore, due to Liesl. So I called my neighbor across the street, who is a super nice man, and is also a mortician. So I figured he would probably not be squeamish. He came over right away, armed with a bag and rubber gloves and took it away.
It is really interesting to me how dogs are hard wired with certain traits as part of their breeding. As you may have guessed, Liesl lives a pretty cushy and spoiled life. This is the same dog that was limping due to a slug being on her leg and would not walk until I removed it. After she took care of her little hunt today, she came in and played with her toys, had her dinner, let me know she was ready for belly rubs, and chewed her bone like it was a normal day. It is interesting that no matter how comfortable and removed from farm life she is, she still performs the duties of a farm dog, just like her ancestors. I still can not believe how fast she was...
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