A funny Basset Boy Bart story

Yesterday morning, I got up at super early because those pesky dogs wanted breakfast.

So I dumped some kibble into their bowls and trooped off back to bed for a little more shut-eye.

At some point, Bart woke me up because he was licking. Something. He was licking something. Licking, licking, licking, oh my god!, the LICKING. I grumbled, I scolded, I screeched "BART! Stop licking!"

Eventually he quit. Rather, he quit licking loud enough for me to hear him.

Which is saying something because as much as I ♥ dogs, I can't stand to hear a dog lick.

ANYWAY.

Bart.

He decided to cuddle with me at some point.

So when I finally peeled my eyes open, I became the big spoon to Bart's little spoon.

He looked up at me with his big brown Basset Hound eyes and implored me, "PLEASE! Get the kibble out of my nose!"

He truly tried to inhale his breakfast.

No wonder he was lickingLICKINGlicking yesterday morning.

And I can add "Basset Hound Nose Picker" to my dog-sitting resumé.

Lucky me.

Who has time to blog?

Not me, apparently.

So far I've had a very busy and most excellent summer. Which leaves no time for Defective Typewriter!

I've had a fabulous vacation to Mackinac Island, made especially nice this year because S and the rest of his sailing team took FIRST PLACE in their division of the Port Huron to Mackinac yacht race. So aside from some quality alone time on an idyllic island, I got to hang with some pretty happy sailors.

I've learned how to knit! And I'm knitting up a storm. I've progressed from kitchen items to shawls. I'm making my mom a shawl for her to take to church with her. (See the pattern here.) The body of the shawl garter stitch (knit every row) so you'd think it would go pretty fast, right? Wrong. See, the whole "new knitter" thing is working against me as I have to go slow to keep my stitch tension even. At one point, I had to rip out a dozen rows and reknit them because they looked awful. But, the more I knit, the easier it is. I've got the continental knitting style down-pat, let me tell you. (I took a 'learn to knit' class at Joann's at the beginning of June which was invaluable for learning knitting basics. The teacher taught us the 'throwing' method which, in my opinion, is super inefficient. While searching the interwebs for videos on how do different stitches, I hit upon this video which is what I used to learn the continental method. An interesting article discussing the merits of both methods is here.)

So here's the shawl in progress:

S think it looks like a loin cloth.

I've got about 11 1/2 inches done on each side. The shawl is supposed to be 40" on the sides and 60" across the top. I figure I'll get it done sometime in 2011.

The yarn is wonderfully yummy: Moda Dea Bamboo Wool. It's 50% rayon from bamboo and 50% wool. It's scrumptious and I love knitting with it.

Enough about knitting.

Bart is here! I've had him for a week and I am enjoying him so very much. Pictures from last Thursday evening:



Been working a lot at my part-time job, too. It's a blessing and a curse, I tell you. Blessing because, let's face it, having that extra bit of cash is nice and it's a curse because it's summer! And who has time to work a second job? Me, apparently.

Which is why I have no time to blog!

Basset Boy

His name is Bart.
He's 4.
He's affectionate, likes to lay on the couch, sleep in the bed, and ride in the car.
He'll be staying with me from the end of July until some time in October.

The meet-n-greet went well. Russ was a bit excited, barking a very high-pitched (and quite annoying) bark. I don't know what this bark means exactly but it didn't seem to phase Bart at all.

We're going to have a few more meet-n-greets before E leaves for Boot Camp so the transition to my house will be easier on Basset Boy Bart. (By the way, we think he's named Bart after Bart Starr -- I'll try to confirm this.)

This is going to be so much fun.