ivyskeep

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2024-11-15T04:12:38Z

I've dusted off my Bluesky account. I'm trishd over there. I'll probably post mostly about crafts, gardening, food, and maybe some gaming once I get back into it.

Bridget the dog has to get her cyst surgically removed. We tried our best to keep it clean and she went through two rounds of antibiotics. Her surgery is scheduled for early December.

It's nice to be done with yard work for the season. I have more time to be crafty. I've made three loom knit hats and I'm currently working on an infinity scarf (crochet).

I admit I'm purposely staying numb about the incoming POTUS. I guess that's me "enjoying my privilege," but I honestly, don't think my mental health can handle doomscrolling like I did from 2016 to 2021 to see what hellish thing he's doing each day.

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Happy Thanksgiving

2023-11-23T20:40:42Z

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone who celebrates. The bird is almost done. We're looking forward to a lovely dinner. I'll be seeing mom tomorrow and will take a feast for her.

J gave the dog a hush puppy from Long John Silver's restaurant. She was not a happy camper through the night. Let's just say I was doing a lot of cleaning of rugs and floors around 5 a.m. Poor thing. At least, I hope that's all it was. Those things are tasty but greasy. I'll be keeping an eye on her.

I got the contract that I applied for, which I'm grateful for.

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Weekend Randomness

2023-10-15T02:36:12Z

I really enjoyed Mortal, the movie that I mentioned in the last post. It's not a glossy Marvel super hero film and that worked in its favor. The main character is a descendent of Thor who can't control the power he's inherited. It's an interesting take on the Thor/Norse mythos (trailer below).

Bridget turns eight years old tomorrow. My sweet senior girl. You can hear her joints creak when she goes up the stairs like the other old people in the house. I'm making her pumpkin peanut butter dog treats. I found the recipe at Gone to the Snow Dogs. Those are two of her favorite flavors.

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Flicks on Order

2023-10-03T02:20:19Z

ysabetwordsmith linked to a list of prompts for October posts. Today's is for horror movies to watch. Hub told me about what he says is an '80s werewolf film called Bad Moon, but the only reference I can find is for one by that name from 1996. A German Shepherd named Thor saves the day, so you know I want to watch it.

I also heard of a movie called Mortal, which is fantasy, not horror. This one draws from Norse mythology. A young man is plagued by fires happening when he's angry. It turns out he has an interesting connection to Thor.

We're getting both of these films from the inter-library lending system. I'm looking forward to seeing them.

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7/12/2023 Random

2023-07-12T11:56:47Z

Work, aka life security, is going to be on my mind for a while, so bear with me during these posts. One contract I took on for weekend work has another opportunity during the week, so things may be smoothing out for me soon.

Bridget keeps noshin' on her leg, so I'm still making her wear a covering. I ordered one that covers just the one leg because the one that covers both hind legs gets cumbersome.

Mom had to buy a new air conditioner. Thankfully, she went through the company we did. They've provided great service over the years. Her old one was from the '90s and rusting out.

The basil is doing great. I'll be making pesto soon. I've got elderberry blooms for the first time. I planted the bush two autumns ago. Hopefully, I'll get some nice berries to make a tincture and something tasty like jam. I have the York variety, which is self-fertile. I may eek out space though to put another variety in the yard for proliferation.

The rosa rugosa bush in the front yard has taken off. I'll be harvesting rose hips in the fall. I don't know if I'll have enough for jelly, but I can leave some for the birds in winter and still have some for tea.

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6/7/2023 Randomness

2023-06-08T00:56:08Z

I made an appointment with my doc to check my knee. I slipped last year on the deck and torqued it somehow but the pain got better. I've had problems twice since then, but this time it's not getting better. I just want to make sure I don't have something like a meniscus injury.

I'm taking on some contract work on the weekends because ~~I'm a terrible masochist~~ I was a contractor so long that the habit of "not putting all my eggs in one basket" is a hard habit to break.

We need it to rain. Things are still growing though. I think the bush beans will be successful and at least two tomato plants.

I try to keep Bridget from barking at the toddlers next door, but if they're dog is out, she gets a few barks in. The little brother toddler has started barking back. She does the German Shepherd head tilt. I guess she doesn't know what to do with that. It's cute.

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My big pink puff ball

2023-05-16T23:25:55Z

Bridget keeps chewing on a scrape on her leg. I don't want it to get infected, so I got her a hot pink onesie to wear since she loses her shit with the cone of shame and practically strangles herself.

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Randomness February 1, 2023

2023-02-01T13:18:52Z

I'm very happy to start a new job in a couple of weeks. Bridget's yearly checkup went well, and she got her three-year rabies shot. Her dad took her for a burger after, lol. I started a new summery crochet afghan. My goal is to complete three this year with one of them being a gift for mom. I started two 12-pk trays of seed starters. They contain a mix of vegetables, flowers, and herbs.

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Randomness January 22, 2023

2023-01-22T18:39:18Z

Saturday morning around 1 a.m. Bridget woke me from sleep with loud barking. After a couple seconds of grogginess, I realized it was because of loud banging on what I thought was our front door. I immediately woke hubs. We all went downstairs to see what was going on, and the perpetrators were already gone. I heard what I thought was a vehicle quickly rounding the corner. Being ornery and middle-aged, we did the equivalent of shaking our fists while saying, "Those goddamn kids," and then went back to bed. However, this incident was apparently so loud that two neighbors called 911 as I was told by one of them later on Saturday. The theory is that the goddamn kids were banging on our metal garage door. Our neighbor said he heard laughing and a big truck driving away.

We have the joy of living on a corner. Over the years, we've had our mailbox destroyed twice, once by a drunk person and once by vandalism. We also get these occasional after-midnight dares to bang on our door I assume because they can quickly get out of sight by going around the block. Since we didn't have a repeat of the incident last night, I'm just chalking it up to kids on a dare. One hopes it's nothing more.

Did you see the dw_news post about password security issues? I haven't had any problems on Dreamwidth, but I guess I should check my old Livejournal account just in case.

I don't want to jinx my job search by saying too much, but I'll say it may be going well.

It's been mild enough temp wise that chamomile leaves are peeking through near the raised bed area in the backyard. I thought I cleaned it all out and planted it in containers for the spring, but it really wants to take over that area.

I checked Knives Out from the library because I've been hearing about Glass Onion and I wanted to watch the first one in the series even though they're standalone stories. I enjoyed it. Not as much as other mysteries, but it's cheeky enough to be a fun homage to the genre. I liked Daniel Craig better as Bond, but this Benoit Blanc character might grow on me.

I'm still waiting on Wings of Desire from the library as mentioned in this post. Sometimes our interlibrary loan system shows that I checked things out but then a few days later they're not in my queue. That happened with this movie, so I checked it out a second time.

Have a good week.

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Randomness January 6, 2023

2023-01-06T15:33:54Z

Happy New Year! It's going good so far. Work is a bit slow though.

Hubs made brown Windsor soup last night and I made the crusty no-knead bread. It was a great combo.

Brigdet is on a new allergy med which seems to be helping with ear itching and foot chewing. So far, my pet insurance is covering 80 percent. I hope that continues because it's a bit pricey. It's worth it if it keeps her from scratching and causing infections or ear hematomas as she has in the past, but every little bit of reimbursement helps.

I'm low-key putting applications in for other remote positions. I'd love an employee position again. Those seem like gold these days rather than contract work.

I still haven't taken down my tiny Yule deco set-up because it makes me smile, but I plan on taking it down next week.

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Bat Cave

2022-12-18T23:41:14Z

I brought what we call Bridget's bat cave back upstairs. The vet didn't want to her to go upstairs for two weeks to keep her stitches from coming out. I admit we cheated with this as she was pretty chill anyway. She's been used to having her little fort situated behind my chair in my office for years. All is well in her world.

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Bridget is Healing

2022-12-12T16:34:00Z

Bridget's surgical scars are healing well. Tomorrow is the last day of the vet-recommended abstaining from exercise. I will start taking her for what I call the "short walk" around the block Wednesday. I'm not going to allow her to run and jump in the back yard yet just to be on the safe side of not opening her scars.

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12/3/2022

2022-12-04T03:23:35Z

Bridget had her two cysts removed and recovered well. The vet suggested dog onesies because I told her that the dog practically strangles herself in the E-collar. I woke up one night the last time she had to use to find that she was clearly trying to escape it but didn't quite make it and the collar had become way too tight. The onesie definitely keeps her from licking her stitches, though it's turned some neighbors' heads to see a German Shepherd in a red and white Santa's elf looking onesie, lol.

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November 23, 2022

2022-11-23T15:57:19Z

I'm not sure what to title these entries sometimes as they're usually meanderings of just random stuff. As per a previous post, I watched The Northman, which I enjoyed. I didn't go in expecting much as far as it representing Heathen religion. I'm just glad that there are non-Marvel type offerings out there of people who worshipped northern deities. Maybe one day we'll have films that feature Pagans and Heathens just as a matter of fact as modern worshippers and not as sorcerer or Viking wannabes. No, that's not a jab at Marvel or comic books. Sometimes, you just want something different. With the film's Hamlet undertones, it piqued my interest in the alleged origins of the Hamlet story which I've yet to dive into.

Bridget got her pre-surgical blood work. If nothing is wonky with that, then she's scheduled for her cyst removal surgery next week. Hubs went shopping for some type of ramp to help her get into the car because she's having trouble bringing her backside up.

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And a partridge...

2022-11-11T17:37:18Z

I sometimes go for a walk on a trail near my house without Bridget just to have a calm meditative walk without stopping. This morning, I came across about eight black and gray squirrels, a deer running across my path, and a human dog mom with THREE middle-aged looking German Shepherds (tell-tale silver mustaches). Poor Bridget missed all the fun.

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Household, Dog, Election Day, and Social Media

2022-11-08T18:24:01Z

The new washer works fine. Glad the old one went before the middle of the winter. I'm so grateful Michigan has absentee voting available "just because" now. We only have one car available in the household and it's usually with hubs during the day, so it's extremely convenient to have that voting option.

We planned Bridget's surgery to have two cysts removed for December, but the largest one burst yesterday, so her surgery date has been moved up to this month.

I haven't closed Twitter accounts down yet, but I've created accounts on Tribel and Mastodon as backups. I'm still figuring both sites out.

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Bridget's Care

2022-11-04T14:15:31Z

Bridget needs two cysts removed. The estimate I was given is a little steep. I'll have it done no matter what, but I'm checking around for different quotes. She's a middle-aged girl now (7 years old), and we can hear her bones when she goes up the stairs, so we're making some changes in her regimen. Eventually, I assume she'll have to stay downstairs most of the time. She's used to being right behind me relaxing in her soft crate (bat cave) in my home office.

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Household and Alfablot

2022-11-01T13:56:58Z

Our washer died. We've replaced several of the '90s-era appliances in our house over the last couple of years, so it was expected. There was some mumbling, but I'm just grateful we both have jobs. Bridget may have to have a cyst removed. She has a vet appointment today.

Because of work, my Alfablot will be belated and performed tomorrow. I've adapted a ritual from Mike Smith's Ways of the Asatru for solitary and personal use.

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Treats for Bridget and Annual Tractor Supply Pickup

2022-10-29T16:41:57Z

I made some apparently very tasty dog treats from this recipe on the War Eagle Mill site. The base recipe has only five ingredients, whole wheat flour, oats, flaxseed meal, peanut butter, and water. I added about one-quarter of a cup of carob chips to the base recipe as they're a safe alternative to chocolate chips for dogs. Our girl Bridget loves them.

We made our annual trip to Tractor Supply for several bags of pine shavings. I play with our dog in the backyard through the winter, and pine shavings have helped a lot with the mud/ice cycle we get in Michigan. An added bonus to both of us not breaking our necks is our back lawn isn't completely wiped out by spring like it would be before I started placing the shavings down. It's worn but not as bad as it would be without them. I can't remember where I read that little tip. I think it was on a forum for German Shepherd owners, but I think it would apply to owners of big, active dogs in general.

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