My Bogie Bear

Today was all about my dog, Bogie. He is the light of my life and my best friend. This is only funny because I was afraid of dogs for quite a while. You see, I was attacked by a dog when I was 3 1/2 and the same dog got me again just before 4 years old. My parents kept nice dogs around when I was little. Partly because they love dogs and partly to keep me used to them. Family dogs were fine, but strange dogs terrified me until I met my husband.
He taught me how to read dogs. There are many things that make good and bad dogs. Genetics in the breeding are the start for personality. I have learned however that nurturing can win out over nature. I have had the pleasure to meet 3 of the sweetest pit bulls ever as well as many not so good ones. This is the case with my sweet beast.
Bogie is a Catahoula mix of the mountain variety. We didn't quite know what we were getting into when the 7 week old was given to us. Luckily, we did some research and found out his genetic temperament. Catahoula's are not recognized by the American AKC because they don't breed true. They can come out grey with spots, brindled, or the mountain ones are brown with a white butterfly on chest and white feet. That's my little Bogie bear. He weighs 89 pounds and is the great at snuggling. The Catahoula's have a reputation for fierceness and a used in packs of three to bring down wild boar, bulls, and alligators.
I never wanted to be afraid of my own dog, so we learned and trained for specific things. Socializing him was a huge goal and we succeeded. He is friendly with other dogs, people, and children. Just don't bring food into the picture. As he ages, Bo is getting more aggressive over food issues. A good old codger we knew looked at me once and said, "You ruined that dog." To which I happily took responsibility for taming a beast into a sweet, snuggle dog.
Don't get me wrong, Bo can be quite a handful. As a puppy, we trained him the property boundaries by having tied to a rock climbing rope that was tied to the house. He could go anywhere on the property and we checked on him often. During one of those check ons, I found my dog looking up at me innocently with his teeth in the knot. He was halfway through untying the knot! Well, right then I knew I had thinking dog. He knew he wasn't allowed to chew the rope, we'd gone over that one. But to untie it... it was funny. I have thousands of Bo stories if people like them, I'll continue to share. The story of how he made me see a bear so he could eat the cake is good one, maybe tomorrow.
I'm writing about my buddy today because he is at me feet trying to shake some heavy anesthesia. Very fast metabolisms are another Catahoula trait, so the Doc has to give a rhinoceros size doping when my dog gets surgery. Yep, Bogie went under the knife today to get some lumps removed. We weren't too sure if it was a hernia, fatty lumps, or worse. Luckily, it was the fatty sort which can be dangerous as well. One of the lumps had tentacle-like things that were thinking of strangling an important blood vessel. He is going to be fine though and continue to enrich our lives. We are moving him to the back rooms now so I'll say goodbye for today. Thanks for letting me talk about my best friend while waiting for his recovery.
Dogs are the best. Bo's the first I've ever truly loved. Now I understand just like everybody else. If you have one, go hug your dog right now.

Seeing Stars

Psyche- delic Stars that is!

I have been so consumed with worries and frets and all sorts of stuff I couldn't get a hold of. Well, certain things have been happening for me lately. I am still not going to divulge everything, but I will say my pack of tired angels came to the rescue again. Frets and fears calmed down enough that when I had a day off yesterday, I actually decided to play. Work-play in a way as these pieces will be for sale at some local stores, but still play. I have so much fun quilting over my husband's stars and flowers. It is like.........coloring outside of the lines, or adding the lines to someone's coloring. We are newly inspired recently. We have plans of challenging ourselves to create daily. For husband (Sid) this means dyeing at least one awesome designed piece each day. This means they will pile up so I must quilt one each day. I think this will not only allow us to build up stock but hone our skills. Practice makes perfect (or better each time!) We'll see how this plan works out amidst all of our other works. I don't care so much about age, but if anyone has found the store that sells "spare time", let me know.

New Year Brings Renewed Adventures

I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays and have arrived in the New Year with as much enthusiasm as I have. Wow, it's been a regular roller coaster of life for us here. The snow and wind finally arrived and my world revolves around which wood stove is going at the moment. Quilts and new products are being created and shipped out. I'm working on getting my own website built for my long arm business. I do believe a website is necessary these days for exposure and an easy reference place for clients to visit. I'll let you all know when I'm up.
I am looking forward to spring already (of course). My mom in Washington just heard her first tree frog of the year the other night and all I heard was howling winds. Oh well, I love living here (especially in the glorious non-snow season). It is always hard for me to be frozen in January when I know springs thaw is just around the corner full of new life and new things to see. I look forward to the pretty purple violets on the snow laden ground-they bring such joy! I look forward to wanting to be outside again soaking up the Colorado sun, letting it warm my soul.
I'm also looking forward to creating a lot more quilts in the next few months. The only way to do that is to get quilting! So for now, everybody go do what you love most with the zest of new beginnings!
I thought I'd write a little more about violets. These are the most wonderful flowers that appear in the early spring as the snow gets lighter. That isn't until June around 9000' but look for them earlier elsewhere. One of the common names for Violets is 'Heartease'. This is because of its reputed herbal properties of bringing ease and lightness to the heart after the winter. I eat them every spring down at Long's Gardens. It does get harder to find ones that the 'resident deer' haven't done bad things too, but I search them out. They appear in Boulder in March-April so I can get them sooner than my mountain white variety. You can also make a wonderful Elixir by harvesting clean violets and adding them to honey. Let this set for a while and strain if desired. I usually just leave the flowers in. Eat by the spoonful or in teas to experience the spring joy that is the Violet! * Remember to harvest violets clean of known toxins. I am not claiming any doctoral advice here or anything. It is just something I do to bring in the spring.

For now, I must be happy and cozy with homemade bread and stew. However, I am curious what symbolizes spring for everyone else. I'd love it if you'd share with me what the thought of spring to come holds for you.