finally, two weeks later, i'm not sick anymore!
sheesh.
saturday i came home from work and jumped right back in the travco for an adventure to the river. i'd been talking about taking the dogs swimming and andrew was game. i wanted to see if dottie was a swimmer, since she's been mostly wading in water before.
as a joke about everyone needing a bathing suit, i put dotties old bloomer style pants on from when she was a puppy and went into heat before i got her fixed.
clearly she loves them.

after all that tumbling and rolling around, she took off into the bathroom and out of total craziness, pooped the pants. i called her to see where she'd run off to (honestly to take the pants off so we could go) and as she came running out of the bathroom, a little turd tumbled out of the pants and onto the floor. they were falling out of the hole that would be occupied by her tail if she had more than a tiny nub. andrew took off, a couple more logs hit the floor, and i was so grossed out but laughing so hard. so nasty! she's ridiculous.
got her and the floor cleaned up, pitched the pants in the trash, and we left after she got a butt wash.
we drove around for a good while, trying to come up with a good spot to take the dogs that was both quiet but where the water was deep but not too quickly moving, but also not stagnant.

egon swims like a little beaver, he wades right in and just starts swimming. dottie tends to let the reflective surface of the water freak her out, but she's so determined to come to you in the water that she'll just LEAP to you, splash, and swim your way.

it was a nice trip, all dogs got to do some swimmin, and they were BEAT afterward. so tired, they were like little zombies on the ride home. just sitting next to each other, eyes all squinty and slow-blinking, and just swaying as the RV chugged down the road.

the travco is so awesome. it has little floor vent windows that crank open and channel wind inside...makes for a great dog window! Mr Egon found it to be his favorite spot to sit.

once home, we showered and went out to the backyard to prep a good campfire. it was perfect weather outside, and we both just wanted to sit and relax.


i made a fine foods run and got chips and treats, we cooked hotdogs and ate em in the shed. i don't know why hanging out in the garage is so fun but it is. it was much cooler outside. after a lot of running around and being crazy, dottie was ready to simmer down and sleep.

we sat out for a long time, burning off bits of tree stump we're still working on getting out of the ground. roots, chunks of trunk, and other random sticks and branches all get burned.
hatched a plan to pour a big slab around the firepit area...easiest way to keep grass away from it!

heard some rustling in the trees and watched our owl friend fly to another tree, lurking us all night. he sat in a close by tree, we could hear him rustling around in the branches. creep!

sure enough, there was evidence the next morning. a nice big flight feather!
worked in the garden area until it was too hot to be in the sun any longer. andrew tilled around our stump and after much digging, we finally got the old clothesline pole anchor out of the ground. seriously, they really didn't want that thing to go anywhere. three feet of concrete, held in place by wet clay. what a pain.

andrew tilled up a stag beetle, unfortunately half of it. it was super creepy, lurching all around, half of it intact. eeep!

after all that work, we were both feeling pretty beat. i went over to pats for some hydrotherapy, Vi bought a couple bushels of crabs and everyone was hanging out.

relaxed poolside, caught up with some friends, and headed homeward. again the late afternoon was so cool, it was hard to be inside. the guys had gone saturday morning and done a ton of work on the brownway, and andrew wanted to show it off.
took the MTBs out for a nice spin.

rode to the new skills course that is in the process of being built under the belle isle bridge. we scooted across the belvidere bridge to avoid the xterra crowd, then hit buttermilk. rode to reedy creek then took the fire road back to belle isle and came in from the southside.

the skills course is awesome! all levels of rock gardens, drops, a couple pump tracks, and lots more to come. really rad.
headed back into the city through the trainyard, then rode the floodwall homeward.

a really nice sunset, one of my favorite spots in richmond. you can see most of the urban bridges, the whole cityscape, and most of the train lines that come into the area. i love it!

took the brownway back home a bit, then up and up into the heights and home!

we tried to go get mexican food, but our favorite nearby spot was closed. a little waffle house action was due, so we stopped for breakfast for dinner. nearly killed me.

monday was super busy, worked in the garden, knocked out a sewing commission for a resturant in philly, and hung with the dogs. idle's been a little sick and needed a watchful eye for the day, so i cleaned house and laid low. got myself ready for the work week, and here i am, back at the desk!
counting down the days til the weekend...dotties birthday is in two days and i think i'll have a cookout chiller for her. dawg party, yall!

Spent the week working, trying to hydrate, sleep, and eat my way out of the NACCC SARS. Julie and I both picked up the same bug and started suffering on Monday night right after NACCCs, what a bummer to take the healthy livin' high road and still get sick! I think everyone else really did pickle themselves with booze that weekend, killing off any germs.

Ah, and back to dog life.

waking up with these bostons is always hilarious.


I mean seriously, so many funny faces.
My friend's dog's benefit auction and raffle was Friday night...I got there an hour late, which actually turned out to be about an hour earlier than everyone else.

there was so much awesome art stuff. some was super custom, based on or portriature of Miss Frankie.

others were donations of all forms...photo, other paintings, drawings, so much awesome stuff!!!
there was a raffle with gift certificates and other items.


i didn't get a picture of the painting i bought, but i may try to pick it up tonight. its awesome. three dogs, "high hopes", just my style.
mike and amanda were having a hard time pricing the sewn portrait of Frankie I made...they couldn't decide wether to auction it off or sell it for a set price, and amanda really wanted to keep it.
John Lytle, the beneficiary of the Ozzy Foundation, was there at Empire and ended up buying the portrait after he heard mike and amanda bantering about how to best sell it and why they couldn't keep it, then he gave it back to them. it was super sweet. he's a nice guy with a great foundation and gusto for helping other folks, i hope to be doing some sewing for his foundation in the future.

mike and amanda raised over 3600$ Friday night, and it is so awesome. they started her treatment about two weeks ago and were just going to keep on with the plan until they were out of money. after frday night, they can finish up the plan without a worry. so glad to hear, and so relieved to be a part of a friend group that is so giving and generous.

egon has been pretty funny lately, a couple times he's been standing on top of the bedside table by the door when i come home on lunch to let him out...an unexpected and odd high-point for him. i also have been seeing him peeking out the window bed space upstairs, always funny to see that little profile in the window.

Dotties hives pretty much quit after two days, thank goodness. we were outside in the yard most of the weekend...filled up the pool so those guys could get wild while i tried to regain control of the garden area. dottie was listing around, begging to be picked up and acting super needy. i went in and got her a little bed and she settled right down. she's such a funny little lady, i like dogs that seize the opportunity to do something special...i feel like she's just the exact kind of ridiculous to take advantage of fancy beds outside on a pallet...and sure enough!
I re-organized things in the garden yesterday. did a little transplanting and started a second round of rainbow chard and beets so i'll have a second flush started. need to do the same with the carrots.
i'd been keeping a watchful eye on my fennel, hoping to see some caterpillars or eggs. very specifically, black eastern swallowtail caterpillars or eggs. we have tons of those little white cabbage butterflies flitting around all the time, but its rare that we get a swallowtail through. last year i had a bunch of the caterpillars and i love them. they were some of my favorites to raise as a kid. sure enough, finally found a dude or two nibbling away, being stinky.
they're so awesome. if you touch them, these bright yellow/orange horns come out of their heads. they wont sting you, but they rub this horrible smell on you...like rotten licorice. it takes forever to wash off. so unpleasant, haha.
Egon had a vet appointment monday to check his blood levels of Bromide, the new drug we had to introduce to control his seizures. He's been having issues controlling his legs, which has only been scary on the steep stairs we have. He's clumsy and extra awkward lately, side effects with his body that should have gone away after two weeks.
he's so good at the vet, just gets real excited to see everyone and freaks out about getting to see a cat that isn't brown cat or zoey. then he crashes on the car ride home, sleeps the whole way back. 5 weeks no seizures, thats the longest we've been since December. stoked. fingers crossed that we continue on the up and up, the bromide has been seemingly working out for him.