All this dog hair!!

Today, the ever lovely ElfGirl walked around the house muttering: "all this dog hair..." Of course yesterday (and part of today), she exclaimed "bias tape...grrr!" for no apparent reason at all. She's a regular tape recorder, I tell you. So, what was the problem? We have four dogs and with the night time temps being what they have been, our oldest dog has been spending the night in the proverbial lap of luxury. He's really a great dog. Tolerant of the ElfGirl's constant poking and playing. She even fell on top of him with no ill effects. Yet, he sheds enough Red Heeler hair to fill an entire canister vacuum.

Samuel was a fixed resident of the little white house--until James heard me shriek about the copious amounts of dog hair one too many times. At that, the canine was back outside...to dig holes in my roses and garlic at will. Not one bit happy about that, I tell you. You see, since the swiffer died, I must sweep every tiny bit of dog hair from our wooden floors. I am convinced that if I had a freaky looking canister vacuum like the above picture from wize.com, all my problems could be solved.

But then again, do I really want one of these things? I'm not a fan of noise...buzzing, repetitive noise as one normally hears from a canister vacuum. Oddly enough, the model above gets a 96 ranking from wize.com although the three reviewers give it thumbs down for power. One person does say it is quiet but even I would sacrifice peace and quiet for some power to suck up the relentless dog hair!

Then again, the alternative is to train ElfGirl in the fine arts of hair removal. From the floor, of course...

Friday Funny: Two for the price of one

First, we have the irresistible June Carter in a skit with Carl Smith. She cracks herself up...


Then, we have our dog Samuel. This is not a joke photo. James' parents have a brick fence around their backyard. Samuel found that he could reach the top of it from the back steps. He thought he was pretty cool...

Security at the Mailbox

Did I ever tell you all about the night that our vehicles were broken into? I know I'm going to write this post and my mother will, by some strange wind of fate, view my blog for the first time. Me talking about vehicular burglary will quite likely astonish her. Becky, if you're reading this, don't be alarmed. However, this is a true story.

I forget the exact date but a couple of months ago, several vehicles on our block were broken into. Okay, here's the real scoop. We actually left our vehicles unlocked. That is: I left my vehicle unlocked. In my defense: I'm from the country. Forty miles from the nearest town. One mile down a dirt road. In the woods. Not much thievery going on around there. Especially when you have more dogs than folks. Speaking of which, we have a dog. This dog was in the yard on the night in question. She barked until I could stand it no longer and made her come inside. How is she supposed to do her job inside? Guess what the rotten thieves stole from our vehicle...40 pounds of dog food. Yep. That was one upset doggie.

I suppose I should be glad they didn't take our mailbox with them as well. After all, it's not a locking mailbox. Have you seen these contraptions? They look like a banker's vault. No one's getting into them. If you're worried about someone vandalizing your mailbox, definitely invest in a security mailbox from Mailboxixchange. These people are definitely serious about not only the security of your correspondence but also of your packages. Take a look at this sweet little design. Not only is it one of the locking mailboxes for which Mailboxixchange is famous, it's stinking cute to boot! Is there some kind of self-locking mechanism on these things? 'Cause someone I know might need it...

And so, the morals of this story are multiple: lock your van at night. If you don't lock the van, let the dog do her job; don't leave forty lbs of dog food in the unlocked van.

Home Decor

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Optics Planet and Sleepless nights

Well campers, it’s 1:50 a.m. and I am posting away. I reconstructed a t-shirt, made a purse, pants and am embellishing a dress. DH certainly wishes I would turn off the library light. Maybe I could do that…if I had a pair of cool night vision goggles! Oh, the things I could do, the places I could go. Why, the next category 4 hurricane that comes along—I would never have to worry about using those dorky little head lamps. I could use my dorky looking night vision goggles! What a great idea.

Here are some ways I figure I could use these super neat goggles:
1. when the dogs are upset and barking until 1:30 in the morning, I could just step outside without bothering to turn on any lights (which could scare away potential trouble makers)
2. I could sew and blog in the darkened library without the aid of compact fluorescents
3. could walk through the bedroom without stepping on ever-so-loyal doggy

Another really great thing about Optics Planet is that the company is offering free UPS ground shipping (on all orders over $29.95) and free shipping to APOs. Now, that is a great bargain.

yard-art and apron modeling and a greens-eating doggie!

James left for church before I could get him to do a photo-shoot with me modeling my new made-from-scratch apron. So, here are my efforts with the timer. I am also posting photos of our yard art on this beautiful Florida day. And finally, Shelby Rae's eyes light up when I bring her turnip greens or broccoli leaves. She just loves anything green!

Ode to my Skirt

These two girls have wreaked more havoc on my clothesline than anything I have ever encountered. Just now, I am unwilling to venture outside to discipline them--because they shredded my most favorite skirt!! You know the kind: brown and red and blue multicolored broomstick skirt. It didn't show dirt and hid all my flaws. I could layer it or wear it alone. Just the right length and oh so graceful. Farewell, beloved skirt. You will be sorely missed...

It's Dogster, y'all!

I found the cutest websites today. Here is one of them http://www.dogster.com Look for Shelby Rae when you go there. Shondai is on the cat page.