Pink alpaca and a good dog to the rescue
Tuesday August 11th 2009, 7:49 pm
Filed under: Crohn's flare,Knitting a Gift

A stray thought: as I told Carol, I’m dilaudid to know how to spell that med finally.

I overdid it yesterday. I paid for it. Talked to the surgeon’s nurse. Don’t want to go back in this time around, so I’m trying to take it easier today, but it’s hard to stay down.

While I was knitting away in the hospital, I asked someone their favorite color.  They quite liked the one I was working with, but it was already earmarked and I didn’t have enough of it for two, so I was thinking, not a problem. I’ll just go dye this lovely white that’s in my stash when I get home.

Oh. Wait. Not supposed to lift anything over 10 pounds for six weeks, and how heavy is that dyepot?  Right.  Purlescence may just have to put up with me buying yarn.  I think they can manage that.

So I’ve been finishing up the pink alpaca project at hand, alternating with lying down reading a good book Robin sent me called “The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be.”  As in, he wouldn’t act like a normal dog: he could climb up and down ladders, trees (down: not so much), walk along six-foot-high fencelines. Marley Fowat is the author, it was originally published in 1957, and I wonder if that’s where the famous dog Marley got his name.

My favorite part is when someone from New York, whose train was just about to leave, got told by the local yokels there on the plains in Saskatoon that Mutt was a Prince Albert Retriever (there was no such thing) and the finest hunting dog on the planet.

He bet them $100 Mutt was not.

It was July, not hunting season at all, but local dignity must be maintained. So the men showed up hoping for a demonstration.

Mutt’s owner got out his rifle. In the middle of downtown.  Mutt was immediately interested but confused because… Summertime? Here? And the guy shot off his unloaded gun, declaring, “Bang Bang. Go get’em, Mutt!”

The dog took off like a shot, nearly mowing two women down. Came back very soon after with a perfect ruffed grouse in his mouth.

The men were going wh a a a …. Then one noticed it was stuffed. Moments later, the owner of a store down the street came running in, yelling about the dog stealing the stuffed grouse they kept on display in their shop’s window.

Hey. Owner uses gun, owner wants bird, owner gets bird, right?

The man’s son, writing this memoir years later, said that that story made national Canadian news.

And it’s helped me take it easy like I needed to.  I’m afraid of letting it end. So I’m up for just a few to go blog.


25 Comments so far
Leave a comment

Down! Stay!

Any good dog would understand.

That doesn’t mean they’d do it either.

Comment by LauraN 08.11.09 @ 8:00 pm

“I’m dilaudid to know how to spell that med finally.” GROANNNNN
😎

Comment by sherry in idaho 08.11.09 @ 8:01 pm

Wow – absolutely gorgeous scarf! But please be careful so you’ll heal. I’ve had so many setbacks – I speak from experience…you must start off slooooowly. 🙂 And I know…it’s terrible and very hard to do but, the setbacks are even harder so…reading sounds good and the story sounds good and…dogs – you just can’t help but love them. 🙂 (And reading about them is easier than taking care of them. 🙂
Beautiful scarf…and another thoughtful gift,
Abby

Comment by Abby Baker 08.11.09 @ 8:04 pm

Sherry in idaho, you beat me to it. That is both a groaner, and so typical of you, Alison. Is there anything you can’t pun? Don’t answer that.

But I most emphatically agree with Abby — do Not overdo! ‘Taint worth it. Just slows things down. There. You’ve been told. Be a good kid.

Okay, fun time. I’ve been saving this one for the proper moment, which I believe has arrived:

THE CARETAKER’S CALL

At dawn the telephone rings…

“Hello, Senor Rod? This is Ernesto the caretaker at your country house.”

“Ah yes, Ernesto. What can I do for you? Is there a problem?”

“Um, I am just calling to advise you, Senor Rod, that your parrot died.

“My parrot? Dead? The one that won the International competition?”

“Si, Senor, that’s the one.”

“Damn! That’s a pity! I spent a small fortune on that bird. What did he die from?”

“From eating rotten meat, Senor Rod”

“Rotten meat? Who on earth fed him rotten meat?”

“Nobody, Senor. He ate the meat of the dead horse.”

“Dead horse? What dead horse?”

“The thoroughbred, Senor Rod.”

“My prize thoroughbred is dead?”

“Yes, Senor Rod, he died from all that work pulling the water cart.”

“Are you insane? What water cart?”

“The one we used to put out the fire, Senor”

“Good Lord! What fire are you talking about, man?”

“The one at your house, Senor! A candle fell and the curtains caught on fire.”

“Good heavens!!….Are you saying that my mansion is destroyed because of a candle??!!!”

“Yes, Senor Rod.”

“But there’s electricity at the house!!! What was the candle for?”

“For the funeral, Senor Rod.”

“WHAT BLOODY FUNERAL?”

“Your wife’s, Senor Rod… She showed up one night out of the blue and I thought she was a thief, so I hit her with your new Tiger Woods Nike Driver.”

SILENCE…….. LONG SILENCE….
“Ernesto if you broke that driver, you’re in deep
trouble!”

Comment by Don Meyer 08.11.09 @ 8:16 pm

LOL oh, Alison Dear, congratulations on the spelling of dilaudid… but your eyes are still crossing… check out the author’s name again, will you?!
I’m so glad to read between the lines that the doctors haven’t removed your spunk. I always read, but rarely post, always wish you the best. You are in my prayers.

Comment by slimsdotter 08.11.09 @ 9:22 pm

I’m sitting here laughing to the point of wiping tears. Ohmygoodness Slimsdotter. You’re right. I’ve already discovered I can’t learn anything on vicodin–add keeping names straight to that. And I was reading it off the cover as I typed it! Farley Mowat it is.

Comment by AlisonH 08.11.09 @ 10:27 pm

Take it easy, lady, and be well! Enforced bedrest is no fun, is it? I’ll bet packages in the mail from Purlescence will make it easier… 🙂

Comment by Genny 08.12.09 @ 2:27 am

Please be a good patient at home, I implore you! 😉

Another object of art is coming to life through your hands. I applaud (though not typing at the same time, of course lol).

I’m glad you have such a good book to read. That has to help make time go buy in a positive way.

Thanks to your friend Don for making me laugh this morning. I hope you are able to laugh as well and that you are not in pain from his humor. lol

Prayers still coming your way (some of them for you to actually be good to yourself). *wink*

Comment by Suzanne in Mtl 08.12.09 @ 5:27 am

Rest & take it slower than you think you need. You always “feel” like you can do more than you really can – experience speaking. The scarf is absolutely gorgeous, you can see the love & care in the stitches.

Comment by TripletMom 08.12.09 @ 5:32 am

I’ll have to look that book up. Sissy likes to do similarly un-doglike things, but her humans get alarmed when she attempts to walk the top deck railing, so there are no photos, only shouts and sprints to pick her up and put her feet back on ground level…

Again, rest, REST!

Comment by Channon 08.12.09 @ 6:04 am

Love your knitting so pretty and get plenty of rest:)Hugs Darcy

Comment by Darcy 08.12.09 @ 6:30 am

if you are allowed to laugh- not that any doc wants dourness, but tummy sts!- may I suggest you send a minion to the library for Victor Borge? ALso anything by Fannie FLag.

Comment by Catherine mad knitter 08.12.09 @ 7:20 am

Yay for books that help a person take it easy and for the authors that write them.

Comment by RobinM 08.12.09 @ 7:25 am

The pink scarf is GAWJUS!!! And I’m still laughing at Don’s story and your name mixup!

Comment by Jody M 08.12.09 @ 7:39 am

Slow and steady Slooooooow and steady :-}
Its a hard lesson, and one I am still having to relearn, after more than five years.. but life is so much better when I remember! And you only need to be careful for a certain amount of time to give your body time to catch up to your will :-}

Comment by Diana Troldahl 08.12.09 @ 7:46 am

I’m with the crew above – take it easy please. You know better than to overdo, so don’t! I’m certain there are other good books to read, naps to take, phone calls to make. I look forward to hearing you admit you listened to us all. 😉

Comment by Leslie 08.12.09 @ 8:09 am

Glad you’re getting better —- don’t over do (yeah, in this case I’m hoping you’re better at taking that instruction than I am, as I’m “choppin’ at the bit” to be able to go and do things!!)

Comment by Bev 08.12.09 @ 8:12 am

It’s offical. I’m comin’ down there to sit on you. Gently, of course.

Sit. Stay!

Comment by Lene 08.12.09 @ 9:41 am

As you are enjoying Mr. Mowat, how about The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float? While he is a Canadian National Treasure, he was once refused entry to your country as an “undesirable” – it made quite a row up here! He also writes in a much more serious vein – those are for another season.

Comment by Joan 08.12.09 @ 9:53 am

I’m dilaudid to have helped! Hee…..and yes, take it easy. That means sitting there and letting people look after you. I know it’s hard and sucks, but look at it this way, if you try to do too much, it won’t heal up right and it’ll come apart at the worst possible moment in the future. So sit there and read. Ya hear?

Comment by Carol 08.12.09 @ 10:02 am

do you need a purlescence shopping/delivery trip made? I’d be happy to help! *hugs* M (oh and by the way – rest!!! 🙂 )

Comment by Mary 08.12.09 @ 10:46 am

Well, Joan at 12:09 sort of said it, but…it’s Farley Mowat, not the reverse. So, I don’t suppose that’s where that upstart “Marley” got his name. I read The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be…oh, it must be 35+ years ago (I’m Canadian). I still remember going into hysterics (that laughter where you can’t breathe?) over the description of a forest path looking like it had been made by some sort of moose “afflicted with the staggers”. The phrase just struck me funny, and it went into the family lexicon immediately!

Beautiful scarf. I have had no luck with alpaca (so far) but haven’t given up completely yet!

Rest. Get well. Blessings.

Comment by Liz in IN 08.12.09 @ 12:47 pm

I think you may mean Farley Mowat? 🙂

I’m SO glad to hear that you’re healing. Sending lots of love your way!!!

Comment by Romi 08.12.09 @ 1:23 pm

I’m cheering for your recovery, though I empathize with the frustration of enforced R&R. my spirit is always saying go, GO! while the old body stays STOP! It’s no fun. I second the recommendation of the Fanny Flagg books. Living here in the Tennessee Hills I can vouch that not everything she writes is fiction 😀 The laughter will do what no pain meds can, promise!

Comment by Kristina 08.12.09 @ 6:06 pm

That scarf is beautiful, Alison! I love Marley Fowat’s books. I can’t remember the name of my favorite, but it was about an owl his family adopted. They named it Wol, from the Pooh stories.

Comment by Janet 08.20.09 @ 9:47 pm



Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

(required)

(required)