Pets--fauh!

We've had two scares recently with the pets. The first was when we noticed the puffer fish wasn't looking very healthy. His color was bad & he was very thin. We put him in the hospital tank, but even with flake food he couldn't seem to eat. A little research & we learned that a puffer's teeth never stop growing, and sometimes a bit (no pun intended) of home dentistry is needed. Thanks to youtube, we found a video that showed how to do it. Using clove oil to render the fish unconscious, you then use sharp manicure scissors to trim the teeth. His had grown so much that we couldn't pry his mouth open--the teeth had wedged it as far as it would go. It was a tricky business, and not something I care to repeat. He's eating well now & I think a full recovery is in his future.

Now the next one is really, really gross so I'm going to start out by saying the dog is fine. Those of you with a squeamish personality would do best to skip on to the next paragraph. Last chance to skip this. OK. So I heard Hali walking around in the kitchen the other night, and figured she wanted out. I got up, let her out, and noticed two dark patches on the kitchen floor. Being careful not to step on them I walked over to turn on the light, and saw two of the most disgusting and horrifying piles of--well, I couldn't tell at first what it was. (One last chance to skip ahead and read about the mermaid!) The color was like diarrhea, but it smelled like vomit, and it was full of these pinkish leathery strips about an inch wide, that were kind of twisted & curled. I swear I thought it was strips of intestine or something. None of the dogs seemed to be in distress, although Hali looked a little cowed as she always does when we have to clean up any sort of dog-created mess. The mystery was solved the next day when Ralph found a chewed up package of what had been 20 beef-basted rawhide chewsticks. Apparently the dog swallowed them whole and then after a few hours during which they softened & uncurled brought them all back up again. The beef basting is what gave it the poo color. Scary, but a relief in the end. I'm pretty sure it was Hali, as she wasn't interested in breakfast that morning.

Today's photo is of a patron at Faire last weekend. Isn't that a great costume? She really was having a great time smiling, waving, and posing for photos. I saw her a few hours after I took this picture and she was still having a lot of fun from what I could tell. I think this is one of the best mermaid costumes I've ever seen.

I'm almost done with my hat & wristwarmers set that I'm working on. The hat is 100% finished; one wristwarmer just needs two last ends woven in, and the second wristwarmer has about an inch to go plus the thumb. I think I'll have enough yarn leftover to make either a pair of anklets or some gloves, too. The pattern is called fornicating kangaroos. It's much more subtle than the fornicating reindeer pattern I used on Ralph's hat. It'll be interesting to see who (if anyone) notices. Mind you, with summer coming on it may be months before it's cold enough outside for me to wear them, so it'll be a while before I find the answer to that.