Good fences make good doggies?

Finally, we got our fence installed! We had to get approval from our Home Owner's Association. So, you know, we didn't put up a less-than yuppified fence. I wanted a white picket fence, since our house is gray with cute white trim. But, no, you can't have a painted fence. Or a wrought iron one. You can only have a wooden fence, and you can't paint it. Seriously. There is actually someone who had to look at the drawings and plans and say "Yes, that appears to be a wooden fence" and then approve it. Seriously.


But we have a fence now. And Dharma is so happy that she can run around in the backyard without a leash. We still go outside with her, to keep an eye on her. She might be carried off by one of the ominously circling turkey buzzards from the nearby quarry. She might eat too many crickets and barf them up (oh, gross!) Or, most likely, she might dig under the fence and escape.


I apologize for not posting recently. The Ivy Tech semester has begun. Here is a picture of me on the second day of classes. Derek wasn't around to take a picture on the first day, he left before I made it out of bed. Notice the small dog in the foreground. No, I didn't take the dog to work, this was taken in our living room.


And, in contrast, here is a picture of me belly dancing at the Fourth Street Festival of the Arts and Crafts. Derek took this picture, too. He is our unofficial troupe photographer and "roadie."


As you can see, we've been busy!

More guests

My parents have come and gone, leaving Dharma with far too many treats and toys. And a new pink cushion.


They gave us housewarming gifts, too. For me, a cute little table for the entryway. As you can see, it is a good place to put more books.



For Derek, two utility shelves for the garage. (Boy, what an exciting present!) He is filling them up as fast as he can.


We ate too much, shopped, and watched the Olympics (accompanied by lectures on the greatness of Jim Thorpe, provided by my Dad.) But our favorite activity was playing with the puppy.


Dharma was so spoiled by all the attention that she pouted all day when they left. She kept checking the guest room to see if they were in there, then she sat by the garage door, hoping they would return.


Don't worry, Dharma. We'll take you to see them at Christmas!

Guest Room, Phase Two

My parents are coming to stay with us in less than a week. So we have been refining the guest room decor. We did finally find a nice "Bed-in-a-Bag" on sale at Sears. I think it is nice for a small, Japanese-themed bedroom. Soothing, not too busy, not excessively "girly." (For girly, see the pics of my bathroom!)

And it has cute matching sheets, too:


I found a cheap, decorate-your-dorm poster and frame on sale. I would like to think it fits the theme of the guest room, while bringing in some of the warmer colors from the living room.


And, following a suggestion from Madame Dr. Bloomingtonaut, I added more scrapbook paper to the wall.


Next, I need to scrub the bathroom. That's not nearly as much fun as picking out color-coordinated papers, but it is perhaps more important to my guests!

Don't worry, you can still vote on wall colors. See the post below.

And, yes, here is your daily dachshund dose!

I think this picture is kind of cute, but also kind of nutty. Dharma is sitting in a little doggie bed that looks like a crib. It came in the mail today from my mom. I do think the golden color sets off her fur nicely, though.

Vote, vote, vote!

Thank you for your opinions. The Applebee's lampshade is now happily ensconced in my living room (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun.)

Now, for today's question. I am thinking about painting one wall of the living room as an "accent wall." Hopefully, it will emphasize the fireplace and make that end of the room seem cozier and help to separate it from the dining area at the other end. Painting only one wall also avoids having to figure out how to paint the 15-foot-tall part of the other walls.

I am thinking about a nice, warm, cozy color. I have narrowed it down to two choices: sort of a dark brick red or a medium, rosy, terracotta. I have tried to mimic the colors using Photoshop, on part of the wall I plan to paint. It didn't work perfectly, but it should give you some idea. In both cases, the color came out too bright and intense. I guess a real wall would be textured and partially shadowed, so it would have more variation in color.

Here is the darker color:




And the lighter one:



So, do you think this accent wall is a good idea? Which color do you like better? Vote for brick, terracotta, or just leaving it the way it is.

Voting time!

No, not for President. (Is anyone besides me totally sick of the election? It has already descended into "I know you are, but what am I?" and "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" territory.) Just help me decide how to decorate my living room. My parents are coming to visit in two weeks (eek! lots to do!) and I want it to look extra-nice.

The first question is about a brass lamp that used to be my grandmother's. Here it is with just the globe, no shade.



I think that looks a little plain. Here it is with the sliced--transparent-seashell shade she used with it.



And here it is with the (tacky but cute?) faux-Tiffany shade I bought for it. Yes, it does look like the lamps at Applebee's. It is one. When the local Applebee's re-decorated, they sold a bunch of their old junk to benefit Riley Children's Hospital. Since I am a food historian, I wanted to memorialize the 80's pseudo-neighborhood fern bar, so I bought one. Is it cool, or just weird?



You vote: which shade? Or should I just pry open my wallet with a crowbar and get a new lamp?

And, you knew it was coming, Your Daily Dachshund Dose:

Dachshund Thermometer

Today we will learn how to tell the temperature by looking at your dachshund. Don't laugh, the first hygrometer (humidity meter) was made using a human hair. You can even learn to build your own. If they had used my hair, it would have broken the instrument, since it curls up so fast in high humidity. Today, I think my hair curled up so much it actually got shorter when I went outside. I think it would dread up if I let it.

Dachshund Thermometer

The trained eye can easily tell the ambient temperature by observing how tightly curled the dachshund is. For instance, this dog is in a room that is approximately 68 degrees:


Notice that, while the dog is tightly curled, the nose is not actually touching the back paws. That would indicate a temperature below 65 degrees, as seen below:



This dog is in a room that is at a comfortable 72 degrees. Notice the straight spine and curved tail.



But this dog is in a space that is at least 80:



Note that extremely cold temperatures may result in poor visibility, making accurate readings difficult:


Silly people who put clothes on their dog thermometer will get poor readings and may also void the warranty:


Warning: do not leave your dog thermometer in the sun too long. Melting may result.

An educational post

In order to correct the photo deficiency in the previous post, Dharma has "volunteered" to be photographed while doing her bat imitation:

Actual bat for comparison purposes:


See, she's good, isn't she? How the heck did they get the little bat to smile for the picture?

Dharma can also do a desert fox imitation:



Actual desert fox:

History trivia question: Who was known as The Desert Fox?

Answer: Erwin Rommel

Bonus Question: Who the heck was Erwin Rommel? (Click for answer.)

Rhetorical Question: Is "Desert Fox" really a cool nickname, or more of an insult?

Summer gardening

I thought I was growing flowers.

And dill.

But, actually, I was running an all-you-can eat buffet for caterpillars.

They are so fat, they remind me of Heimlich, the caterpillar from A Bug's Life.

Maybe they will turn into beautiful butterflies for Dharma to chase. She was so excited about a moth in the house that she tried to climb the wall to catch it.

Even more exciting, we had a bat in the house. It was supposed to storm, with gusts to 80 mph winds. So I asked Derek to bring the patio umbrella into the house. We had seen a wasp around it earlier, so he asked me what I would do if a wasp came with it. I told him, quite honestly, that I would scream and grab Dharma and run into the bedroom while he shooed it outside. Well, we didn't have a wasp, we had a bat. And I grabbed Dharma, yelled "Keep it away from the dog, it might have rabies!" and ran into the other room. Derek yelled "What am I supposed to do with it?"

The poor bat managed to find the open door and escape. I think he was okay. We saw a bat a few days later. Hopefully he is feasting on mosquitos. Allegedly, they can eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour! I tried to find out how many calories are in one mosquito, but Google and Wikipedia both failed me. Maybe I should call the reference desk at the public library?

It was only later that we realized, out of the three of us, Dharma is the only one who has had prophylactic rabies shots. Sorry, no pictures of the bat. I was too busy panicking.

More silly names!

No, not for the dog. For colors. I am thinking about doing some painting, now that we have our own house and aren't stuck with plain white. Some of the names are more fun than the colors themselves.

I think that the wall over the fireplace would look cool painted in a light red or brick color. It will be in between the dark green curtains. (To see a picture of the plain wall, click here.) Some of the colors have names like Earth Mother (I thought that would be green, but no), Chocolate Cherry, Fire Weed, Sarsparilla, and (very descriptive for classicists) Pompeiian Red. How will I ever make up my mind?

The entryway might be nice in a very light sage green, or maybe celadon. One of the paint colors is called Nature, others are Edamame, Limerick, Caesar Salad, and Beanpole.

I am also so tempted by a pale yellow called Cozy Cottage that I will have to find a place to paint that color. It is pale yellow.

I am not sure Derek will go for it, but I would like to paint the bedroom pale pink, with a white molding at the ceiling. The best name for pink? Baby cheeks.

Dharma registered her preference for Rose Pink by biting a hole in that sample. She does look lovely in pink.

Soft-focus picture of a beautiful puppy, showing her "sad eyes." It is amazing I am ever able to leave the house when she gives me this look!

Top Ten List

Darling Dharma.  

Unfortunately, I don't think photo editing software is very good at eliminating "red eye" on doggie pictures.  She looks a bit demented!  Maybe the glowing eyes looked better.

It was 92 degrees today.  I think that qualifies these as the dog days of summer.  So I am posting a list of the top ten silliest nicknames for our little dog.

10.  Lil' Dharma Doggie

9.  Puppykin.  This is clearly what a Middle English speaker would call a cute little puppy!

8.  Pumpkin.  This is what Derek thought I was saying when I called her "Puppykin."

7.  Booger Dog.  Sometimes she really deserves this name!

6.  Hyper Pup.  All she needs is a cape to be a super hero, chasing birds and smashing bugs and leaping tall pillows in a single small bound.

5.  Baby Girl.  What else can you call her when she is wrapped up in a little pink quilt, yawning and blinking in the bright light?

4.  Darling Dharma Doggie

3.  Pretty Princess Puppy

2.  Cutie-pie, the Curious Canine

And the number one silliest nickname for our doggie?

1.  Princess Dharma of the Enormous Ears

Yes, evidently the heat has fried our brains.

Martha Stewart calling

Those of you who know me "in real life" know I am a compulsive perfectionist.  So, I will continue my quest to be the-next-best-thing-to-Martha-Stewart by asking my dear readers for input.  What can a guest room not be without?  What do you consider essential when staying with friends?  I would say plenty of blankets and a reading light by the bed.  What else do I need?  My favorite activities are sleeping and reading!  My recent guests suggested an alarm clock and lotion.  (Um, actually there was a clock, but it was kind of hidden by other stuff.)  My aunt once refused to visit unless there was a television in her room.  So, you tell me:  what does a guest room need?

Curtains!

It has taken us over six months to hang curtains in the living room. We had hoped to have living room curtains in time for Naplover's visit, but it just didn't work out. Our windows are, apparently, a funny size which requires special ordering extra long curtains. We finally got them, but they were a bit long and a bit sheer.

The new curtains, looking a little too see-through.

We washed and dried them, which helped them shrink just enough to clear the floor. Then we ordered sheers to go under them, which will also help to reduce the sunlight filtering through. Of course, THEY were back-ordered, too. We found these groovy curtain rods, which were much harder to install than they looked. At least Derek had a chance to use his super-duper, folding, extending, adjusting ladder.

Derek, with cool ladder.

It took us about two hours to install two curtain rods and two curtain holders (what are they called if they aren't tie-backs? Loop-backs?)

Emilie playing with the new curtains.

It was worth the trouble! The curtains help keep out the sun all day, which makes the house much cooler. Don't worry, Dharma can still sleep without the sunbeam.

Dharma posing cutely on the 30-year-old sleeping bag that Emilie had as a little girl.

Dharma somehow managing to sleep without a sunbeam. Can you hear the snores?

She likes playing little dog in the big forest with the curtains. But she's not too sure she likes the sheers--sometimes they move mysteriously in the breeze and she has to bark at them. Just in case, you know. Just in case they have somehow come to life and become zombie man-eating killer curtains. (Hey, I think I saw that movie on cable one night!)

Yes, we now have cable. We actually had to go to the cable office twice to get past voicemail hell. Each person we talked to told us a different price and package. Then it took the cable guy over an hour to hook up something or other. Then he left a cable line across the front lawn, which helped give Derek an excuse not to mow for several days. When the cable company finally buried the line, they apparently cut the phone line. So we were without phone or internet for several days while the two argued over whose fault it was. Ah, the wonders of modern technology.

We have over a hundred channels. My favorite program? History Detectives on PBS. Which we got just fine before we had cable.

Indianapolis visit

On the last day of their visit, we took our guests to Indianapolis. Derek took the day off of work, so he chauffeured us all over town. We had lunch at Bazbeaux pizza. The line was out the door, but it was worth it. Especially for the creamy cucumber salad dressing. Do they sell bottles of that stuff?

Then we visited the Indiana State Museum. I love this museum because it combines everything about Indiana: geology, fossils, native peoples, history, current artists. It's like five museums in one place. They had an exhibit on Subversive Knitting. It was small, but intriguing. I never saw anything like this at my grandmother's house!

I was also awed by the tiny knitted sweaters of Althea Crome. They are amazing--not only tiny, but beautiful, witty, and clever. (Completely gratuitous link from her website, to a page of tiny dachshund figurines in tiny sweaters--this is insane! I think it is in Dutch, but teckel means dachshund, as it does in German. No, they aren't called dachshunds in German.) Here I am, peering at the minute and wishing for a magnifying glass:


I first read about her work in Bloom Magazine. Yes, Bloomington has its own magazine (not to be confused with the queer magazine from New York, which happens to have the same name.) Even cooler, it is available free at local shops and restaurants. You can also subscribe, in case you live in a less cool place and can't get it in your local stores. They have been in print for a year and just keep putting out longer issues with more interesting people and topics. The photos alone are enough reason to look for it. One photo series followed the Farmer's Market throughout the seasons. I think I ought to frame these pictures and put them in my kitchen! Talk about food porn!

After admiring the museum exhibits, we refreshed ourselves with snacks in the Riverside Cafe, right there in the museum. The view was almost as nice as the exhibits:


We went to see a movie about dolphins and whales at the IMAX theater. It was lovely, but just a little too soothing for tired tourists. Yawn!

We briefly toured Circle Center mall, amazingly failing to buy anything. Perhaps because our arms and luggage were full and our wallets were empty? We had an early dinner at the Spaghetti Factory, since the food available in bus stations is apparently even more limited than that found in airports. Yes, it is hard to imagine, but bus travel was reported to be EVEN LESS efficient, convenient, and comfortable than air travel. So it was with some trepidation that we delivered our guests to their waiting motor coach.


But all was well, and they made it home safely some 18 hours later (without starving, but only because they brought food with them.) We miss them already! Who will be the next to stay in our guest room? Derek's mom was planning to visit, but her husband broke his foot. This injury may delay their visit. Maybe Emilie's parents will be next? Stay tuned . . .

Inaugurating the guest room

Yes, we finally had guests in our guest room!


We put the finishing touches on the room:


And on the dog. Dharma put on her fanciest collar for our guests. She also had a bath, with ti tree oil shampoo. We weren't able to take any pictures of that, because we were both wet and had our hands full. How can one little dog be so wiggly?


Our guests arrived Tuesday evening to a meal of lasagna, salad, and bread from my favorite restaurant, The Bakehouse. I finally used my grandmother's dishes. They didn't look too grim, especially with food on them:

The tiny mysterious plates made excellent little dishes for holding olive oil for dipping our bread. Much healthier than butter pats!

The next day, we took our guests to the local restaurant, The Runcible Spoon. The name comes from the poem by Edward Lear The Owl and the Pussycat. A runcible spoon is a tasting spoon, with one big spoon for stirring and on the other end, a small spoon for tasting. They were more popular before the germ theory of disease was widely accepted, I guess. This is a medieval French word. Other proposed definitions include a folding spoon, a wooden spork, a three-tined pickle fork, or a slotted ladle. But this food historian prefers the tasting spoon, since she has actually seen the term in a medieval cook book. (Sorry, Edward Lear didn't make it up, even though he does like made-up words almost as much as Lewis Carrol.)

It was a lovely day and we had breakfast outside at the Runcible Spoon. Then we shopped all over downtown, including Yarns Unlimited, Howard's Bookstore, and Caveat Emptor (a used bookstore whose name is Latin for "Let the Buyer Beware." Ominous, isn't it?) We took our yarn to the Eastside branch of the The Bakehouse and ate too much and knitted and crocheted. I worked on this hat:


Then we did what all good vacationers should do every day. We took a nap.

Since this was Naplover's birthday, we took her to the fancy food but casual dress Scholar's Inn Restaurant and Wine Bar. (We're really doing our part to support local business!) It was lovely, especially the chocolate fondue dessert. Then we watched one of my favorite movies: Raiders of the Lost Ark. You'd think the loose interpretation of history would bother me, but I love this movie. When I was little, I thought that Indiana Jones was based on my dad. Really. He was a history teacher in a big brick building, he wore a tweedy blazer with leather patches on the elbows, and all his female students were in love with him. He was fearless around spiders. He even worked on an archeological site during the summers, the Spiro Mounds in Oklahoma. So, allowing for a little artistic license, he was clearly the basis for Indiana Jones. I even think he looks a little bit like Harrison Ford. Those royalty checks should be coming in any time, now.

My Daddy, being a good sport and wearing the hat we got him on vacation. (With my mom, who is showing great suprise that the cruise line decorated their room with birthday decorations.)

Thursday, we got together with my good friend TammyJo for lunch, then did much the same sort of thing: eat, talk, nap, knit and crochet. Boy, do we know how to have fun, or what? I worked on this scarf:


We let Naplover's daughter pick where to eat dinner. She knew right where she wanted to go. She had spotted the signs from the highway: steak AND sushi. What more could you want? So, we went to Domo (which I think is just an intensifier in Japanese, meaning something like "very much"), a local Japanese restaurant, where the chefs cook dinner at your table, juggle knives, and make bad jokes. And we had steak and sushi. Yum. No raw fish for me, though. I think Indiana is just a little too far away from the ocean for the raw fish thing to be a good idea. If I were in Japan, it might be a different matter. Actually, sushi isn't really about raw fish. Click here for way more than you ever wanted to know about that subject.

More about their visit (and the awesome knitting display at the Indiana State Museum) in the next post.