This is my adorable son-in-law.
He is having surgery today and so we will be at the peoplespital waiting...and waiting..

I hate this stuff (probably not as much as he), but have lost 4 pounds since all this started.

It means leaving the hounds locked up all day, but that is just the way it goes sometimes. Sorry boys.

THINGS I TRY TO REMEMBER

No matter how bad you think things are, they can always get worse.

Even if your life is falling apart that's no excuse for eating and eating and eating and eating except it makes you feel better somehow.

If you leave your Bassets uncrated while you run two hours worth of errands you better be prepared for what awaits when you walk in the door.

The nice thing about the internet is that someone will always send you something that makes you laugh.

Ulcers are seasonal. And they make you puke without warning.

The Atkins Diet does not include one item of food I have stuffed in my mouth tonight.

No matter how bad things seem, a Basset can always find time to nap.

Conley is the best dog in the world to sleep with. Even Cooper cannot match his cuddlyness. (Cooper stretches out, kicking you off the bed.)

Some horses are almost like dogs. They will do whatever you ask.

But not as cute.

GLASSWORKS GOES HOME

The exhibit is over. There are still some glass pieces at the Gallery but the big stuff left. It was great fun, some work, some frustrations and certainly successful. I loved being part of it, and I loved feeling that I was involved in something that not only benefitted the Gallery, but the Marble City Glassworks and even brought people to town who had not been here before.
I learned a lot about using frozen Hors d'oeuvres in a place with no oven. (Never re-heat them in the microwave: they turn to greasy mush. Mmmm yum.)

The treasure hunt was kind of a bust--only 5 people-- but someone did win it and then stayed to chat and buy and that was nice.

Chris (in the red shirt) and Matt (the other guy) discuss hanging the  bar to hold the pendulum lights.

Matt hooks wires to pipes above the false ceiling to hold the light bar. You couldn't get me up there on that ladder for any amount of money. Well, ok maybe for a very large amount... but you get the idea. This is what the Gallery looked like at the beginning of set-up.

And here is that section with the light bar up and the ornaments and one of Matt's "Bursts" in the foreground. Meanwhile, over in the windows, Chris was setting up his birds:

And finally it was all together, and it was 4pm and time to open the doors, and it was lovely.

Now the company has gone back to Knoxville and we take up our usual lives again. If it warms up just a little I can get the front garden cleaned out and the ornamental grass cut down: maybe I can find the energy to clean out the garden garden and repair or even replace the fencing with something more attractive and dog-proof than what I have. The garden is so pretty when it really comes in...my lilies are up in front and on the south side. I am so pleased that I planted them last year: it is a huge improvement over the junk that had taken over that spot.

Anyway happy spring. And if you need any glass, check out
http://www.marblecityglassworks.com/

They do custom orders, too.

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WHOOPS

I was doing a blog about the glass exhibit but there will be a delay while Google gets it's act together and my photos show up on the page, too.

DAY ZEEEERO

I have been prattling on about the Glass exhibit for my son and Matt, his partner. They are finally here, not here here, but in town. I put them up at hotel since trying to find sleeping quarters in a house with three Bassets and a Belgian is always a problem, the upstairs not....shall we say, suitable.
The Village followed through and put an ad for the exhibit and the "treasure hunt" on this huge LED sign at the edge of the Village. That is, actually, their glass in the photo. So that was very nice, and then yesterday to my shock

there was a page and a half spread in the local paper about the exhibit.

Chris and Matt got here about 9 last night and at 10:57 (I looked at the clock because I had called the hotel to tell them the guys would be late checking in)  they had unloaded literally tons of glass. I usually crate the dogs about 9 or 9:30 and am pretty much ready to at least crawl into bed and read by 10 or 10:30, altho the longer it stays light outside the later I stay up. In the summer I stay up, in other words, later than in the winter. But I am here to tell you, I am dead on my feet today. I have had two cups of coffee and I have to be desperate to drink coffee in that way.

Anyway of course they were at the house last night, Nigel was terrified and hid, Llewis was not sure because Nigel was afraid, Conley was all over both of them and Cooper never shut up barking, I could have beaned him one.
Then this morning at 5 I got up and began heating the goodies. Cooper hates the oven because experience dictates that often the smoke alarms go off and he is even more traumatized by the smoke alarms than he was by have one leg amputated. I wouldn't let him out because it was too early and cold to have him outside for hours, refusing to come back in the house, so to his dismay I crated him. When I was done I let him outside and 45 minutes later lured him within grabbing distance with a mini pig-in-a-blanket (which I think he threw up later).

Now all is quiet while we wait for the gentlemen to awaken and decide to get moving.
But the dogs know something is going on.

                                      Cooper not so much.

CLEANING DAY

My son and his business partner Matt, and possibly Matt's daughter are coming tomorrow, late, for the Glass Art Exhibit that I have been begging people to attend.
That means I have to clean.
I only clean under extreme duress. Unlike my Mother, I am good at cleaning anything except dog harnesses, saddles and bridles. Crates, crate pads, food bowls....not ours-- the dog's.
Laundry gets done when there is nothing left to wear that even faintly appears to be clean, or we have somewhere we have to go that requires a modicum of middle-classism.
I have no shoes that are not sneakers.
At least none that fit.

Ok so now I have to clean. I have cleaned the kitchen counters with bleach, thrown out a buncha things that we were "saving" and was horrified at the bits and pieces of junk I found hidden beneath the toaster, behind the crockpot, under the knife block. I felt as if I should perhaps give thanks to Mother Nature for not blessing me with bugs. I have vowed to keep the counters cleaner.
Then I scoured the sink. And I mean scoured. My God, they're stainless steel! I thought they were some kind of mossy metal I had not encountered before.
I have not done the stove yet, but I will-- that is something I do, believe it or not, fairly regularly. I have to wipe the mud off the fridge, as well. And off the washing machine, dryer, and cabinet that grace the side entrance to the house.
So that you may understand, I will provide photos of my backyard at the moment:

The result of this is that the dogs dash through the water on their way to the house, where they jump on the back door:

This is the back door. There are four dogs that do this. The hope of trapping each one as he comes in and clean feet, bellies, ears and sometimes heads is not high. They come in and shake. Hence the need to continually clean the dryer, the washing machine, the big freezer und so weiter.
In case you are having trouble grasping the depth of this problem, this is what our muck boots look like :

So I am cleaning, hoping that my son and his business partner are perhaps unobservant (Unlikely for an artist) or SOMETHING that causes them to overlook whatever I miss, and there will be quite a bit.
And of course, the one day I would welcome phone calls, emails, meetings,
even cooking---there are no interruptions. DRAT!!!