Tripping on Asphalt
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In their custom CawfeeGuy Knits sweaters.
TWO PUPPIES!!! In sweaters! Could they be any cuter? Or more nauseating?
My baby, Chewie, looking grumpy, as per usual. Though CawfeeGuy says this is nothing. He gets way grumpier.
And my teeny Nephew Rufie, in a rare moment of serious and still. I think he’s still feeling a tad guilty since moments before this photo he was crapping on the bottom shelf of the tv stand. I still don’t know how he managed that.
They were totally exhausted after this shoot and required treats, incessant petting and an afternoon of napping. The Talent is so demanding.
UPDATE | After CawfeeGuy posted his comment I was reminded of several fun facts about this particular shoot that I totally should have shared. I’m already in vacation mode so apparently I’m forgetting crap right and left. Also, I totally take the boys’ regular comedy routine for granted.
For those of you who don’t know, Rufus is Chewie’s brother and whenever I get to puppy sit for my nephew, we do photo shoots. You can see them here if you search my ‘little guys’ category on the side bar. I’m not linking for you (vacation mode). In order to get Rufus to stand still, because he doesn’t. Ever. I ply him with string cheese. String cheese and poached chicken are pretty much reserved for photo shoots. Rufus is going to be 5 years old this summer so at this point, let’s just say he gets me. Also, for dog shoots, I generally have a helpful and enthusiastic puppy wrangler, Dug.
This day, though, everything was different. I was alone with the boys when I put on their sweaters and groomed them. Then, I set up the equipment in front of the boys so they immediately understood what was coming next. From that point on, Rufus pretty much called the shots. I started with him because Chewie gets tons of camera play. I placed him on the floor by himself on set. He quickly decided he wanted to be standing on the pebble stool where I was going to park myself to shoot. After he hopped on it twice I moved it into frame for him and he posed patiently through about 15 minutes of commands. I discovered that if I made a particular, totally embarrassing sound, I could get him to place his ears exactly the way I wanted them. Eventually Chewie, who had been watching disinterestedly from the couch, decided Rufus was getting too much attention and he hopped from his perch and sauntered into the frame. As for getting the two of them on the ottoman together, well, I just plopped Chewie on top and told them both to deal with themselves. Chewie was pretty much stuck because he does’t like to walk on the uneven ground under his paws. After I checked the shots for focus on the computer I dragged Rufie’s bed over and told him to make love to the camera (while making that super odd noise again). And that’s it. No treats. Not a single one. No begging, pleading, or empty promises of bitches. No divas storming off set. Just 2 consummate professionals modeling.
The calendar and coffee table book are in the works.
Overheard in the car on the way to the Sheep and Wool Festival {MS T (me), driving. Dug, shotgun. CawfeeGuy and CawfeeMate, jammed into the backseat.}:
Coffee… blah, blah, blah… Such a gorgeous day… blah, blah, blah. Yarn… blah, blah, blah… Sheep… blah, blah, blah… Lobster rolls… blah, blah… Tile… Music… Knitting… (unintelligible sounds and much gesturing from shotgun position, Dug) Deliverance country… blah, blah…
Me Hang on a second, guys… Dug? What’s going on over there?
Dug (excited hand gesturing and grunts followed by slightly sinister laughter) Oh, uh, go ahead and finish your conversation.
CawfeeGuy OK. So, blah blah blah (aside: not to be rude here but the wild antics going on in the tiny little space next to me were too much for me to focus at that particular moment on what was actually being said)
Me No. Excuse me. Stop.
Me You guys, he totally found a video of a Yorkie herding sheep. I can’t even see the screen, I can just tell by the smug look on his face… Dug? Did you find a Yorkie herding sheep?
Dug YOU TOLD ME CHEWIE COULDN’T HERD! ‘he’s a ratter. ratter’s don’t herd.’ THAT’S WHAT YOU SAID!!!!
Me You DID?!!! oh… em… gee… I can’t believe it!
Dug This guy is totally herding sheep!!
CawfeeGuy Oh, he’s not gonna let this go…
Me Chewie cannot herd. He has never seen a sheep. He has never been on a farm. He is very sleepy and doesn’t bark.
Dug HE TOTALLY COULD HAVE COME TODAY. RUFUS COULD DO IT! RUFUS COULD HERD!
CawfeeMate Rufus probably could. (laughter)
Dug Look at this YORKIE! (YouTube video playing on repeat, constant sound of tiny dog annoying bark. Video embed for your viewing pleasure all the way at the bottom.) His name is Bruiser… I love him.
Me He’s probably one of those York-asaurus-es.
Dug Heisnot! He’s 4 pounds. 4.
Me Oh.
(more laughter from the back)
CawfeeGuy You are really never going to live this down.
Me I know.
Dug Ohhhh. We should have entered them. Oh. Why didn’t I look this up before! I am so upset with myself that I didn’t look this up before!
Me OMG You cannot throw a dog that has never seen sheep in a ring, or whatever you call it, during A COMPETITION. There has to be training. You have no idea how to ‘handle’ a sheep dog. There is work and training involved.
Dug He can.
Me OK. Fine. We are on our way to a sheep and wool festival. You make friends with some sheep farmer, find someone who trains sheep dogs in CT, and I promise, we can take Chewie and Rufie on a day trip and give it a try.
{silence}
Dug You were wrong.
Me I was wrong. You were totally right.
Me And I would love for Chewie, I mean Rufus – because there’s no way Chewie’s going to have anything to do with A HERD OF SHEEP – to learn to herd. That would be amazing.
My dear reader, if you were here last week, you will understand that Dug is never going to let me hear the end of this. And now I’ve gone and given him an ulcer. Just like Diana predicted.
For the record. When we got home after seeing those beautiful sheep herding dogs, we looked at Chewie and Rufus, and we all agreed that they looked way smaller than usual.
Here’s where I jam in all my favorite pictures from the event. (I do not have pictures of the fried dough, maple candy or lamb burgers because I was too busy stuffing my face.)
GOAT!
This is the first guy we met on arrival and I love him. He sweats through his horns apparently. Random.
Are these not the cutest little handmade finder puppets? The detail is incredible. Dug bought a bag full. No joke.
And these little alpaca/cactus mittens! I had a hard time not coming home with a pair. That’s a sample Beekeeper’s Quilt on the right with some mini-skeins for sale – I happened to have started the Beekeeper’s Quilt hexa-poufs this past week. It’s a loooong term project I’m doing as a knit-along with CawfeeGuy. He’s working on some entrelac in this photo while we spent time knitting in the sun and watching the dog trials.
I was kind of expecting to see 1 or 2 breeds of dogs. And there were a lot of Collies and Australian Sheep Dogs, but there were plenty of other breeds represented as well. They were all pretty friendly and camera ready.
These guys may not look it, but they were the friendliest of the bunch. The reason I got these shots with my new 50mm was because they came right over and were sitting in our laps.
This is Dug. Talking about the dog trial he just saw. And then telling Dave about the alpaca he just saw. I think he sent out a text message to everyone he knows with a picture of the alpacas and the caption, “Taluloo and Carly. The official alpacas of the CT Sheep and Wool Festical. Don’t hate!”
Shearing, and then they sell the coats. They bag them up and tell you the name of the sheep you are buying and all it’s stats! The barn was filled with bags and bags of coats. Poor guys look so pink and cold after.
SHEEP!
Overall a huge success. Well, not a success for my diet. But a great time was had by all. Once we were able to get past the tragedy of not having Sheep Herding Yorkies. Yet.
For your entertainment, I present to you, Bruiser, the sheep herding Yorkie, in incredible action.
Mi madre, Diana, thinks Dug yeses me too much. And consequently, she claims this yessing is going to result in an ulcer. Thanks, Mami.
I think he yeses me just fine personally.
This weekend CawfeeGuy and CawfeeMate are coming up with our puppy-nephew, Rufus (Rufy is staying for weeks! and the boys are going to be 5 this summer, I can’t believe it!) and we are heading bright and early tomorrow to the Connecticut Sheep and Wool Festival! I AM SO EXCITED!!! Could you die?!
I have been looking forward to this for months! I’ve never been to anything like this, and we missed the last big fiber festival because we were on our honeymoon. Poor me, I know. But really, animal husbandry! I have actually never been able to use those words before, but besides all sorts of hand-spun, hand-dyed, yarn and fibers (which would totally be enough excitement for me!), we are sure to be learning about ANIMAL HUSBANDRY because this festival is sponsored by the CT Sheep Breeder’s Association. HA!
Also, I’ve found I have a thing for eating lamb, while petting lamb, while shopping for yarn. It’s kind of sick when you are from Brooklyn and had never even seen a real raccoon until well into your mid twenties, but that’s a whole other blog post.
Anywhoo. Back to Dug and the ulcer that’s developing. My mother is especially certain about the ulcer now that she’s heard we are dragging Dug to this AWESOME SHEEP AND WOOL FESTIVAL! (WHAT is going ON with the cap lock key today?!)
You can judge all you want. I know some of you are going to get that this is totally awesome. And probably those of you who think it’s lame are no longer reading. Or are texting Dug to make fun of him. Go right ahead. Make fun. But not until you read my defense. The following is mostly from an email chain earlier in the week.
DUG I’ve been invited to a dinner this Sunday night. Do we have anything going on?
ME The boys will be over for a long weekend, but that shouldn’t stop you. Saturday we will be taking a day trip to a sheep and wool festival which is past Hartford.
DUG Ok. Thanks… Did you say sheep and wool? Ummm. Do I really get to meet some sheep?
ME YUP! It’s gonna be OFF THE HOOK!!! You may meet alpacas and rabbits too. And there’s going to be a sheep dog trial so you can watch the dogs herding.
DUG AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I may be more pumped for this than you and CawfeeGuy combined!! Who cares about the yarn THERE ARE GOING TO BE SHEEP DOGS! CAN WE BRING CHEWIE SO WE CAN TEACH HIM HOW TO HERD?!
ME No.
DUG Yes we can. Yeswecan.
ME No. Sorry. Only service dogs and dogs enrolled in the competition can be be on the grounds. Did you ever apply for his service dog status? You can say you have anxiety around sheep.
{later}
DUG Let’s bring Chewie.
ME No.
DUG Awww. Look at him! He wants to come.
ME No.
DUG His little heart is hurting. He wants to learn to herd.
ME No.
DUG And meet the sheep dogs… They are his cousins.
ME Still, no. He is not allowed. And he is too small. He’s even smaller than the rabbits that are going to be there. He would get hurt. Let’s focus on the sheep dogs you are going to meet.
Really it’s just about something for everyone, isn’t it?
You can find me at Ravelry as SequinedAsphault. Let’s be friends.
This is Clyde. He is my new skull. (I have more than a few.) He is a birthday present from DUG and we found him at one of my favorite places, The Evolution Store, this past weekend when we were wandering around celebrating my birthday. There is a lot of birthday celebrating going on because DUG says I get to celebrate for the whole month of March. Diana, mi madre, thinks this is sweet – that I married a caring and attentive man. I think he is trying to distract me from how old I am and all the weird veins and hairs that are starting to emerge, specifically so he won’t have to deal with all of my whining. Either way I get lots of presents. Sooo, winning! And I get out of lots of things like making tea at night for the whole month. He’s in charge of tea at night anyway so I think that last one’s kind of trying to pull the wool over my eyes. But I’ll just keep on knitting. While sipping my tea. And contemplating Clyde. My new skull.
Clyde here is very important. He is teaching me how to relax. See. He couldn’t possibly be any more relaxed.
I used to take a vacation day during my birthday week. A day I’d spend alone or with friends, doing something fun just for myself. But as the years have passed, and I have more responsibility, I am actually less inclined to take that day off. Strange, when I think about it, because it seems like I could use the time to relax more now. Being old and all.
With my birthday, swiftly approaching I’m getting anxious about my decision. Yes, folks. That’s what I said. Anxious about my decision to relax. Can you see where we are going with this? Shocker, I know, since I travel around with this book full of lists and my post-it-notes have post-it-notes.
So, what does that mean for my day playing hooky from the office? How exactly will I be relaxing? I have some ideas I’d like to run by you because I’ve been told I need to get these types of things approved lest they end in tears.
- Swap out my winter to spring clothes (I never finished organizing my winter clothes so I’ll have to sift through those piles before I can reach my spring clothes. Also, if this requires trying anything on, well, that’s just not going to go well. Tears.)
- Tweeze the hairs on my… chin (I’m old. I have those now. Respect the elderly!)
- 2011 taxes (Ugh. Need I say more?)
- Design and code an updated web site (In a day. I’m obviously masochistic. Or an idiot. Or both.)
- Clean the kitchen (Living with a boy means crusty surfaces, and clean surfaces make me happy, ummm, sane? ummm, crazy? No? OK, no.)
- Finish organizing all the stuff that doesn’t fit into our new apartment so I can finally have work space that is not my couch (in front of the tv) or my kitchen table (also in front of the same tv – well, maybe a little adjacent) or that area of I create by moving furniture to take photos (also adjacent to the very same tv). Ummmm…
- take pictures of Chewie (which actually sounds like something I might enjoy until I remember I’d have to give him a bath first)
*sigh* This isn’t really working. I seriously need to learn to relax. Relax. And back to Clyde, that guy seems to have it down. Until I get my hands on him, of course. Does he look relaxed to you now?
If you had a day at home alone, to celebrate you, what would you do?
This blanket and hat for super teeny EAKS are hitting the post office for their journey down to Maryland today. That’s 10 months of knitting right there folks. Seriously. Dr. Kiang made a whole person in less time. And I made a blanket. And now I’m on hiatus from knitting for you. So please stop having babies. For a hot minute. Thanks.
This is the Endora blanket from Berrocco. I love the contrast of the structured cables against the Muppet fur, fleecy border.
And this is a TrickyKnits designed hat from Welcoming Home Baby: The Handcrafted Way. This was super quick and satisfying to knit up but it’s definitely more of a photo prop than a cozy, baby winter hat. Still, I’m a fan I think.
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