Wordless Wednesday.

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

Here's my Wordless Wednesday posting.

Actually since you woke me up, I might actually have a few choice Words for Wednesday.

Sniff at ya later ~Misty~

Beauty Comes at a Price.

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

I've been told, although the Royal We disagree, that beauty comes at a price.

Is this the price to pay for my own natural beauty?

This is not necessary.

 When in my o'natural state I look so much better.  I know you pups would agree that the above ABUSE should be called into the SABA (Society Against Bathing Animals).

State of O'Natural.

 Speaking of Natural.  Get a load of that moss on the side of the deck.  In the Pacific Northwest it never goes away.  Check between your toes.  Are they webbed or sporting moss?  BOL, a little PNW humor there.

Fluffier Fur Sure.

As Queen Misty of All I Survey, I express my opinion of the B-A-T-H through my brother Scooter.

B-A-T-H-S are for HUMANS!!!

The Royal Dismissal.  

 And yet she still stands there thinking she will get me to look happy about the days events.  Do you see a single SNACK™ in my mouth?  Do you see any sort of new toy to play with?  Do you see anything but, well ME?

Don't make me call my Bawdy Guards™ out on you.
Step away Pupparazzi, just step away!

Beauty comes at a price.  Or so they say.  I'd like to know who "they" are, because I have a stern lecture to deliver on this topic.

Sniff at ya later ~Queen Misty of All I Survey~

Hello. We Are All Still Alive.

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

It's been a long time since we've had the energy to get to a posting on the interweb.   Certain girl dogs have had some issues with "urine incontinence", but more horrifying is that Mom has been in and out of the hospital twice in less than a month.  She says it's worse than going to the V-E-T if you can believe that.

She named him Ferdinand.

 This was her "paid escort" for a week.

She begged, she pleaded, she couldn't get them to set up the Bodka Dwip™ to the IV.

Something about that not being an approved "clear liquid" to apply via IV.

I'm pretty sure these pictures were taken after she'd been tippling the pain medication section of her "escort".



Bodka Dwip™ need not be applied any longer.










Want to see what they fed her at the human V-E-T?

Breakfast

Lunch.

Dinner.

Repeat for 4 days.

Mom ended up in the hospital twice in a month from Diverticulitis with an abscess that was sucked out first and then had to have a drain put in on the second hospital stay.  The drain stayed in for 2 weeks and another CT scan is in her near future (will make 10 since the beginning of June.  The next one may make her glow in the dark).

This was her other friend for 2 weeks.  Mom dubbed it her "hip hugger".

Yucky Stuff.

Pups, I know you've wondered what happened to us while Mom was in the hospital being IV'd and blood tested, blood pressure and vitals every couple hours around the clock, antibiotics and happy medication being applied via the IV vein highway.  Just so happens that Mom had her best friends from Arizona up here that week on vacation.  Too bad they had to stop by to see Mom at the hospital, but they took amazing care of us.  Nor was it planned that less than 48 hours after they arrived she'd be at the emergency room and then out of commission for a week.

Meanwhile I've had to go to the V-E-T as well a couple weeks ago, make that about 3 weeks ago since I was at the V-E-T before Mom spent a week at the hospital.  I'm getting old and un-lady like.  Mom says I need Depends or something.  So instead I HAVE to take these nasty pills twice a day.  Sure, they are supposed to be chew-able and MEATZ™ flavored.  Sure, every other Papillon in the house would DIE to snarf my portion up.  Sure, the first day I ate them right up.  Sure, the second day, I ate them with some cheese around the.  Sure, on the 5th day, I was fooled into eating one with ham wrapped around it.  Otherwise, I let Mom shove it in my mouth and then hold it until she's not looking and then spit it out for Pepper to eat up.  Even Scooter or Cutter will do if they are the closest.

We've been found out since I've been leaking on my pillow on the bed.  Mom says the essence o' urine isn't something pleasant to roll over and sniff in the middle of the night.  Good news is I get a new pillow - Bad news is Mom says she doesn't have a spare pillow so I'll have to rough it on the hard bed until the new one comes in the magic brown box that appears next to the front door.  BOL.

Now, I get my medication forced down my gullet and my yapper held shut until Mom knows I have swallowed "my just desserts".  She's not very funny is she, that mom of ours.

So that is the news from the Papillon Pack.  We've been following all of our pals, but haven't had the energy to always comment or post lately, but as long as we are all on the road to recovery....we'll do better to stay in touch.

Sniff at ya later ~Misty~

And just so we don't leave this on a downer, here are some summer shots of Seattle - the weather has been worth sitting out in the sunshine for a good snooze.

Mom works right there...to the left, of the photo that isn't on this shot.  

Sea Plane at Night.
PS - that big smoke stack building is the part of the
Fred Hutchins Cancer Research buildings.
Those mountains in the background - The Olympics.

At the top of the hill....Take a left and we live that way.

Excuse us for the Interruption. We NOW have Interweb back.

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

Did you miss me?  "We" managed to whack through the interweb / cable line whilst trimming invasive Wisteria vines.  "We" happened to do it twice convinced it was a stubborn evil vine.

Shall we get back to the fun stuff and adventures?

Finally an App for that keyboard

So Mom headed off to China to visit a factory.

Want to see what a pattern making room looks like?

This is the pattern making room.

Every single pattern is hand made first and then put through a fancy digital machine.  This makes the "master" copy that can be fed into another fancy computer and calculate how to lay the patterns out in the most efficient way when the fabric is laid out.  Mom says this is the "boring" room because it involves tricky computer programs and a bunch of math.  But you get an air conditioned room to work in, that might be a bonus.  BOL.

Not a simple process making a garment.

Off to the sewing room.  Some of the workers were still at lunch, but this place was still humming.  BOL.

Always 1 person hates having their picture taken.  

This one still has a few more steps until it's finished.  Unless you like the rugged look.

Here's one of the machines Mom says she wants to run.  This is the embroidery machine and it goes so fast you can't see the needles even moving.  Starting out the TB Marlin.

Here is where they remove it from the poplin backing after the embroidery is done.

This is the machine that shows you exactly where the needle is stitching.  The number in the upper right corner is the amount of stitches per minute it is on.

There was an entire room filled with these embroidery machines.
Rows and rows of shirts getting gussied up w/ the Marlin.

More embroidery going on.

Mom told us the fairy tale story about Rumpelstiltskin and spinning straw into gold.  We wonder if the workers have heard that tale or have their own version.  Because if that pile of garments was sitting next to Mom, she says she'd give away her first born son as well (I'm looking at you Scooter), and that's all right with me.  BOL.

No wonder they asked for an extension on delivery when Mom was there.

Now here's a place Mom says she would NOT want to work at.  This is the washing and drying room.  The weather was already in the mid 90's and very humid.  Mom's hair was growing in uncontrollable ways, her back was balmy, her face was flushed from heat and then this room goes up about 15 degrees.  Between the washing machines and the dryers you can almost feel a cloud form and tropical showers about to start.

Washing machine.

Another washing machine.

Sorry no pictures of dryers - Mom only stayed long enough to poke her head in and head straight back out before she wilted.

Speaking of other places Mom wouldn't want to work would be in the pressing room.  Want to know how garments look so nicely pressed when they first come out of the bag?  See this guy down below.  He presses each size into the exact shape that is drawn out on the table in a template.  Then the clothes are folded in half and allowed to "rest".

There is a lot of "resting" for garments when they are being made.  First they roll it out and let it "rest" on tables.  This allows the fabric to "relax" so when it rolls out it won't try and curl back into the shape of the roll it came off of.  Then they roll it all out on big tables.  Then it is cut into patterns, bundle it up and it's allowed to "rest" another 24 hours.

Steam ironing into shape.

This man has hands of steel.  Those irons are connected to the roof where a continuous flow of steam can be had at the squirt of a finger.  He had all his fingers so he hadn't parboiled them off just yet, but this is not a place Mom would want to work in either.  Another hot and humid room.

So next time you just toss your sweatshirt onto the floor, remember how much care and attention was put into making that thing.  At least get it to the laundry hamper.  It was in enough laundry bins before even hitting the Pacific Ocean to head over here.  BOL.

I don't think you have to wait very long to buy a ticket.

 Have you had enough of southern China yet?  Want to head back into Hong Kong for the evening?  This is the bridge that turns corners as it goes across the channel.  It's very beautiful, and did you read that it has corners!!  That's the drivers head in the mirror, China reflected in the mirror behind us, and Mom had to wake up her co-worker in the front seat and demand he move the dangling object blocking her shot of the bridge.  Don't worry - he went right back to sleep once the picture was taken.  Everyone does on the long road trips to and from the factories.

Notice the driver is on the right side of the car, but we are driving on the left side of the bridge?
That's because the driver was Chinese and so was his car.
But we are in Hong Kong now and they drive on the wrong side of the road (the left).  BOL.

Hope you enjoyed the tour.  We're just glad the internet is back up and running again.

Sniff at ya later ~Misty~

Where the heck is Mom?

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

Mom says she's out of the country for "WORK".  I think she forgot to shop for SNACKS over the weekend and had to leave the country so we wouldn't give her the stink eye of death!!  Mom's Mom is watching us since we've been abandoned, and last night she took me and Scooter out for a WALK, and then turned around after we got back and took out Mr. Cutter and Pepper.  Pawsonally I would have just stopped with Scooter and my WALK, but she's new to this whole dog sitting thing so we'll cut her some slack. 

Mom sent these pictures to me on my iBone.  Can you tell where she is?  She says it's none of our beeswax, to which I say I have no beeswax!

Take a guess and let me know if you have any idea!

Doesn't look like Seattle to me!



What a view!

She says she has more to send, but the interweb is different where she is and is having a bit of a challenge.  So anypup have any idea where she might be?

Sniff at ya later ~Misty~

Before and After.

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

We thought we'd take a trip down memory lane and show you some Before and After shots.  This is whimsy so don't expect any sort of thought out blog post.  BOL.

Here is a look at the view of the corner yard before the big tree in the corner was taken down.  Now we get more light in the mornings and less pine cones and limbs to clean up in the winter.

Before the tree in the corner was taken down.

Tree gone and Forsythia in bloom.

Here we will take a look up at the top of the yard.  This is where we all take off running to either BARK BARK BARK at the neighbors dog (doesn't matter which one - the one on the other side of the fence or the others we can hear a few fences down), EVIL NEMESIS CROWS & SQUIRRELS, or any other noise we deem fit to vocalize at.

Cutter headed up to BARK!!

 Those little twigs down at the center bottom ended up growing into this.  When it's really hot in the summer and we want to get cool we will dig a hole under the Japanese Maple, tearing up other plants that we're not supposed to walk on.  Mom doesn't usually notice until she does a head count on dogs and then one of us will pop out dirty and covered in leaves.

Japanese Maple, dig hole and enjoy the view.

We had to wait 2 whole days to get anything that came out of this for Mom's dinner last week.  When we finally got a taste we demanded more.  Except Mom says she ate all but what she gave us.  I decided then and there I would sit on my SNACK™ for 2 days and NOT share with Mom when I decided to eat it in front of her.

These counters are on kitchen remodel task for the summer.
Bye Bye old counter tops.  

Corned Beef Hash.  

Here you can see evil lurking on our very own fence!  This cannot be tolerated, allowed, permitted or any of those other words meaning it can just strut along thinking it owns our yard.  The sight of this makes Scooter about explode.  Scooter's not fond of moving much, but he will burst out of his chair, legs akimbo as he launches himself at the back door.  Pulling groin muscle fat and throwing out hips he thunders across the yard notifying the neighborhood that evil is here.

EVIL NEMESIS CROW!

Scooter has banished the aura of evil that was lurking.  Good dog Scooter.

Over here on the deck we've seen the end of the Magnolia trees blooming.  We have 3 of these in our yard.  2 on the back deck and one out front.  The front and one of the back deck is a double white bloom, and the other is the bigger purple tulip type.  Doesn't matter, either version is a mess to walk around and needs to be swept up at least morning and night when they bloom and drop the flowers, while the new flowers grow out they drop small sharp "pickle" shaped things, and then the leaves when they drop.  Everything sticks to our hair and we drag it all inside so Mom can do some gardening inside the house as well.  BOL.

Tulip Magnolia.

Magnolia Mess.

Remember these guys we talked about?  The Snowball Balloon fight flowers?  Well they have finally gone from green to white.  I guess we should tell everyone that you shouldn't eat green snow as well as yellow snow.  BOL!  If you soak these flowers in a bucket of water and throw them at someone they 'splode with water and flower petals.  Anytime you pups want to come over and have a spring snowball fight that doesn't involve cold frozen water falling from the sky, we've got about 2 more weeks of fun.

Green Snowballs - not ready yet for fun.

Ready to have fun with.

Over here we have the Rhododendron that started off first this year.  Do you need a reminder since you don't go out and sit under it every morning taking in the day?

Pink Rhodie.  The Squirrels like to run along the back fence and tease us.

This is why Mom has to "vacuum" the yard.

Well that's my Before and After edition for this week.  Hope all you pups enjoyed it.

Sniff at ya later ~Misty~

Hey everypup ~Misty here~

We had some really nice weather last week.  One day we broke a record at 83 degrees.  At home up on the hill where we are closer to the sun it was 85 degrees when Mom got home.  We all panted outside but did enjoy the warm weather.

Enjoying my own time alone outside.

 I really enjoy my time outside and just sniffing the breeze.  After all, we've usually been stuck in the house together all day long, so if I can be by myself I take the opportunity.  Especially on freshly mowed cool grass.  Mom had to mow the yard when it was in the high 70's and then had to take a shower afterwards.  BOL.

See how distinguished my eyebrows are now that they have turned grey?

Well lets head off to the back deck and show you how the blending of flowers is working out.  I think the one in the middle might be straddling the line and needs to make a decision.  BOL.

UW Huskies.

Orange Azalea.

 This is Mom's favorite Azalea in the yard.  We have so many different bold colors, but this orange one really makes her heart sing.  Take a gander, because this one only lasts for a couple days before either the rain washes it out or the sun zaps it.

Did you know that we can grow snowballs here in the Pacific Northwest?  They still need to ripen up a bit because they still look a bit green, but here's part of our crop for the summer.  Once they get bigger and the weather is warmer they are really fun to soak in a bucket of water and have "flower-balloon" fights.  They 'splode and you get flower petals stuck all over.  Silly humans.  These are the same ones that set up a sprinkler in the summer to run through to cool off.

Oddballs!

Green snowballs.

We'll check up on these guys next week when they are ripe and ready.

 This guy is called Lupine and is just starting to get going.  We'll come back and those bright green spikes will be purple and about a foot long.  We'll visit this one in 2 or 3 weeks while it continues to enjoy the rain and sunshine.

Lupine.

 The Rosemary made it through the winter and has now flowered.  Next time you see it, it will be whacked down for fresh growing and chiggen seasoning for this year.

Rosemary

 Well enough of that part of the yard, we still have Rhodies and Azaleas we need to check up on.  Soon the flower burst will be done for those guys for the year and we will roll into another wave of flower season.  Enjoy it with us, the sniffing is wonderful and there is always something great to look at until November.

Azalea Avenue.

Along the upper walking path.

Purple Power.
Our humble abode in the background.  'Cept we sleep on the other side of the house.

Are your eyes tired from all the brightness yet?

Off to Rhododendron Road.

Mom says she imagines these flowers sing really loud.  BOL

We can do Wedding White as well.  

We'll try and get Mom out to the front yard where even different stuff is taking off.  Until then, we've just got more rain headed our way.

Sniff at ya later ~Misty~