Weary

The problem with having a beagle is that sometimes it's hard to tell if they're feeling bad since unless they're getting offered a cookie or about to go on a walk, their normal expression is pretty much a "hang dog" one. Our seven-year-old beagle, Rowdy seemed a little more lethargic than usual a couple of weeks ago, and one day when I came home from work, he didn't even get up to greet me, which is way out of character. Russ took to him to the vet and brought him back heavily sedated, with three prescriptions, and no definitive answer from the vet about what was wrong with him.  Nearly $1,000 later, a three-day stay at the animal hospital, and quite a few evenings of tearfully knitting, of course, thinking Rowdy was done for, the vets now think it was not "Valley Fever, cancer, Cushing's Disease, or a tumor. They think it was a really bad infection of unknown origin, and that he should completely recover. We're still not totally convinced, but he does seem much better and even has taken to lying in his favorite position on his back. Our nephew's fiance, who was in a car crash seven months ago and had been in a coma ever since, died during the middle of our dog woes. Such a true tragedy quickly put our dog worries in perspective.  Still, we  do love our lazy, old beagle so much, and it's been hard being in limbo about his health...O.K, and shelling out so much money.

The nice thing about knitting is that it's the perfect activity no matter what's going on in your daily life. I'm still trudging along with my elegant empire sweater, but I needed a mindless project just to pick up too. I knit this little "paper bag" hat from Susan Anderson's Itty Bitty Hats last week. It's for a friend who just adopted a baby girl last month. It seems kind of big, but cute. The picot edge is knitted, which I've never done before. I'm not sure I like it as well as crocheted, but I'm satisfied overall.

My family generally respects my knitting obsession, which extends to loving sheep; but even they had to make fun of me for the movie that I found on Netflix last week. I just happened upon it. Sweetgrass is documentary about sheep ranchers. It has no narration or music, just the sound of sheep "baaing" and cowboys cussing, and it was wonderful. So far, I haven't been able to entice any members of my family to watch it with me, but I would watch it again if they would. It obviously appeals to a fairly narrow audience, but I loved it.