Back from Newfoundland - not an upalong anymore

We're back from Newfoundland! What a trip. So much to share with you...I'll have to organize my photos and I'll do a few postings about our trip.

An "Upalong" is a person "from away". The word is actually used...I read it in a St John's newspaper. (more on that later)

This photo seems a fitting one for my first post since it has dogs in it...the statues overlook the St. John's harbour (St. John's is the capital of Newfoundland). There is a statue of a Labrador and a Newfoundland dog. Did you know that a Lab is a descendant of a Newfoundland? I didn't know that!

Well, I didn't get "screeched in" so I didn't have to kiss a cod. But I ate lots of cod (delicious!) and even tried the screech (rum). Lots of stories to tell in the next week.

Going to Kiss the Cod

I'm gone! (If you don't know what kissing the cod is, let me know and I'll fill you in when I return. If you do know, leave a comment so others won't have to wait in anticipation.)
Here's some music from one of Newfoundland's best known groups...Great Big Sea. I don't know if we'll find any kitchen parties quite like this one. Enjoy.

Guessing Games, Projects, and Life

I just posted (and then removed!) the answer to the "Guess how many dog biscuits are in the cookie jar contest". After I posted the answer, I checked out the Canines with a Cause web site. It seems they are holding a 2nd garage & bake sale...this time in west end Ottawa on June 16th. The cookie jar contest is still going on, so I can't post the correct answer now. You'll just have to wait until I return from vacation (June 27th) to know the right answer. So...it's not too late to guess! Leave a comment, or send an email to join in.

Guess what? My umbrella project is done! Not perfect, but I'm very proud of it just the same.
I didn't make a pattern, but here is what I based my project on (don't laugh)

I measured and cut one piece. Then I used the first piece to cut out the remaining 7 pieces. (this would horify you seamstresses, but I didn't pin anything...just laid the first piece down and started cutting)

This is the "before" photo: (not a good one, but you can see the hem is down and frayed. Not shown are the several tears around the sides of the umbrella)

And now, the "After":

I managed to match the stripes at the seams. The flap on the top is a little dorky looking...I think I attached the flap to high on the seams (no, I am NOT going to re-do it!) The pockets for the wooden umbrella arms are a little bulky. The biggest challenge with the whole project was to get my 50 year old sewing machine to slog through the canvas. I've never worked with such thick material (and I never will again...once is enough for me!). All in all, not bad I think?

The weekend started not too well, with a bit of bad news I received on Friday ...I did not make it into the big Christmas Gift Show I was hoping for. I am on the waiting list, so there is still some hope (if only a little).

However, the weekend improved with a day of babysitting John's grandson:

Nothing like a two year old to make you look at the world with a new set of eyes. Everything is a discovery and a joy for them.

Tomorrow will be a long day. Cody is graduating from College. Of course, I want to be there. This requires a 6 hour drive to London, sitting in an auditorium for 4 hours, a 2 hour dinner with the Theatre Students & families, then another 6 hour drive home. I get tired just thinking about it. Home for 24 hours, then leaving at 3 in the morning for our VACATION! (the first day will be 15 hours of driving!)

The Good The Bad & The Ugly

Before I get started, just a reminder to please participate in my current guessing game if you haven't already. Winner of a little something (no, not dog biscuits) will be announced on Sunday or Monday. Read about it here.

Now, for today's topic. One of my all time favourite movies...The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly...a good old spaghetti western from 1964 starring Clint Eastwood.

I think maybe it's one of my favourites because the first time I saw it was the first time I was allowed to stay up past my bed time to watch it on tv on the late night show. I seem to have passed this love of GBU on to my son (poor guy), who also lists it as one of his favs. It's such a sickness that I even have the soundtrack on CD. You have to hear the soundtrack to know just how weird I am.

Anyway, today's theme is Good, Bad, & Ugly. We'll start with the GOOD:

A while ago, I was fortunate enough to have my business featured in the newsletter put out by The National Capital Coalition for People & Dogs (NCCPD). I was reluctant to post about it, being modest and all, but every now and then you just have to toot your own horn. So today it's my turn to toot. You can read the article called "Mrs. Harley, You Make Good Cookies...And You're a Good Woman Too" in the Spring 2007 issue of The Dog Guardian by clicking here.

And now the BAD:

There are some frustrating things about being in business for yourself, and supplying your product wholesale to other stores. One of those things is that stores sometimes go out of business. There seems to be an epidemic of this, because 5 of the stores I supply have gone out of business in the last few months. This is a bummer (well, probably more of a bummer for them but still). One of the stores that has closed it's doors was one of my biggest customers. Thankfully, only one of the five stores owes me money. Not a big amount ($150) but I would have liked those dollars in my pocket instead of theirs. They have declared bankruptcy, so it's not likely I'll see that money anytime in the future. Sigh.

And now the UGLY:

Living with dogs sometimes has drawbacks. This last week has been a time of carnage and devastation. It seems that my darling Mulligan (our 8 year old mixed breed) has decided she is in charge of keeping the yard free of rodents. Well, most people call them rodents but I call them cute. For years, I've been waiting to have wild life in our yard (when we moved here 9 years ago we had no trees). Finally, this year we have squirrels and chipmunks. They are the ground feeders under a bird feeder we have. Last week, Mulligan treed a squirrel. Keep in mind that the trees we planted are still only about 10 or 12 feet tall. I watched from the living room window as Mulligan stood up on her hind legs and shook the tree.
Me: "oh, isn't she smart! I can't believe she's doing that".
Mulligan ran around the tree, stood up on her hind legs again and shook the tree.
Me: "I really can't believe she's doing that".
Squirrel: "I better get outta here" and jumps from the tree onto the ground.
Me: (Screaming and running for the door) "Mulligan NO! OFF! OFF! OFF!"
(off is her command for not touching something or letting something go) In this case, it was for letting something go because she caught the squirrel. She did let go but it was...
Too late. I cried as I carried him (her?) away.

Flash forward to this week. Yesterday I was taking a shower and heard John yell at the top of his voice "MULLIGAN. NO! OFF!". Oh no. I won't go into gory details but this time a poor little chippy decided to try to outrun Mulligan and lost. The biggest surprise of this event was that John carried poor little chippy away. (usually, clean up of anything bigger than a fly is my job) Thank you John.

Now we check the feeder for rodent activity before we let Mulligan out. Here's hoping for no more ugliness. (let's leave that to Eli Wallace in GBU)

Let's go back to something good, shall we. Here are a couple of photos from my recent obsession with taking close up shots.

Have a wonderful weekend.

More Preparations & WIPs

Everything is falling into place for our upcoming vacation. I don't know why I get so stressed before closing down for a couple of weeks...things always fall into place nicely. All the stores have their Barking Biscuit supplies now. All I need to do is fill some web orders, and then post updates on the website. Whew!

Thank you for all your comments about one blog or two (personal & biz). One blog it is! I tried to respond to your comments individually, but my replies all bounced back to me. Something I'm doing wrong?

You may wonder why I'm so excited about a little vacation. Yes, we get away every year. Usually we visit relatives. This time, we're visiting relatives for 3 days (John's son, daughter in law, and granddaughter in Halifax) But...then we're going away...just the two of us...no kids, no dogs, no relatives....for 10 days! Woo Hoo! To top it all off, we're going to tour Newfoundland...something I've wanted to do for years & years. John has been there before on business, many years ago, and only visited St. John's. So, this will be a first for him too. We're both very excited. In preparation for our trip:

New hiking shoes, hiking socks, long underwear, rain pants, rain coat. I get cold very, very easily. (apparently, there are still ice bergs in the water in Newfoundland in June!) When I get cold, I get miserable. These new supplies are John's self preservation purchases. He knows if I'm happy, he'll be happy. Smart man.

And now for some work in progress photos. This is my way of making sure I actually finish these projects. I tend to start things, and then move on to something else, so my projects sometimes languish for a while. I figure if I let all of you know about them, I'll be making a committment to actually finish them off.

(Umbrella photos coming soon)

WIP #1: Umbrella cover for our picnic table umbrella
Started: June 2nd
Completion Date: June 11 (if I don't do it right away, I'll never do it!)

WIP #2: Horace the Bear (pattern by Amanda Hone, Etsy pattern available here )
Started: March 28
Restarted (new yarn): April 14
Restarted (new yarn...I'll get this right eventually!): April 18
Want to finish by: July 15

WIP #3: Sweater for me. I've knit all the pieces, and now must piece them together (I strongly dislike this stage!!) before I can knit the button band and collar to finish it off.
Started: January
Want to finish by: August

Working like a dog so I can relax

Just who came up with the expression "working like a dog"? It sure wasn't anyone who has visited our home. This is the life of our dogs: sleep, go outside, eat, sleep, test dog biscuits, sleep, go outside, eat, sleep, sleep..... How exactly is that working?

I've been very busy over the last little while preparing for our upcoming vacation. As vacation nears, I tend to get a little (ha!) stressed. Sometimes I feel sorry for John (who has to deal with me), but mostly I feel stressed. I've been madly rushing around trying to fill orders for all my stores (so that they don't run out of dog biscuits while I'm away). Tomorrow is full of deliveries into all the Ottawa stores, and the other orders have been mailed. I've got a long to do list that actually has some items crossed off (yay!).

For our own dogs, I have to prepare all their food for 2 1/2 weeks. (I make their food, which I know would be asking too much of our son to do while we're away). We don't have a freezer, so the freezer in our refrigerator has nothing in it now except dog food and ice cubes. I don't know what our son plans to eat, but hopefully nothing that's frozen because it most definitely won't fit into the freezer.

If that isn't enough, I decided on the weekend that I would make a new umbrella cover for our picnic table umbrella (John was away at a golf tournament and I like to keep busy while he's away). This wouldn't be a big challenge for a sewer, but I'm not much of a sewer. The fabric was on sale (marked down to $3 per metre from $9.99) and I bought 10 metres. So far, it's cut out into 8 sections (with 6 inches to spare...that was close!) and sewn into 4 sections. Hopefully I'll get the rest done in the next few days. I'm very proud of myself...the fabric has stripes and I've managed to match all the stripes when sewing the sections together (so far, anyway). I'll try to show some photos of the old & new (making this promise is actually inspiration for me to complete the job!).

Now, I would like your advice. This little blog is partly business, partly personal. I've been torn about whether I should have 2 blogs...one for the dog biscuit part of my life, and one for the personal part (photos, crafts, etc). What do you think? Is it good to have both business and personal in one blog? I figured that since my business is home based, my business is personal...hence, only one blog. I don't know. I can't seem to make up my mind and be comfortable with it. Let me know what you think.

Time for a couple of photos:

This is Mya. This beautiful girl was one of the Giant Schnauzers who got to attend the Giant Schnauzer Grand Slam 2007 last Saturday. We sent down some large bones for all the dogs. The photo on the left is Mya waiting patiently for her Hot Dog! bone. Ahhhh, now she gets to eat!Thanks Christine for organizing the Grand Slam event for all the GS's, and for sending me some photos of your beautiful Mya!

CWAC Garage/Bake Sale & Foodsmiths Dog Wash

As promised in an earlier post, here are the details about the upcoming Canines With A Cause Annual Garage Sale/Bake Sale fundraiser:

Date: Saturday June 9, 2007
Time: 8 AM to 2 PM
Location: 905 Balzac Lane, Orleans ON K4A 4E4
Neighbors are encouraged to host their own garage sales.

Free coffee from 8 AM to 9 AM
Jelly bean contest
Bake Sale
Guess-the-number-of-dog-biscuits-in-the-jar contest(donated by The Barking Biscuit!). Note: for my blog readers, please feel free to participate in my on line contest. Details here.

Canines with a Cause would appreciate donations of baking goods, new items or nearly new items. To schedule a drop off call 613.590.1657.

For more information, please contact CWAC at 613.882.5923 or email canines.cwac@gmail.com.

Another great fundraiser coming up soon...Foodsmith's Fifth Annual Dog Wash in support of the Lanark Animal Welfare Society (LAWS).

Date: Saturday June 16
Time: 9 am to 2 pm
What: Dog Wash for a donation of $10 to $15 (depending on size of dog)
New this year: Get a portrait taken of your dog by prefessional photographer Ralph Buttrum for a $15 fee (all donated to LAWS)

The Barking Biscuit donates dog biscuits for this event every year...everyone who gets their dog washed gets one of our large Hot Dog! bones (no, they're not made out of hot dogs! The tag says "Just wanted to PAWS to say...Hot Dog! You're Special")

Hope you can get out, have some fun, and support some great causes!

Guessing Game #2 - How many dog biscuits?

How many dog biscuits can you fit in a cookie jar? That's the big question that people who go to the Canines With A Cause garage sale will have to answer on Saturday June 9th. (details will be posted soon).

Every year, CWAC hosts a garage sale to raise funds for their charity. For the last several years, I have provided them with a jar filled with Barking Biscuits. People pay make their contribution and fill in a ballot to guess the number of cookies. The person who comes closest gets the jar. Hopefully they have a dog or two, but hey, they can eat the biscuits themselves if they want.

So, in honour of next week's garage sale guessing game, I'm asking you bloggers the same question. Here are a couple of photos showing all 4 sides of the jar. The jar is 10 inches high x 5 inches x 5 inches.

Closest guess gets a little something in the mail from me. Sorry, I can't send you the jar. Shipping costs from Canada to the U.S. are outrageous ($25 to send this jar!) and I don't even want to think what it would cost to send overseas.

If you want to play, leave a comment or send me an email. I'll announce the number and winner on June 10th or so.