Murphy's stressful day!

WOW --- I hear you loud and clear. We do not like scents. So if we don't, who are those products marketed to? Maybe younger people. Anyway -- they won't be coming into my house! Thanks for all the comments and suggestions! 

I'm happy to report that the articles are finished for now. Well, that's not true. I have one more that I need to write, but it's not super urgent, so I can stall on it a bit. That gives me some flexibility in getting back to the paperwork and the emails, and there are many to deal with today. I'll work on the computer for a couple of hours, and then I'm downstairs! 

Murphy had a rough day! Poor thing. We spotted a rabbit on the walk; she wanted to go after it. After she sees something moving, she gets so hyper, even though the rabbit was long gone, and it takes her a while to settle down. 

MOOM -- I NEED to chase that rabbit! 

Even though she's not a huge dog, she's STRONG and likes to show me. Wait—she's a big dog, but many other breeds are larger than her. We are spotting more dogs on the walk these days, and of course, she wants to say hello to each of them. It wouldn't be an issue if she weren't so vocal, but her BIG bark scares other dogs. But that's her way of communicating. She's getting better, but still a long way to go! It's their breed - they are vocal. Look at this, which is hilarious, but this would be Murphy if she were on the agility course. 

The other day, we almost gave an e-scooter rider a heart attack. Murphy was doing her business next to the multi-purpose path, and I had my back turned to watch her. When she was done, she got up rather quickly and then lunged. I didn't spot the guy coming because he was zipping along at an incredible speed. Thankfully, he swerved and stayed on the e-scooter. Buddy - a word of advice -  if you are passing a strange dog and the owner isn't paying attention to you, think twice about zipping past so fast! It could have been a bad scenario! Murphy HATES anything on two wheels. 

We had a couple of fun play sessions during the day, but then moved to the great outdoors after dinner. I tossed her toy as far as possible, meaning it went near or behind the pond. 

She had loads of fun seeking out the toy in the bushes. 

MOM -- I love playing hide and seek! 

She loves to scoot along the front of those rocks, but it is challenging because the branches hang lower than they used to. 

Mom - I love agility! 

At one point, oops!!!!

MOM - Help, I'm drowning! 

She did not fall in, but it was close. By the way, her head is in the bushes, and her butt is in the pond. The poor thing just froze! Now what??? Then she got her bearings and could climb back onto the rocks. I couldn't help her as there was no place to get a good grip on her, and I certainly wasn't falling in the pond. 

After that, it was time to take a break, and she happily went and napped. She was exhausted and perhaps a bit scared, although the incident is likely already forgotten! 

I spotted this flower on my walk. WAIT --- when did this happen? It seemed to have appeared overnight, as I had not noticed the blooms the day before. 

Flowering bush

The flowers are enormous and pretty hard to miss! 

Massive blooms

And here is Miss Lexi, once again trying to hide in the trees. When there is grass or small bushes, she loves to be in them! I don't get it, but that's her thing! 

Mom, can you see me? 

DH and I are off on an adventure later this summer. Before we leave, we have to visit the travel clinic, which we did yesterday. Yikes—just going to the clinic and listening to everything we could run into was scary! We have pills and medication for all sorts of possible ailments while traveling. 

Medication for our upcoming trip

There is one medication I need to investigate a bit more, as the pharmacist said it was "sort of" related to sulfa-based drugs, which I don't do well with. What does that mean? Sort of? And she said I could try half a tablet at home and see if I had a reaction. The medication is for high-altitude sickness, which means you are struggling for oxygen. My reaction to sulfa-based drugs is asphyxiation. Do I want to test the pill - even half a pill? Hmmm - I don't think so. I'll do some research to see. 

We still need to book an appointment for the vaccines! I can't even remember how many there are (only one or two?). Of course, he recommended all the ones that OHIP pays for—hepatitis A and B, shingles, and tetanus (it's past ten years). I hate needles! But I can't travel without those vaccines, so I must at least endure those ones. 

And how many do I want in one day? I might arrange the OHIP ones with my doctor and the travel ones, with this travel specialist. 

I spent some time puttering in Studio B, and it was great. I accomplished a lot—well, never as much as I would like, but I'm getting there. Not having any "deadlines" sure allows me tons of time to do what I want! 

Stuff I'm currently working on

I sorted a bunch of fabrics, so that was great. I am almost done with Diane's stuff. I have two or three more bags of fabrics in the garage to sort through. I have a place to donate them, but I'm searching for larger pieces for backings. I haven't found many, but I've discovered smaller bits and pieces, so I've put them in a big scrap box, and I'll go through it and cut them for a couple of scraps quilts. The bigger pieces will be donated next month. And then everything will be gone! OH - except for two sewing machines, which I must deal with next month. Or I might wait until the fall. 

Sorting fabric

My 60-minute-or-less project for yesterday was to make binding for five placemats. The binding is made, and I even got it stitched to the back of one placemat. I did not work on any piddly things, but that's OK. This needed to be done! 

Binding for placemats - Done!

And here is the customer quilt of the day! 

Customer quilt - DONE

It was another large one, and it's all done. I'll trim it this morning and get the next one loaded. I'm doing great with the customer quilts. By the end of this week, I'll be down to single digits, so that's good. And a good number of those remaining are small. All is good—I'm pretty much on track with customer quilts, so I'm happy. 

While working, I've been thinking about the digital file mess I have created. While I'm away and won't have a ton of time, I've decided that I will get all my digitized pantos for the long arm organized. Yes -- you can imagine that it's a mess. I've purchased some designs and not even downloaded them, which is nonsense. So I printed off a list of my orders over the last seven years, and now I will ensure that all of them are downloaded, sorted, and loaded on the long-arm computer. I can easily do that from anywhere, and that's a perfect thing to do early in the morning at the retreat! 

As you can imagine, my download folder must also be cleaned up! So that is what I will start with to clean up files! It's probably the smallest category and shouldn't take too long. I use my dog walks and afternoon walking to plan and dissect these tasks into what needs to be done. It's the perfect planning time. With planning and much better walking ability, I can crank out the miles without even realizing what's happening! Well, I'm still aware, but you know what I mean. 

Now it's time to start the day, so I'm off to spin class. I went to bed a bit earlier than usual, and of course, I was up earlier than usual. Perhaps a nap will be in order later today. 

Have a super day!!!

Ciao!!!!