(Almost) Done!

I still need to do some work on the drive wheel, but it is so time-consuming I decided to put the wheel back together and spin some.  And I may end up getting some brown-tinted Briwax to darken it up a bit, but I'm going to wait and see how I like it.

In sad news, I sold the Pedal Pusher. :-(  I missed it before it was gone!  But the person that bought is thrilled with her first wheel, and spinning in general, so I feel a bit better about it. :-)  Selling the PP means I really need to get around to building my electric plyer though!

And, I finally bought a smart phone!  It's an LG Phoenix which is an Android phone.  It's pretty easy to use (mostly), and seems to be holding a decent charge compared to what I've been told about smartphones (though I'm not using it a lot (yet)).  I'm very happy with how the Kindle app looks on it - the font size is adjustable to big-enough-for-me :-) and you can select a sepia background so it's not as tiring to read on. 

Most of my time has been taken with the new dog though,

and finishing the Mazurka.  So I haven't done any spinning except for the Spin Club meeting last week, and no other crafty stuff either.  Luckily I'm off today and the boys are mostly snoozing (though New Dog decided to take ALL the doggy toys out of the toy basket :-/) so I may be able to spin on the Mazurka and Reeves without worrying too much about the wheel being safe.  Maybe.

The Dog Chronicles...

I've gotten very little done because of the dog - he's still here, we've not heard anything from anyone who knows who he belongs to.  He can be a bit of a sad dog,

but the more he's with us the better-behaved he is.  He does seem pretty smart, and is surprisingly well-behaved (most of the time).

He's not allowed to be 'free' in the house without supervision as the house is so not puppy-proofed, particularly for one so big, and to protect the other dogs just-in-case, as he is bigger than all of them.

And he's getting along more-or-less with the rest of the pack (Boss Dog is taking her day-long nap so is not in the picture),

though he likes to pester the spaniel.  Whether it's because they are both boys (and he's not fixed - yet), the spaniel is always with me while the girls are usually not, or something else I'm not sure.  Some of it is definitely the dominance thing, but some of it I'm not sure.  Lazy Girl mostly avoids him, and Boss Dog... bosses him. :-)

Last night he broke out of the crate and got hold of:

My specially-ordered silk hankie from Corgi Hill Farm. :-(  I don't know if it's salvageable yet as my hands are super-rough right now, but I'm bummed.


I haven't been able to do hardly any craft stuff, especially as on top of everything else I am coming down with whatever is going around, though I did try staining the niddy noddy for the Mazurka.  I'm not sure I like the color so much, though.

 I have all the pieces sanded except the drive wheel and the base.  I must say I'm a bit surprised as to the poor quality of the turning and finishing - there is a spot where the gouge slipped and dented the wood, poorly-cut threads, splintery areas around holes....  How disappointing, but probably mostly not noticeable if you're only looking at it after it's been stained and assembled.

We have a guest!

First - someone got a haircut:

and a new necklace!  He was not especially thrilled with either, though his fur isn't as short as the last time he got a professional 'do. :-)

Our guest:

showed up yesterday morning.  We checked around the neighborhood and left flyers, so far no one has called.  I'm not sure what's going to happen with him - sometimes we want his owners to find him, and other times we don't because he acts like he's been mistreated (but training an over-large puppy - he's as big as our largest dog).  He cowers a lot, is totally untrained though he's at least a year old - maybe two, and a bit on the thin side (and intact - sigh).  But you can tell he had a collar, his nails are short, and he's not very dirty.  Very sweet and velcro-y, though a bit mouthy and he likes to jump on people (because he has never been trained ::sigh::)

This is what the other dogs think of him:

Not so keen, particularly the spaniel.  So far they've been kept separate, the 'new' dog is staying outside (dog house) and doesn't seem to be interested in leaving at all.  Sigh.  Four dogs????  Siiigh.

I've dedicated April to decluttering the worst room in the house.  So far, I've made a bit of progress, but  I started in an area where I had recently done some organizing so it kind of doesn't count as much.  But that's going to cut into my crafting time since it's a HUGE mess (as well the new dog's training, if he stays).

On the spinning front, I'm still working on the lovely green on the Reeves (didn't spin much this past week though) and... I have an unfinished Kromski Mazurka on its way to me!  I wanted one for a long time, but I'm not crazy about the Kromski finishes, and didn't want to take on finishing a Mazurka myself.  But... Kromski discontinued this wheel (????) so I figured I'd better get one now.  Now, to pick a stain color - the worst part of finishing!