Yesterday’s first snowfall was just so pretty. I took several photographs in the morning light.

Last night after Scooter came in from “Last Call”  we noticed that a branch had fallen. It is actually visible in the photograph above, you just have to know where to look.

Needless to say, I was out in the yard several times yesterday, Scooter played out there by himself, too.  I never  noticed the downed branch.

Until today when the snow started to melt.

That was a pretty big branch! It fell off a rotting tree just behind our property line and crashed through the fence.

Scooter didn’t notice the rather large opening to the great “beyond” until this morning when the tree guy and the fence guy took the tour.

As soon as he escaped I hollered “Scooter, COME!” And he did! Good dog, Scooter!  I guess it pays to practice recall! Until we get the fence fixed, he’s going to have company in the great outdoors every second. There might be a leash involved too, just in case.

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Best of all, until December 7th, purchase this book at more than  55% off!

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Have fun,
Ami :)

I am progressing in my training of obedience and well-behavedness. This is important to Mom, so I try. Some days I am very trying.

I no longer snuggle the backside of the toilet. Instead of threading myself between the throne and the tile wall behind it (“flossing” it with my fur) I now curl in a small ball in front of the toilet. While it is a fountain, I am no longer drinking out of it. Mom said both of these things were important if I ever wanted to be petted again or give her kisses on the face.

I can walk on a leash now. I don’t yank, but I sometimes step on Mom’s feet. They are, after all, quite large and difficult to avoid.

I love walks and I get so excited I sometimes break things in anticipation. Like this plug which I ran into with my rump while I was spinning with enthusiasm for all things outdoors. (Mom said to tell you that the quilt is straight, the plug is cock-eyed.)

I now sleep with Mom and Dad. Before I retreated to my spot behind the toilet. Mom had hurt feelings.

Sleeping is upstairs and stairs are frightening at night. At least they were. I’ve gotten over it, but don’t tell Mom. I insist on a treat to go up to night-night. Before she give me the treat I sit at the foot of the bed, then she says up-up and I hop in and take my place on the edge. I spend the rest of the night working my way to the middle.

I am a very good sleeper. I sleep with my feet straight up, or folded in so I can cuddle Mom. Dad would prefer that I go back to sleeping with the toilet, but he loves Mom a lot. Sometimes I stick my feet on Mom’s head. She touches my paw and I remember to fold them up again. I love Mom too.

I love jumping into cars better. Any cars. Ours or anybody else’s. Bring your car over and I’ll show you. Then you can take me for a ride. I also like squirrel and rabbit presents. Tasty.

I have never eaten, chewed, or played with any of Mom’s stuff that she leaves lying around the house. Looks like a tornado went through most of the time, but I know all things not given to me specifically are off-limits. No “accidents” either. Not a one.

I also love baths and you can brush me any time.

I still have major issues with things that move. I wag, bark, and lunge. I’m getting better with cars and people. People getting out of cars makes me bark. I don’t know why. Squirrels, cats, and especially other dogs on leashes make me wild. We don’t know if I am happy wild or anxious wild or terrified wild because I am barking too loudly to tell. My eyes roll all the way back in my head when I bark and I just can’t stop. I bark at all these things when we walk, when they go by the window, and when they are on TV. Mom and Dad are afraid if they don’t switch the channel I will attempt to enter the TV.

Lately Mom can’t make me be quiet so I have lost window privileges. She covered the slidy-door with duct tape so I can’t see out and when I can’t control myself she covers the windows with big pieces of plastic and Styrofoam. That’s why we have a snow shovel and a step-ladder in the hallway, it’s to keep the window things up. Sigh. I hope to learn to climb the ladder soon. I’m sure I could move the snow shovel if I tried. Poor Mom.

Mom and I are working with a trainer. We go up to things that make me nuts and then we go away from them. Come and go, closer and closer until I stop with the barking. I am getting better. Mom says I’m nowhere near ready for prime time.

Mom had this great idea that I might be less nutso if I wore one of her shirts when we go for a walk. A tight shirt on me might make me feel better. Personally, I don’t know if humiliation is a recognized training technique, but I wore one of her long sleeve T-shirts yesterday and today. Apparently we are the same size, except my chest is bigger. (Everybody’s chest is bigger.)

Mom says I was better. I barked once at a squirrel right outside our door (couldn’t help it) but then I “let it go.” I also tried very hard to ignore two other squirrels and the yappy dog in the house down the street. If I barked they would surely see me and realize how stupid I looked in a women’s long-sleeved T-shirt! So I was quiet.

That’s it for my update. If you haven’t friended me on FaceBook, you should. I am very entertaining and I share a lot of pictures there.

Mom is going to write the next blog in a few days about sewing or something. It should be just as boring as it sounds. But read it anyway because she’s the one in charge of my kibble.

Please leave me a comment because I love those and I don’t bark at them. If you get this blog as an email, don’t hit reply. Click the blue word COMMENT, otherwise it won’t get here where I can read it.

If you leave a comment, you can watch my new video.

Love Scooter

I am on FaceBook.

Yup, and if you all friend me, I’ll have more friends than Mom! Do it. C’mon.

I am learning many things, like how to open the screen door and let myself outside. Mom says I have to stop that.

I can also open the bathroom door and let myself in. Like when somebody is in there. I have to stop that too.

I am still learning not to bark at other dogs, cats, birds, large insects, squirrels, people with bags, large trucks, bicycles, motorcycles, neighbors, and children.  Mom says if I ever want to go cool places I have to stop that too.

Mom is very patient.

She marches me toward whatever I want to bark at and then as soon as I bark she hauls my sorry carcass in the other direction. Then we try it again. Each time we get closer and closer until I can walk by without barking at all. Whining is OK.

Yesterday we walked in the neighborhood and I was perfect. Until we passed the two statue dogs. They are real dogs, but they are very well-trained and don’t move at all. They are real dogs ’cause I saw one pee. So I barked.  ABOUT FACE!

Then we met the two yappy dogs behind the fence. They bark really loud and jump so much they make dust clouds. I barked back in joyous salutation and partial terror. ABOUT FACE!

Up ahead I saw the black dog without a person and a loose toddler. I barked very hard trying to figure out which was more frightening. ABOUT FACE!

By time we were done I didn’t bark at nobody. We walked by everybody and I was very good. My goodness only lasts about 24 hours, but like I said Mom is very patient.

Mom is writing her newsletter right now. She’ll be back here soon. Don’t forget about FaceBook.

Meanwhile, you can watch my video.

I am getting used to my new family a lot. It is hard sometimes. They are odd. Chairs are for people, dogs get the floor. Sometimes I forget. It is OK because Mom spends lots of time on the floor with me.

I like to cuddle. I sit in her lap and gaze affectionately at her. Or, I lean on her, and lick her chin. And her neck. And parts of her ears if she will let me. She is not very furry in those places but seems to like my licking anyway.

I would also like to lick squirrels but I haven’t caught one yet.  They run up trees. I have tried, but I cannot run up trees.  I will learn to jump higher. Dogs are allowed in trees, right?

Already learned dogs are not allowed on walls or ceilings at The Vet. Mom says I have to apologize for my behavior last Tuesday. And for kicking the bag of poop at the nice lady behind the counter.

Also learned it’s not nice to bark at well-behaving dogs at Obedience School. They bark back and get in trouble. They give me dirty looks. I bark more. Mom says this will have to stop.

I have made new friends. They are mostly German Shepherd Dogs but they speak English. I am the tall blond boy in the back row. Mom says I am part llama.

I plan on having more adventures soon so I can blog about them. Meanwhile, here’s a very short video of me growling in my sleep. You will need to turn up the volume as I was growling softly in my Indoor Voice. Don’t worry I will get better at the video thing.

Yours waggingly,
Scooter Simms

Thanks for all the name suggestions. As mom explained it to me our home is not a democracy, it is a benevolent dictatorship. And Mom rules the roost. We’re not chickens,that’s just a metaphor. Possibly a metafive. I’m not very good in people-speak yet. Anyway, she picked Scooter.

We read ALL the names and she was closing in on Charlie or Cooper, and then I sealed my fate by be going after a peanutbutter-filled dog toy on my belly. I pushed it with my tongue all over the living room floor crawling commando style behind it. Later I went to sleep positioned  between the bed and the wall and by morning I had scooted almost totally under the bed and couldn’t get out. The next night I flipped around the other way and slept with my head on the carpet and my back legs up against the wall, as in over my head! A canine U-turn. Mom laughed at me out loud. Every time she woke up, my hind quarters were still higher than the rest of me and I had scooted a few feet farther away down the wall. I have no idea what I was doing; I was asleep!  But now I am Scooter.

I am great in the house! No accidents. I have no interest in anything around the house other than my toys, which are very interesting.  I am coming when I am called (sometimes), and I am learning “Go get it” and “Bring it” and “Give.” I have left presents in the yard when Mom asks. Life is good. Life would be better if Mom would just let me yank her around on our walks, but she’s having none of that!

More next time. Until then I hope you miss me.

I am here now. I wasn’t before.  Before I was someplace else.

I am a rescued dog.

I had excellent foster parents and a couple of other parents before that and one in between that had me for only 3 days and then sent me back. I am a handful. But Mom (the lady in the green behind me) says I am in my Forever Home now.

I will be two on July 16th. And I am very soft. I HAVE LOTS OF ENERGY. Mom (the green lady) thinks my legs are too long. She is trying to wear them down. We have had lots of walks since 9:30 yesterday morning when I started going home.

Here’s a picture of me after our first walk. That is not our house. It is somewhere on the way home.

Mom is very proud in the picture because for about 12 seconds after 16 laps around the not our house place I actually walked with a “Loose Leash.” (See it drooping? See Mommy’s arm not straight out in front of her?) Her left arm is now 3 inches longer than the other one.

Here I am relaxing in the car going home.  I am adorable.

I also need a name. I had a name, but Mom and I decided I need a new start and a new name. Except she can’t think of one.  Can you?

Here are the requirements.

1. I am a boy dog. NO GIRLIE NAMES! No either/or names. Everybody thinks Golden Retrievers are girls. It has to be a manly name.

2. It has to sound nice with my new last name: Simms.

3. It can’t be anything that you shout out loud and it kind of sounds like a bad word or is embarrassing to me in any way.

4. Not too many syllables; I move fast.

Please give us as many suggestions as you can think of that are good names for me. Use the COMMENTS. (If you get this emailed, please don’t hit reply.)

Waggingly yours,

______________________

Mason has been very patient.

His quilt is a take-off on the quilt we do in my String Quilting workshop. Just snowball the set fabric. (Don’t worry, I’ll show you!)

As with some of the other quilts I’ve made recently for children, I’ve substituted fleece for the batting and lining. It makes the quilt super soft and the quilting shows up surprisingly well. I bind it just as if it were three layers.  (Click the image to make it larger.)

All the feathers were machine free-motion quilted. I attempted to add to my feather repertoire . It was a great project for experimentation. Mason’s name is quilted in one of the patches. He’s pointing to it below.

As I said, Mason has been very patient. He gave me a big hug and a heartfelt “thank-you” which is what every quilter wants to receive when gifting a quilt.

I’m just glad I got it finished before he graduated from high school.

Aunt Ami

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It takes my mind off the age of the plane and the youth of the pilot.

This past week I packed yo-yos to sew. Itty-bitty ones. Before I took off on the first leg of my journey to Salt Lake City and the Home Machine Quilting Show I FaceBooked and asked how many yo-yos my friends thought I could sew from Flint, Michigan to Minneapolis.

Even with a maintenance delay I wasn’t as fast as they thought I was. I got 12 done.

I stitched on all three flights on the way home for a grand total of 48 yo-yos on the 13-hour trip home.

I do have a use for them. I’m just not ready to reveal exactly what that is yet. ;)

As for sewing on airplanes, needles, pins, and SHORT pointy scissors are “TSA OK.” Read what’s allowed at www.tsa.gov.

Travel Tip: if you want the armrest, use long thread. Your seat mate backs off pretty quick if they think your #10 between might connect with a body part oozing into your personal air space.

If you’d like to try making a mini yo-yo, the fold line is a 1-3/16″ cirle.

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This junk food fabric was the perfect ending to Buttons and Bows, a quilt featured in, “Picture Play Quilts.”  I just wish I still had more fabric.

Apparently adults like funky fabric too. Several years ago, this quilt was selected by the US Ambassador to Dakar, Senegal and his wife to hang in their home. The Art in Embassies program facilitated the loan.

Buttons and Bows is one of 15 patterns in Picture Play Quilts. They’re all based on squares and rectangles and come with step-by-step instructions.

Best of all, there are a dozen games to play with the quilts you make that teach language skills, encourage creativity, and build self-esteem.

Since half the fun of making quilts with conversational fabric is the collecting, and collecting with a buddy is a blast, take advantage of my momentary insanity. I’m offering a “two-fer.”

Picture Play Quilts normally sells for $22.95. Now you can get TWO copies for $20. Go! Quickly! This offer ends May 14th.

Here’s that link again: http://www.amisimms.com/blog.html

Picture Play Quilts makes a wonderful gift. (Hint, hint.)