Henry’s Baby

Henry has switched his preferences for his night time buddy.  The poor little fella Henry drags around at night is getting pretty battered. Henry only carries this little tired toy with him at night - not during daytime play.  

We still have two huge baskets of playthings for our boy - but Henry is very picky.  He will not tip the basket, but will make sure we understand that it is our job .  If the correct toy isn’t there, he proceeds to the next basket until the room is carpeted with toys.  

Henry is aging up a bit and it does show.  The fluff muffin has his favorite spots and snuggies right in for long naps - then reenergized - he is off for a short frolic before (you got it) another long lovely nap.

March 14th is Not Exciting

 

  This is Miss Thing.  She is a Grand Kitty visiting from Seattle.  You don’t see her? Zoom in.  She is the furry tush you see re-entering her brick house.  This shy little lady is not an over enthusiastic visitor, but she does come out now and then for cuddles and head scritches.    Henry, on the other hand, is downstairs only while his niece is visiting upstairs.  He seems to think life would be best if he and the Miss Thing shared space.  Although I’ve explained her shyness he thinks family members should be together.   I think March 14th would be way too exciting if I listened to him.

Henry Supervising

 

Henry spent a couple days this week supervising the addition of solar panels.  They aren’t producing yet - there are two more checks before they operational - but yay!  Finally!  No pottery for the last three weeks (the kiln had to be moved for access to the electric panel).  

Henry doesn’t quite get it - guys and gals on the roof moving around. There was a fair amount of barking going on - but our boy was more than willing to allow petting whenever the workers had a break.  The clay group has made our ball of fluff much more willing to be social. 

Papa Peep and the Pooch

There they are - MamaPeep’s two good boys.  Just taking  a little mini-nap.  Henry has taken to burying himself in pillows on the couch when he is not on a Peep lap. He just digs his way in and leaves a peek spot so he can keep track of activities.

I want to say winter is behind us, but it’s still chilly out there. The snow has melted so that struggle to the bath tub to melt the icy matting between Henry’s toes is done for the year I hope!

Handsome Henry

 

As Henry's Peep, I have to add this.  He is so handsome in his bow-tie that I have to figure out how to make a bunch!  One for every day of the week!

Henry - The Supervisor

  In case you have forgotten, Henry is a good old boy. He barks if a leaf falls in the forest.  He thinks the mail carrier is his best friend but he makes crazy run-arounds barking with unmatched enthusiasm when she visits.  When Amazon delivers you would think Godzilla is on the approach!   

Henry was born 3/11/2011 so he is now a good old boy and is exhausted after too much excitement.  So he follows his peep to the studio crashing on his blanket to direct questioning glances at my efforts in clay. I check him for eye rolls and trash the ones he doesn’t like.

 I have been working on lidded containers.  I still am struggling a bit - but am having fun with the struggle 😊.

 One of my potter friends introduced me to stencils.  I’ve been experimenting a bit - I’m not in love with straight stencil but like them when combined with additions.  Henry isn’t sure if it’s worth the effort - but he’s a dog.  I think I’ll continue experimenting.

 

Henry Collects Some Clay Dust

Henry has been helping in the pottery lab -- mostly stirring up dust but also encouraging us to enjoy the process or (preferred) take him for a hike down to the water.  It’s raining, so he is out of luck.  So... instead the pup is supervising  Ryan throwing  blindfolded as a little side adventure on the wheel.  

Here is some of what I've been up to in the last few months.

These fellows are six of my COVID monster series.

The monsters did not seem to stop the neighbors from getting hit with the virus - but so far, Greg and I and our girls (plus Henry) have all avoided the nasty thing and all its variants.  Excuse me while I go search for a plank of wood to knock on.

Okay.  I'm back.

My pre-retirement life was in a high school with two lovely huge Geil gas kilns.  I loved the cone ten reduction but with those years behind me, I am learning the possibilities with cone six firings.  The sgrafitto leaf bowl I fired to cone five -  but I was unhappy with the underglaze colors.  When I refired to cone six I liked what I got.  It’s definitely a learning experience for me.

The tan and brown teapot was out of my last cone ten firing.  Yes.  I do miss those kilns - but it would take me forever to fill them without my five classes of 35 potters - and given the environmental concerns, I guess I wouldn't be firing to cone 10 anymore anyway.

I'm currently focusing on lidded vessels.  This is yesterday's pot - but today I discovered a Mark Peters video on you tube for a nifty lid idea.  Check it out if you are a lid-challenged potter. It’s titled "An Unconventional Way to Make a Lid."

I'm also working on creating sets of matching size vessels.  

The blue-green and white vase was an early attempt with my electric kiln.   I was trying a low-fire glaze over a mid-range clay.   The cone fell off the holder (oops) and it way over-fired. If I could duplicate that finished surface, I would do a kiln full but I was very lucky that the shelves were well washed. The base did involve a lot of grinding. 

 

And at last - most of the family - no Sue.  No Nate.  No Henry. :-)

Snow at the End of the week!

  

 Its coming soon.  SNOW!  The peeps don’t seem to understand. 

Rain is bad enough. I walk with them to the end of the driveway and then stop. Sit. Look back — longingly at the gate and indoor warmth.  Why the heck would anyone want to be out in drizzle? Humph.  

Now I hear snow by the end of the week! What the hay?  This is ridiculous.  Next they’ll be snow booties. I really hate snow booties!  

Exhausted!

  

It is tough being ten.  I am handsome (that's good). I am loved (that's important). I get to travel on my peep's lap (that is essential).  I am friendly - after a couple of minutes of barking at strangers -- (it takes a bit to get over my cautious mistrust - I do need to be sure my peeps are safe after all).  I am a very picky eater but my weight is healthy - (my peep just needs to add yummy stuff to my kibble — and it has to be different every meal or I won’t touch it).  

All that, but at ten, I get really tired so I’m a power nap-pooch. I’ll be ready for zoomies in a bit!   

...and just saying, Vivika is a lot older than I am.  She's a pretty good sleeper too and her zoomies don't last nearly as long as mine!

Short Stubby Little Legs

 If Henry had his cousin Gus’s long lanky legs it wouldn’t be an issue.  But it doesn’t take much snow to get to Henry’s chest.

And there is the whole issue of potty breaks!  You can’t see the lawn - so is it gone?  Cold doggie feet! A little spot of yellow snow.   “OMG, OMG — Mom let me back inside!!”

  

Henry and His Cousins

Henry had a vacation in this COVID world.  We went to the cabin for two weeks to shore up it’s 101 year old logs.  I guess it was a success....we will find out if the retaining wall did it’s job in the next few years.  I know it looks scary, but it’ll be invisible when we remove the paper and the plants leaf out on the hill in the spring.

The important part, of course, is shy and scared-e-cat Henry’s reaction to his cousins.  He got so incredibly excited when we drove down that long entry to Kathy’s home. He knew what was coming his way!  He went crazy racing to the door. He saw Pearl and Wyatt and was jubilant!  

It is exactly the same when he sees his cousin Guster.  Such happiness.  We do need a second dog.  Henry is an only child - Vivika the cat just doesn’t seem to cut it.

Yesterday and Today

One last quick look at the fluff ball!  So

adorable and so very close to the matting length! Asleep, at rest, oblivious of the approaching event!

And then there is the shocked and disgruntled Henry wondering what the heck his mom was thinking.

Henry is now a half cut fur ball.  While held in place by papa peep, his mom has given him his first ever mama cut-with-clippers hair do.  He is looking pretty hilarious but we will get to the tough stuff - tummy and legs - tomorrow with more treats.

And someday — in a post corona-virus world— his wonderful groomer will re-open her doors and make it all right once again. 

Henry Has (or maybe had) New Friends!

Here is the bee house - home to Henry’s 30 new friends.  They’ve hatched out and are busy searching for delicious flowers to pollinate.  I would have named them all if they had hung around Henry’s yard.  Well, that didn’t happen! They briefly checked out the mud basin I created for them (they are mason bees 🐝 after all).  They did a fly-by for the flowers 🌺 🌸 💐 🌹that I potted for the little ungrateful fellas. With that, they then - every one of them - flew off to the inviting neighbor yard.  Ungrateful bugs!  Hopefully some will return and deposit the mason bee babies for next year. I promise to take great care of their bee-babes.

🐕 Some Friends 🐕

Henry - before his first haircut ❤️

Stuck at home avoiding the virus - I've been traveling down doggy-memory lane. What did we do before cell phone photos? Henry doesn’t warm up to his fellow pups right away, but when he does, he never forgets that they are friends.

Guster ❤️

Ranger

Wyatt

 

Marilyn

    

What? A cat? Yep. This is Sam’s Baby

Biscuit

 

Randy + Misumi’s
Momo and  Billy

Grover

Bath? Humph.

Henry’s peep think it is well past bath time for this boy.  The pup disagrees with the plan.  See the disgruntled steely eyed stare? That is the look his well meaning mom is getting after saying the dreaded word...and in the time it’s taken to post this - he has disappeared. No problem. His tail is usually showing around the edge of his hiding spot. 

And found ... and trapped. —— and  — awfulness is over! We’re celebrating the finish 😁

Pluto Making it all Okay 🐕

This is Pluto. He is awesome and sooooo helpful.  Great advice here:

I don’t know who to credit for this video - but whoever you are - you made my day!
Thank you ❤️

Coronavirus and Henry

I guess we are all dealing with the coronavirus in our own way.  My house is sheltering in place seriously and we are into our second week.  Henry is bored. We just are not filling in the racing-around-the-house play actively enough.  He needs extra because our walks are down to two short ones a day.

We are lucky to live in a very quiet area - I cannot imagine what folks do in Seattle or New York.  A walk around our blocks see maybe one or two folks out walking their dogs - but the neighborhood dog walkers are a careful group. No  buddy-dog sniffing here. We cross to opposite sides of the street.
So, we go out to admire the fruit trees in early bloom - wondering if a late freeze will ruin our crop.  I’ve only spotted on bee.  I was tempted to steal it from my neighbor’s tree and carry it home.



As you can see, when we return home, Henry has not had enough. First he races in circles to encourage more play time, then he creates a spot on his blankets to hunker down until his people get going again.

Henry’s gorgeous cousin Pearl is bored too.
Her Human sent this along for Henry to check out.