Category Archives: My Life

A to Z supplies list

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I got a response from Kathryn and we are going to work out a time when I can meet her at their storage unit and see what they have that I can use. She said we would be able to work out a good price for what I want. So that is good news.

I’m taking a few minutes tonight to think through the supplies that I know I will need for this project:

  • caulk (clear)
  • liquid nails 
  • green paint (check what I have)
  • Styrofoam
  • hot glue sticks
  • white Christmas tree lights
  • turn table (if I can find one cheap)
  • green candy for pine needles – maybe green licorice pastilles like the ones here: Green-Licorice-Pastilles
  • candy for lights – gum drops or other gummy candy
  • miscellaneous candy to create all the fun ornaments
  • round candy – maybe gum balls for ornaments
  • candy for quilted tree skirt – maybe tart n’ tiny
  • candy for garland (optional)
  • candy for covering presents under the tree (one partly unwrapped)

That is all I can think of right now. I’ll add to it as more things come to me. I want to make a final decision on what green candy to use for the tree. But it might be best to see what Kathryn has before I actually order anything. Most of the rest of the candy I can probably get locally because the amount of any one candy won’t be that much.

New Project – Christmas from A to Z

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I got news this morning of a new project and I’ve decided that I’ll use this blog to journal the process. Not just what I get done as I progress but the thoughts and ideas of what I need to do to get there. So what is this new project? A sculpture made out of candy! Several years ago I made candy window displays for a business in downtown Provo every Christmas. It was part of a project sponsored by the Provo Arts Council. It has been four years since I decided not to do another window. The project in Provo had one more season and then it was discontinued. Now South Jordan wants to start up the tradition and this year will be a small start toward that goal. Lori with South Jordan contacted me a couple of weeks ago to discuss the project and I went before the Art Board last night to propose the idea and it was approved. Now I have about I have about 10 weeks to get a project done that I figure will take about 100 hours. Currently I’m both excited and overwhelmed. I have lots of other things on my plate too and I’m not sure how to keep them all handled. Having better focus is certainly one of the ways.

I decided to make a Christmas tree decorated with things about Christmas starting with the letters from A to Z. Here is what I plan to have on the tree:

  • angel
  • bell
  • candy cane
  • drum
  • elf
  • frankincense
  • gingerbread
  • holly
  • ice skates
  • Jesus
  • Kris Kringle
  • lights
  • mistletoe
  • ornament
  • poinsettia
  • quilt
  • reindeer
  • star
  • tree
  • unwrapped
  • virgin (Mary)
  • wisemen
  • xmas
  • yule log
  • zipper

So this morning I’ve check the garage to see what we have kicking around there that might be useful. I found a piece of pvc pipe that should work for the internal structure of the tree and a large round of plywood that might work for the base if it isn’t too big. I sent off an email to Kathryn who was in charge of the candy windows in Provo to see if they have anything left that they would be willing to sell me at a fair price. I am most interested in one of the turn tables that they had. I’d love to have the whole sculpture rotate but I don’t have the budget to buy a new turn table.

Week Long Puppy Swap

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Waffle and Casey in the kitchen

Today was the start of a week long puppy swap involving all the puppies in the club. Casey went to spend the week with Lindsey for evaluation since she will be returning to guide dogs soon. And Waffle went to the Allegra’s to be handled by the youngest member of our club Ceely. We are going to miss our two sweet girls. A week is a long time to be away from them. Waffle is as tall as Casey now and she will probably be taller when she gets back. He neck and head are so small still that the adult dog collar still slides off her head.

Radison and Hallie sharing the same doggy bed

We brought home Radison who is about 10 days older than Casey. We have puppy sat Radison a couple of times before so it was fun to have her back. Lauren, Radison’s raiser made sure that I knew that Radison needs cuddle time every night before she goes to bed. Radison has a cute little white patch on her chest. Our second pup is Hallie who is one of the younger puppies in the club. Interestingly Hallie is Banta’s half sister having the same dad. They seem to be good pups and are getting along better with each other than I thought they might.

Casey

Also I took Casey into the vet to day to get her Rabies booster and her other annual vaccinations. We are suppose to go ahead and do these if they are due more than a month before recall. Casey’s are due 2 days more than a month so I went ahead and took care of them. When I weighed her she was just 48.8 lbs. I knew that she had lost weight (which she needed to do) but I hadn’t realized that she was below 50 lbs. now. She really isn’t a very big girl.

Utah State Fair

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Waffle and the sheep

The Utah State Fair was our outing today. This was Casey’s second time to the State Fair as we took her and Banta last year. She handled everything very well but couldn’t care less about the animals. Waffle was a different story. She found the animals very interesting and some of them were equally intrigued by her too. She did great with them and remained very calm. The rest of the fair was a different matter. Waffle had several panic attacks where she would bolt to the end of the leash with her tail between her legs and spin around when she got to the end. We couldn’t pinpoint what was scaring her but after a few moments of having her just stand quietly she would be ready to move on. Our best guess is that it was some kind of sound she was reacting to. We didn’t stay too long after Waffle started having trouble because it was clear that she had had enough.

Healing Fields

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Waffle and Bill walking through the Healing Fields

Today we took the girls to the Healing Fields in Sandy. It is right by Bill’s work and it is a fun opportunity to expose the pups to lots and lots of flags. Plus it is a neat thing to experience all the flags, each one representing a person who was killed on September 11, 2001. This year each flag had a tag attached to it with the name and a short bio of each person. The flags were also group by the location where they died.

Puppy Number Five

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When I talked to our CFR last week she told me there were no ‘d’ or ‘e’ puppies available for the October puppy truck so we decided to wait until the November truck and hope for the best. Well I got a call today from our club leader and she said that Barb had check on the younger puppies and there are no ‘d’ or ‘e’ litters for that truck either but that she had a yellow lab female that she would really like to get placed in a home next week, would we be interested. Wow! Part of the reason for waiting was because I have a couple of big projects one of which has to be done by November 15th. So after some thought, prayer and discussion I call Lindsey back and told her we would take a new puppy next week. The only other thing we know about her is that she is from a ‘y’ litter. So know we starting to guess on what her name will be. Hopefully she will be a good puppy and it won’t be to difficult to get my projects done and take care of a new little girl. So one week from today puppy number five will be joining our family.

Swiss Days Outing

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We packed up the girls this morning and drove up to Heber Valley to attend Swiss Days. I thought it would be a good opportunity to experience some new things. We park at an area they had set up in a field and rode a shuttle bus to the festivities. There were so many people it was amazing. We brought Apex here a couple of years ago but it wasn’t nearly this crowded. Casey did great but Waffle had a couple of fear reactions. One was walking by the bus. But mostly she did just fine.

Freedom Day

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Casey resting her head on Bill’s knee

Waffle resting her head on Casey

We got permission for Casey to be out and about one day early so she could attend a multi-club puppy meeting with our CFR today at the Career and Technology Center. It was so nice to be able to take booth girls out. Lindsey said that she needed to have a bath first to help her not smell so interesting to any intact males. Casey got to meet her brother Crosby after the meeting. As we were chatting with his raisers we found out that Crosby is an ear sucker just like Casey. Isn’t that funny. We talked to Barb about Waffles fear reactions and got permission to start her on food protocol. I’m so glad, I think this will help her immensely.

Dinner at Karen’s

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Jacob and the chickens

Today we, (Bill, Waffle and I) went to fellow puppy raisers house for dinner. Casey had to stay home because she still has a few more days on her confinement. The Johnson’s were there too. Karen put this together because the Johnson’s adopted her career changed puppy, Clifford earlier this year. It was a fun evening. Karen’s parents live on a little farm with a big garden and goats and chickens and even a turkey. Danny and Jacob seemed to enjoy the animals. Karen’s neighbor has an emu that we got to say hi too also. Too bad Casey had to miss out. She would have enjoyed it too.

Emu next door
Happy Waffle in Karen’s backyard

Casey Recall Reprieve

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Bill with Waffle and Casey

We got news today that Casey will not be returning to Guide Dogs for the Blind on the next truck. They have more dogs in Breeder Evaluations than they need and training needs more dogs. So since Casey was the youngest puppy scheduled to go on the truck and she is in consideration to be a breeder she will not be going back until the next puppy truck to Utah which is expected to be in October. I didn’t see this coming. Casey is ready to go back but we sure will enjoy having her longer. I think for Waffle it would have been better to have a month or so as an only dog before she is transferred but that is not to be. We have canceled Casey’s Farewell party to be rescheduled when we have a new recall date. Another good thing about the change in recall date is that Casey doesn’t have to go back just a few days after she is released from her confinement from being in season.