Unraveled, Week 26/2025

Happy hump day, friends! Kat is on vacation this week, so there's no official link-up, but you know I can't skip an Unraveled Wednesday!

Because Monday was One Little Word update day, I didn't get a chance to tell you about our weekend. It was rainy and gloomy on Saturday, so we didn't do a whole lot (in fact, the Mister seemed to be napping the whole afternoon). But on Sunday the sun came out and warmed us up again, and Ruthie got to take her first trip in the car since coming home with us. We went over to my brother's house to have dinner with my side of the family and so Ruthie could meet her "cousin" Leo. I could tell she was nervous because she was shaking in the car and for a while when we got there, but she did a great job overall. Leo (who looks positively enormous to me now that I've gotten used to having a little dog) was gentle with her, and she seemed to like him even if she was a little apprehensive. She's now met quite a few dogs in the neighborhood and is getting better at calming down around them. We're still working on her reaction to people!

The other excitement over the weekend is that I finished my first project since she came home! It's nothing terribly exciting because it was already halfway done, but given how limited my knitting time is these days, I'll take it.

These look wonky because they still have to be blocked, but you can at least get a sense for the overall look. These are a new design that I did for Amy of Ross Farm using her Funky dyed-in-the-wool Cheviot. The skein looked to be about half red dominant and half blue dominant, so after I finished the first one (red), I rewound the skein so I could work from the other end. Now that the sample is done, I need to block them and do some mathing for the pattern. We'll see if my brain is up to the challenge.

It was a so-so week of reading for me -- but I have been reading, thanks to getting a better sense of when Ruthie is likely to nap. I finished two books.

I borrowed Whale Fall (after a perplexingly long wait, given how short it is) from the library based upon Katie's recommendation. This book is set on a remote (and fictional) Welsh island in the late 1930s when the population is dwindling and two events have a huge impact: First, a whale washes up on the shore and becomes a source of interest for some and a bad omen for others. Next, two scholars from England arrive to study the island's inhabitants. Manod, the novel's 18-year-old narrator, begins to work for them as a translator and interpreter and hopes they'll take her with them when they leave, but she soon realizes that the island life these ethnographers want to depict isn't quite how things are and that their reasons for being there are more exploitative than academic. This book reminded me of several others I've read in recent years -- The Colony, This Other Eden, and Clear among them -- that have strong messages about colonization and othering. Ultimately I felt like I didn't get enough of the bigger picture in this one, and I was left with a lot of questions when it ended. I gave it 3 stars.

Next was a title for the small group of us focusing on women in translation. Time of the Flies follows Ines after she is released from prison after serving 15 years for killing her then-husband's lover. Though she is now estranged from her daughter and on her own, she is trying to build a new life, taking a new name and starting a joint extermination/private investigation company with a fellow former inmate. Things seem to be going well until one of her clients offers her a large amount of money to obtain a poison. If she does, she risks being sent back to prison, but the money could be used to help her business partner and friend get treatment for breast cancer. And then she discovers that her daughter knows the client and things get even more complicated. Amid all of this, there's a Greek tragedy-style chorus commenting on the events and moral dilemmas. I thought it was an interesting story, but it didn't really grab me, and I also predicted the twist at the end (and spotted quite a few typos, which irked me). I gave it 3 stars as well.

I'm currently reading an ARC of a book about Jane Austen digitally, though I haven't gotten very far because I've mainly gotten it out to read during Ruthie's afternoon naps, when I also sometimes snooze a little.

I'll leave you with a puppy picture. Did you know that you can get a rating for your own dog on WeRateDogs.com if you submit a photo? You saw this one last week, but now Ruthie's officially got a rating!

Less in 2025: April

It's the last Monday of the month, so it's time to check in on my One Little Word. Thank you to Kat for hosting our monthly link-ups!

I didn't have to think too hard about how Less has made itself known in my life this past month because frankly there's been less of just about everything: Less sleep. Less exercise. Less knitting. Less reading. Less time to myself in general. Those of you who have had a puppy (or a new baby!) know how it goes. But it's just a season of life and will pass. And as Ruthie has gotten settled in and used to a schedule, there's been less/fewer of some of the not-so-pleasant aspects of this period in time, like accidents in the house and wake-ups in the middle of the night. I'm looking forward to the trends continuing in that direction.

There's also been less baking and roasting thanks to the ovens dying -- but that's almost over, as our new ovens are scheduled to be installed today!

A Friday Pupdate

Happy Friday, friends! I am happy to see another weekend upon us, as it's been a busy week. Mornings have been a bit busier with the Mister away (he usually takes Molly to school in the morning), and of course having the electricians here for three full days created a bit of a disruption. But that work is done, and now we just need the landscapers to come back and put the dirt back in the big hole they dug.

I thought I'd use this post to give you a bit of a puppy update (I shamelessly stole the word "pupdate" from WeRateDogs).

I've seen a lot of positive changes in Ruthie in her second week with us. The most notable is that she is "going" outside most of the time. I've been rewarding her with treats and praising her every time she goes, and it's clearly paying off. She's had only a few accidents indoors this week, and I suspect those are largely due to the disruption of people in and out of the house. We've got a regular schedule of when we go out now, and I have a better sense of when she needs to go, so my hope is that things keep moving in a positive direction.

She's also been doing much better at night. I'm still sleeping on the couch (not the goal long term but acceptable for now), though the periods of sleep have been getting a little longer. She seems to need to go outside sometime in the midnight to 1 a.m. time frame and wakes up maybe once or twice other than that, though when she doesn't need to go out she just needs a little soothing to get back to sleep. She's mostly waking shortly before my alarm goes off or when it does -- it'll be interesting to see what happens when there's no alarm on the weekend!

We've had more success on walks (where she doesn't get as distracted by noises from traffic and birds) and regularly make it down our street and to a neighboring one. She's also made some dog friends! Our next-door neighbors brought our their Great Dane, Lydia, the other evening when we were outside, and though Ruthie barked at her, she was clearly interested, so we let the dogs go up to each other. There was lots of sniffing (easy for Ruthie to do, as she practically fits underneath Lydia) and tail wagging. She also did some brief sniffing of Sunny, the Golden Retriever who lives across the street, yesterday morning when we met her and her owner coming back from a walk. I'm hoping that she'll soon meet Vader, the black Lab who lives on the other side of us, and Leo, my brother's dog.

It's clear that she's becoming more comfortable because the puppy behaviors are coming out more. She is chewing everything (including her bed!) and also trying to get into places that we'd probably prefer she not go. Her latest is doing an army crawl under the couch and refusing to come out. I'd be tempted to let her stay there, as I'm sure it's a comforting place to be and there's not enough space that she can really crouch to go potty under there, but I'm also worried she's going to start chewing on the fabric on the underside of it. So she's spending more time in her crate when I need to do something, like eat a meal, and I also got a folding fence so that I can at least keep her confined to the kitchen and family room area. If anyone has good tips on how to get her to stop barking and whining when she's in the crate, I'm all ears. I can put it up with it when I'm home alone and need to run upstairs or downstairs for a bit, but it's not good in the long term. She eats her meals in there and gets treats, plus she has toys with her. I know a lot of it is that she wants to be with me, but obviously there are times when I can't be with her or need to put her in the crate so she's safe.

That's all I've got, friends. Have a wonderful weekend! I will be back on Monday with my One Little Word update.

Poetry in April: Adrienne Rich

We've come to the last Thursday in April and the last day for sharing poems. This week, all of us are featuring poems by Adrienne Rich, a National Book Award and MacArthur "Genius" Award winner, among many other prizes and honors. You can learn more about her here. The poem I've picked to share was published in 1995, but it feels very apt for the moment we're living in.

What Kind of Times Are These

There's a place between two stands of trees where the grass grows uphill

and the old revolutionary road breaks off into shadows

near a meeting-house abandoned by the persecuted

who disappeared into those shadows.

I've walked there picking mushrooms at the edge of dread, but don't be fooled

this isn't a Russian poem, this is not somewhere else but here,

our country moving closer to its own truth and dread,

its own ways of making people disappear.

I won't tell you where the place is, the dark mesh of the woods

meeting the unmarked strip of light—

ghost-ridden crossroads, leafmold paradise:

I know already who wants to buy it, sell it, make it disappear.

And I won't tell you where it is, so why do I tell you

anything? Because you still listen, because in times like these

to have you listen at all, it's necessary

to talk about trees.

From Dark Fields of the Republic: Poems 1991-1995, (c) 1995

Be sure to visit Bonny, Kat, Kym, and Vera to read their selections. 

Thanks for joining us "poetry nerds" for another National Poetry Month, and a special thank-you to Kym for leading the charge!

Unraveled, Week 25/2025

Is it only Wednesday? I feel like it's been a long week already, perhaps because the Mister left for a work trip Sunday morning and we've had all sorts of electrical work going on in our backyard and basement the past couple of days (the Mister got a new plug-in hybrid car, so we're having a line run from the house to the garage so he can plug in to something with a bit more power than a regular-old socket).

I am thrilled that I actually have some content to share with Kat and the Unravelers today! Though you'll have to forgive the poor picture quality. I'm basically living in our family room/kitchen these days, and the lighting is not great.

The blue thing on the needles is what I started on Sunday while Ruthie was napping; I got in a bit more time on Monday night while she snoozed and Molly and I were watching a movie. These look a bit funny, I know, but they aren't blocked yet and look better on a foot. These are some DK weight slipper socks that I'm designing using yarn from the Ross Farm. I ended up rewinding the cake after I finished the first one so that I could cast on the second with the other end, as I thought it would be better to have two feet that are very obviously different in color than a foot and a half in mostly red and half a foot in mostly blue.

To make up for the one poor photo, I'll share a puppy pic (which I was told was sufficient content in any case!).

This is how she curls up in her crate at night when I tell her it's time to "go night-night" (yes, I have started using baby talk again, and I continue to do it despite feeling ridiculous about it). It seems like I can usually count on her to take a mid-morning and mid-afternoon nap, and that's time when I can read and sometimes knit (though I could only read the past couple of days because she was napping in my lap on account of the electricians coming in and out).

I haven't had that much reading time, but I have had some, and this week I've spent it reading just one book:

I decided to change things up with a little nonfiction this week. Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism takes a social science approach to exploring why people are drawn to cults as well as what defines a cult. And while what is classified as a cult includes some of the more troubling examples you probably already know (like Jim Jones/Jonestown and Scientology), linguist Amanda Montell also shows how the same powerful language is used to power multi-level marketing companies like Amway and Mary Kay and fitness companies like CrossFit and Peloton. I did my undergrad degree in psychology and obviously work full time in a job that involves language, so I found this to be a really fascinating read. It feels timely, too, given that what many of these groups have in common is a leader who is able to appeal to their followers by making them feel validated and seen and by offering them promises of prosperity, a better life, etc. (sound familiar?). It doesn't read like an academic text and was easy to follow while keeping an eye on a puppy. I gave it 4 stars.

And that's all I've got for today! I will be back tomorrow (I got smart and pre-wrote and scheduled my post) for the final Thursday of National Poetry Month, and I hope to be able to post on Friday as well. If not, have a great rest of the week and a relaxing weekend!

Mid-April Weekending

It was a very quiet weekend here, by necessity. Molly and I had theater tickets for the Saturday matinee of Some Like It Hot, but neither of us was all that excited about the show and I didn't feel I could leave Ruthie with the Mister (nor would he have likely agreed to stay with her), so we skipped it. The most exciting moments of the weekend, for Ruthie anyway, were visits from family. My in-laws came over for dinner on Friday night, and while she spent much of the evening in her crate, she handled it pretty well -- especially because my mother-in-law was very up in her face. My brother, sister-in-law, nephew, and niece stopped by for a bit on Saturday afternoon; Ruthie was understandably nervous around my nephew but seemed quite interested in my niece. And last night my parents brought dinner over. It's clear that Ruthie is still wary around people she doesn't know, but she's handling it much better than she was just a few days ago.

The exciting moment for me this weekend came on Sunday afternoon. Ruthie was snoozing, so I decided to take a chance with my knitting:

It's not much, but it's something -- and it's the first I've knit in a week!

I can't promise I'm going to keep up with my normal blogging schedule for the next while, not least because I'm not going to have much in the way of content if I can't get much knitting done, but I will try.

A Week of Excitement

It's Friday, and lucky me gets to have Molly home with me today because her school is closed. I'll be glad of the extra set of eyes and hands today because a certain someone has been up since 4:50 this morning. It's a good thing she's cute!

Did you know that on an iPhone, there's now a feature that recognizes a photo of a dog
and if you click it, it will tell you the breed? When I did it for this photo, it said she was a Basenji.

Ruthie has been home for not quite a week, and while it's been exhausting in many ways, it's also had some bright spots. I'm still sleeping in the family room with her, but I've been able to move to the couch, and when she wakes throughout the night, usually she just needs a few pets for reassurance and goes back to sleep. When I have to crate her during the day (when I have to go upstairs or when I go to pick Molly up at school), she still barks and whines, but it seems to have pauses now. She's doing better at going outside, though there are still some inside accidents (though I'll note that in the last day or so, she's more or less gone on a puppy pad, which at least makes cleanup a bit easier). She has started accepting treats (she didn't know what to do with them the first couple of days) and has learned how to play with and chew on toys. She still often barks at Molly and the Mister when they come in the room, but usually she gets used to them after a minute or two.

Walks continue to be a bit of a challenge because everything is so new and loud and scary to her. She regularly pulls me back to our back door (which we use most often to leave and enter the house) and we have to start over. I've taken her to other streets to smell and see new things, and she's encountered new people and dogs. Often she gets so scared that she starts shaking, so I'll have to pick her up and cuddle her to reassure her. I'm sure these encounters will get easier as they become more regular.

Tonight we're having my in-laws over for dinner, which should be interesting. I know my mother-in-law is going to want to play with her, but Ruthie may not be so receptive to that. Treats will be deployed.

I want to thank all of you who have been where I am and have sent supportive comments and emails. There are moments when I feel like I'm a failure and I'll never get my life back, and it's good to know that this time is normal and also won't last forever. Though the first several weeks after Molly was born are a bit of a haze, I do remember having a lot of the same thoughts and feelings back then, and obviously things did improve. I have to think that raising a puppy is a bit easier than raising a human being and that I just have to take it one day at a time. I'm trying my best to do that.

Happy Easter to those of you celebrating this weekend! We'll be marking the end of Passover with all the carbs and spending quiet time at home.