Helping Mom Crochet

We all must do our part, but helping Mom crochet is not my favorite thing to do in the world. I think I am far too important to be used as a chart holder. However, Mom insists if I am going to take up the space she is working on that we are both going to have to adjust to working in tight spaces. I must confess I thought if I made it too challenging she would stop crocheting and play with me. Mom is more stubborn than I expected. She said I made a great chart holder. I was not amused.

Dad thought it would be amusing to catch my humiliation on camera and now all of you get to share it on our blog.

Weekend Plans

Last night Dad and I went off to see a concert on the common with Grandma and Grandpa, while Katy and Mom stayed home. Dad loves the local outdoor music scene and it is a chance for Grandma and Grandpa to have some time with their son. Mama is not so crazy about the bugs in the park. She is good for about an hour and then gets uncomfortable. So, she sends Papa and I off with plenty of water and we get to enjoy the show. Katy is still not crazy about crowds and strangers that approach her without any warning. She and Mom stayed home and watched DVD's Mom had borrowed from the library.

This weekend Mama and Papa are headed off to visit the Museum of Science with Grandma, Grandpa, and one of the smaller humans. They are taking one of those loud trains. Normally I would be insulted at being left home, but this requires a long car and train ride. I am thinking Katy might be right this time. It will be more comfortable in our air conditioned home.

Katy and Bailey's Book Selection of the Week

Katy was getting a bit impatient after last week's vacation from books on CD. She likes her morning story. Bailey is very specific about the stories he finds worthy of his time. He prefers TV to audio books.

While Katy and Bailey both disliked the movie versions of Harry Potter, Katy really enjoyed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I was busy working on a swap project that needed to be mailed this week, but Katy insisted on poking me every time the story stopped.

Bailey continues not to be a Harry Potter fan. Movie or audio books versions still cause him to vacate the room.

I am curious about what Katy found attractive about the story.

Wordless Wednesday: Socks the Best Recycled Toy

Review: Purina Pet Gear Carpet and Upholstery Pet Stain & Odor Eliminator

I received the carpet cleaner to review last month and then surprisingly we had a fairly good month. However, as I suspected our luck would not hold and we had a chance to try out the carpet cleaner a few times before I wrote my review.

I had gone through the traditional rug products on the market when I received the chance to try this product. We have been dealing with stomach upsets do to eating things that dogs should not eat and Katy still struggles with remembering that dogs only use the bathroom outdoors even when overly excited. The traditional products have left stains on our rugs regardless of whether we catch the stain immediately, or if the stain is attacked after it has set in to the rug.

Purina's Pet Gear Stain & Odor Eliminator has provided us with more success. We have had one vomit and one urine stain that we caught fresh. In those two incidents, the stains are gone. The smell of the product was more pleasant than many of the traditional cleaners we have tried.

We tried the product on dried stains with mixed results. On old stains, it is not the answer. While it can lighten the older stains, it does not eliminate them. On newer dried stains, it had better results. One vomit stain that happened while we were out on one of our vacation trips was dry by the time we returned. As soon as we came home, we started working on it. It left a light stain after one cleaning. We could not find the stain after the cleaner dried, when we returned to try working on it again.

As winter approaches and we have more dirt and other pet stains I am sure we will have more uses for this product. We will be purchasing this product when our sample bottle is finished.

Pros:

Stronger cleaning ability than previous rug cleaning products I tried.

Pleasant smell always welcome during unpleasant cleaning tasks.

Requires less scrubbing than other products.

Cons:

Still not strong enough to clean the messes we do not catch right away.


Disclosure: I received this product free to review, but received no additional compensation for my review. I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for the product. The opinions expressed in this review are my own. This disclosure is in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Dog Friendly or Not

We have been searching for dog friendly places to take the dogs. We follow the adventures of dog bloggers and are always thrilled about the various dog friendly places they find to bring their pups.

We were excited to see a sign for a dog parade as part of a local festival we have been considering attending for a few years, but never seem to get to with our conflicting fall obligations. A festival with a dog parade must be dog friendly, right? Not so much. The parade has a limited period where the dogs are welcome and ends before the festival area. Dogs are not welcome at the festival. Therefore, if you come for the parade, do not plan on attending the festival unless you drive (or walk if you live close enough) home first with your paw friends, and return to participate in the human areas.

I was disappointed. If you are going to designate something as humans only, so be it. However, if you are going to invite dogs, make it friendly to the dogs you invite. After Katy's positive experience with the dog walk we were thinking this might be a fun activity. However, parking can be challenging in this area and driving there with the dogs, doing the walk and driving them home and coming back for the festival seems foolish. If we attend the festival, the dogs will likely not be attending. We will have to find some other options.

Mom and Dad Visit Historical Lexington and Concord

Mom and Dad were off seeing the state with Grandma and Grandpa yesterday and even forgot to send Sugar a link to his birthday greetings. Mama apologizes to everyone and promises to work on catching up her commenting, next week. With Dad on vacation, it has been rather busy.

Mom and Dad went off to visit the historic sites associated with the Battles of Lexington and Concord yesterday. Oddly, the main place was in Lincoln, not Lexington as Mom learned when she started researching the federal park system. Something else Mama learned as she had thought they were state parks, they are in fact Federal National Parks. Poor Mama, she may know her history, but she is lousy with directions and guessing at federal and state jurisdiction over parks.

When we heard the word park, we thought this was an opening. However, Mama explained there would be musket demonstrations and thus not dog friendly. Later we also heard her mention that not all the sites were dog friendly, although they did see some dogs. Perhaps a walk by the bridge at some point would be an interesting historical education for us. We do not have to visit the visitor centers. We can just soak in the history like the other dogs that were there visiting. Dogs can appreciate history, too.