Thursday 10 July 2008

Dogs, Flies and The Knitter's Prayer

My dog has no idea how lucky he is. Really. He doesn’t. Not only did I not throttle him, give him away, starve him, or make him go beg on a street corner, but I’m now going to spend time running around to three different shops to buy the contents of a homemade anti-fly mixture. How lucky can you get?

The poor wee mite winds up covered in flies every time we go out now. His whole head winds up looking like one huge living mass and it’s disgusting. It also cannot be comfortable. So, what does a good non-throttling owner do? One calls the vet and asks what to do. Unfortunately, they have no ready made sprays but she did give me one of those “grandma’s recipes” for keeping flies off horses. You take:

Black tea
Clover Oil
Tea Tree Oil
Citronella Oil

Mix them together and spray or dab on dog. I’ll be dabbing around his eyes, but I’ll spray his body. Poor mite. Hopefully this will help.

Oh yeah, the other option? Get him a glittery collar. I must rush out and buy a rhinestone studded collar for him to look like a complete fool in. I can see it now, walking around with my cross dressing Great Dane in public with a glittery collar. Oh the joy. Actually, the situation is so bad, I would actually consider this option, but I don’t know where to get a 26 inch glittery collar, especially not in a hurry. We’ll go with Grandma’s recipe, shall we?

In knitting news the good news is that I’ve gotten a bit more of the Candle Flame Shawl done; the bad news is that I think I’m going to run out of yarn. I’d already gone back to get two more balls, now I’m going to have to go back again. I think I may chicken out and order over the internet. That’s got to be easier than driving there and probably cheaper too with gas being what it is (namely $8 a gallon). Plus, if I’m not there, I won’t be tempted to buy other yarn that I don’t need since I really, really do have enough stash. I don’t need more yarn. Now, let’s all say the Knitter’s Prayer together:

Our Father
Who art in the great LYS in the sky
Woollen be thy name.
Thy yarn shipment come
They skeins be spun
In Alpaca as well as in Cashmere.
Give us this day our daily skein
And forgive us our dropped stitches
As we forgive out needles.
Lead us not into Startitis,
But delivers us from UFOs
For thine is the Merino,
The Mohair
And the Qiviut forever.

Baamen


PS: Please let them have more of the same dye lot.

5 comments:

  1. How does a glittery collar keep flies away? Weird.

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  2. Methinks it's time for one of those Lilly collars with the glittery bits....

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  3. Love the prayer!

    At least the dog will smell good with all those essential oils. (Can't you just use a drugstore bug repellant?)

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  4. Awww! Poor doggie. I wouldnt have thought that flies would be that big of a problem in Switzerland. I associate flies with HOT, muggy weather, like in the Midwest...maybe when you're a Great Dane, the flies make a special effort to come and visit you though.

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  5. There are fly masks for horses, which cover the eyes with a screen mesh. The pony size should fit him. I have not seen them in Germany, but bought one for my horse in the US.

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