I just got home from walking the dogs, and my heart is still racing. While walking down the sidewalk, FOUR little dogs ran up to us from a few houses away and attacked. The biggest of the four was a Shiba Inu (Basenji-sized), a Chinese Crested (rat-sized), and two little fuzzy dogs (loaf-of-bread-sized). Do I have to even say that my four were leashed? Nah, you knew that already.

The Shiba ran to Ike and immediately started fighting, while the other three tried to get in on the action. My neighbor was right behind them, so I yelled, “GET YOUR DOGS!” over the sounds of Ike and the Shiba trying to kill each other. My neighbor had the balls to walk up to me, stop, and tell me to calm down while I was trying to separate Ike and the Shiba. I yelled again, “GET YOUR DOGS!” He shoo-ed away the Shiba then picked up one of the terriers. He apologized, and I told him that he can’t let his dogs run off-leash, even if the thinks they’re going to stay in his yard. He said, “I was only walking from the front door to the car!” I said, “Your dogs can never be out of your control! Clearly you don’t have control of these dogs!”

Once things calmed down and I saw that no one was hurt, I started to detangle my legs (and the dogs’ legs) from the four leashes that had us bound together. This guy had the nerve to say, “Ma’am! Move it along now!” I stopped, looked him in the eye, and said, “Dude. Do NOT tell me what to do. I’m trying to straighten out this mess you caused.” Again, “Ma’am! Move it along!” I said, “Do not say another single word until I can get myself detangled. Shut the f*ck up for 30 more seconds.”

He could not shut the eff up, and he continued to tell me to “move it along”. I did my best to ignore him, finished detangling, and finally got moving. He yelled, “God bless you, ma’am! God bless you! Have a nice day!” Really?

Luckily, my dogs are fine. Even three-legged Pona is fine after being totally tangled in the leashes.

You might be wondering why, as a single woman walking dogs, I’m so brave with my hollerin’. Four reasons:
1. pepper spray at the ready
2. I towered over this man in height
3. I knew I was in-the-right
4. I have a secret weapon named Ike, who can be scary and protective

Whew. I need to finish my coffee and calm down. The day can only get better from here.

I used this random title generator for the title of today’s post. Very silly. Now on to business –

	This gentleman and his random number generator helped me pick the three winners for the pattern giveaway that I announced on Friday. The winners are Merrie, Reagan, and Karo. Send me your email, ladies, and get your prize!
	O lovely Lofthouse Cookie or cupcake? Which one? My fondness is strong.

I’ll leave you today with a Pona story…I walked past the spare bedroom to see this. What? I didn’t put him up there! Pona can jump now! (left to right: Tippy, Pona, Ike. Abe was in the other room.)

Remember the Krofft Supershow on tv in the ’70s? With shows like Land of the Lost and Bugaloos? While putting this post together this morning I thought about one of those shows called Far Out Space Nuts. The title to this post is a line from that show. I remember Gilligan was in it. Anyway…

3…2…1…Blast off! It’s a launch! And a giveaway! Stuff that has been in the works for months is finally ready to go today. Back in June, Parker and I were busy shooting video –

Here is a sample of the results by way of a short promo –

So far, I have videos in Knitting Basics, Increases & Decreases, and Tips & Tricks. We’ve already been talking about what to do next, which is very exciting.

I’ve also released several new patterns, including Learn to Knit Socks, which includes six instructional videos to get you through the rough spots. I just counted, and I’ve taught over 80 people to knit socks at The Knitting Nest. I’ve used what I know about what trips people up in a basic sock pattern, and hopefully made sock knitting easy as pie.

If you take a look over on my patterns page, you’ll see other new designs I’ve just released – including a hat, socks, and trick-or-treat bag. I’ve also updated my About Me page, so now it FINALLY includes Tippy as one of my dogs.

You might be wondering why everything is ready to go today, and not sooner? Well, remember my post about Spam Monsters? I had to get verypink updated to the newest version of WordPress to keep it from getting hacked several times a day. I didn’t want to add a bunch of stuff to verypink only to have it spammed and cluttered by the Monsters.

Giveaway! I will randomly pick three comments to this post on Tuesday, Oct 6 to win a copy of any one of my patterns.

And because I know you’re going to ask, Pona is doing fine. He’s still unable to jump on the furniture by himself, but he is getting around really well. He will sometimes put some weight on his broken leg, but he really wants to move, he just picks it up and goes “tripod” without any difficulty.

Seriously, I’m waiting for the real Pona to show himself. The real Basenji. The one who challenges me and pushes limits and gets into things and eats sofas and puts the toilet brush in my bed and…well, you get the picture. But that Pona doesn’t exist! He’s just 100% sweetness and such a good boy. Aww.

Have a great weekend!

I have a new foster Basenji through Basenji Rescue…that happens all the time. No biggie, right?

But this one was a stray, and not an owner-surrender.
Well, not that uncommon.

But this one tested heartworm-positive.
Yikes, I’ve been here before.

But this one was hit by a car, and needed surgery for a broken bone.
Oh, lordy. Been there.

This one also needed a broken tooth pulled, and had to be neutered.
Really? Anything else?

Oh, yeah. Whipworms, a toenail broken off at the foot, and scrapes and bruises all over his body.
Stop! No more bad news about this dog!

	This is Pona, quite possibly the sweetest dog in the world. I picked his name because “pona” is the Swahili suffix for words having to do with healing and recovery. He just had all of his surgeries on Tuesday. He’s such a brave little champ.
	Pona was brought to a shelter in a small town in Texas after he had been hit by a car. Due to costs, the shelter was going to euthanize him. Basenji Rescue was contacted, and Wendy Hodges, a coordinator here in Austin, drove nearly six hours to bring him to Austin for treatment and fostering. This is Wendy with Pona before his surgeries.
	Yeowch. This is Pona’s broken femur. See that spot that looks like two bones next to each other? That is supposed to be one long, straight bone. The vet put a pin through the bone, and now his leg can heal.
	Here’s his little shaved butt and his owey (okay, incision), as well as the location of the pin. He isn’t allowed to walk or stand for a week, which hasn’t been a problem so far. I’m able to leave the crate open so that he can interact with the other dogs, and he doesn’t try to walk.
	Now that we’re past the medical stuff, can I tell you that he is an awesome sweet dog? Just about a year old, and mellow as can be. He fit right into my pack without any trouble. I’m really so lucky. He’s gotta be in pain. He could have turned out snarky and snappy. And he’s just the opposite.
	My dogs really like him, but they still give him plenty of space to get the rest he needs. Here’s Tippy, supervising the “bath” I’m giving Pona with some doggie wipes. (Poor Pona – he STINKS. If you can imagine the stinky bodily fluid, he’s wearing some of it. He can’t have a proper bath yet.)
	See that giant lump on his side? That’s his RIBCAGE. He’s skinny. Fortunately, that is going to be an easy thing to fix. Feeding him regular meals and not allowing him to exercise means that he should put on weight pretty quickly.
	This is Pona’s future. He needs to heal a bit from his injuries, then he can hopefully start heartworm treatment in a couple of weeks. I’ll continue to foster him until he’s well, or close to it. Then we’ll find him an awesome forever home that will give him all of the love and attention he deserves. His life is going to get better and better from here.

This is my website, and I can say whatever the hell I want, right? Okay, here it goes. I want to cause physical harm to Pona’s previous owners. I have no idea who they are, but if I ever meet them, I will punch them in the throat. They let Pona run loose without even a dog tag, and didn’t claim him at their small town animal shelter for three days, where he was forced to stay with a broken leg before he was brought to Austin for treatment. They also kept him underfed, and never had him neutered. They also didn’t bother with heartworm preventative, which is a huge thing here in Texas. WHY THE HELL DID THEY GET A DOG IN THE FIRST PLACE? Pona already suffered neglect at the hands of these people, and now he has to suffer more to get him back to good health – and it’s all their fault. Anyone want to go punch them with me?

All the punching aside, I feel fortunate to have Pona in my home. I think this is a good spot for him to recover, and he’s a joy to have around. Since my dogs are the laziest Basenjis on earth, my house is chaos-free…but the fact that I have three Basenjis means that Pona still gets nice interactions with other dogs. I also mostly work from home, which means that I’m here to tend to his needs – like carrying him outside to potty until he can walk again.

Last thing…Pona’s treatment is costing a fortune, of course. If you’re able, can you make a donation to Basenji Rescue, or buy one of our calendars? Information on both is available on the Basenji Rescue website. By the way, that’s Ike and Tippy on the calendar cover. 🙂

Thanks for listening to Pona’s story (and my rant!). Have a great weekend!