Random Stuff

Here's some stuff I've decided to share but none of it is really enough for a full on blog post by itself... so today, you get this week's odd random collection.

NAPPING KITTY ORNAMENT

I saw something sort of like this on Pinterest a couple of months ago and when it led to a pattern for purchase, I decided I could probably knock it off.  I did. It's not an exact replica but it's close.  I'm happy with it and so I present you my version of a Napping Kitty Christmas Ornament!

To make your own, ch 4 and sl st in first st to form a circle.  Round 1: Ch 1 and make 11 sc in circle, join with sl st. Round 2: Ch 1 and make 2 sc in each st except the last one that would complete the round.  In this st, ch 2, hdc, dc, *ch 2 and join in first ch (this makes an ear)*, 3 dc repeat *  *, dc, hdc, ch 2 and join with sl st. Round 3: Pull loop from sl st through to front  of kitty at appx 3 o'clock position and ch 2, sc in first sc of Round 2 and in each st until you come to the kitty's head, sl st to join.  Form a loop to hang ornament and tuck tails (no pun intended) neatly.  I used a G hook and the Sugar & Spice cotton yarn to make this cute calico.

VINEGAR CAKE

Kitchen Dog was showing his skills off today.  He went to the kitchen with Jason's Mom while she was putting some icing on a Vinegar Cake and bumped her elbow when she was adding powdered sugar to the bowl.  He proudly sported this look for a couple of hours before the sugar worked it's way off his face...

But back to the Vinegar Cake.  She told me it was a recipe from the WWII-era when things like flour, sugar, eggs and butter were rationed.  This is a way to have a cake without butter or eggs.  I was a little skeptical that the vinegar taste would come through and be a little weird, but the cake is really very good.

And it's been discovered.  A simple search on Pinterest found the recipe posted on sorts of websites and blogs under names like Crazy Cake, Wacky Cake and Depression Cake.  Rather than retype it yet again here, I'll just provide you with a link to someone else's recipe.

But seriously... look it up and give this cake a try!

FROSTBURG DOG PARK

Jason had some time today to run around and show me Mount Savage, Frostburg, Cumberland and some other adjacent towns in Maryland.  We took the boys to the dog park in Frostburg.  It's not anything spectacular, just a big fenced in open area where they could run off some excess energy.  Kind of plain but it does the job. And oh boy!  Did they take advantage of a chance to run freely!!

Lightning made an escape.  And Jason took off in a hot pursuit that would make ol' Rosco P. Coltrane proud and got a successful capture.  Coming back to where I was waiting by the gate he took a shortcut on a dirt access road that looked rather like an old rail line had been pulled up, someplace it was probably never intended he should be, and got stuck when the front driver's side tire broke through the ice on a massive pothole and dropped about 15 inches.  Sigh.

When it proved to be somewhat rather less than easy to get unstuck, he walked Lightning down to me and I put him inside the park where Jack was waiting on him with great anxiety. Then I walked across the grass to see if I could help, even if it was just to add some weight (don't think it let alone say anything!) to the back of the vehicle to help it gain traction.  That plan didn't work.  Bigger sigh.


Before long a nice man came along and offered to pull us out.  Not before someone else passing the dog park saw my 'unattended dogs,' decided they'd been abandoned and called the police though...  The officer was nice and found our explanation of what happened satisfactory and left with a hearty chuckle and wishes for a Merry Christmas.  Whew!

Yes, folks, this is how my life goes.  You seriously cannot make this stuff up!!

Mountwood Park

Yes, that's rain blurring my picture of the entrance sign.  Yes, we pick crazy days to go explore... But we were all restless and feeling in need of some away from the cabin (or McDonald's doing my homework) time and so we went.  On the way out I messaged my friend and asked him to choose a direction for us.  He picked west.  So we hopped on Highway 50 headed toward Parkersburg looking for something interesting to go explore.  Mountwood Park was the first brown sign I saw, so we turned off toward a place named Volcano and drove along a nice little lake.

Boat rentals and launch site.

I was kind of excited to see the boat rentals!  One of these days health and bravery and adventure are going to coincide and I will go kayaking.  Keeping the possibility close is a good reminder of that goal for me.  I stopped to read all the historic markers (yes, I'm a geek like that) around the parking lot and learned a little more about the early days of the gas and oil industry in West Virginia. We all had to go to the bathroom but first we had to herd geese for a good ways.  They were healthy looking Canadian Geese who didn't seem afraid of the car or even of my maniac barking dogs, but they were cautious enough to stay ahead of us as I slowly drove to where the public restrooms were located.

Actually, they stayed with us for most of the rest of our visit and acted like a welcoming committee!

This marker, at the park's first parking lot entrance, talks about the early oil wells in the area.  Volcano, which is a couple of miles up the canyon was the first oil town in the area.

At the next marker, I learned more about some of the early technology of transporting oil and gas down the canyon.  By today's standards pumping 100 barrels might not seem like much, but then it was a lot.  William Cooper Stiles, Jr., who developed the area designed an endless cable system modeled after the mechanics of Philadelphia street cars to pump oil through a pipeline down to where it could be transported to refineries about 15 miles away.  Interesting perspective on progress and technology.

If you can't quite picture how that works, take a look at one of the pulleys that's been saved.  Imagine a series of them rotating as a heavy steel cable pulls around the edges and moves pump parts pushing crude down a pipeline to the mouth of the canyon.  It seems like quite an engineering feat!

A pulley for the original endless cable
system used to move oil and gas down
the canyon from Volcano to transport to
refineries in other locations. 

Next, we drove up the other side of the lake past the fishing pier and found a trailhead for a short hike up to Thornhill.  Thornhill is the mansion Mr. Stiles built for his family on a ridge overlooking the lake. (It was too wet to try that 3/4 mile yesterday and my guys are too maniac for me to handle on that kind of trip anyway so it's on the list for a future adventure!)

The fishing pier at Mountwood Park.

Finally, we ventured a little farther up the canyon and through most of the rest of the park.  At the Administration Building, we learned more about Mr. Stiles from this marker.  It says, "William Cooper Stiles, Jr. born in Philadelphia on July 27, 1839, was one of the earliest operators of the West Virginia and Ohio oil fields.  Mr. Stiles traveled to the White Oak region of WV in 1864 where he purchased several thousand acres and began drilling. After an ominous start, Mr. Stiles made a major strike and later revolutionized the oil industry through the introduction of the endless cable pumping system, an application conceived from the cable system powering the street cars in Philadelphia.  Mr. Stiles built the Volcanic Oil and Coal company into a major force in the local oil industry.  In 1866 at a cost of $160,000 he was the driving force in the building of the Laurel Fork and Sand Hill Railroad, a standard gauge rail system for transporting oil to refineries in Parkersburg. For his major contributions to Volcano, Mr. Stiles was known as the "father of Volcano." He also served as a county commissioner from 1881 to 1885.  W.C. Stiles, Jr. died at his beloved Thornhill on December 17, 1896."

I'd seen a couple of signs for a dog park and we had just a little break in the rain so we kept going and...

The patron saint of city dogs (if there's not one designated, there should be!) smiled down on my pretend country boys!! We found a near perfect match for their old dog park in Georgia. The rain started back up but they still took a deliriously happy romp!  It's far enough to require a little thought about going but not so far that it's going to be impossible as an occasional treat.  I'm happy there's something available that makes them so happy!

Lightning and Gizmo paused at the same
tree during their first dog park visit
in a month!

By this point, I'd seen so many references to Volcano that I was thinking it must surely still be a town... And I was curious.  Once the dogs were thoroughly soaked and willing to give up on running in their park, we drove on for probably another 5 miles.  I guess Volcano today is 3-4 houses close enough to throw rocks into each others' yards.  Kind of a sad discovery after all the build up.  But one of them did have a mailbox that I am now coveting like a mad woman!

With the addition of front wheels..
My farmer fetish is wailing
I WANT ONE!

A Visit to the Dog Park

There's a new dog park close to my house.  It's way more convenient than the one Derek and I had taken Thunder and Lightning to when they were about 6 months old... back before things went south.  My next door neighbor had told me about Coleman Camp Park and the dog park that had just been added and after getting some directions from her, me and the boys have made a couple of visits.  Here are some pictures:

Lightning saying it's the best Mommy/doggy date ever!

Inside the fenced Large Dog area looking toward the park's pavilion.

There's a splash fountain for water loving dogs to play in.
My guys act scared out of their minds when it comes on...

And there's tires to climb on and crawl through.
The way Jack and Gizmo go all commando under my bed, you'd
think they'd love this.  But you'd be wrong.  It got a couple of
sniffs and then was completely ignored.

Thunder thought drinking from the doggy drinking fountain was
the greatest thing in the history of ever.

Dog bone shaped bench.  The cutest thing for a dog park
or what?

Mostly they just galloped laps around the park.  We had it all to ourselves...  Lightning kept coming up to me with the silliest happy grin almost like he couldn't remember having so much fun before and then he'd take off again and run hard.  Jack was so worked up over the event that his back leg just shivered everytime he stood still for a moment.  And poor Gizmo whose short legs don't move so fast, wore out first from trying to keep up.  Even at home, I call him Pokey because it almost always takes him longer to get to the door to come in.

After about an hour they were all looking for shady spots to lay down in the grass so I gathered them up to go home and they crashed.  Nothing but snores for a couple of hours...  It was an awesome break!

We'll definitely be going back to this park often!