Key West, a new best friend, and some knitting

When we were in Key West on Saturday, I took a few photos.

We went to Island Books to have some books signed by one of our favorite Florida authors, Tom Corcoran. He's written a series of books set in Key West, and that's where I got the idea to have a shower on our deck. An outdoors shower in the Keys just sounds so decadent.


He's a nice guy. He said that he self-published his last book after being with Putnam for years. He wasn't happy with the way they handled him, so he struck out on his own this time. He loves it. He writes what he wants, when he wants, and he doesn't have to answer to anyone else. He loves Kindle.

As we walked back to the car, I took a few photos. Katie wasn't impressed with the dog-friendly fire hydrant.


Joan, do you remember where we saw the Spanish lime tree? I found it several years ago when Tom, Donna, and I spent a few days in Key West, but I've looked and looked the last few trips and we can't find it again. Was it on Elizabeth Street? I thought that's where it was, down a little from the library.

This lovely little lady was sitting right here when we parked the car; she was still there when we returned. She posed very prettily; I think she's a guard cat.





I guess I haven't told you about our new baby, Katie. She's the pretty little thing ignoring the doggie hydrant. She was found running on a busy street up in Homestead on the mainland. A woman from This Is the Dog! rescue luckily saw her and managed to capture the little wild beast. At the end of September I started seriously looking for a new canine friend and found This Is the Dog! online, with Katie's photo:


That smile is what convinced me that I didn't really want a Chihuahua. I'd said no more dogs with hair; grooming is so expensive and we really can't afford that on our budget. But that face just hit me right in the heart and I was sold. I emailed the rescue, sent in an application, and on October 2, Tom and I went to Homestead and adopted Katie.



On the drive home, she sat on the console between us and gave me this look:


I should have known then that she'd be a challenge......

She's just a puppy, about 8 months old at that time, our vet thinks. Oddly enough, the day we took her to the vet was...8 months to the day after Zippy died.

I didn't want a puppy; I wanted a more settled dog that was already housebroken. While she'd been trained to sleep in a crate, she was NOT housebroken. It's been fun. Finally we've learned her signals and are doing pretty well, especially since it's been cool enough to leave the door open all day. She's in and out all day long, tearing around the yard, leaving toys all over the place, terrorizing the lizards and geckos, chasing the cats, stalking grasshoppers. This morning she'd "cornered" a hermit crab; I'd never found one in the yard, didn't know there were any around, but she found one. It was not a happy crab, either! I didn't stop to take a photo of it because she was dead set on getting it back, and it was pinching me, so I put it on the other side of the fence. A few minutes later, I heard her barking again; the damned crab had crawled back through the fence and she had it again. This time I tossed it instead of gently placing it; it went in another direction after that.

Some photos of our little girl:

At the Islamorada Fish Company in (duh) Islamorada, where we stopped for dinner after we picked her up, she lay on the chair next to me and calmly watched birds while we ate.



Her first night with us:



Her introduction to the pool:







At the beach:



Her favorite place to ride:




Her favorite place to find crispy treats:



We're going to take Katie home to Virginia with us for Thanksgiving, and it's going to be a little cooler there than it is here (80 today), so I knit a little dress for her.





Deets:

Little Black Dress with Pearls by My Savannah Cottage (scroll down; all of her patterns are on that page)
Yarn: Lily Chin Gramercy, a superwash yarn, about 1.6 balls
Needle: US 6
Mods: This yarn is DK weight and the pattern calls for worsted, so I used the instructions for the largest size. Turned out just right, although if I make it again, I'll make it longer. It only took a few evenings to knit this up; it's very easy. Those ruffles are a pain with quadruple the stitches, but they're so damn cute.