Ellen might have a hard time around here, what with Dollivers and the Kennels, and the Tinies, and Elton belting out tunes, when she's trying to get on with her legislative planning work.
So she's ensconced in the little rocker one floor away from the noisy group, and is quite pleased with her new jacket and dress outfit, suitable for office wear.
She plans on not following the Westminster AKC Dog Show. Such a workaholic. She wasn't even keen on spending time on the fitting of the jacket and posing for the photoshoot. The Dollivers are baffled.
The agility section got off to a wonderful start -- did you see the beagle? great at actual agility but saw no reason not to look around now and then, and stop at the top of the climber to wag at the crowd, and down on the rug to do a quick cleaning job...he was as star turn. I wonder if there is a trophy for Funniest Hound? typical beagle ham. Pretends he can't do the weave, runs off. Then comes back and does a weave a border collie would be proud of. We need dogs in our lives!
So Ellen, the new arrival, spent her first night with the Dollivers, and that may have been a mistake. She's already demanded to get out of the costume I kitted her in for her debut, and into some decent working gear. They must have been working on her.
Anyway, I found some blue silk yarn, and got to work in bed last night, listening to a Miss Read audiobook, read by Gwen Watford. She played a wonderful Dolly Bantry in a couple of Miss Marple television movies, perfect delivery. But I find her a bit hard to follow in audio, since I must have been lipreading a lot of the movie dialog. She swallows syllables in true southern Brit style.
And this morning as Ellen nagged at me in a tiny, firm Yorkshire voice, I finished the dress, but she wanted it sleeveless, and a jacket and hat to go with. So she's got the dress and a nice scarf tucked in at the neck and the jacket and hat are promised. Clearly she's a quick study. She's a little over six inches tall, much smaller than the Ds, which they are glad about, since she can't wear their clothes. We have lost the pin she wore the other day, and I have a bad feeling I may find it with a bare foot at some point, pun intended.
Last evening I was wondering what to choose between doing fed taxes and knitting doll dresses, decisions, decisions. And it will be no surprise to blogistas to hear I did both. When in doubt, just do everything, lifelong mantra. For better or worse.
So taxes are done, and they owe me a bit, and state taxes now to do, and maybe they'll owe me a bit, too. It's annoying to have to file, since I only do it to reclaim taxes paid directly on account of withdrawals from IRA. Income doesn't reach taxable threshold. But a little bit will arrive in my bank soon, I hope. Always welcome.
So here's Ellen on her way to being once again a busy working Parliamentary woman. I expect she'll want a briefcase, but the Ds are unlikely to think of that, they being more along the lines of more and better jewelry. She is probably not into jewelry, nor into taking over a dog from the Dolliver Kennels, who are about to come into their own again, with the Westminster AKC Dog Show coming up.
We have a Whippet, a Wirehaired Terrier and an Irish Setter in the kennels, plus a shaggy mixed breed, who didn't get in on account of not agile enough for the agility section. The first year of our Kennels, a Wirehaired Terrier won, so there was a general barkup at the Kennels, complete with eggcup standing in for the big trophy. And Wrangler NameMe in pole position.
