Wolf's Den

Monday night, Jo, of Big East Akita Rescue, and her family were home with 12 of the Rescue Akitas under BEAR's purview. It was supposed to be the safest place for them during the storm.

But we all saw and heard what happened to New Jersey's coast.

According to Jo, the barrier islands off Tom's River, NJ were gone in the storm surge. Between 10pm and midnight that night, sudden storm surge resulted in 4ft of water in their yard and home. Her husband and 2 teenage kids went into the water to rescue the Akitas from the kennels and bring them to the second floor of their house.

Tuesday morning, they had no power, no running water, no food, heat, etc and the first floor of the house was destroyed. Both vehicles are gone.

Word got out via other Akita Rescue people and is still being spread across Facebook and the internet. Donations have started coming in, via non Akita Rescue groups, Akita owners and others.

The area they are in was and is restricted to emergency personnel only because of the water and down power lines.

They could have left. They opted to stay. For them, the love of the breed is a family thing and they refused to leave the Akitas behind. Many are senior Akitas and Rescue is the best place, next to a forever home, for them.

Boarding for the Akitas has been offered, others are gathering supplies for them, and someone else has a van with a generator waiting for the word that they can go in.

Last word was from today. They have been able to take the dogs out for a morning walk and put a few back in the kennel runs in the garage.

But they still need your help to rebuild. The link above takes you directly to their donation page. Anything you can send will help BEAR rebuild and resupply to help these Rescue Akitas as well as Jo and her family.

To that end, I am running a scarf sale on Artfire. Each scarf has been put on sale. You DO NOT need an account to buy there. Proceeds from each sale will go to Akita Rescue, specificly BEAR.


Even if you can't donate, or don't wish to buy a scarf, at least pass the word.

Find a Cure For Alzheimer's
Kumihimo and beadwork bracelet
6.5" long x .5" wide

Fits wrists 6.5" to 8.5" via adjustable clasp

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These special kumihimo bracelets have been made to help raise funds to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease.

The 12 strand braid is handwoven using Ella Rae 70/30 Bamboo/Silk in the Velvet colorway and Pure Pima 100% pima cotton in the White Linen colorway.

They feature hand beaded ends, in peyote stich, using Czech glass crystal silver lined beads, a silver plater lobster claw clasp and silver plated extension chain.

The center of each bracelet has a silver plated and purple enaled ribbon charm, to symbolize support for Alzheimer's research.

100% of the proceeds from each bracelet sold will be donated to my Walk for Alzheimer's Team ( http://act.alz.org/site/PageServer?pagename=walk_homepage ) , of which I will be participating in on Sept 15th, 2012, in honor of my grandfather, whom we lost to Alzheimer's/Dementia in Sept of 2011.

There are 3 currently available right now. More to be added as I complete them.

'Aztec Sun' kumihimo and beadwork cuff. First wrists 6.5" to 7" $24.00





'Ocean' kumihimo and beadwork bracelet. Fits wrists 6" to 6.5" $12.00





'Desert' kumihimo and beadwork bracelet. Fits wrists 6.5" to 7" $12.00

There are several other handmade items under $50.00 and a few under $30.00 that would make great stocking stuffers!

Caena is sometimes way too smart.

Monday night, some time between then and Tuesday morning, she managed to get her collar stuck. To the point where she literally managed to get it to stretch a bit and she chewed it off.

When Mark let her out in the morning, she did her usual grab a stuffed flea toy and dart upstairs to sleep on the bed with me. Only that morning, she went back downstairs to him again. He thought she wanted to be let outside. So he was feeling around for the collar to hook her lead on and couldn't find it.

He said he asked her, 'Where's your collar?' and she backed up between his legs, turned around, went back into her kennel, picked up the collar, brought it to him, then went right back upstairs.

She didn't want outside, she just wanted to let him know, hey, my collar's broken.

Monday evening, we let her out like usual. She runs to the top of the hill where she normally does her business, and got the lead line caught on something, I guess. She sat there, barked at us to let us know she thought she was stuck, but when Mark opened the door, she was waiting for him right outside.

He took one look at her and told her to come see me, whereupon she comes running into the living room as he's saying, 'We have a problem.' I thought she'd been covered in mud or something, but nope, she was trailing about 2 ft of a broken lead behind her. Luckily we have a 30ft lead we use on vacations for her.

She knew her lead was broken, knew no one was around and still did not leave the yard or wander off.

Such a smart dog. And we've only barely touched on recall, boundaries, etc. Heh.

* * * *

Woke up this morning to an Aries kitty next to my head, Caena trying to stretch out along my legs, but couldn't, because Morrigan had managed to wedge herself between Caena and my leg. Only one missing was Max. At least I was warm. Heh.

And Morrigan is getting so big too, filling out nicely. Still very playful though. Is NOT happy when the other feral kitties- even her own littermates- comes on the front porch or in the yard. She'll dart from the kitchen window, to the window at my desk, snarling and hissing at them, even though they can't see or hear her. When they leave the porch and walk through the front yard, she'll dart to the front window and stare until she's certain they're gone. It's amusing really.

* * * *

In other news...

Still got a cough from the cold/flu/whatever I had over Xmas and New Year's. Mark does too. Nose is still runny/stuffy at times as well, so that doesn't help. Nor does quitting taking Nyquil/Dayquil coldturkey after taking it for nearly 3 weeks straight, sometimes double dosing.

Yeah.

I would make such a bad druggie. Can you say headaches, tight muscles, etc, galore from the slight withdrawal symptoms?? It's not cool. Even now the back of my head/neck is still achey from it. And insomnia on top of it to boot. Ugh, I hate it.

Not fun and not cool.

* * * *

Am running a 50% off clearance sale in both my Zibbet shop and my Artfire shop.

Everything except the scrap fabric grab bags and a few lower priced pieces are on sale. It'll run until nearly everything sells or I get tired of it.

Trying to whittle down my supply and declutter a bit. Have a bunch of misc. supplies I'll be listing in my Artfire shop soonish- leather lace, carved bone beads, and such. It'll be cheap, destash prices, trying to clear it out.

* * * *

Managed to throw out 3 boxes and 2 bags worth of just stuff already. The back room is looking better with each box I go through. Only one closet- the one downstairs- left to clean out when I finish with that room. Feels good getting rid of things we really don't need, haven't used, is broken and will never be fixed, etc. Still a lot left to do though.

* * * *

I know, I suck at blogging so far this year. But well, nothing's really happening.}:P

News broke this morning that Bonanzle, changing its name to Bonanza, acquired 1000Markets yesterday.

Users on 1kM are up in arms, so to speak, many are saying they will be closing down, or have done so already. I'm sad, as I really like 1kM, even though I mainly used it as more of a portfolio instead of a selling site. But I DID sell there, so that was something at least. And the really ironic part? Views on my shop have skyrocketed these past 2 weeks. Heh.

No forewarning, no inkling that this was happening, nothing until this morning when 1kM users suddenly received an email telling them that 1000Markets would be effectively closed on Sept 30th, start getting ready to move now.

The email went on to say that Bonanza would be a great site to sell on (no, it won't be) and that in the next day or so, we'd get an email detailing how to move our items 'seamlessly'. That gives users less than a week to fully integrate their 1kM shops into Bonanza. Otherwise, they would find themselves locked out of their own 1kM accounts by 5pm Pacific Time, Sept 30th.

From everything I've been reading and looking at the Bonanza site myself, I've come to the conclusion, that, yes, it is rather like a 'flea market' site, as it was described.

Others say it's hard to navigate, hard to search and just plain ugly.

Forums on Etsy, Artfire and 1000Markets- as linked above- are full of sentiments like this.

Having done a bit of exploring on the Bonanza site myself, I find I cannot and will not compete with mass market sellers, blatant resellers, flea market finds, hell, even magazine subscriptions to magazines I already HAVE or HAD a subscription too! ( I kid you not.)

My OOAK items would not and do not fit in there unlike what 1000Markets claims. Therefore, I will not be making the transfer over. Currently, after my 1kM shop closes, I will be only at Etsy and Artfire. I may reopen either the Big Cartel shop or check out Zibbet or Ruby Lane.

What does this mean? Well, for YOU, it means a huge sale on 1000Markets! Before I close the shop or let 1kM close it, I want to try to sell things first.

So, Sept 21st to Sept 29th, all 1000Markets items are now 60%-75% OFF.



Get it while the gettings good.

Newly listed on Etsy are 12 Scrap Fabric Grab Bags. These grab bags range from 2 ounces to 4 ounces+ in total fabric weight. Nearly all contain some hand dyed fabrics, as well as commercial fabrics. All fabrics are cotton or muslin type fabrics.



These Grab Bags are perfect for scrap quilters, doll clothing makers, etc. The pieces range from a few inches up to nearly an entire fat quarter in size. The colors cross the entire rainbow, including some salt dyed pieces, some sunprinted pieces and a few hand painted pieces. There are muslin, commercial cotton prints, even jacquard brocade pieces.



Prices are very reasonable, ranging from $2.50 to $4.00 for the largest Grab Bag with the most hand dye in it. So stop by the Etsy shop and check them out!

Everything in my shop is now marked down, 50% off!




That's 50% off all hand dyed silk scarves!
50% off all handmade beadwork!
50% off all ArtQuilts!

And so on!

Get it while it lasts!

July 1st through July 7th!

http://Dantesspirit.etsy.com