It is with the deepest sorrow that we said goodbye to our Finnegan yesterday. The cancer had taken a turn for the worse, and we didn't want to let him suffer.
He attained the honor of "Good Dog", that all dogs aspire to be.
RIP Finney.
July 24, 2013 - Jan 16, 2021.
Finnegan passed away peacefully in my arms, overlooking his beloved Big Backyard from the ottoman while Steve prepared his final resting place. Steve had previously dug the hole in the fall, before the ground froze, and had a supply of soft unfrozen dirt waiting in the garage. Steve had also prepared a little wooden box, embellished with the words "Good Dog" and his name on the lid. He was buried with his favorite toys, as well as the container of ashes from our first sheltie, Akasha, who passed away 17 years ago, and now will reside with him.
Our little Binney dignified the ceremony by wearing Finnegan's collar to the graveside, where it was transferred to the little garden statue sheltie, joining with the collars of our passed doggies Duke and Ducky.
~~~~~~~
Of course, Binney is taking it hard. She is most likey his aunt, as best we can figure from the hoarder's mixmux of records before all of the shelties were rescued from her hell-hole of a place. Finnegan had been born from Binney's sister, Daisy, after all the dogs were rescued. He had a normal puppyhood, while she did not. She has been with us for the last 6 years, and they were truly bonded. He helped her become a "normal dog" and become more confident and self-assured over the years. He was her Mentor.
She sat gazing out in the backyard yesterday at dusk... and I am sure she was mourning for him. This breaks my heart. Also, she keeps an eye out for deer, or the "big brown doggies" that come at night for scrounging around on the ground under the bird feeders. She sat there, alone, despondent, and waiting for the deer. Ever hopeful.
From Heaven, I am SURE that Finnegan sent some deer, to entertain her and cheer her up! The deer NEVER come this early in the evening, they usually appear after 8 or 9 p.m.
OH JOY OH JOY
BARK BARK BARK BARK!!!!
Here they came, a few at a time,
to wander in just to entertain Binney.
She was ecstatic and delighted!
Dashing between the big ottoman
and the little ones,
barking furiously and
happily wagging her tail.
Racing from window to window,
letting them know she was on guard!
Really, the deer just look at her in the house, barking away, and then go right back to licking up any stray seeds or pieces of suet. They really don't scare easily.
She was just soooo happily barking her fool head off,
and completely enjoying herself.
We let her go nuts,
because we know they will only be here for a few minutes...
And then, right before they all started to gather to leave, one deer went over to the new grave, (protected by a board and rocks until the ground freezes again) and leaned it's head down. It was as if to say: "Okay Boss Finnegan, did we do a good job?"
And off they went.
~~~~~~~~~
Before the cancer took it's toll on little Finnegan, three days ago, on Wednesday, we did have one wonderful afternoon of sunshine and a last walk around the block, ending in the Big Backyard.
Finnegan tired quickly, and had to be carried the rest of the way. Notice all of the deer tracks through the snow, it's a virtual playground for those Big Brown Doggies.
Oh my handsome boy...
By the look on his face,
he didn't appreciate being carried.
A couple video clips of his final days....
Forever Buddies
A package arrived in the mail on Friday, the night before Finnegan passed. We were flabbergasted and shedding tears of greatfulness at fellow Sheltie Rescuer Adopter Kevin Kalhagen's talent and thoughtfulness. He kindly caught their expressions and the bond between them. Forever preserved. It will get matted and framed soon. Thank you Kevin and Trish!
This may have been a sad blog to read. I'm sorry about that. But it was important for me to write it. Sometimes things like this are cathartic.
All I know is that when dogs are sent here to Earth, they work really hard to attain the title of "Good Dog". Once they achieve that honor of being a "Good Dog", their time is no longer needed here. Their goal is reached. They go back to Heaven and help to get ready all those new little puppies soon-to-be-born---- to teach them also to become "Good Dogs".
If any of you have read my blog for a while, you know from time to time we find old dilapidated looms and fix them up, I usually weave on them for a while, and then sell them later, hopefully for a little profit.
Over the last 25 years, I have had 30-40 looms go through my studio at one time or another, and I have chosen my favorites (Tools of the Trade table looms and Newcomb Studio floor looms). It has been a few years since I restored any looms.
But---- you know that Steveio, he is always on the lookout for them, on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace.
~~~~~~~~
It was Christmas Eve... after a delightful socially distant Zoom Christmas Celebration with our families, we were settling in for a nice evening of relaxation. Steve opened his laptop and found this!
It seems a person was working on flipping a house. This loom had been abandoned by the previous owners in a clean dry basement. The flipper guy was hoping to sell it for $111.00 (why that price, I don't know) and then he dropped it to $55.00. He said that it HAD to get out by Christmas Eve or it was going to be put into the dumpster, which was scheduled to be picked up the next day to be moved to the next flipping house. I wrote to him asking about the dumpster time, and he said he had no idea when it was going to be picked up, so it was Christmas Eve or nothing.
We hooked up the trailer behind the Saturn and buzzed on down 65 miles one way to rescue this loom!!! It was dark, we HATE driving in the dark, but we were on a mission.
We wore our masks and gloves when we got there. The seller was almost done working in the house and the dumpster was really ready to be moved. He let us go down in the basement (socially distant of course) and we saw the loom, all alone in the basement. We settled on $50.00 and I laid the cash on the steps for the seller to collect it.
We looked it all over and determined the best way to disassemble it and then to get it through the basement door and out through the garage. This wasn't our first rodeo, so we got right down to it.
This interesting old crank handle is actually a stove/wood burner handle stamped from the Rathbone Sard Company Acorn handle. (I had to look that up).
The seller said the only other tools or equipment he saw in the basement was a bag full of these odd shapped yarn things... and he pulled them out of the dumpster. It was a dozen wonderful big rag shuttles!
I also jumped in the dimly lit dumpster (through a side access door really) and looked to be sure there wasn't any other weaving supplies or tools left behind. Nope, this is all there was.
We were able to load the entire loom in pieces into the back of the Saturn, so we really didn't even need to bring the trailer. But who knew? When buying something so odd, you don't know if all the nuts and bolts are rusted and you can't get it apart? So having the trailer along made sense. Luckily, the basement was clean and dry, so the loom was not rusted and we got it apart easily.
We drove back home, and left the whole thing in the back of the Saturn overnight.
We had sprayed things down with Lysol the night before, so the next morning we were reasonably assured that during it's long abandoned stay in the basement, it was covid-free.
I prepped my restoration area with a plastic tarp, then an old wool army blanket. Now we could bring in the pieces one at a time to clean up the wood.
I love love love this product and heartily recommend it for any old antique woodwork. It's called Howards Feed N Wax. It's bees wax and orange oil. It smells good, soaks in the wood and doesn't leave a residue. The sad part is that I am almost out of it. By the time I could order more and have it delivered, I would be fretting at the loom pieces and not being able to "git er dun". Soooo I grabbed a bottle of the next best thing: Howards Butcher Block Conditioner. It has a lot of the same ingredients, and if I would run short on the first bottle, I could supplement with the second. Part way through, I just squirted some the second bottle into the first bottle to make it stretch a bit further. By the time I was done, I had JUST enough!
I am not sure of the date of this loom. It's made by the Reed Manufacturing Company of Springfield, OH. This model is called The Weavers Friend. They started making looms in the late 1800's and this loom is a pretty primitive design and materials which I will show you later with the heddles and harness construction method. Something I noted that was interesting was the treatment of the warp beam tie on cords. To eliminate the bulk of a knot on the back warp beam (to keep the threads smooth with no bumps) each cord had been carefully folded back on itself to form a loop. Then it was stitched by hand to keep it secure. Very interesting!
Next are some of the "before" pics where I was just wiping down the old wood to remove dirt, grime and old wax streaks. Someone had apparently poured some melted wax down along the inside channels of the castle to let the harnesses slide more easily. I will use a silicone lubricant that is used on bicycle chains called LPS spray.
All of the pieces were there, but we had to dis-assemble them and clean the wood, and be sure to put each piece back where it belonged.
The wood soaked up the Howards Feed and Wax, and it became darker and richer. The oak grains were showing through, and it was turning this sows ear into a silk purse. I used bits of 3M Scotch brite, sandpaper, emery boards and toothbrushes. Oh, and a LOT of rags! Finnegan kept a careful eye on the process.
This is the interesting configuration of the heddles. Normally heddles are either separate pieces of flat steel, twisted wire, or knotted cords to carry the warp threads. They usually slide from side to side for easier threading and moving around on flat steel heddle bars to different thread settings for weaving density or lacy-ness.
But not on THIS loom ---- these were constructed of long pieces of wire that are fixed permanently to the harness frames, and threaded through holes in the wood. They are set at a fixed distance apart which somewhat limits the creativity of the weaver. But since I only planned on doing rugs on this loom, sett at 12 ends per inch, which was precisely the distance how this loom was created. How convenient is that?
Another interesting design is that loom changes the harnesses from 1 to 2 by a long arm handle on the right side, and not the auto harness changing beater unit or foot treadles like most other looms. I figured it would be fun for the grandkids to weave with, not having to be so tall to reach the treadles below and operate the beater above, Plus, it sits lower than most of my looms. I am thinking it might have been customized to a lower stature for a handicapped person.
Here is a video of how the
arm lever works:
The bottom gear is for an alternate harnesss changing device like newer Reed Weavers Friends looms have, but nope.... this loom does not have (nor any evidence that it ever did). So the gear can sit there and look "steam punk" ish --- LOL>
I decided the loom was a girl. I decided to name her Eve, after Christmas Eve which was the night that we rescued her. I think I was attached to her before I even wove on her. Deciding to keep her was pretty foremost in my mind. I was so curious if she would be comfortable and fun to weave on.
As I worked on her, I wondered about her:
Had she been cherished?
Had she been yearned for?
Did someone save up a long time to get her?
Had someone taken their hard earned egg money to buy her?
Or was she a tool of the farm, just another thing to work on like a butter churn or a garden rake? Was she just something to slave over and work on rainy days when they couldn't be in the fields? Was she just another thing to produce goods to sell to keep the farm afloat?
May I present
EVE
Steve helped me slide her over into her new space, alongside the bigger newer fancier Newcomb Studio 4 Harness Rug Loom. That one is my main loom, but we made room for Eve.
I think the Newcomb is a big blond boy. He was bought from a retiring blind weaver many years ago. She will be a deep red haired little sister.
Now it was time to put her to work. I got out my tension box, my warping rack and scrounged up enough tubes of creamy white poly/cotton rug warp. I didn't want to wait for a new order of full tubes, with which I could put on 50-60 yard turns. So I just loaded up with partial tubes and wound on 20 yards instead. Good enough for now.
I really like the warping process. So much so, that I made a self-produced video of the lesson on how to do it. I sell it on Etsy and Ebay .... or contact me directly for a copy. Shameless self promotion. But hey, it's my blog, right?
All of the threads now wind on effortlessly into perfectly level and tensioned sections on the back warp beam. It has taken me a long time to perfect my skill at doing this, and I learned a LOT by trial and error over the years. Here is the beam, part way done. As I cut off the warp threads, I tape them down multiple times with painters tape on the beam to make sure they don't get messed up, they stay in order, and not get unwound by accident.
Once the warp threads are all wound on, I carefully thread them one at a time through the heddles on the harnesses. Now if these were the common heddles, they could slide to one side for easier access and a comfortable sitting position.
The eyes on these fixed twisted wire heddles are sooo small that I can not get through them with my normal heddle hooks. Instead I am using a 5 inch long weaving needle. I am threading the warp threads, one a time, into the needle and placing it though either harness one or harness two's eyelets in alternating order.
Thread by thread, section by section. This entire warp is 336 threads. Yup, one at a time. This is also a good closeup shot of the fixed heddles that are made into the frames though holes in the wood. It seems to be a very primitive method of creating harnesses, but it works. Makes me pretty sure this is a VERY old loom!
Leaning over to do the threading is one thing.... but also making sure every group of 24 threads is threaded PERFECTLY!~ with NO crisscrossing, no errors, no skipping, no doubling.
I do bouts of 24 or 48 threads at a time and then take a break for my back and arms to rest.
Each thread must be exactly correct or the rug will have a glaring flaw. I should say RUGS... because this 20 yard warp will probably provide me with 10-12 rugs after loom waste and takeup. The next time I warp up, I will leave these original threads hanging down the back side, wind on the new warp, and tie each new end to an old end and pull them through. That is called a Dummy Warp. I ain't no dummy to learn to tie onto it, so I won't ever have to do this painstaking threading process again! In this photo below, I am seated on a tall stool, leaning my chest against the top of the side support castle, padded with an old pair of sweat pants. LOL I have a light aimed down in between the harnesses so I can see the little eyelets and make sure no threads are getting accidentally criss crossed between them.
Once I have the threads through the heddles, the job is only half way done!
Now I have to do what is called "sleying the reed". I have to take each thread, one a time, no criss crossing, and sley each thread though the proper slit in the reed of the beater. A little flat reed sleying hook is used for this step. I have my cherished engraved reed hook from my friend of the Craftsman's Legacy PBS show fame Juanita Hofstrom of Vavning Studio in Shopiere, WI.
Again, strand by strand, no errors.
I check every group of 24 threads by moving the harnesses up and down, grasping the threads under tension to make sure nothing is criss crossed or threaded wrong. Then I tie a looped knot on each one to make sure nothing ever gets accidentally unsleyed by some grandkid or husband walking by and moving the beater forward!
The front cloth take-up beam originally had some short ropes on it instead of an apron. I decided to lash back and forth with a sturdy rope and add a separate steel rod to tie onto for now. Maybe later I will make a proper cloth apron. For now, this will work.
Once all the threads are sleyed though the reed, and tied on the front rod, I need to double check again that nothing is criss crossed. All is good and I have a nice open "shed" for the shuttles to pass through to weave with. I will tweak with the adjustments later to get it open even wider, once I get a rug started.
Well Well Well
look at that!
Tonight
Eve is threaded up,
tensioned off,
tied on,
and ready to weave!!!!!
Weave, Eve!
ON EDIT:
~~~~~~~~~
What does Steve do while I am so busy winding, threading, sleying and weaving?
Looking for the next "bargain" on his laptop!
~~~~~~~~~
Some on you may be wondering about our terminally ill little Finnegan. He is doing fine, for now. Nurse Binney won't leave his side. She takes care of him, and will be there with him through thick and thin.
He naps more now, and she makes sure
that he is safe and protected while he dozes.
Bathroom functions are still operational
and he is drinking on his own
and eating from our hands
or stew from his popscicle stick.
He will romp and play a bit, but gets tired out faster. Resting is good, but he is still moving freely and without pain. We have been provided pain pills if he needs them, but so far he seems pretty light hearted and alert.
Steve put on his "git er done" cap, and decided to go zoom zoom zoom. We got three windows replaced in one day!
Since both the master bedroom and the bathroom were done the other day, he wanted to tackle the next one because the weather was warm. Unusually warm for Wisconsin, so it's a good time to get these done.
The next two windows on his slate of tasks were for the Grandtots' bedroom. It's really our guest bedroom, but because we have bunk beds in there we call it the Grandtots' bedroom. It's also full of toys and games and puzzles and books and stuffed animals and all that fun stuff.
Again, the crazy wooden configuration storms with the aluminum windows added to the frames were screwed onto the house frames by a bunch of 3 inch long deck screws. He got most of them out, only a few he had to use a pliers and slowly twist them out turn by turn. Deck screws are more brittle and break off easily. But eventually he got them all off.
I think this is one of the worst windows because the old wooden framework didn't even match up in the center. You couldn't even put a lock on this one. Of course it had air gaps all around and the outside aluminum storm would get all frosted up. It is not a good situation, and really needed to be changed out.
When he removed the inside window stops, we noticed the name printed in the interior surface from a Millen Brothers Millwork Company. We are going to have to research that sometime and see about what era they were in business.
We are thinking this portion of the house is about early 1900s. It was moved here from another location sometime in the 1940s by the Heise family, and joined up to the existing house that was originally built in the late 1800s. That was done a lot in the old days during the housing boom of Oconto. Not only did it move a house out of the way of some future expansion in the business district, but it doubled the size of this home already located on a rural township lot located up on the far end of town.
Back to the window work: of course he had to go around with his oscillating tool and cut out gobs of caulking to get the framework loose. Someone sure wanted to make sure that those modified storm windows would never come off?
Once everything was opened up and cleared out of the way, it is easy to put in the new replacement window. He then shims and levels and plums it into place. It makes such a difference.
On the outside he adds a bead of silicone window weather tight sealant all of the way around and on the inside he uses non expanding foam in the spray can. Then we can put the original wooden stops back into place, add some sealant. Finally I can paint the inside trim.
While we were busy working on the Grandtots' bedroom windows, these two little goof balls made themselves cozy on the bottom bunk. That way they could keep an eye on us and make sure we were doing a good job.
The side window went quickly and we moved right on to the second bedroom window that faces the front of the house. This was even easier to work on, because he could stand right on the front porch to remove the old window. No more tall ladder work (which is tough on his knees). It's nice that he could remove that storm window and not even disturb the shutters or trim.
Mr. Zoom Zoom had that window done in no time at all. I was able to clean up the mess while he moved over to the office window on the other side of the front porch. Boy oh boy, I could barely keep up with him!
In the office, we pulled the steamer trunk out of the way and made a workspace without having to remove it completely from the room.
That window came off quickly and he was able to finish the third replacement before dinner time.
So it really was a
tic-tac-toe
three-in-a-row.
~~~~~~~~~~
Now for the Plus 1 ----
The next morning, while musing over his cup of coffee, he decided it was time to tackle the big front leaded picture window. He knew this one was going to be really heavy and he was debating on how was best to proceed. I can just see his wheels turning in his head, and figuring out what was what.
The first step was to remove the storm window. This one was rather unique because it was a wooden frame with two big pieces of horizontal plexiglass. He started to cut it out with his little oscillating saw and that just wasn't doing it.
He ended up actually taking his large circular saw while holding it vertically, he buzzed it all the way around while set to the correct depth to not harm the framework underneath. He was able to cut out the huge grooves of caulking that was holding this makeshift plexiglass storm window into place. It was not fun, to say the least.
Once that was done, he could use his little oscillating saw again to clean up the edges of the window sill. Look at the color that the house trim used to be for a while?Peach?? I knew at one time the house siding had been painted a deep teal green blue. I wonder if it was both colors at the same time? Peach trim and teal siding??? It's kind of fun to excavate through the layers to see what changes have been made to the house over the years.
When he was ready to pull out the big leaded picture window, he decided to enlist the help of our neighbor across the street. Ed willingly came over to give Steve a hand. Both were masked up for safety. I pushed from the inside and both guys were on the outside ready to catch the window.
It was extremely heavy and they had to take three rest stops during the process to carry it around to store it in the garage!
We think we may cut off the top leaded portion of that window and re-hang it inside the surface of the new picture window. Later we can do that as a winter inside project. We had done that in our house in Chilton to preserve the look of the old leaded glass window but still have a new energy-efficient one in its place. He secured it on top with trim and the bottom with little brackets. It is just set on the inside up against the main picture window glass.... to look like it was original.
But for now, it was important to get the big new window into place. We had turned off the furnace and shut all the doors to the other rooms. During the time they had the old window out and got the new window in place, the house temperature only dropped by 2 degrees. Man, those guys really work quick!
We thanked Ed as he went home ... and then from the inside we were finishing up the trim work around the edges. After lunch I could touch it up with matching paint.
By evening the paint was dry and we could hang the valance back up and put the furniture back into place. It sure was different sitting on the couch in front of this new dual pane window. Not only was it quieter from any outside noise, but the room had an even temperature with no cold chills from sitting near a big expanse of single pane glass.
~~~~~~~~
On to our Doggie Dilemma----
In speaking with our local veterinarian, we thought it might be a good thing to send Finnegan's x-rays to an internist abdominal specialist in Port Washington, Wisconsin. He agreed it would be worth it to check it out with an ultrasound and see exactly what was going on in the little guy's belly. We had made an appointment but it wasn't until January 7th. I hated to wait that long. The very next hour they called us back and said they had a cancellation for the next morning at 9 am! It was 120 miles away but we set the alarm, loaded up the vehicle and headed out.
It was a two-hour long appointment with a curbside drop-off and then pick up when Finnegan's tests were all done. We waited in the sunshine in the parking lot, even in the cold. It wasn't too bad, and we didn't need to run the engine too much.
Sadly though, we got the final results when they brought him back out to us. It showed exactly what the first vet had suspected. He said there were masses growing around the spleen and reaching further into the abdomen. There are also masses on the upper portion of the liver as well as round tumors within the liver. There are also fluids building up in the abdominal cavity around the stomach. None of this is good and it really is not operational. When multiple organs are affected, it means it's cancer, without even having to do an invasive biopsy. If we were to put him through a multi-organ operation plus chemo, it really would not enhance his quality of life. The vet also said it would not buy him that much more time.
So we are facing the reality that we knew was coming and we will do what we can to make him comfortable.
You know, pet ownership is a complicated thing, comprised of a lot of responsibility.
There is always the excitement of having a new puppy, which we did seven years ago with adopting him from the Sheltie Rescue.
Then there is the fun and enjoyment of having a dog throughout his life. Building a relationship of being our companion and partner and little buddy in our life. He is not a pet, he is a family member.
Then there is the grim reality that someday this shall end and we need to be the responsible pet owner and do what is right ... in repayment of all those years of loyalty and companionship that he gave to us.
During the long sad journey home, Steve and I talked about other dogs that we have had. We talked about all the funny stories and the memories. Each dog that we have had in our lives has brought us unique and different experiences. The time passed quickly, as well as the miles, and we were soon back home again.
When we got home, the weather was beautiful and I took a stroll out through the Big Backyard. We always told Finnegan we bought this house just for the Big Backyard, just for him and Binney! I think I took some of the best photos I've ever taken of him.
The dogs ran and played together and wrestled and tousled. I took some videos of them romping around. You'd never know by watching this that he was sick.
Finnegan did a lot of important teaching to little Binney when we adopted her 6 years ago. She was so timid and afraid. She was neglected and tormented at the hoarder/breeder she was rescued from. She needed to learn to be confidant and self assured. She learned how to be a "good girl" and he taught her to "come" and "stay" and "go feed the birds". It's so funny how many words they recognize and understand.
When we first adopted her, she only communicated to us through him, and relying on him to tell us when she had to go outside. Finnegan was her mentor. He was her steady rock to calm her fears during her flashbacks. She would wake up from nightmares, and he would go over and lick her face until she calmed down.
She has gotten a lot better now, and I think she has only had one or two flashbacks in the last year. Much more well-adjusted and comfortable than in her first few years. Thanks to Finnegan, her good buddy.
It was a wonderful afternoon to spend outside, then we went in and curled up and took a nice long nap together. Both doggies pressed tight up against me for closeness and comfort. They may very well know what is coming up in their own little doggie way. But it was great to have such a wonderful afternoon, and preserve it in our memories.
After we got home, Steve decided it was a good time to still work on one more dining room window. It was good to keep his mind off things and keep himself busy.
He had removed the exterior storms on both of the dining room windows and got the framework prepped and ready to get the old one out and the new one in. Although it was getting dark out, he was mostly working from the inside.
He got the new one into place just as I was done making dinner. A little bit of trim work and it would soon be ready for me to touch up the paint.
We just have one more window to finish in the dining room. That was our missing window from the order that took a long ride and extra journey up to Marquette, Michigan. The building supply manager at Menards had sent someone up to pick it up and bring it back to the store in Marinette. They called to say the window was finally back to Marinette, so we drove up there early this morning at 6 a.m. to get it. That is today's project --- to replace that window and fix up the trim. Again, it's supposed to be up almost to 50 degrees today. It will be a good time to get it done.
Now all of the windows all the way around the house are done except the two in the kitchen table area. We have those two already here in the garage, but they are not just replacement windows. Those are complete new construction windows with a flange. We will have to alter the framing a little bit to get them to fit. That will be a springtime job. (Unless Mr. Zoom Zoom gets another bug in his butt to get to them done yet this year?)
But for now, with what we have accomplished so far, it feels very cozy and quiet and soundproofed. The outside sounds are muffled. It has been quite a project to undertake this ourselves, but after getting estimates from a couple window companies, we decided doing this ourselves will save us some money as well as add to the comfort of the winter home heating and summer air conditioning cooling. With the new insulation we had added in the attic, it will be an added bonus.
Now that we are done with this stuff, it's time to sit back, prepare for the holidays, and enjoy our time with our little dogs. And give Finnegan the best love and attention that we can give him.
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