Sundays With Ingrid
“Come on, boy,” Ingrid said. She got her jacket from upstairs and opened the slider.
He came out and shook himself the way dogs do when they’re wet, which he wasn’t, of course. “Know any tricks?” she said.
He pressed his head against her leg.
“That’s not a trick.”
Ingrid picked up a twig. At the mere sight of a picked-up twig, Flanders would have been springing up and down and barking his head off. This dog didn’t seem to notice. He was looking at nothing in particular.
“Here’s a stick,” Ingrid said, waving it before his eyes. She flicked it backhand about ten feet away, right in front of him. “Go get it. Get the stick.”
His mouth opened and his tongue appeared. He gazed off into the middle distance. That was it.
“Come on,” Ingrid said. She walked over to the twig, picked it up. He stood beside her, watching. Watching her do the retrieving, you could almost think, like he was the one doing the training. You could almost think that, but not if you looked at his dumb face, which reminded her of Nigel Bruce, who’d played Dr. Watson to Basil Rathbone’s Holmes. Ingrid had all the videos.
“Smell the stick,” Ingrid said, holding it close to his nose. He averted it slightly, a strangely delicate movement, like an aristocrat who’d been offered a pastrami sandwich.
“Go get it,” Ingrid said, throwing it again. She pointed.
This time the dog ambled off in the general direction of the twig. He came quite close, actually stepping over it, before making a sharp turn and heading into the woods.
“Hey!”
He kept going, past the oak with the split trunk where she and Ty had built a tree house, now in disrepair, around a bend and out of sight.
“Hey. Come back here.”
Ingrid ran after him, not her fastest, no way she could run her fastest, still sore all over from the night in the woods. And the woods were the last place she wanted to be right now.
“Dog!” She didn’t even know his name. “Come here.”
Ingrid tore along the path, back in the damn woods. Up ahead she caught sight of him squatting, the lower half of him all urgent and straining, his head in the clouds.
“Stay.”
But he didn’t stay. As soon as he was done he took off again, trotting in his clumsy way, like that beer-belly guy who jogged past their house every Sunday.
“Come back, you moron.”
But he didn’t. The stupid jerk got all the way to the big rock before Ingrid caught up with him. He’d come to a stop, was just standing still, almost alert-looking, sniffing the air.
“Move an inch and you’re dead,” Ingrid said.
The dog turned his head backward in her direction, one of those weird angles dogs can do.
“I mean it,” Ingrid said.
A man stepped out from behind the rock. He was very big, with broad shoulders and a barrel chest. The dog saw him and wagged his scruffy tail.
“Just who are you planning to kill?” the man said.
Tags: Echo Falls Series
This entry was posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 8:41 am and is filed under Chet The Dog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
4:22 am on August 1st, 2010
Awesome, Awesome, Awesome . . .
That is so the way the Pack trains us. Fetch? Fuggitboutit.
I have trained them to get out of the kitchen. Note I did not say STAY out of the kitchen.
Still waiting on the wardrobe from the signings. Shorts? Sandals? The Bull tee shirt?
4:34 am on August 1st, 2010
Melanie: You and your Newfs have me laughing. As does Ingrid's dog.
4:57 am on August 1st, 2010
Good morning Chet, Ingrid, Melanie, Dawson, Blog Team.
5:12 am on August 1st, 2010
Gutten Morgan B.Stover: I'm off to work. Can't be late and using the dog as an excuse. They've figured out I don't really have one.
5:24 am on August 1st, 2010
Nigel!… Him an I could be best pals… snort!… He’s not really as dumb as he looks. I think he knows exactly why he does the stuff he does…grunt! … We’d be a great team together that’s for sure… heh!
Today!…We’ve got lots of work to do today because someone was too tired to do much of anything yesterday… grunt!… Then we are taking her mom out to lunch after all that….sniff!… Somehow we have got to get home in time for the 3rd game against the Cubbies this afternoon!…. yeep!
6:49 am on August 1st, 2010
Of course we train you humans. Right, Abigail?
7:18 am on August 1st, 2010
Dawson, I could be your dog. Show them my photo and tell them I keep running off and you have to go find me. If they know anything about Siberians, they will believe you.
7:41 am on August 1st, 2010
Oh my yes, Dawson,
My staff are well trained.
I am having a little difficulty with Mr. Staff right now. He is insisting on wearing shorts this summer and it just ruins his lap. I really hate touching that furless skin. He has got to wear long pants.
Luckily the air conditioning is working again, so it is cooler in the house. Hopefully I will be able to lap again with him. There is a distinct lack of laps around here right now since Mrs.staff went off to the hospital and came back gimpy.
Abbie
(It's all about ME!)
7:43 am on August 1st, 2010
And right now Mrs Staff is sitting in front of that machine murmuring to fabric. Going to be a long boring lapless day, I can tell.
AtK
7:56 am on August 1st, 2010
Staff, Got your email. Thank you! That was very quick and I will get mom on it today.
8:16 am on August 1st, 2010
OMG!…. Two hours of intense outside work and now she is done for again… grump!… I laid in the shade and watched….snort!… Lunch won’t be for another couple of hours so we will have time to rest and water the flowers…sneeze!
Staff!…Email on the way any time now regarding the quilt squares and such… sniff!
8:21 am on August 1st, 2010
Grump!….Someone told me to correct my post up above!… sniff!… It was almost THREE hours of intense outside work and there is still inside work to be done because someone here sheds… snort!… What’s ‘sheds’?
8:26 am on August 1st, 2010
Sheds are little houses where you store your gardening equipment, mowers, hoses, exta potting soil.
Have no idea who would be putting sheds up inside your house. She must be delusional.
Alice Johnson
8:38 am on August 1st, 2010
Rio, I'll come spend a week with you so your friend will know that you don't shed very much at all.
8:40 am on August 1st, 2010
That's an easy one Riö.
Someone worked very hard outside and shed their clothes in the house to take a shower and now must pick up their clothes.
OR
There's a reptile in your house, somewhere that was shed its skin.
8:48 am on August 1st, 2010
Interesting!….She just popped in a movie called, ‘How to Make An American Quilt”…. snort!…Coincidence? I think not… sniff!…She’s probably thinking she can learn something or other…heh! …I guess I will lay on the couch and watch it with her just because I’m tired from all the outside work she did… wheeze!
9:33 am on August 1st, 2010
Shed….the English language never ceases to interest me.
I made pesto. Now I hope I can taste it. I smelled the garlic a bit.
I'm going to watch the Librarian series on tv….they are showing all three movies…too bad there are commercials.
9:34 am on August 1st, 2010
[img ]http://chetthedog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/1280687624-small bluecat block.jpg[/img]
[img ]http://chetthedog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/1280687651-small maggie block.jpg[/img]
9:35 am on August 1st, 2010
Bluecat and Maggie blocks are 'awaiting moderation'.
2:34 pm post.
10:06 am on August 1st, 2010
Wow, talk about a lazy Sunday. Mom and Dad are doing work around the house, but all I'm doing is laying around. Having a little tummy trouble. Dad made popcorn for lunch, and he couldn't even interest me in one single kernal. Definitely not feeling my oats today!
Now Mom wants me to get off the computer, because she wants to go on the library website and order "Down the Rabbit Hole." One of her co-workers had told her what a good book it was — and she even had it checked out at one point, but other books got in the way. So now that she's been reading "Sundays with Ingrid" and all the comments about PA's books on Chet's blog, she's decided she really wants to get "DRH" to read on her vacation.
Back later! (If my tummy feels up to it.)
10:23 am on August 1st, 2010
Staff: We love your blocks! Now Mom has a technical question — she think she knows the answer, but she just wants to make sure. The entire block (including the kitty frame on Bluecat's and the pawprint fabric on Maggie's — BTW, Mom got Buford and Me the same pawprint stuff!) is what measures 9 inches square, right?
10:35 am on August 1st, 2010
Awesome blocks!
10:38 am on August 1st, 2010
Beautiful!… Staff, and Bluecat, and Maggie
Kirby, I hope you get to feeling better.
11:32 am on August 1st, 2010
Wow, Staff, they are both beautiful! What perfect fabrics for both of us. When you put the blocks together, do you use a thin strip of matching fabric betwween each of the squares?
12:12 pm on August 1st, 2010
Staff!… Did you get either of my emails?… drat!
12:25 pm on August 1st, 2010
BTW!…Rockies up 8 – 1 over the Cubs!…heh!… Top of the 7th!….snicker!
12:26 pm on August 1st, 2010
Thanks, SiberH! I am feeling some better. In fact, when Mom opened a package of cookies a little while ago, I perked right up. The only problem is that Mom wouldn't let me have any. Something about chocolate not being good for dogs. I think she just said that so she could have them all for herself!
12:27 pm on August 1st, 2010
I have been napping. I am off to read my emails. Patience little grasshopper Rio.
Kirby T.
About the squares. I want to use finished 8" squares. Unfinished, (means the seam allowance are counted in the size) would be 8-1/2". Because cutting squares is very fussy I told you all to send me a 9" square that I would cut down to the proper 8-1/2 inch size.
What this means is that anything larger than 8 inches will be in the seam allowances and you should not plan on it showing. In other words a photo that is 8-1/2" square would lose 1/4 inch all around.
Clear as mud?
Staff
12:29 pm on August 1st, 2010
Hey Rio! Angels are leading the Rangers in the top of the 7th, too! Maybe we'll both end up with wins today — keeping my paws crossed for the Angels and the Rockies!
12:32 pm on August 1st, 2010
Rio, check your email (CYE)
12:34 pm on August 1st, 2010
Thanks, Staff. Mom just wanted to make sure that it wasn't the photo in the middle that was 8 inches — that the 8 inches includes the fabric you have "framing" the photo. She's planning to make cloth dogs instead of photos, and altogether the square will be 9 inches that you can cut down, so nothing vital around the edges. And you said not to put the button eyes on — just send those to you to put on after the quilting, right?
12:36 pm on August 1st, 2010
Oh, and Staff, mud isn't clear, in fact it's kind of yucky. So I'm not sure what you meant by that????
12:43 pm on August 1st, 2010
OK I have been starting to think of the final size and if we do a 4 blocks wide and 5 blocks long we will need 20 blocks. I have found the perfect backing for a quilt this size and I only have one yard so that works.
If I get more than 20 blocks we will have to add to the backing, but I have 4 fat quarters of it stashed at Faye's. (they are hiding it for me, 'just in case')
So I am trying to get a block count here.
I have done 5 for me, Dawson, BlueCat and Maggie.
Rio has plans for another 4. So far that is 9.
I wonder how many Debbie LM (Wookie)has done? I didn't check but I think we have another 6, at least, from her.
That gives us 15, or three rows. I know Sam and Siber-H are each sending one in. So if we fill up the fourth row then I can make some sort of Chet the Jet banner for the top to take up that 5th row.
Heh, that will be so much fun.
Could you guys send me a block count?
Thanks.
Staff.
12:46 pm on August 1st, 2010
Kirby T,
I was using irony, or maybe sarcasm? B. would know. And you are spot on with the size and the button, thank you!
I am adding your name to the list so you don't have to tell me again.
Oh, and BStover is working on one too.
Goodness.
Staff
12:47 pm on August 1st, 2010
Count two — one each — for Buford and me!
12:50 pm on August 1st, 2010
Rio, it's a good thing your Rockies have a little cushion! Luckily, my Angels are holding steady in the bottom of the 8th. Paws still crossed!
12:53 pm on August 1st, 2010
Four!… If that's not showing off, I don't know what is?…heh!
12:55 pm on August 1st, 2010
Bases loaded — only one out! Go Angels!
12:57 pm on August 1st, 2010
Only managed one run out of it — dagnabit!
1:01 pm on August 1st, 2010
Barb and Maggie,
I am not planning on using sashing (thin strip of fabric between the squares) I am hoping there will be enough contrast in the black and white's (and other colors) framing fabrics that we will get some good light/dark color changes going on.
I won't really know until I see the blocks. I don't think I will frame mine until I see if I want light or dark on them. I suspect I will be using white, with black for my framing. BlueCat and Maggie are both black, with white, so they will read as a dark.
Most of Debbie LM's will read as darks.
Oh the black and whites will really zip it up.
I'm so excited,
I just can't hide it
I'm about to lose control
And I think I like it
Some people get a little intense about their quilting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQqwG_rQx7A
You know, I think this kidney is really kicking in and getting down to work!
Staff
1:04 pm on August 1st, 2010
KT…OK,
I am off to eat. Mr Staff has my food waiting and just came up to see what I was doing.
1:07 pm on August 1st, 2010
Staff – you are amazing! Maggie's and my blocks are perfectly beautiful. Mom has an idea how to thank you but she needs your snail mail address. She really is reliable and won't sell or rent it to anyone. Promise. Let us know if you need our email address again.
BTW, Staff, have you lost the words rest and recuperate from your vocab? Do take good care of yourself, to keep ATK and AJ happy, along with Mr. Staff. Sending head butts and well wishes, I remain, Bluecat.
1:18 pm on August 1st, 2010
Oh no, Rio! The Angels finished up with a 4-1 win, but those darn Cubbies are trying to sneak up on your Rockies. Don't worry, my paws are still crossed!
1:20 pm on August 1st, 2010
OH NO! … Dexter Fowler is hurt really bad… sniff!… He is not getting up. He hit the wall really. really hard… snort!… He made an amazing catch, but was it worth it?…sob!sob!sob! … They are taking him off the field in a cart…sniffle!
1:25 pm on August 1st, 2010
SWEEP!… Byebye Cubbies!… heh!….WOOOOOOO! [img ]http://chetthedog.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/1280701504-happydance.gif[/img]
1:28 pm on August 1st, 2010
Congratulations, Rio! Any word on Fowler?
1:29 pm on August 1st, 2010
The Rockies Won! Sweep! BUT, Rio, let me know if you hear how Fowler is doing. I hope he is not hurt too bad. A cart doesn't sound good. sob, sob, sob
2:08 pm on August 1st, 2010
Done!…Finally – It took forever, but we are finally done with 2! count them 2 whole quilt squares!… heh!… What a monkey off someone’s back let me tell you!… snort!…Thanks again to Barb, MagPie, Melanie and Staff for coming up with the idea and the business cards for the other 2…wow!
2:17 pm on August 1st, 2010
Staff: I will mail (snail type) my square to you tomorrow. It is a cream background and the initial is embroidered with forest green thread. The square is nine inches and the initial is in the middle with a two-inch margin all around it.
And you used irony in the clear as mud…saying one thing and meaning the opposite. Sarcasm is an expression of disgust and contempt, based on the Greek word for tearing flesh.
2:17 pm on August 1st, 2010
I can see my mail is going to be very interesting the next few days.
2:23 pm on August 1st, 2010
I am zonked. Hope to sleep tonight. Hope the dogs sleep tonight. Hope the puppies sleep tonight.
I think the mother bear and 2 cubs are behind us somewhere. The dogs have been on high alert.
Oh, I also went trolling for puppies. I took a 15 foot rope, but knots in it, and then walk by sleeping pups dragging the rope.
I once had 8 on at one time!
2:48 pm on August 1st, 2010
Puppies!… If Melanie wants the puppies to sleep why is she dragging a rope around trying to wake up the puppies??… snort!… It’s all a bit weird in Melanie’s world, isn’t it?…grunt!
3:04 pm on August 1st, 2010
Maybe she's trying to wake them up during the day so they'll sleep at night.
3:09 pm on August 1st, 2010
Watching 'Enemy of the State' on TV and trying to get a one-block wonder quilt off my design wall so I can put up the blog blocks.
4 more rows to sew and I can bag it up for later.
Mr. Staff loves this movie
3:12 pm on August 1st, 2010
After the dog park in the morning, Mom is driving me by the post office so I can mail my block to staff.
I hope Melanie's entire family and pack sleep tonight…go to sleep little doggies.
3:19 pm on August 1st, 2010
Staff — My mom has done 5 blocks so far (Mollypop; SiberH; Newf Pack; Newf Pups; and Moi). She is working with Mollypop's mom to do Sam as well, so that could be six. There are three more that she has been requested to do; Mollie, Macy and Wolfie, although we still need Wolfie to post, so that may be as many as 9. I think we may wind up blowing past 20 blocks. You can consult with my mom about backings, sashing (if you change your mind) and all that other quilting stuff that you and she would understand in a heartbeat but mere doggy mortals like me are totally clueless about.
Rio, I know what we need to do. Schedule the Rockies' next 15 games as all against the Cubbies. Is that possible? Wouldn't that be great. Way to go today; more exciting at the end that it needed to be but a great outcome anyway. So glad the Rockies are out of their slump. My Nationals won two out of three from the Phillies but faltered today,
BTW, re our signed book project. Remember that my clan is going to be back in Vermont from October 8-23, and we will try to make it to at least once SQ signing if he is doing anything within that timeframe that we can make it to (we'll even drive to the Cape if necessary). I'm sure if I beg real nice that my mom and dad and grandpa won't mind doing whatever would be necessary to get the signed copies for the blog (and I am very persuasive in my beg mode, so no problems there!).
Wookie
3:19 pm on August 1st, 2010
Heh!… I thought it was “Get along little doggies” which is what seems to be happening with all the roping and corralling … Yeee Haw!
3:25 pm on August 1st, 2010
Staff, Don't over do it. You need to take it easy, but glad the kidney is starting to be operational. And we hope Mr. Staff is making good meals for you.
3:29 pm on August 1st, 2010
One of the PBS stations here is showing Poirot in Cat Among the Pigeons tonight.
3:40 pm on August 1st, 2010
Wookie!…Wookie!….Wookie!… Wow!…Did every one HEAR what Wookie just said???… Holy Cow and Yeee Hawwww! Hooray!… Get your signed copy of TFAT via Wookie, Mom, Dad and Grandpa…. snorkel!… It’s out of my paws now and up to you all to figure out the “Deal of a Life-Time!”….grunt!…. I do have to say I am so very proud to know you as a friend and an Agent Wookie…sniff!… You are the Best Ever! EVER!
3:46 pm on August 1st, 2010
Sob!Sob!Sob!… What with the Quilt Project and now the Book Signing Project… snorkel!… I am feeling a little over-whelmed with all the true friendship among this group of guys and dolls… sniffle!… I do have to believe that the Charming Mr. Abrahams has the best fans ever in the whole wide world!…grunt!…Because we care about each other as much as we care about him (and his huge family!)… sniffle!…I’ve got to go blow my snout!…cough!
3:46 pm on August 1st, 2010
Tonight we had slow cooker pot roast and boiled potatoes and green beans from the garden. I am not allowed to garden any more this year so Mr. Staff is doing the bean picking. I have a wonderful pot roast recipe that I made up my own self when I ran out of the onion soup mix one time.
Here it is.
I cook it on low for at least 12 hours and the juice is wonderful for either au jus or soup the next day. Don't toss it out.
Chuck Roast 3.5-5 pounds
One large onion cut up any way you want to, big or small chunks
one can cream of celery soup
(you could sub other types but this tastes best to me)
couple dashes Worcestershire sauce,(2 tablespoons)
8 dashes red Tabasco sauce,
2 teaspoons beef base ( I use better than bouillion brand)
That's it. I put the meat in, frozen, the night before and set it on low and sometime the next afternoon we eat it. The meat is very tender this way. You can't cut it. You lift out chunks.
I might go have another piece right now.
Here is my garden that I am not supposed to play in for a while. Alice and I sit and watch it from the second floor. I took this in the morning today. Usually I have many birds in there, but this was an almost bird free video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlBtcbzXcEo
Staff
3:47 pm on August 1st, 2010
Wookie, Put us on the book list if it can be worked out. You are the man!
4:02 pm on August 1st, 2010
Staff. What a beautiful garden and Alice is a very good garden watcher. We are starting to get tomatoes in now, the cherries (Sweet one hundreds) in total abundance and the brandywine heirlooms just beginning to ripen. We also got one other kind, which I think is a pineapple heirloom but not sure. Six plants altogether, so we should be in tomato city for awhile. Wookie
4:10 pm on August 1st, 2010
Wow!… I love that garden. What a great garden! We don’t have a garden or even pots of garden on our patio this summer… sniff!… It’s been a sad summer here. I think she is just trying to keep some things alive and hope for the best for next spring, summer and fall… Hey!… We will Plunder On!…yeah!
4:18 pm on August 1st, 2010
Wookie!
We are trying out a pineapple tomato this year too.
So far we have gotten 4 tomatoes. They are off Mr. Staff's Big Girl or whatever he bought. The tomatoes are in the upper left of the garden.
We have a new type of potato this year too. I am about to ask him to do a little digging to see if anything is there. Usually we grow Norland's and they are usually a early red potato and are done by the middle of August. This is a russet of some kind and is still growing like crazy.
4:42 pm on August 1st, 2010
Staff!… I think we need a square that says “One Just Plunders On”… snort!… Because that is our official motto…heh!… Thanks to Stover for thinking of it and Admin for adopting it!… grunt!
5:07 pm on August 1st, 2010
Staff, I am not sure who is doing my picture, maybe Wookie's mom?
5:15 pm on August 1st, 2010
Oops, I guess I should have read more carefully. Sorry Wookie.
5:19 pm on August 1st, 2010
Alice is a very good watch-cat. Kirby hope you feel better. Rangers let your Angels win so you would feel good.
5:28 pm on August 1st, 2010
Yo, the dog, Wookie!!! That is a very nice of Wookie and his family to offer to try to do the book thing.
The garden is so green. One has to live in NM for awhile to understand the meaning of that sentence.
I am insisting that my mother copy that recipe for pot roast. That is something that she could do. (read between the lines on that sentence)
5:53 pm on August 1st, 2010
G’ Night!….Since the Pot Roast recipe seems to be far more exciting than the good Wookie’s awesome news, we are off to bed shaking our heads… snort!… Night all and whatever bites, you probably deserve it…sniff!
6:12 pm on August 1st, 2010
Rio bites.
Macy out.
6:56 pm on August 1st, 2010
Wha???
I just woke up and you are all leaving?
Hrumph!
I think I will go have a ginger ale and vanilla ice cream soda. Both can be counted in the endless amount (3000cc) of liquid I must attempt to consume each day and then measure as it comes out!
(Give me strength!)
Staff
Over and out for one more day.
7:01 pm on August 1st, 2010
Siber-H,
The pot roast recipe is too easy. There is no too long about it. The only thing I do is turn it over once about half way through. Unless I forget. Othewise the top gets sort of dark. It is nice to have it juicy.
I made it up by looking in a cookbook from a spice company for the recipe for Onion dip, since the onion dip package was what I was missing. It called for minced onion, but for this recipe I just chopped up the real thing. The onions become really caramelized and tasty too and I like to chop them big so I can taste them better. But for those who are not onion people they can cut them up smaller.
OK, Off to my soda now.
Staff
8:00 pm on August 1st, 2010
C.Harris? As our northernmost member, do you not want a square on the quilt? I have a feeling you are too shy to ask and may need help like some of us no-talents. Wookie and Staff have talent to spare and are very generous with it. What do you think?
8:54 pm on August 1st, 2010
Jeni gave your secret away. I am talking to Staff. Laugh… I'm still on the street. I'll be sending an e-mail out this week once I find some time to write. Good to hear the operation was a success and now I know I owe you some patches. I will begin collecting some if you want. my best email is umcac@art-teez.org for all who want to know more about the Art Patch Project.
Love Chris D
4:07 pm on August 2nd, 2010
huh?