Speaking of Decorating

I suppose someone, somewhere, was. 

This is our latest project:

Doorway to dining room

Doorway to living room

  

Attractive, right?

You, too, could have this trendy decor with just a few pieces of lattice from your local big box home improvement store and a saw.

We have a cat who has decided that the carpet in the dining room is a good place for, uh, solid waste. We put a litter box in there to encourage him to use that, but for solids, there's no place like the rug apparently.The rug is currently off being cleaned and this barrier keeps him out of the dining room. Where I didn't want a litter box anyway. He is supposed to use the one in the laundry room or the one in the basement, and now he is. The question is: will he continue using those once the rug is back and the barriers are down.

Cross your fingers for us, please???  

And I Halp'd

Remember that ancient ad for Hamburger Helper? I think that's what it was for. Well, my helper is not a cute little girl. It's Baxter.

See all the hairs on my NEW (be still my heart) ironing board cover? Baxter's contribution to my ironing.

And he helps with the warm, just-out-of-the-dryer laundry.

By sitting on it.  

Thanks, but no thanks.

Ten on Tuesday, only it's Wednesday

There is a Ten on Tuesday thing going around blog world, and I missed out on it, and I'm not officially a part of it anyway, so here goes, even though I missed it by a day.  I think this week's prompt is "things you like or love," something like that.

1.  Nice weather, blue skies and the beach. I count them as one thing. I am not AT the beach, which I am somewhat put out about, but I do like, as in love, the beach. 
[OH! The word "beach" reminds me of a French exchange student who stayed with us when younger daughter was in high school. One day a male student walked into the cafeteria, and the exchange student said to my daughter: He looks like a man who has beaches. My daughter couldn't understand how someone who owned beaches would look any different from anyone else. After a confusing conversation, she realized that the French student was saying "B*tches" and therefore, the male student looked like a pimp. The French students seemed a bit more, um, advanced? than the students from the Atlanta suburbs; I'm pretty sure a local student's first thought upon seeing this guy would not be pimp.]

2.  A really good dentist. I was at the dentist's this morning, and his motto is that he doesn't want his patients to ever feel pain or even discomfort, so although I was there three hours ago, my lips and face are still pretty numb, which means that my mouth was really, really, really numb while the dentist was working on my teeth.  

3.  My cats. They be crazy.

4.  My trainer.  I don't love him; I LIKE him as a trainer.  As a person, he is ....unusual. He is 64, but sure doesn't look it because he trains all the time, all day long, and he looks like he's a 30-year old Navy Seal. However, as a bonus, my training provides me with a lot of drama (his, not mine). He was engaged to a woman in the Philippines until two weekends ago when he and she were "virtual married" over Skype. Is that even legal? I have no idea. He wore a tux; she wore a white dress. There was a reception, in the Philippines, so he wasn't at it but about 30 people were. He showed me his marriage certificate obtained from who knows where. She is getting a Master's degree in marketing and will move here once she finishes her courses this spring. He has been to visit her and her family several times, but I do wonder if she actually knows how old he is; she is, I believe, in her 20s. I need to keep training with him until she moves here so that I can see how it all shakes out. I hope it works out for them. He does seem like a nice guy, even if a bit...I'm not sure what.

5.  Shrimp risotto. I am making it for dinner tonight.

6.  My iThings, even though they are smarter than I am.

7.  Friends and family, of course. Goes without saying, except I am having trouble thinking of ten things and I'm hungry but can't eat yet.

8.  Ah! Airplanes. Makes going places so much quicker.

9.  Hmmm. British comedies and mysteries.

10.  Oh---Jon Stewart. But he is retiring. Rats. I don't think anyone can replace him. Maybe John Oliver, but he already has his own show. 

So that is ten for Tuesday on Wednesday.

And I usually have photos on my posts, so here is today's (random) photo:

Scrambled eggs on tostados, spicy sauce, avocados, bacon, fruit, and hashbrowns

My usual breakfast last year in Mexico.

I AM hungry.

Is My Daughter Crazy?

Here she is with her youngest daughter, who just started kindergarten.  Doesn't LOOK crazy, does she?

But, in spite of having four kids:

Hi best grandchildren ever!

One Black Lab:

Hi Feebee!

One hedgehog:

Hi Wembley!

And one hermit crab (which dH and I have NEVER seen, in all our visits, and which I think might not actually exist---hence no photo),

she just texted to say that she and the kids are on the way to the animal shelter to pick out, not one, but TWO kittens!

So yes, she might be crazy, but since I love kittens and cats and dogs, she could only be crazy in a GOOD way.  

And now I have to visit so that I can play wid da cay-uuute widdle kitties.

Update:

Meet Lucy and Milo!!!

PTSD

We have had our four grandchildren here since last Tuesday.  They are at the airport now waiting for their flight to Austin, TX, where their Dad and their dog, FeeBee, will be very happy to see them.

Baxter and Molly, however, have had mixed reactions to the intruders.  

Molly, even though the kids have been gone a couple of hours now, is still in hiding in the basement, where she spent most of their visit. Is there PTSD counseling available for cats?

Baxter came and went from view throughout the week.  He occasionally found temporary (but ineffective) hiding places:

And other times he was quite happy to spend time watching the kids.  This morning he even seemed unhappy that they seemed to be preparing to leave.

But sitting on a suitcase didn't work.

May Day Plus One

In other words, it is May 2nd.

At knit night last night, knitters discussed May Day traditions from their childhoods, but some of us didn't have any. I didn't. These traditions weren't regional at all, which is surprising. North? South? Didn't matter.

My husband arrived home earlier than I did last night, and he found flowers hanging from our front door. No tag from a florist. No note from a friend or neighbor. 

Just these pretty flowers.

This morning while he was checking out new posts on Facebook, my husband saw a photograph of what looked like our front door. It was our front door, complete with the flowers. The poster, a neighbor, wrote that she had revived a May Day tradition from her childhood by presenting flowers to a randomly chosen person. We are random! I plan on doing the same next year because it's a treat and a nice surprise.

At knit night, I almost finished these socks, and I would have if I hadn't thought that I had knitted 20 more rows than I needed for the length of the sock. So I tinked it by a few rows, tucked it back in my bag and came home. Today I discovered that I hadn't knit too many rows; I had counted from the wrong place. So I re-knit the tinked rows, decreased for the toe and kitchnered the toe. Once I soak the pair in SOAK, I will be finished with them. They are a gift for a friend who is a birder, and I think the camouflage colors are appropriate.  I admit, though, that I had no idea that this is what the yarn would look like knitted up.  Kind of an unwelcome surprise, but I guess they will be ok.  

MissBabs Hand-dyed Yarns and Fibers, Cosmic Sock Yarn

I blame my counting error on being distracted by this cute little puppy. She is our new shop dog, Blanche, and she belongs to the shop owner.  5 1/2 weeks old! She plays really hard for a few minutes then sleeps really hard. And she BARKS!!! The tiniest bark I have ever heard.  

I sometimes think it would be fun to have a puppy, but I have Baxter (and Molly) and Baxter is my challenge, although I think I have pretty much given up.

See the runner on the table? When I brought it home and put it on the table the first time, it had creases on it where it had been folded.  I didn't get to it right away, and Baxter paid no attention to it. I finally washed it and ironed it and put it back on the table.  

Baxter loves it. He plays with it, tries to hide under it.   

 I give up.  

Detente....maybe

Wook at dat widdle face. How could you not wuv dis kittee?

Even Baxter might be changing his mind on this. He and Molly seem to have reached a sort of detente. They take turns chasing each other---no hissing---and then Molly retreats to the basement and Baxter remains upstairs.

Yesterday, Baxter had pretty much stopped hissing; instead he just ignored Molly's presence. I see nothing. Today he is paying much more attention. I think that Molly is having fun but I don't know what Baxter's take is on all of this running around.

I am assured by everyone with experience in bringing a new cat into a home with a resident cat that this will all work out, that they will end up snuggling up together to sleep.

Again, I'll believe that when I see it.

This is not going well.

I have written occasionally about Baxter, my mischievous cat. He loves to play, and play, and play, and then, play some more. But I am older-ish. dH is older-ish. And we can't play ALL of the time.

What better solution could there be than to adopt another rescue kitten?

So we did. Her current name is Molly; it's her third name and I think this one will stick. But for the first 24 hours we didn't even see her. She was hiding from us and from Baxter. This morning she finally came out of hiding---she had found an access hole through a wall in the basement that allowed her to get into the area under the bathtub in the basement. We can't fit in there, so we had to wait. And wait.

But she has come out of hiding and she is limited to the basement for now. dH's office is there so she is not alone, and she has gotten friendly (or desperate) enough to climb on our laps and allow us to pet her.

Baxter, on the other hand, is very put out. He is hiding in our closet, the same place he hid for two days last summer when our older daughter and her four children came to visit. He eventually joined the fun, so I hope that he will join us again this time. But he is p*ssed!!! And he lets us know it by hissing any time he hears or smells Molly. He even hissed at ME when I petted him after petting Molly. At ME!!! His favorite human!

I am told that all of this is normal, and that in days, or weeks, or months (months?!) the two cats will settle down and be buddies.

I'll believe it when I see it. And I am hoping that Molly won't like yarn.

Cat Trees

This morning SallyKnit sent me this ad for a cat tree-perhaps THE cat tree of all times! She said that she hoped that this was the one I had ordered for Baxter, since he is such an exceptional cat. Well, it sure is a cat tree-and ONLY $889.95.

Holy Cow!!!

The reason we need a cat tree is that Baxter climbs EVERYTHING. Yesterday dh had the ladder out when he needed to change some light bulbs. He turned his back and this is what happened:



The day before, dh happened to look into the dining room, and there was Baxter, on top of a large box I had put on the table, reaching up into the chandelier, planning his climb into it.

This boy needs a tree! But since he must be an indoor cat, he can't have a real one.

Why he is an indoor cat:

He was born under a deck where the home's owner had been feeding 24 wild cats and kittens. As soon as the cat-rescuer thought the kittens were old enough to take away from their mothers, she rescued them. Baxter and his siblings went to live in the rescuer's home, where there were also seven adult cats and two adult dogs. They all got along and as a result, Baxter has no fear of other animals OR of humans. As the rescuer said, he has no sense.

Last night, we joined some friends who live about three miles from us for dinner, and they had had a warning issued to their neighborhood that several coyotes had been seen repeatedly wandering through the area. Another friend who lives in that neighborhood had her cat killed by coyotes two years ago. That same evening, she went outside to see two coyotes standing at her mailbox--- as if waiting for dessert, perhaps?

We had a rabid raccoon on our deck last year, and recently another neighbor was chased through her yard by a rabid raccoon. She fell, and the raccoon leaped and missed; the woman was able to get up quickly enough to run into her house and close the door before the raccoon could get to her.

Who knew the suburbs could be so dangerous.

So Baxter is an indoor cat, and we have ordered a much less elaborate tree than the one above, and certainly MUCH less expensive, thanks to Overstock.com.

Poor deprived, under-appreciated Baxter!

Another Odd Business

Younger daughter, who lives in LA and who has introduced me to odd little-known businesses, told me about a van she saw driving through the city. On the side is a sign saying Post-Rapture Pet Care.

No joke. I looked on Google and discovered that there are post-rapture pet care businesses all over. I even found one in the UK.

I am not a rapture scholar, and so I don't know much about it, but what I can figure out from reading some of the advertising is that when the rapture happens, all the good people, the true believers, will go off someplace (the sky?) and the pets they own will be left behind.

To the rescue come the atheists. A number of the ads promise that the staff are all atheists, and since they will be left behind too, they will take care of the pets of those who have been whisked away.

Sort of brings to mind what has been mistakenly attributed to P.T. Barnum: "There's a sucker born every minute, ..."

I do wonder if they actually have clients.

[photo: Google Images]

The Cat Days of Summer

Sleep.......

That's what my almost-fourteen-year-old cat does all day.

Sometimes he moves.....head towards the west....
head towards the east.....

The cat's life - ahhhh.....

Just So My Daughters Will Have Something New to Make Fun of Me For

"You are such a knitting nerd," is what they'll say, I'm betting. Anyway, the group of women I went to SAFF with found this on day one, and when I arrived for day two, our first stop of the second day was to find the booth where these were sold. I scored the last one!

What is it? Why, it's a yarn keeper bracelet, that's what it is!
It lets you knit while you are on the run, or keeps the yarn near you if you don't want it rolling all over the room. It also keeps the cat from playing with the ball of yarn because you wear the thing on your wrist and the yarn is not on the floor; it's in your lap.

Now, I was caught up in the excitement that is SAFF and didn't stop to consider that I never knit on the run, or even in public very often. The only line I've stood in lately (and I wished that I had brought my knitting) was to vote early - note the Obama bracelet. My cat rarely pays attention to my knitting. I don't know when I will use this, but it is clever, at least in theory. My three friends and I aren't the only ones who thought so - the booth was sold out when I bought the last yarn keeper bracelet early on day two of the three-day event.

So, go ahead and laugh. I may even join you.

Silliness

This is the state of the suburban neighborhood-at least the state of MY suburban neighborhood. Our list serve sent out a warning yesterday about a "predatory owl." This owl has so far taken out one dog and two cats. This must be a very large owl! A huge owl!! A very hungry owl!!! Who knew such a thing was possible?

The powers-that-be in the neighborhood are trying to find a professional "owl catcher" to humanely trap the owl and relocate him. Who knew such a "professional" existed? But then, who knew such an owl existed?

For whatever reason, the neighbors choose to believe that an owl, not the coyotes that inhabit this area, has killed off their pets. Friends who live about three miles away found their mangled cat, and knew that one of the two coyotes seen regularly in their neighborhood had gotten it. The evening following the discovery of their cat's remains, they saw one of the coyotes standing next to the mailbox at the end of their driveway. They assumed he was asking, "What's for afters?"

The wildlife was here before we were, and I kind of enjoy seeing different creatures outside; we've had raccoons and opossums on our deck. Deer are all around, although unfortunately, we more often see them dead along the roads.

I would love to be listening to the phone call asking for someone to come and remove the owl. "You want what???" But the thought that crosses my mind is that these same people who think that the owl is carrying off pets are the same people who get to vote. ..