The Caturday Report

 Hello effurry body and effurry kitty! Gracie here with this week's Caturday report!   Mummy says it has been San Diego weather here this week, what ever that means - (Lovely & warm - only rained once)    
                                                 



 It was pretty busy at Mummy's Salt Mine - she said Friday was just a heck of a day. That sounds nice, don't you think?

(Actually people were acting like it was a full moon!)

So, today, I led Mummy on a wild goose chase around the farm so she would get out and have some exercise. 

She was being tempted by her string machine, but I convinced her that she needed to get out and smell the flowers. 





Like this pretty day lily that was a gift from a friend for her birthday last year.  Purple with a green inside - Quite splashy, don't you think...











So we walked a bit then she would find a chair and rest a bit.  Sheesh -

Well, it was warm and it was nice to find shady places to have a little time out. . 

The woolly boys were being shy and wouldn't come out of their little barn - but they finally got curious as to what Mummy was doing and came out to see. 

Elliott, the new guy (in front) seems to be getting along very well with his new BFF Frosty, and they were very polite and stayed back when The Shepherd went into their pen yesterday to do some maintenance (He was taking down the electric wire - they don't seem to be banging on things like the other woolly boys did and he was afraid that they would get it wrapped around themselves and get hurt - so he took it out.  We'll see how long that lasts....

We'd like you all to take a minute and send healing purrs and thoughts to Shadow, a kitty who lives with our friend Trish's parents in Tucson Ari-zona,  Shadow, a pretty little grey girl cat, had a very bad reaction to a "combo vaccine" and has been very very sick.  Georgie and I both got the sickies from our vaccines, so we feel very bad for Shadow and want her to get better soon. 

It must be kind of a common thing, because Mummy said the company that makes the shot medicine is picking up all of Shadow's V.E.T. bills - so they know that their stuff could make us kittehs sickie.  Hrumph - you'd think they'd work on that, or something. 

Anyhow, Shadow, like I said, we hope you gets better really soon!

This bell was rung during Mummy & The Shepherd's wedding to celebrate!  Now it lives in the front garden. 

The Shepherd has some very pretty flowers in his garden, don't ya think? 

Oh look Mummy, I'm maskerading as a pussy willow - ha ha ha ha.....















One of the reasons it was so busy at Mummy's Salt Mine is that a lot of people have been taking days off.  A couple of them have been sick with colds and Mummy is afraid she might have caught one of them.  She has been coughing a lot - but she slept a lot today trying to "head things off at the pass" - or so she said - she might have just been bein' lazy...

There was a bunch of little white butterflies flittering around the lavender - I tried catching one, but couldn't reach it because it flew up.  So I'm watching to see ifn another one comes along so I can catch it. 

That's about all there is for now.  Mummy is trying to decide if she can get 9 more posts in the next week so she can get to her 900th post by next Sunday.   Purrsonally, given her posting history, I think it's a pipe dream, myself - but who knows...

Until the next time - HAPPY TAILS effurry one! 

Love, your roving reporter, Gracie







.

Not really my colors, but...

 Only a couple more days left of Tour de Fleece - I've spun during Mariner Games, the Home Run Derby, The All Star Game, some golf, M*A*S*H, Antiques Road Show, and the Calgary Stampede but not Tour de France - which The Shepherd noted tonight that he wished it was over -

Oh, why? I asked - to which he mumbled something like it was a waste of time...

 Like any of the above shows weren't really? 

Anyhow, this was some Blue Faced Leicester wool that was in a raffle basket that I won.  Not really my colors (at all) - but it did ply up to an intriguing yarn. 

Maybe someday I'll feel comfortable enough with my Navajo plying skills to try it out so the colors stay together, but,  I've never wanted to "waste all that yarn" by practicing, when regular plying does make an interesting yarn.  

Oh, and when I got to the end of the singles on the top bobbin? This one foot long slip is all there was left on the second one.

That I was really pleased with. 

When art imitates life...

Fancy that...

Tour de Fleece

I have never participated in Tour de Fleece - a stash busting event by spinners over the same time period as the Tour de France (in fact the Tour de France people got so worried about their image that I heard they actually sent a nastygram to the Ravelry people saying cease and desist - like who isn't going to be able to tell the difference???)

Anyhow, I took stock of my "stash" before we headed to Eugene & Black Sheep Gathering last month.  No new stuff for me - I have MUCHO MUCHO stash - probably not as much as some - bur probably more than many - 6 or 7 large plastic tubs?

I didn't join any teams or anything but my Tour de Fleece goals for myself are:

#1 - spin at least one ounce of fiber a day - I have found that 2 ounces on each bobbin plies up to a FULL bobbin but I can generally fit it all on and then I have a 4 oz. skein with no breaks.

#2 - Keep a log of what I spin, how much the fiber cost, and how many yards I spun.

#3 - Spin nice enough yarn that our friends Donna & Tom will be comfortable offering it in their farm stand at the Bow Farmer's Market.-

So far I have three 4 ounce skeins - the third one is yellow & lime green - I'm calling it "Lemon/Lime Sorbet" - it's really pretty.

Well, It's late and I've got today's ounce yet to spin!  I'd better get busy!!   

A Heartfelt Gift

I have been doing the monthly newsletter for my spinner guild, The Spindrifters for about four years now -

I enjoy doing it - you get to meet all the new people, and keep in touch with old friends.  And, you are always "in the know" -

So, I was surprised when I got an email from our guild president saying that she was sorry I had missed Dye Day because the guild members had made a present for me. 


Since she and her husband are landscaping customers of The Shepherd, she would send it home for me the next time he came over there to work.  So last Monday after dinner, he handed me this pretty bag.

Inside it was THIS -

.

The only place I could find to lay it out to take a picture was on our front deck - and then I still couldn't get a very good picture of the whole thing, so I've broken it down into bits. 

Bits of hand spun, woven, crocheted and knitted love and affection. 

And it came with a little envelope of the notes and cards that came with the squares before they were put together into my beautiful blanket. 

All the colors of the rainbow . . .

Thanks to everyone who had a hand in making it. 

I will treasure it. 

It's a Conundrum -- - -

What's a conundrum, you ask?  Well, Dictionary.com defines it as: "A confusing and difficult problem or question."  Let me tell you about our kitty Bella. 


Bella first made an appearance on the blog in Dec. 2011.

We'd been making "eye contact" for a while - talking to each other across the street.

I could tell that this beautiful kitteh was starving - for affection and for food - very skinny -

Why do people dump their cats out in the country - "Oh, look honey - here's a place with a barn - there must be lots of mice there"

Dump, out goes the cat. 



 Well, pretty soon, I had named the cat Bella - and was feeding her outside on the back porch - but it was winter and getting kind of slippery on the back porch - after I about took a header into the flower bed, I decided that Bella should get her meals in the utility room -

But with two other kitties, feeding one in the utility room and two in the kitchen soon became kind of unmanageable - so pretty soon, Bella's food dish moved into the kitchen with George & Gracie's dishes.

And her sleeping spots - well, where ever she wanted, as a matter of fact - 


 On the plant table in the corner of the kitchen



















On top of the deep freeze.

 Oh, she worked very hard and took an inordinate amount of interest in the sheep.  (to get in this spot, she had to jump three feet, straight up, land on a 2 inch ledge and grab hold of the panel at the same time - she's an extraordinary athlete)

"Hey, whatcha doin' in there?"

She loves being up high - on the top of the car, on the top of the house, on the top of the cupboards in the kitchen - where ever she can see what's going on.  

And :Snoopervisor" is her middle name.

Bella - July 2012

All spring long, Bella would take up her evening residence on top of the little TV in our bedroom.  And she would get there with One bound, from floor to top of TV. 






In fact, when the kitties came in for dinner on last Thursday night, Bella leaped from the lawn over the planter on the edge of the deck, easily a leap of 6 feet or so.  Like I said, she is very athletic.

So I was very surprised,when I got home on Friday night that she was laying by the side of our driveway - and made no effort to get up to come in to have her dinner - I had to go out and pick her up and carry her to the house - and wouldn't eat.  Very unusual behavior - Saturday morning I mixed up some pate cat food with water and she ate that - giving her extra hydration and nutrition - (I was having flashbacks to Sinda's behavior before she went to The Bridge)  I called my V.E.T. and they didn't have any openings until Monday - so I made an appointment since she was doing a little better after eating the pate "gruel" - and continued to get a little better over the weekend.



So, "What's the conundrum?" you ask. - It was actually the first time that I had taken Bella to the V.E.T. - We have been trying to get our friend how has a mobile vet service out to do shots, etc, but for one reason or another, it just hadn't happened.

Actually, she did a lot better than I expected - rode in the PTU (prisoner transport unit) very calmly, and was very polite to Dr. Perry - didn't even snarl when he put the thermometer, "you know where" -

But the most surprising thing, and my conundrum? - Well, Bella is a FELLA !! (neutered, of course)   All this time, her actions had been telling me that she was a girl kitty - the way she interacted with George & Gracie - her little bitty meow - to name a few things -and s/he is a VERY fluffy/furry kitty - I "felt around" - I really did - and I was certain that Bella was a girl -

So now, I have to decide - how do I think of Bella as a "him" - do I treat him/her differently - or maybe decide that actually Bella is a hip Transgendered kitty and continue to treat her/him as a girl? 

I don't know - it's too much to comprehend.  I think I'll go spin some of my Tour de Fleece project and think about it some more.  

.

Guess What? It's Caturday!

Hello Effury Body & Effurry Kitty!  It's ME, Gracie and -It's Caturday!.

I couldn't do my Caturday report last week because Mummy and The Shepherd LEFT US!

They LEFT US all alone (OK, some nice peoples came in and put food out a couple of times a day, but that's just not the same as being able to snuggle with Mummy on the big bed in the morning and making her late for work) 

And that ebil orang dude still keeps coming into the house through our kitty door!  He eats our foodies and makes it stink in here! 

Anyhow, back to Mummy & The Shepherd's trip.  They said they went to a place called Eugene, Oregon and saw lots of pretty things and lots of old friends  And if you read last week's post, you'll know that they came home with another vishus sheep to add to The Shepherd's collection.

But one thing I was impressed about was that Mummy said she wasn't going to buy any more sheeps furs for her spinny wheel while she was down there - I didn't believe her, quite frankly -

But even in the face of being tempted by pretties like these she kept her pocket book snapped shut. 

And all of this purty stuff - she really stuck to her guns and, by golly, she came home empty handed - well, really not EMPTY handed, because she did buy a couple of pretty things for the raffle basket that she needs to do for her spinner guild - but she didn't add any thing to the room that she will not let me go into - she says it's where she keeps her "stash" and I want to know why I can't see it... 

One of the reasons they went to this Eugene place was because of the sheeps furs that The Shepherd likes to play with.

Well it turns out that this lady likes to play with sheeps furs too - her name is Judith Mackenzie, and she was the judge for the big sheeps furs show.  She is apparently one of Mummy's heroes, so Mummy was glad to sit and listen to her talk all morning. 

 The Shepherd had entered two of his bags of sheeps furs in the judging - there were over 20 bags of furs in the class he was in - both of them got in the top ten but not high enough to get a ribbon.  Darn.  But if you biggify the picture (click on it) you can see all the fleeces on the second table over were all from sheeps like ours.

Judith said it was the biggest bunch of Shetland sheeps furs they'd ever had at this competition! 

Here's their friends Yvonne and Michelle working on prizes for the "Spinner's Lead" contest - it is where people can enter and model a piece of wool clothing, but they have to have spun the wool and it has to have been hand made.

Mummy said It is a fun event to watch.

Back at home, now,  (they were gone for 4 whole dark sleeps) The Shepherd is collecting plants to take out to one of his customers.  Aren't those pink ones pretty?

This weekend and on Monday & Tuesday, it is supposed to get REALLY hot here - like maybe up to 90 degrees!  Mummy is really worried about Miss Bella - she seemed kind of sicky today - didn't hurl or anything like that - just didn't seem to have any energy (and Miss Bella is one of the most energetic kittehs that I know)

Anyhow, ifn she doesn't seem better in the morning, I think I heard Mummy say something about taking her to the V.E.T.  So think & purr healing thoughts cause going to the V.E.T. costs a LOT of green papers, and we want Mummy to buy us a furminator 

Here are some of the plants that The Shepherd has put in the ground.  I think that I heard him say that these are sweet peas.  Mummy said they smell very good and she can't wait for them to bloom.  

This is right by the spot that Mummy parks her car.  The fern is really huge this year, but only one or two of the nastyurchins came back this year and generally there are lots of them in this little flower bed. 









That's it for this week.

Signing off to you from my favorite chair -

I think it looks like a throne, don't you?

XOX  Gracie