Half Year Round Up of Crafting Projects

So far this year, I have made:

Two large gift bags

Five crocheted dishcloths

Two twiddle muffs and a fidget mitt

Two knitted facecloths

Two crocheted sun hats

A crocheted bag

A crocheted cardigan

A pair of knitted socks

That's 17 projects.

Rhododendron Cardi (Second Attempt)

Yarn: King Cole CottonSoft Crush DK

Composition: 100% Cotton
Pattern: my own design 
Hook: 4.5mm
Colour: Rhododendron

Amount used:  

Started: 29th June 2023

Finished:  

Yes!  Crochet is the way to go with this project.

Make a magic loop.  The squares start off with a standard Granny Square construction, four sets of three trebles separated by a couple of chains.

In the second, third and fourth rounds, the corners are two trebles, two chains, two trebles, and for the rest, work a treble into the space between the trebles of the previous rounds.

Four rounds in total for each square. These will later be joined using violet yarn.

Easter Bunnies Bark

Ingredients

3 bars of white chocolate

3 bars of milk chocolate

small white marshmallows

large white marshmallow

pink sugar

pink icing

brown icing (or chocolate)

pastel sprinkles

Method

On a parchment-lined baking sheet place the chocolate side by size. The colours of the chocolate should be alternating. Place in an oven pre-heated to 120C. Melt the chocolate and swirl it together to marble it.

Cut the large marshmallows into slices, and place on the melted chocolate. Cut the small marshmallows in half, and dip into pink sugar and arrange to make the ears of the bunny. 

Add sprinkles. Then pipe eyes and a nose. 

Leave to cool.  Break into pieces.

In One Fowl Swoop

The Two Ronnies were the mainstay of my Saturday evening viewing when I was a child. These comedians had such a way with language. Their wordplay tickled my brain in all the right ways.

Puns, mondegreens and malapropisms can be used so creatively. Today was the day I learned of another category of such wordplay, 'eggcorns'. They tend to happen when people aren't familiar with a word in a phrase, and substitute a different word that almost makes sense. A person might mishear Alzheimer's Disease as 'Old Timers Disease'. The image above shows 'one fowl swoop'. The original phrase is 'in one fell swoop', but people unfamiliar with 'fell' (unsparing, grim, fierce, ruthless) have replaced with with 'foul', which makes a great deal of sense, and 'fowl', which doesn't.

Professor Mark Liberman was discussing the example of a woman who used 'egg corn' instead of 'acorn'. He noted this specific type of substitution lacked a name. A fellow linguist suggested using 'egg corn' itself as a label. Over time this morphed into 'eggcorn'.

Of all of the examples given, there was only one that I have used, 'to the manor born'. The correct term is 'to the manner born', a line from Hamlet. In my defense, I have not read Hamlet, and there was a television program in the early 1980s called 'To the Manor Born'.

The one I plan on using is 'in one fowl swoop', but it will involve  a chicken doing something rather foul. If I can make the chicken evil enough, it might even be 'fell'.

A Christmas Tomte Quilt

Ah, it's going to be one of Those Days (tm)!

I started off getting the shop ready to open, and managed to complete that simple task. Next, a delivery of new Christmas fabrics arrived. Nice.

Therefore, it is time to get the new fabrics priced up, tickets written and out on display. I even made it back to the office to start on that, but the new fabrics called. The siren song was "You'll need to use some of the fabric to make a display item." My response, "Better get on to designing something. Oh, an simple single bed Christmas quilt would be good."

Two of the fabrics have lovely little Nordic Tomte. Some Norwegian Christmas music would be good to set the right mood. A design starts to come into my brain.

That's when Kenneth McKeller brings it much closer to home with a song about The Midges. It's a song I have known for a long time, and I want to learn the words, so I start writing down what I remember of the lyrics.

And this is where I pause. I'm now singing of piranhas and bananas. The fabrics haven't been priced. The quilt is only half designed, and it really is the limit.

(a few hours later)

Tis done. The quilt has been designed. And, it is absolutely, beautifully simple. The central panel will be the above fabric. It's 7 squares wide, and I need 11 squares for length. Then there's fabric designated as 'table runner', but I'm going to chop it in half to make each panel into borders for the quilt. I'll need 3 panels, 1 for each side, and the third will be used for the top and bottom. This will leave 4 corner squares, and I have the perfect fabric in my stash. The batting will be a cotton/bamboo fusible. The back will be blue, and the binding red.

The quilting will be incredibly simple. I'll use the walking foot, and a sinusoidal wave. It will be white machine embroidery thread on the top, and white polycotton on the bottom. 

Rhododendron Cardi

Yarn: King Cole CottonSoft Crush DK

Composition: 100% Cotton
Colour: Rhododendron
Pattern: my own design 
Hook: 4.5mm
Needles: 4mm

Amount used:  

Started: 25th June 2023
Finished:  Abandoned: 28th June 2023

I've rather fallen in love with CottonSoft. It's a beautiful yarn to work with, and I have thoroughly enjoyed playing with the colourway 'Aqua'. Now, it's the turn of Rhododendron.

This cardigan is made by creating pinwheel octagons in Rhododendron, bordering them in Violet. The Violet is also used to create the squares between the octagons.

The stitches at the centre of the octagons are created by using the magic ring crochet technique. Make a magic ring, and work a single crochet into the ring. From there work a double crochet, but instead of finishing it, leave it so there's an extra loop on the hook. Keep working partially complete double crochets until there are 8 loops left on the hook. Then transfer them over to a circular knitting needle.

1. (K, yo) x 8

2. K

3. (K2, yo) x 8

4. K

5. (K3, yo) x 8

6. K

Continue in this way until (K9, yo) x 8, and finish with a further round of knit.

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Scrap all of the above!  It's not working out. I'm not enjoying the making, and it's just now happening.

70 Days So Far

Seventy days into the challenge caused me to pause and reflect. 

One realisation is I am a storyteller, not a writer. For me, writing is simply a way to record, of preserving the stories. 

Many of the stories I have written in the last 70 days have been retellings of real, or slightly fictional events. Very few have been created from my own imagination. I spent a while wondering if this was good, or bad. People like the Grimm Brothers came to mind, they collected folk tales from the oral tradition, polished them, and presented these updated stories to a much wider audience. Who knows whether these fold tales would have survived into the modern, industrial age if they hadn't been collected, published, and preserved on paper.

Next I thought of HC Andersen, and the beautiful stories he brought into being. His stories can be viewed on a number of different levels, and bring a social commentary to his time.

Perhaps, for the rest of this challenge, I'll try to write more original stories rather than retelling old ones.

B Kinematic

Looking back, I've no idea why we didn't spot it earlier, but as they say, "hindsight is 20/20". We can view events in the past with such clarity, but when living through events it can be such a muddle.

When my husband became ill, and was unable to work. Money was incredibly tight, and we were scrimping and saving almost every penny. We had been so worried about our first Christmas. How would we be able to celebrate if we could barely afford to buy the basics? 

This was the first time we received a package from 'B Kinematic'. We'd never heard of the company before, and we certainly hadn't ordered from them. However, the order had our name and address. The contents were for us. Oh, and those contents! There were all sorts of Christmas goodies, from cranberry sauce to stollen, little boxes of delicious chocolate truffles, gifts, and some practical things too.  Looking back, the total value of the gift box wasn't huge, but... let me rephrase, the total cost of the gift wasn't huge, but the value was immense.

Over the years, we received a number of gifts from 'B Kinematic'. There was never a return address, nor contact details, no email address, and no telephone number. There seemed to be no rhythm to the arrival of these gifts, apart from we received them when we needed help. Sometimes, we even received the help before we knew we needed it. 

When we were in our 50s, we read an article about how so many people in their early years of adulthood struggled with funds, but by the time they are in their 50s-80s, money is a great deal freer. This certainly matched our experience.

It wasn't until I hit 60, and started doing a lot of crosswords that I realised 'B Kinematic' was an anagram of 'back in time'. That's when we started learning all we could about time travel. We kept hitting brick wall after brick wall. People were convinced we were totally loopy, and at last we had become the mad scientists we were destined to be. 

One day, we were on the verge of packing it all in, and admitting defeat. That was the day we received a card from 'B Kinematic'. Inside was little letter outlining the history of the company, our company! We were listed as the founders, but it was our grandchildren who were the ones who cracked the secret of time travel. How this all works is literally a mystery to me. We've no idea how the time travel paradoxes will be avoided. Thankfully, that for our grandchildren to figure out.

Pandas - the Vegan Carnivores

"Pandas are NOT bears!" This a phrase I heard throughout my childhood, and also my children's.  However, in 2009, it was established pandas are indeed bears. A panda's genome was sequenced, and the information unlocked firmly places pandas in the family Ursidae and the order Carnivora. 

They produce amylase, cellulase and maltase, all necessary enzymes to digest meat. They do not create enzymes for digesting bamboo, and bamboo is a huge part of a giant panda's diet. It is thought the panda's gut bacteria is responsible for the breakdown of bamboo.

Pandas have a mutation in the T1R1 gene. This is an umami detector, and allows us to find pleasure in meats, cheese, and other protein-rich food. Bamboo, and bamboo shoots especially, are very high in protein. They have some carbohydrates, lots of minerals, and are low in fat. 

Essentially pandas are vegan carnivores. They have found a fake meat, and love it.

The Capybaras' Revenge

In 1999, a gated community was constructed in Benavidez, Buenos Aires, Brazil. It was created in a wetlands area, and it is a beautiful housing estate with rivers, and pools, shady areas, parks and golf courses. 

The area this development was built on was a traditional capybara breeding ground. Naturally, the human encroachment resulted in a huge decline in the population. Over time, the capybaras learned to keep to the waterside, in the tree line, and to the roads.

However, during the lockdowns of Covid, the capybaras experienced freedom, freedom from quite so many humans, and also so many cars. Their numbers rose by 16% in a single year. 

The next summer, there was a drought, and these rodents of unusual size became emboldened as they sought food. Particularly attractive was the grass on the golf courses, and also rose bushes - those were wonderful! Gardens became the capybaras' larder, and they enjoyed themselves fully.

As people started returning to the outside world, the capybaras largely ignored them. Now, the people are shouting about the 'rodent invasion', and how 'something must be done'. And those outside the gated communities are replying with comments about the 'human invasion' of the capybaras' lands, and the 'something' is the gated-people need to learn to live with their neighbours.

The Swing Set

When the Elder Offspring was 8, and the little one, just 6, we bought a swing set for the garden. The children were delighted. And we noticed how thoughtful and considerate the Elder Offspring had become.

It was a hot summer's day when we were erecting it, and the EO kept us topped up with cool drinks. These drinks were so very much appreciated. Then just before noon, they came out with a tray of sandwiches, crisps and cake. We were utterly delighted by their thoughtfulness!

It wasn't until about 20 years later we heard their version of the story. "I want Mam and Dad to finish putting the swing set together. If I keep giving them drinks, and make lunch they will keep working, and the swing set will be ready quickly." 

I don't know whether to be delighted with their logic, or a bit miffed that we were 'played'.

Manannan's Cloak

Manannán mac Lir (son of the Sea) is the Celtic Sea god. He loved the Isle of Man, or Manannan's Isle, and wanted to protect it. When danger approached, Manannan would rise from the sea and stretch out his cloak, (it was made from sea mist) and wrap this little island in his protection.

This can be a little bit of a problem when the humans can't see the dangers approaching, but Manannan has stretched out his cloak to hide us. "Ah, a wee bit of mist, what's the problem?"  It's not just a 'wee bit' of mist. It's mist so thick you can't see the houses across the other side of the street. It's mist so thick that visibility is down to 5m on the mountain. Ship and aircraft have often turned back because it is not safe to dock or land in the sea mist. 

After all the heat and sunshine during TT, it's strange being cool again, wrapped in the soft embrace of Manannan. 

Another Crocheted Hat

Yarn: King Cole CottonSoft 

Composition: 100% Cotton

Colour: French Navy

Pattern: Crocheted Sun Hat

Hook: 4.5mm

Amount used: 100g

My new hat is complete. The depth of the crown in a little bit smaller, but that's what I was able to achieve using just the one ball of yarn. I might need to use a hat pin. But we'll see.

The sun hat was finished yesterday, whilst the sky was grey and the heavens were crying!  Hopefully there will be clear days ahead when a sun hat will be able to be used.

And that's another project finished for my Me-Made 100 Days.

No!

There comes a point in most children's lives when they learn the power of the word, 'no'. For my elder child, they really didn't start using this word until they were around two and a half.

We had tried very hard to give as many age-appropriate choices as we could to allow them to have control over their own world. In the morning, I'd choose two outfits that would be appropriate for that day's activities, and ask them which one they would prefer to wear. At breakfast, I'd offer 'Toast or cereal', and they could choose. These choices made no difference to my life, but make a huge difference to their life.

One day, after lunch, held out a little chocolate bar. "Would you like a Freddo?" I asked, and a cheerful, "No." was the response. A very puzzled look crossed my face. "Are you sure? I asked. "Would you like some chocolate?" Normally the answer would be an emphatic, "Yes.", but today there was another cheerful, "No."

At this point I realised they were experimenting with a new word, and a new power. I wanted to ensure this little one learned the importance of saying, 'no', and that their 'no' should mean 'no'. 

Looking down at my child, I smiled and said, "Okay. You are saying you don't want this chocolate bar." There was a shocked look on that little face, but I continued, "That's fine. You don't have to eat it just now. What I'll do is put it here on the table. If you change your mind and decide you do want chocolate you can come and get the Freddo. It's your chocolate and you can choose when you want to eat it." I was about to finish with an "Okay?" but thankfully realised this would be met with a 'No.'

The chocolate bar was placed on the edge of the table, right where a chocolate loving two year old could reach. I turned my back to tidy away things in the kitchen, and when I turned back the chocolate had disappeared.  I smiled and continued about my day. 

Hey! You're Supposed To Be Working!

Years ago, the Elder Offspring had a blind boyfriend. He had a beautiful Guide Dog. We, as a family, were trained in how to act around Guide Dogs. The secret is whilst when they are in harness, they are working, and should be ignored. When they are out of harness, they can be treated as family pets.

One time I was out in WHSmith, looking at stationery. A wet nose materialised in my hand, and automatically, I started stroking the dog. Then my brain kicked in, dogs don't normally come into stationery shops. Without thinking, I corrected the dog, "Hey, stop that, you are meant to be working, not mootching around for cuddles." The dog's handler sighed, and apologised. I explained I would be very happy to cuddle her dog all afternoon, but I know that would be the wrong thing to do as this is a working dog. She laughed and asked if I might be able to try to get it into this dog's 'thick head'.

Just Don't Pee In The Corner, Again

Whilst telling the Offspring about the weird blog post, 'Just Don't Pee In The Corner', they burst out laughing. It turns out they remember the story perfectly!  

A while back, a woman poked her head into the shop and asked if she could bring her dog inside. I saw a service vest on the dog and replied, 'Service animals are always welcome.' She entered and explain this was a puppy in training, not a fully qualified animal. 'Yes, of course the puppy can come in. How will they learn how to cope in different settings if they are not exposed to them?' I grinned at the handler and followed up with 'Just don't pee in the corner', meaning the human, not the animal.  The human laughed. We went on to have a great chat about the the tasks this particular dog was being trained for.

A little while later, and small child (maybe 6 years old) came into the shop, shouted 'Puppy!' and made a bee line for the dog. I interposed myself between the child and the puppy, and explained this puppy was very busy. It was learning how to help people who couldn't see, and it was very important not to distract the puppy whilst it was learning. I suggested the child wave at the person training the puppy, and let them know they liked their puppy. The child complied and waved. After the child had gone, the puppy trainer expressed their thanks and mentioned how often children run up to puppies and distract them.

Just Don't Pee In The Corner

This is a really weird one.

There have been times during this challenge when I have had lots and lots of ideas, and other times when there's been absolutely nothing sparking in my little brain. 

To try to even things out a little, I hit on the brilliant idea of noting down the extra ideas. That way, when there was a dearth of imagination I could look in the 'big box of ideas' and dust off a little something from a previous spark, give a little substance, a little polish, and bring it to life.

However, with this one, I had a title 'Service Dogs' and a description of 'just don't pee in the corner'. This meant absolutely nothing to me.What was I thinking? What could possibly have prompted this thought? And why would I think this had the potential to make an interesting little story?

No idea, absolutely no idea. There's only a desert landscape and a few tumbleweeds blowing through the place in my brain where there should be a lush valley of imagination. I even tried Googling the phrase 'just don't pee in the corner', and still nothing.

But, a pretty little picture popped up from the phrase when entered into an AI image generator. So, I decided to be a bit meta and write about the problem of writing when you have no idea what you are writing about.

Face Cloths

Yarn: King Cole CottonSoft 

Composition: 100% Cotton

Colour: Honey

Pattern: Spa Day Facecloth

Needles: 4mm

Amount used: 50g

When I made the dishcloths for Cat, the Offspring mentioned using them as facecloths. I discouraged this as the yarn, and the stitch I used were great for dishcloths, but a bit too rough for the face. 

I said I'd make some facecloths. Cat explained that if they were made in white cotton she would be unable to used, to sully them with makeup. A compromise was reached, and foundation-coloured facecloths were made.

After the knitting was done, they at in my sitting room, only needing the ends weaving in. They sat there far too long, all for 4 ends. Eventually, they were finished and handed over.

Motorbike Leathers

Way, way bac during lockdown, I had an idea for a story set at Honey Hill Farm. Every so often, but not often enough, I do a little thinking, a little research  for this novel. When we were in Laxey at the weekend, I spied a group of three bikers sunning themselves on Laxey Prom, and I asked a few questions. 

The information from that conversation is:

• Motorbike leathers are fantastic for protecting the skin when you come off your bike. If you don't wear leathers (or an equivalent) then you don't care about your skin. 
• Wearing leathers on a hot sunny day is fine, as long as your are in motion. When you stop at traffic lights, or in a queue they quickly become incredibly hot. 
• The leathers can deflect a bit of light rain. However, they are NOT waterproof. To keep dry in the rain, wear a rain cover over the top of the leathers. 
• If you are caught in the rain, the leathers will soak up huge amounts of water, and become very heavy, and also cold. They can take quite some time to dry out.

You've Got to Try This, It's Amazing

A number of years ago, I was sitting on the sofa, knitting, and listening to an audiobook. A strange noise could be heard coming from the kitchen. It took me a moment to understand the strangeness. There was a lapping sound, but no 'ting'.

Ava had a metal dog tag on her collar. When she was drinking water from her bowl there would be a few 'tings' - the metal of the dog tag gently striking the metal of her bowl. But this particular day, there was no 'ting'.

I got up and went to investigate. 

In the kitchen, there was fully grown Northern Inuit standing on her hind legs, lapping away at the lasagna I'd just finished preparing. All of the white sauce, and cheese had been licked off the surface. 

Ava turned, looked at me, and the message in her eyes was, "You've got to try this! It's amazing." 

Crocheted Sun Hat

Yarn: King Cole CottonSoft Baby Crush

Composition: 100% Cotton

Colour: Aquas

Pattern: my own design 

Hook: 4.5mm

Amount used:  100g

Started: 31st May 2023

Finished: 3rd June 2023

In the past, I've tried making crocheted hats, and they've always been too, too big. But this time, I've nailed it. I'm so impressed with my new hat.

It started out with a magic loop, with 12 half treble crochets into it. Then in each round the number of stitches was increased by 6. This grows the circles,in a bowl shape.

I measured my head, and then put the circumference of the crocheted disc. When the crochet was about 2cm smaller than my head I stopped increasing. This formed the sides of the hat.  When it reached the tops of my ears, increases started again. This time it was eight per round.

The increases stopped when the brim was wide enough. Then I crocheted 2 round without any increases. Narrow plastic boning was placed on the edge. It was sandwiched between the last two rounds, and sewn into place. 

A 15cm overlap was given to help the with the shape of the brim. This hold out the brim most beautifully. 

Maths Is Too Hard!

The shout seems to go out each year, 'Maths is too hard. We can't solve this impossible puzzle." It has happened again this year over the final question in the Edexcel GCSE Maths paper.

The puzzle is to work out the shaded area, given there are 8 regular octagon, with side length 1, arrange as in the image above.

The first step is to recognise the points of the shaded shape are all 90 degrees. This is because the internal angles in a regular octagon are all 135 degree. When two octagons are placed side by side, the external angle is 90 degrees.

The second step is to realise the shaded shape can be made up of a large square and four small triangles

The third is calculating the sides of the squares and triangles. The triangles are easy. The sides adjacent to the right angle are both 1 unit long. This means if we stick two of these triangles together, then the combined area is 1 unit sq. To get the area for the four triangles we double it to get 2 units sq.

The sides of the large square are 1 unit plus the hypotenuse of the small triangle, plus 1 unit. The hypotenuse a is found by using the Pythagorean formula a² =b² + c². This gives a² = 1x1 +1x1, and a as the square root of 2.

The length of the large square is 2 + √2. The area of the square is this (2 + √2)². The total area is (2 + √2)² + 2. Working out the square gives 8 + 4√2.

It was a lovely little puzzle, and it took me far more time to work out how to use HTML to write the expressions than to solve the problem.

Lady, I Don't Know You!

Way, way back in the 1960s, my Mam was a teacher in a secondary school (12-18 year olds). She taught sewing and cookery. At that time, these were subjects only for the girls. Boys took woodwork and metalwork. Mam knew names of all of the girls in the school, but hardly knew any of the boys.

Near the end of the school year, there was a trip out to a historic castle, and Mam was one of the teachers who was asked to accompany the students. As they were 15 and 16 year old they were allowed to wander into the town after viewing the castle, on the understanding they would be back at the rendezvous point at 3pm. 

At 3.10, my Mam went searching for missing students, and found three youngsters hanging around, laughing and giggling. The serious teacher-face appeared, and Mam berated Sarah and Jeannie for their tardiness, and told them to get on the  bus back to school right away. 

She turned to the young man, and said, 'Put your cigarette out, and get right on that bus, now!'  He gave her a puzzled look and started to walk away. My Mam caught his arm, "Bus! Now!" The guy looked at her again, and calmly replied, "Look lady, I don't know you, and I left school two years ago. I'm not going back to school for anybody."  It was at that point my Mam realised she might have made a little mistake, apologised and ran for the bus.

Crocheted Bag

I was on a high after the crocheted jacket and hat. I assumed I knew what I was doing, and could make anything my heart desired. And this has not happened. At 98% complete, I realised I did not like the bag at all, as in I hated it.

So, instead of completing this bag - just 6 more rounds of crochet, the plug has been pulled, and also the yarn. It's time to unravel and redesign. It's time to make the bag I actually want, that I will use. 

Reconbobulation

Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport has a Recombobulation Area immediately after the Security Section. After being discombobulated during the security checks, you now have a place to pause for a moment, gather your belonging, re-arrange clothing etc, and basically set yourself to rights again.

It's such a great word, and such a great idea to have a place where people can stop being discombobulate and return to their normal state. There needs to be more places where people can become reconbobulated.

Daisies, Aquilegia and Foxglove

My front garden is a riot of pinks, purples, and blue, with the occasional tall white daisies too. Last year I sowed the seeds of wildflowers, and there was very little to see. The aquilegia seemed to dominate.

However, this year as well as the aquilegia there is foxgloves, and large daisies. Unfortunately, there's also some nettles. And this is where I am swithering. Nettles are not a good plant for a traditional garden, but they help the wildlife so much, and are great soil improvers.

In pots, there's ceanothus and lavender. It's a beautiful wash of soft colours. 

Once the summer is over, we'll put in some autumn pansies and also some spring bulbs. I'm going for whites and yellows - snowdrops, tulips and daffodils.  

The garden this year seeded itself, and I'm hoping it will continue to do so. The bulbs should come up time and time again. There should just be a little spring and autumn tidy required.

Half Way There!

And the half way mark has been reached. I've proved to myself I can do it.

However, now I'm at the tricky stage. I've shown to myself I can do it. There' nothing to prove, but only half of the challenge is still ahead. This is the dangerous time. This is the point when interest wains, when the challenge is a little stale, and dopamine is in short supply. This is the danger zone.

Will I be able to keep going? Will it devolve into sheer will power? Will there still be enjoyment, or will it simply be a slog?

Who knows?!  Let's find out together. 

A Little More Mg?

Magnesium is wonderful. Magnesium is great. However, it can result in a dire rear, and I have been living with this for months. I decided to try to reduce the amount of magnesium I take. 

For one week, I reduced the amount by an eighth. That seemed to be working, and so I dropped another eighth, and that's when the problems started. First it was not being able to sleep for longer than around two hours at a time. Next was the build up of a headache at the base of the brain stem. This was followed by muscle cramps, and lastly a full blown migraine. 

When I realised what was happening, I bumped up the dose again. Last night I slept for 7 hours in row, and even managed to have little snooze again afterward. Today I'm feeling like me for the for the first time in a while.  It's rather brilliant.

A thinking brain, being able to sleep, and being pain free definitely is more important to me than having a dire rear.

The Cat House

My friend, Cat, had to go to the UK for a few days, and asked if I could feed her cats. It's not a problem as we are neighbours.

Yesterday evening, after work, I entered the Cat House. A penta-clowder of cats monitored my arrival, and interrogated me as to where the Usual Human was. I explained I had been designated Replacement Human, and was here to feed them and let them out. This was deemed to be a satisfactory answer, but could I please get here a bit earlier and not keep them waiting in future.

The black cats, Susu, Owen and Monty were fed first, then Flame and Jinks. By the time Jink's food was placed down, Susu had finished hers and was trying to muscle in on Owen's. Poor Owen has been having a hard time with his health, and Replacement Human wanted to make sure he could have all of his dinner. A hand was placed between Susu and Owen's food. Susu was not impressed and tried to dodge around it a few times. 

After finding Replacement Human's hand particularly troublesome she tried to encroach on Monty's meal. Turns out Replacement Human has TWO HANDS!  This news was not well received and Susu made her way along to the next cat in line. Flame was rather vocal, and Susu decided it would be easier to deal with Owen, Monty and the two handed Replacement Human.

Jinks watched all of this aloofly. 

Then four of the five were allowed out to play. Jinks was not impressed that he was excluded. This is because Jinks is a big bully. He regularly beats up a local cat. A timeshare agreement for the outside has been entered into by the humans. The poor bullied cat is allowed up until 10pm, and Jinks is allowed out after 11pm.

This evening after dinner, Jinks demanded out. When this fell on uncaring ears, his demands became pitiful, and then it sounded like he was trying to talk. The message was, "I'm a big boy. I'm allowed to go out to play.  It's not fair the others can go out, but I can't." It was followed by, "The Usual Human is better. She and I go for evening walks. She loves me."

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Update: Susu did not arrive back for breakfast, nor dinner for the following two days. Thankfully after Cat returned home so did Susu. She was ravenously hungry, and was allowed to eat her fill.

TT Races

Practise Week is well underway for this year's TT Race. The weather has been glorious! Absolutely glorious. Next week, Race Week, is also looking good.

The weather isn't always quite so lovely. A few years back, I was near the Grandstand in Douglas, and heard an announcement the race had to be stopped due to the weather. It was glorious in Douglas, and the crowds started booing. A few moments later, there was a second announcement, the race had been stopped due to a short hailstorm in Kirk Michael, but racing would continue after the roads had been swept clear of the hail. There was a stunned silence from the crowd.