Hiiiiiiiigh

Miss Maggie was overdue to have her claws trimmed, so that happened today, much to her wriggling and writhing displeasure. When it was done, though, I offered her the traditional good-kitty reward: catnip.

Most of the cats I've had would lick the dried catnip up, and she seems uninterested in doing so, but given how high she gets just from smelling the stuff, perhaps that's for the best. She sniffs it in my hand with great interest, and the next thing you know, she's rolling around like a crazy cat.

It's pretty adorable.

Saturday Kittens and Cats

Since we're going to be out tomorrow, I visited the kittens today!

Room one, Mama Trixie and her kittens. She was very friendly, and even jumped onto my lap at one point.

Most of the kitten pictures came out like this:

Or this:

But there was this:

And this.

In room two were the new-last-week mama and her three kittens. Mama was not interested in me, thank you. And stripey went from the litter box:

To in with mama.

This little lady had been bouncing all over, but was winding down by the time I got in there.

This guy still had a little energy for visitors, though.

So cute.

Shortly, though, he took her advice:

And curled up himself.

The other two were older cats, or at least non-kittens, and I had to be careful not to let them out of their cages, so not many pictures. But after purring up a storm and happy-drooling, orange boy paused for a snack.

Meanwhile, I caught her at the end of a sneeze!

What would you caption that photo?

Brain. Dead.

I've spent the entire week working on a report by someone whose attention-to-detail meter registers in negative numbers. I mean, for a person who works in a healthcare-related field to define the FDA as the Federal Drug Administration is ... shall we say, telling. As I noted to one of the other editors on Monday, "OK, so I just can't trust him for anything. Good to know." And it didn't get better.

So. That's all I have tonight. Welcome, weekend. I'm so glad you're here.

Every Time

This came up in my Facebook memories this morning, and not only does it make me laugh to look at the photo and read the caption, I find myself giggling moments later, thinking, "and if I ruffs..."

This Is It, For a While Anyway

As I mentioned last month, I've been on a bit of a yarn-buying spree over the last few months, and the last of it has now all come in* and been photographed.
*And, ah, one more yarn sale that led me into temptation...

Starting with that footnote, in fact, the yarn store had a big sale on Manos yarns last week, and this Serena yarn that I have actually been eyeing for months came home with me.

The funny thing is that it turns out I had some in my stash already, that I got at Webs a few years ago. It's nice and soft, and the colors are lovely.

Then there's the yarn I got from someone on Ravelry, Fredericksburg from Maple Creek Farm. As is often the case, the colors look a little different in person than they did on the computer, but I still like it, so it's all good.

Finally, there's the big order I mentioned making from Blue Moon.

All BFL Sport, before it's gone forever.

One of the colorway I Mad Heart Ewe:

One Primary Pride:

And four Blue for Ewe:

The first two are good shawl quantity (each), and for the 4 skeins of blue, I'm thinking sweater, but we'll see what happens. It's all lovely stuff, and I don't need to knit it right away to make that true.

~~~~~
And now, faced with the great quantities of loveliness acquired, I'm going to see if I can stop buying yarn for a few months. Not to say I absolutely won't buy any, since I don't like to set myself up for feeling a failure if something irresistible comes along, but to at least try, to make an attempt to avoid temptation (I'm deleting a lot of emails unread, and scrolling through Instagram a little faster than before). I haven't gotten myself into debt with all this, but the trend can't continue indefinitely. I need to take a break before it's time for Rhinebeck, at least!

Will I be able to do it? Follow along and see; then around June 1, I'll sum up how it went.

Peeking

Yesterday, I took a picture of Maggie on the lanai, curled up on a chair under a blanket that was airing.

What I intended to take was a picture of all her paws there.

But in looking at the picture inside later, I found that I could see her face back in the shadows, looking back at me. Hello, baby!

Kittens, and a Shawl Sneak Peek

February 10 was the first time I saw these kittens (not that their mama was letting me get close).

A week later, still not so much with the up-close.

Last Sunday, I got a little closer, but they were still mostly sleeping.

Today, though, they were all over the place! Switch from blurry-distance photos to blurry-motion photos.

"Is that a camera strap toy?"

"It is!"

"And what about down here? Any toys?"

Her brother was a little less adventurous, for now.

She, meanwhile, decided the pocket there might be a toy.

While he went for a nap.

Feet are fascinating.

Then--brace yourself for the cute--there's a new litter. Three kittens and their mama.

They were deeply asleep when I got to them.

Deeply, adorably asleep.

The stripes!

The smile, and the paws!

Their mama was not in the mood for any attention from me, thank you.

But she didn't mind me handling the babies, so no hard feelings.

Meanwhile, my new knitting project is coming well, and since it's lace and needs stretching out to really see the pattern, I pinned it out (dry) this morning.

I like it!

The yarn is a very light lavender, almost pale pink in spots, and I can see that getting a true photo of it is going to be a challenge.

Happy Bruins Fan (3,300)

(No, I'm not fan number 3,300: just had to note that that's a lot of blog posts!)

The Bruins have been doing really well lately, and more and more often, it's been a pleasure to watch them play. Their game Thursday against Tampa, the league leader by a ridiculous margin, was a joy to behold. And with that win, they concluded February without a loss in regulation, going 11-0-2 (hint: that's good). Also good is that, in the eight games since Pastrnak, their leading scorer, went out with an injury, they've gone 7-0-1. Very nice, guys!

Here's a fun note ahead of tonight's game:

Brad Marchand has 666 career PIM. He plays his 666th career game tomorrow ... against the Devils.

(h/t reddit)

— Matt Porter (@mattyports) March 2, 2019

Who could ask for more? It's a good ride, and I hope it keeps going. And going, and going...