First Time

It's more than two weeks until we go up for Grandma's birthday, but today I started thinking about what I want to bring for airplane knitting.

So I'm swatching in cotton for the first time.

And it's so far, so good, I think!

Maybe a Little

If you were wondering how crazy I am, today I found myself singing to Maggie (to the tune of Good Night Ladies):

You're one noisy kitty
One noisy kitty
One noisy kitty
Good thing you're so cute.

So there's the answer to that. Happy weekend!

Made It Four Weeks

So as I mentioned, I decided to try to get the yarn buying under control, and I made it four weeks without buying any at all. I'm not displeased with that length of time, either, but when this popped up on Instagram:

The decision was pretty immediate. Look at that loveliness! Lots of photos when it arrives.

And now I'm going to keep on trying to keep it under control (with one known caveat, that my LYS is supposed to be getting in some Juniper Moon Farm Cumulus, and I'll be getting some more of that for the continuing series, See Me Knit With Cotton).

If You Air a Blanket

If you decide to air out a blanket, you might drape it over a chair.

If you drape it over a chair, you might come back later to find a kitty face peeking out from under it.

And if you find a kitty face on this side, then there must be a kitty butt (and tail) hanging out the other side!

Theoretically, this is what could happen, if you decide to air a blanket.

A Hell of a Day, A Hell of a Hockey Game

So that was fun! And long, and quite exhausting, and often loud, and sometimes annoying, but mostly fun, if you're just here for the summary.

I left earlier than I would have just for the game, so that I could go to the Container Store; there are four on the east coast between Miami and Palm Beach, whereas on the west coast we don't have one south of Tampa, sadly. The drive over was fine, and traffic didn't get too bad until I was over there, when it was pretty crazy. But I made it unscathed (which wasn't guaranteed, with a car broken down in my lane at one point, surprise), and got out of my car to see this looming on one side of the parking lot.

According to the Google map, "A pegasus is depicted defeating a dragon in this huge sculpture with lighting & water effects." It does not explain why it's there, so I guess I'll never know. There was some sort of event going on, lots of people and noise, but fortunately, I was going the other way:

I had a good wander through the store, picking up a couple of things. Sadly, they were out of sheep bins, or I might have picked up one of those.

Other than a long wait to check out, it was all good. The wait did change my meal plans, though, as the Korean restaurant I had thought to try closed from 4-5, and I decided that walking in at quarter to 4 was not something I wanted to do. Maybe next time.

Instead, I drove on up to Sunrise, which is where the arena is, and went to PF Chang's at Sawgrass Mills, just across from the arena. There was no wait to sit at the bar, and I found a new favorite, the Mongolian beef, which was delicious!

Outside, I had to stop for a photo of one of their art installations, since how often do you see a gator version of Wonder Woman?

On to the arena! I sat outside for a few minutes, knitting, before the doors opened and I went in.

Rather than going directly upstairs, I wandered around the ground level first, which meant I didn't miss this panther on display.

Made of jelly beans. Because of course.

I finally did make my way to my seat, which was way up in the nosebleeds, along the blue line and with a good overall view.

Just below my row was an area that I thought might be for wheelchairs, but you can see the folding chairs there? People pulled them up to the front of the section and sat there. I feel like I was missing the point, somehow.

Anyway! Warm-ups started, and out came the boys.

Stretching.

Skating around.

I will spare you a half-dozen similar shots, and just show you that Marchand prefers to be the last player off the ice.

I only took a few pictures after this, including some of the anthem singer that washed out terribly in the spot-lighting. Given that he managed to flub some of the words, perhaps that was fitting! I don't just mean singing "for the ramparts we watched" instead of "o'er the ramparts we watched" (though he did do that), but a whole line of, essentially, random words. Unreal. How do you get to sing the anthem at a pro sports event, even if it's hockey in Florida, without knowing all the words? The really ironic part is that video of him was shown on the big screen above center ice there along with the words for the crowd to "sing along," so it was very easy to see what he got wrong. (He was below it and couldn't see them, so unfortunately they didn't do him any good at all.)

Mind you, since Rene Rancourt retired (finally), the Bruins have had a rotating cast of anthem singers, and some of them have been less than wonderful, so I suppose I shouldn't be too high-and-mighty about it, but, you know. This guy had problems. (My preference from those at Bruins games is Todd Angilly, who I've seen multiple times; the man can sing. And he seems to know all the words, too.)(Couldn't resist.)(Didn't try hard.)

Moving on! The arena people did a whole bunch of announcements pre-game, including a very specialized one for not throwing things on the ice: Please hold your rats until the game is over. So that was funny!

Less so was learning that, perhaps because I was so high up, the big-ass horn that they blow before periods and at each Panthers goal was insanely loud. I mean, I've never liked those horns generally (even when it's for a Bruins goal), and I've been to hockey games before and found them too loud overall, but the phrase 'cardiac arrest' has never crossed my mind at a game before. And they blew it once before each period, plus three long blasts for each goal, so I really heard it. After the first goal, I almost broke my elbow on the arm of the seat, whipping my hands out of my pockets to cover my ears. The Panthers scored three times, and by the third period, even with the Bruins comfortably ahead, every time play was in the Bruins zone, I was muttering, "Don't let them score, please don't let them score," just so I wouldn't have to hear it again.

Meanwhile, the Bruins played well if not perfectly, and getting goals from seven different players is great: take that, no secondary scoring! Also great was the soft pretzel, just for those waiting for that part of the report. In fact, I bought a second one to nibble on the road home, since a two-hour drive after a day like that is not the most fun thing ever. It wasn't awful, but by the time I was a mile or two out, I was fading fast.

My mother suggested that next season, I might want to try going to a game in Tampa instead (which is slightly farther away), and if I do that, I will definitely stay the night and drive home the next day, because two hours was pushing my limits. I got home at midnight, way late for me.

Basically: Very tiring day, totally worth it.

Until Then, Kittens

I had a great time yesterday, and will write about it at length on a day when I wasn't up until after midnight, having been driving for hours, etcetera.

Until then, have some kittens.

Getting Ready to Head Out

Tonight I'm going to see my Bruins! First Bruins game in Florida! I'm excited! If you couldn't guess!

I managed to sleep in a bit this morning, and after reading the paper and all, started getting my stuff together for the cross-state trek. I'm going over early and visiting the Container Store, since we don't have one near us and I miss wandering around it, seeing what solutions they have for things I didn't know existed. Then an early dinner, since all I really want to eat at the game is a soft pretzel--I mean, it's possible I'll get something else, too, but arena food to me is snacks, not meals, so I'll get a meal in ahead of time. As a base for the snacking.

Which reminds me of a time a few years back when I was at a Bruins game, and was rather horrified to see that the concessions stand had salads. Could anything be less hockey? I said, "Salad?" in just about that tone, and the woman said, "We sell more of those at Celtics games." Ahh. Well, then.

You know what else is funny? I forgot until I saw this picture that the game I went to at the Garden last season was against Florida.

This time, I got my ticket through Ticketmaster, and it's electronic-only, no paper ticket. Which is fine, but they have emailed me no less than three times in the last 10 days to be sure I realize that, and know how to access the ticket for the game. Plus the app put a notification up--because, yeah, I installed the app on the tablet the same day. I'm all set, Ticketmaster, honest. Got it.

Go Bruins!

Kind of a Puzzle

A couple of weeks ago, when I ordered a new carry-on travel bag (hi, my name is ccr and I have a bag addiction*), I also ordered a mobile power bank/charger thing, which they were cross-promoting with it. I figured that for traveling, it would be good to carry some extra juice for the tablet (I can remember trying to find a plug at the airport in California before getting on the plane, and it wasn't easy). They arrived, the bag looks handy, and I didn't do anything with the power bank right away.
*Seriously, though, how cute is it? It hangs on the plane tray table! No more rooting around for a bag on the floor**, or for things in the seat-back pocket, or having something slide away down the side of the seat!
**I know, sometimes I'll want the tray down, but I think this will be handy otherwise. It satisfies the "place for everything and everything in its place" concept.

The other day, though, I decided to play around with the charger, and make sure it worked the way I thought it would before traveling with it next month. I plugged the tablet into it, and at first it was charging it, but then it stopped charging, which made me wonder if it had a problem or if I was doing something wrong.

The thing didn't come with a user's guide or manual, and looking around online, I couldn't find one for the exact model, which seemed weird. I went back to the website I ordered it from, to see if they had anything, and hey, what I got doesn't look like what they picture there, what gives?

So I emailed them yesterday, with a photo of what I got, and asked, basically, what gives? What happened, is this the same as what I ordered, and can you send me a manual?

And today, they replied. The message, in its entirety:

We are completely sold out of the Genius Pack mobile charger and it will be restocked in May.  We are confirming we have refunded the charger and please do not worry about returning this item.

I appreciate them refunding the cost*, but I have a few questions on this. One, they didn't actually explain what happened, and not that they have to tell me just how they screwed up, but I am curious. It's the only one they carry, if you believe the website anyway, so it's not like someone packed up the wrong model.
*Though, yeah, I am going to check my credit card account and make sure that goes through.

Two, as of a few hours after that email, their own website says it is in stock; if I were to order it (again) now, would I get another of the wrong one? Not that I'm going to order it today, but I'll probably look again tomorrow and see if that updates, just out of curiosity.

Meanwhile, anyone want a mystery power bank? With no manual or any other info?

Who

Burrowing owl, that's who.

Close-up.

Doesn't he look like he's thinking, "What do you want?"

A Bit of a Light

I'm trying not to get too wound up about who's running for President, other than a vague hope that the Democrats can get their shit together for 2020, but then I ran across this:

A true story about @PeteButtigieg. pic.twitter.com/ojFXa8IguU

— Anand Giridharadas (@AnandWrites) March 16, 2019

If you don't want to click through to see the whole thing, here's a screen grab:

He has a book out; I've requested it from the library. Isn't a stirring of hope a fine thing to have?

Kittens, Too!

Although I posted about my own feline yesterday, I did also go to the shelter and visit the little fuzzies on Sunday.

Mama Trixie is being separated from her kittens, who are pre-adopted (yay!), and when I got there, the cleaning-and-feeding volunteer was letting her roam. Roam she did!

"Oh, hi!"

"I think I'll go over there next."

Which she did!

Meanwhile, little marshmallow fluff was napping when I went in.

And wasn't sure she wanted to wake up at first. (She has the softest fur imaginable.)

Her brother was alert!

And she was, too, in a bit.

Enough to remind me why it's a bad idea to wear capris with ties on them to the shelter.

A cute mistake, but a mistake nonetheless.

For that matter, the little guy reminded me that capris themselves aren't always a good idea, as while I was letting his sister play with the camera strap:

...(and have a wonderful time with it)...

...he tried climbing up my bare leg. Ow ow ow! No photos of that, as I was busy trying to grab him while not dropping her. Ow!

I tried again with the shy mama, but again she was having none of me. When I came in, she was in front of that section to the left, but she went back in as soon as I got through the door. And since all the kittens were in with her, I didn't want to freak her out by trying to get to them.

So I just sat on the floor for a few minutes, by the door, and talked soothingly.

Then I went to visit the new babies: three teeny-teenies, no mama, so they're being bottle-fed. One of them was asleep the whole time I was there, but these two:

Came toddling over as soon as I opened the cage, and my hands were literally full, making sure they didn't fall. The tabby meowed at me for a while, then went off to nap with the sleeper, but the black one kept crawling over me and meowing until I had to go. Baby wanted his next bottle, and who cares if that's not due for half an hour! Meow!

Lap Cat: A Photo Essay

Lately, Maggie hasn't been quite as constantly on my lap as she used to be, and while my joints appreciate the lower amounts of immobilization time, I've missed the cuddles, so I was happy when she came along last night and allowed as how I could provide a lap while I watched the Bruins game. And I took a lot of photos.

Initial lap:

The first stretch. Cat, knitting, hockey game; what's not to love?

Shift and stretch. She's getting longer.

Paw (and claws) hooked over my toes. Which is a prickly feeling, but very cute.

Paw dangling over the toes (much less prickly). 

Giving the other foot a chance. 

Sat up a little.

Had a bit of a bath.

And licked the top of my foot, since it was there. Tickles!

"Was that a criticism?" No, dear.

"All right, then."

Getting comfy for the continued nap.

Decided to move it around for overtime.

The Bruins won! I tried not to disturb her, but the guys were a bit excited on TV.

"Can't you keep it down?"

"That's better."

And a stretch ... before deciding to get up, to the relief of my joints, and bladder, if that's not TMI.

A good night all around.