CarpeAcum

Jalie Patterns Arrived

The patterns arrived in the mail today. That's just about 1 week, so not too bad from the other side of Canada to here. I'm stalled on the first suit, though. Maybe tomorrow. . .

Now to distract you from my lack of sewing. . .Kittens!

Kittens!

Now, what you've really been waiting for:

Meet Jake and Izzy. Aren't they sweet? This is from a month ago. I can't believe they've been here a whole month, and I can't believe it's only been a month. Izzy's a little love bug, and when we first saw her, she was cuddled up with her brother in a cage at MEOW. Someone else wanted Jake (then known as "Axel"), and we fell in love with Izzy (then "Jemma"), but wanted siblings. Then the other adopter decided not to adopt that day, and we got them both! Jake is a little more stand-offish, but they're both very cuddly. Jake has taken to getting on the bed with me in the morning and cuddling up against my back. Aww!

So cute! He looks like this a lot: like he's just been surprised by something.

Izzy's face is half orange tabby--the half you can't see in this picture. She's going to be a beautiful cat. And she purrs literally when you look at her. She has a little crook in the end of her tail, but it doesn't seem to hurt her. It's just endearing.

So those are our new family members.

A couple weeks ago, I decided to update my finished and in progress projects at Ravelry. Here's what happens under the table while you're trying to take a picture of the knitting. 

I don't do anything without "help" anymore.

Kitten pics: I have a million of 'em!
 
 

7 More Alarm Clocks

Alarm clocks, lovingly referred to as "get-ups" in our house. Seven. Not that we're counting. Or anything.

Since posting the other day about how close summer is getting, I realized that I need to start making some summer resolutions *now* and not wait until August 20, which is what I usually do. So I've been making mental notes about all the organizing projects that I keep putting off: bathroom drawers, laundry room cabinets, pantry (again). And you know what they say: There's an app for that! So I downloaded a post-it note app for my new phone today. I'm not sure yet whether it will help, but it was free.

And in other news, the news that will probably prevent all other chores from being accomplished:

Georgia! and Carolina!

They aren't at our house yet, but maybe soon. I'll keep you posted. 

Aren't they the cutest?

Lucky Hamster

In other news, since the home cleaning front is not so great, I have a story about our hamster.  Punkin has a hamster.  The Beard thought it would be fun to get her a hamster.  So when the goldfish all died last summer, we headed out to the fish store to buy fish, and came home with a hamster.  Punkin named him Hanon*.  Hanon is a little cutie (in a rat sort of way), but he can get himself into a lot of trouble.  You might also need to know that we have 3 Cats. Cats like hamsters.  For dinner.  Our oldest cat, Cleo, doesn't have claws, and his old enough that a hamster holds no appeal for her.  Our youngest cat, Fala, is not the sharpest knife in the drawer.  She just wants to be friends with everyone, including hamsters, goldfish, other cats, strange cats, piano students, but not me. When I pick her up, she does that push-away thing that cats do when they want to get down, with that panicked look on their faces.  On the other hand, our middle cat, Daisy, has the hunting instinct.  If we let her go outside, I'm sure we would have constant gifts of small birds, rodents, squirrels, bugs, and whatever else she could find to bring in. I’ve set the stage; you know the players.

Hanon is a clever hamster.  I'd kind of like to rename him Houdini.  Hanon had a cute little cage that we got when he was new and small.  It was a small cage, and he was a small hamster.  But he got bigger.  And stronger.  Soon enough, he had learned how to open the cage door.  Of course, because hamsters are nocturnal, he mostly did this at night.  I walked into the bathroom one night in the middle of the night, in the dark, and wondered what the little white spot of something was on the floor.  As I let the cat, Fala, into the bathroom, I realized that it was not a dryer sheet or toilet roll.  So I turned the light on, and sure enough, it was a hamster.  Little did Hanon know, that he was moments away from being eaten or stepped on the middle of the night in the dark.  I quickly threw Fala out of the room, did my thing, and threw the hamster back into his cage.  Maybe not in that order.  He was so lucky that I have found him first, and not Daisy (the huntress).  He was also lucky that he did not fallen off the counter into the toilet and drowned.  He was also lucky that he had not fallen off the counter and died period. He’s pretty much just a lucky little guy. I think I’ll have him choose lotto numbers for me. Maybe I can put a grid of numbers on the bottom of his cage and check where the poops land.

A few nights later, the same thing happened.  It turned out that Hanon had outgrown his cage.  He was a big enough to open the door himself.  So we safety pinned it closed.  That kept him in his cage for a while.  But we realized that he was a bigger hamster than he was before, and so we bought a bigger cage.  This cage sits on top of the former fish tank.  It's a much larger cage and he has lots more room to run around—three levels of room to run around.  We put a very large treadmill in, and he runs for extended periods of time on the treadmill. I have heard him run nonstop for half an hour.  I was trying to fall asleep at the time. It seemed like he ought to be done in a second, but he kept going 30 minutes straight.

 

One night, as I lay in bed reading (insomnia is a terrible thing), Cleo, the cat with the fluffy tail, jumped up on the bed and curled up on The Beard's feet.  I kept reading.  After five minutes or so, Fala came in.  I noticed that she was walking fairly slowly and she seemed to have chased Cleo under the bed.  I could see her tail out of the corner of my eye.  “Hmmmm. . .” I thought to myself.  “Cleo is on the bed.”  So I checked.  Cleo *was* on the bed.  What had Fala found to play with that was fluffy, and looked like Cleo's tail?  Or maybe a feather duster?  A feather duster that moved.  So I sat up and looked, and it was Hanon!  Halfway across the bedroom floor, her concentration completely focused on the hamster, sat Daisy, in full stalk mode.  I leapt out of bed and slowly reached for the hamster.  If I spooked him, he would run under the bed, and I might never find him, certainly not before Daisy did.  Luckily, he sat there in his cute way, with his paws in front of him, and his beady little eyes looking up at me.  I grabbed him.  This made him nervous.  (Me holding him made him nervous, whereas Daisy approaching him with death in her eyes didn't even register. So much for instinct.)  I made for Punkin’s room, and tried to open the top of the cage one-handed, which is when he made his move.  He leapt from my hand and landed on the dresser (There might have been an expletive.  Luckily, Punkin is a sound sleeper).  I wrestled him back into his cage, locked the cage securely, and went back to bed.  My heart was going a mile a minute.

Lucky little guy, no? If I hadn’t been awake, he’d have been a quick kitty snack for sure. It turned out that Punkin had left the top of the cage open when she fed him that night. I found it open again a couple of nights later, but no escape had occurred that time. Thank goodness. My insomnia is over for now, so he’ll have to duke it out with the cats if he gets out again.

*Charles Louis Hanon composed a set of standard piano exercises/tortures. Punkin just started playing them toward the end of last year. We liked that “Hanon” sounds like “hamster,” and also the treadmill that he runs on reminds us of piano exercises. We have a weird household.

Feline Olympics: Synchronized Sleeping

Here we are at the 2007 Feline Olympics here Chez CarpeAcum. We have some great competition on board this year! Tonight's event is Synchronized Sleeping. Our competitors are Cleo (on the left, the long-haired calico) and Fala (on the right, the black domestic short hair). So let's take a look at their opening stunt.

Wow! Look at that form! They're really setting the bar high with this one. It's going to be a tough act to follow! Even the pillows are lined up.

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Here's a closer look at the same stunt:

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Great form! Look at how neatly the tails are tucked in. You can really tell that these two have trained together a lot. It's hard to believe we're looking at amateur athletes, here!

Look at them hold that pose! That takes real concentration.

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Oh, no! It looks like Fala has started the dismount too early! She's gone into the bathing portion already. Cleo is really going to have to do some fancy footwork to make this work out. Let's see how she reacts.

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Oh, look at that!

Fala has really lost her way with this one. She's definitely ahead of the program here.

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It looks like Cleo is making her move. She's going to catch up in the bathing stunt. Here's where that training really pays off. What a pair! What athleticism! It's like they can read each others' minds!

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Oh, that's great now! They're back in synchronization. They have mirror-image bathing. That's going to get them some extra points for sure! And great timing! Look at that form!

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And a little head-nod to the judges. That's always worth a few points as well. These two have really developed a great little program here. Let's see if they can maintain this pace for the rest of their routine.

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Here's some mirror sleeping. That's tough to do well! I hope they can keep up this pace!

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Now we have one final position. They look like they've lost their synchronization just a bit, but with a program this long, it's hard to keep it up. You can see how tired Cleo is getting. Her tail is not quite as wrapped as it should be. Having lots of experience is great, but the end of the program can get tiring for the older competitor.

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Oh, no! It looks like Cleo has totally lost it here. Fala is tucked into a nice ball; look how lovely that tail position is. But Cleo is looking a little less focused. That's going to hurt them in the judging.

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All in all, though, a very nice performance. That's one that will be hard to beat! As you know, Synchronized Sleeping is judged on a 10-point scale. It'll be interesting to see how the judges react to that little problem at the end. It's still a tough act to follow! I'm sure they're happy with their performance.

We'll sign off for tonight. More Feline Olympics later! Good night for now!