How to leash a cat...

Ding is really happy now that the better weather is here.  I try and take her outside more often.  I am rather afraid of her being out without a leash.  She doesn't have front claws, from her former owner, so she can't defend herself... And I found out, she isn't afraid of vehicles.  I was walking out with her, and cars were going by, a noisy truck, a motorcycle... Nothing.  She didn't shy, she didn't run, just looked mildly curious at the louder ones.  Translation, she has no sense of danger, so she isn't going out without someone...

So, get her into a leash.  This is easy, and it's hard.  I pick up the leash, and she's ready to go.  She meows, and runs to the door.  And paws the door.  And meows.

I pick her up, and put her on the bench to put the leash on- and she jumps down and runs to the door.  I pick her up, again, hanging on to the little furball.  She is meowing insistently, and trying to slip through my fingers. 

I put the leash over her back, and she lunges.  I manage to hold her, and put the neck collar on.  This is where it gets tricky.  I have to hang onto her, and snap the chest collar shut.  Now, as far as Ding is concerned, when she heard the neck collar click, that was well and more than enough. 

So, I hang onto any bit of her that isn't in jump mode, which usually is her head or neck, I manage to snap the second collar shut, sometimes after a try or three... Her fur gets in between the latches, and makes it slip back open.

Finally leashed, I grab the door, and open.  To see her lunge, and usually bonk her nose on the screen... Not too hard, but I have to get the screen open quickly, or she meows and looks really annoyed, trying to open it with her paws.  Thankfully, she has no thumbs.

I finally get her outside, and she runs down the ramp, and gallops to the lawn.

And sits down, and grazes.

Yep, crazy.  Fits right in with our house.

The Midnight Express

We thought he was gone.  No such luck.  Pee-yew.

The black cat I had mentioned in previous blogs that I named Midnight was indeed adopted by the neighbors.  This means he's not around as much.  That is a good thing, as he was beating up on my kitty, Buzz.  I had hoped with said adoption, and food coming from someone else, he might be more oriented to stay OVER THERE...

Not so much.  He'd been gone from our place for about a week.  I told Husband, I don't want him dead, but am glad he's not around.  My hope was he'd decided that our non-friendly attitude was off-putting enough he'd chosen to stay at his new home.

I went out early, and fed Buzz.  I had noticed the unmistakable aroma of cat pee.  Great, another one?  Why, oh why, do we luck out, we have fixed our kitties, but we always get El Macho Dude Cat that wants to show how much liquid he can release... ICK! 

Didn't think anything more about it...

Opened the door to leave, and there he was, in all his black fuzzy glory, Midnight, eating Buzz's leftovers, and by the look of the feed can, (and smell), he was claiming territory for King and Country.  I know the folks around are going to think I am loonier than I already am, but I have found only one thing that scares him off. 

I opened the door with a bang, and started barking.  Like a wild dog. BARK, WOOOF, BARK, BARK, BARK, WOOOOOF!  That got him off the porch, and away from the cat food.  I don't like doing anything that will hurt him, but I do want him to leave.

So, the continuing battle of Stinky Porch continues.  Anyone know of a good cleaner for de-stinking cat pee?? 

You know you are a yarnaholic when...

The In-Laws are here for a visit.  They were sitting, and I had just come back from helping with a volunteer project. 

We who do the stuff, are often volunteers for various groups.  That day was no exception.  I arrived, and one of the gals who helps out at the hospital, as well,  buttonholed me to show me some yarn.  Turns out, the hospital can't use wool yarn, and so she thought of me.  Read: having the yarn in a bag, handing it to me, THEN asking if I wanted it, and 'sweetening' the deal, by telling me the yarn was real Irish wool.  (This doesn't impress me as much as it should.  I bought some VERY expensive Irish wool one time, the gal had the gift of Blarney.  She told me it was the very best wool, and it would wash up wonderfully.  I think it was spun without being cleaned, it was incredibly scratchy, and didn't do much when washed but make the washer a mess.  I think it was the wool equivalent of Irish soccer hooligans... Her store didn't last long, either.)  But this was nice, and came with some lovely short wood needles, so I figure, fine!

So, I took it, and when I came home, I put the wool in the freezer.  This isn't nearly as crazy as it sounds.  Leaving it in the freezer kills any moth larvae, which hatch and make a giant mess of your wool.  I found out this the hard way.  So, after plopping it in, I go and sit, making chit chat with family. 

Without thinking of the repercussions, during a lull, I told Husband, "I put some yarn in the freezer."
He responded, "Good thing I just cleaned it out for you, huh?" 

Very rarely are my In-Laws at a loss for words.  They just looked at the two of us, mouths open, then shut, and with a look and shrug, they changed the subject.

YES!  My crazy yarn lady cred is intact!!!

Hairball! No, wait. Worse!

I received a LOT of yarn from a friend who's spouse had recently died.  He had no use for it, and said he'd just chuck it in the burn pile if I didn't want it.  Avoiding such sacrilege, I came home with something like 6 or so boxes of yarn.

This is good.  Quite good.  Except they were stored... Not so well.  They were dusty, and some were covered with grit, among other things.  (We jokingly say it's back of the barn fresh...)  I really didn't want to have the stuff be in the craft room with all the dust. Huh.  So, wonder if I can wash them?  I start looking online, in a couple knitting forums, and find out, yep, they can be washed.  I figure, okay, I have a batch I will put into a couple pillow covers, and Voila, clean yarn.

Ahem.

Now begins the tale of one woman's decent into madness...

On the forum, there was a definite agreement that it COULD be done.  Several different methods were mentioned.  I decided that putting the skeins in a pillow case, and using safety pins, lock them in, and wash, and dry.  (There was some debate about whether they should be dried, some thought it would damage the yarn.  I don't happen to have the faintest idea about what you are supposed to do with the yarn once it's washed if you DON'T dry it!!)

So, I get my pillowcases, place several yarn skeins in, and close with pins.  Big pins.  Pins that could cause severe pain and puncture.  Of which I did at least twice, on two fingers.  With prodigious and creative epithets following.  Fortune would have it, I was alone in the house, except for Ding.  She did look a little oddly at me, and decided it was probably a good time to go in the other room...

I put the bags in the wash, along with a pillow, to balance the load out.  Wash.

Then I pull out the bags.  White puffs? Huh?  Oh, urk.  There was a hole in the pillow, and the washer quite literally beat the stuffing out of it.  So, remove stuffings that are all over the washer, the outside of the pillow, outside of the pillowcases...  And then note, one of the yarn skeins has come partway out of the pillowcase.  Stuff back in. 

Well, that wasn't great, but not as bad as I had feared.  Dry.

Then I take out the nice, clean, fresh smelling, OH MY GOODNESS WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED???!?!!!???

Where I had several nice skeins in the bags, I now had a large, colorful, amorphous mass.  A highly TANGLED amorphous mass. 

So, the next two days were carefully (for the most part, patience won out with one, and I just pulled it until it broke so I could finish) untangling, and rewinding or rolling up skeins.  I was not a happy camper.  Husband tried to tell me about a way that might prevent it happening again.  I have decided that I will indeed wash more yarn. (See, nutty as a fruitcake.)  The next one will be ONE skein per bag, and perhaps a victim loving Husband will pin the darn things shut...

5 more boxes to go...

 Whimper...

Woooah, look at all the pretty colors... ??

For my American friends, Happy Independence Day!  If not, Happy Thursday! 

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Well, it was clean the chicken house day, and I had a mess.  I cleaned, and cleaned.  Without going into great detail, some of the older birds are... prodigious in the EXTREME in voiding... EEEEW, even.  So, I had to clean up, and put down fresh cedar. 

I also had to clean the yard, too.  The brambles and blackberry vines were taking over the whole of the back of the chicken house.  Not good for getting around, and gives hiding spots for chickens... And predators.  And so about an hour or a bit less, everything was whacked down to a reasonable walking area again.  (And I discovered where the blasted broodies were hiding eggs in the yard.  Which are now removed... Sigh.)

When I finish this, I am bushed.  Husband got me a very powerful weed whacker, and I can use it for a limited amount of time, or it darn near rattles my teeth out!  So, after all the dust, pollen, plant bits, and... doo...  I was a mess.  I came in the house, and was ready to clean up.  I sat down to remove my shoes and socks.  This is normally a no biggie item...

Until Ding showed up. 

Yon kitty decided I was eminently sniffable.  And proceeded to do so, from bottom to top.  She was relentless! I would move her from my feet to start taking off a shoe, and she was then up beside me, sniffing my belly and elbows.  She was really into sniffing, going full flehmen, all over me. 

I let her continue for a while, then had to draw the line when she climbed up to my face, and proceeded to sniff and lick same, and tried to even pull off my glasses by nipping them! 

I still don't know exactly what set her off, but... 

We do have wild peppermint in the hen yard.  Considering that, we could have other wild plants out there that 'tripped her trigger', too.  I don't know if peppermint would do it, but it could have been that, too.

Or, she just thought dirty hen yard smells good... With that crazy kitty, anything is possible. 

But, after a shower, and change of clothes, she was back to good ol' "meh" mode...