lydamorehouse: (??!!)
 basket peace -- Rhubarb and Buttercup in the basket
Image: Rhubarb and Buttercup in the basket by all our fabric piles.

I don't know that I have a huge amount of news to report today, but, if you can't tell, I've been trying to post something every week day. I'm not talking about it as any kind of New Year's resolution, because I suspect that as soon as you label something that, you jinx it. So, forget I said anything. This is just a habit I've been trying to get into.  No pressure. No expectations.

Speaking of things like that, I am currently nearly at a 60 day streak in Duolingo. For those of you just tuning in, I have been trying to learn Japanese since.... what is it now? Forever? Yes, I think since forever. I am no closer now that I was when I started, I swear, but honestly, this has become a weird sort of hobby for me, much like quilting or drawing. Anyway, having a streak for this long is kind of new thing for me. I've stayed at Japanese for a long time, but I tend to not be great at a daily habit. So, this is exciting. Did I also tell you that I found a podcast that proports to teach me Japanese while I sleep? Yeah, I don't really think it will work either, but I also don't see how it can hurt me.

In other news, I just locked our escape artists (pictured above, Buttercup) into the bedroom because we are about to have a handyman come by and.... Ope! He's here. That's exciting. He's going to (hopefully) be fixing a drain we broke mumblely-mumblely years ago. If he can do it, it will be super lovely to have an upstairs bathtub available again. It's our clawfoot. We have another bath, but I have two very long-legged people in this house (or rather, often do, with Mason off at college again,) and the other tub is less comfy for them. I'm fine? But I could probably bathe in a washtub, I'm so short. I make up for my stubbiness by being round, so maybe not.

Tonight is my class, also, which I was smart and prepped BEFORE the handymen came. I mean, I could probably do some now, but it's always so distracting when people are in the house, banging around. Like, just now, trying to remember which circuit goes to which rooms of the house is very ??? in our 100+ year old place. 

But, anyway, it's good that we're getting this done, finally. 

Class will be interesting tonight. It's hard to gauge participation since, while I "assigned" homework, I made it clear that nothing had to be turned in. So, people may have done the assignment outside of Google classroom. I guess I'll find out when I ask. Two out of five people officially turned things in, so maybe that's also not a bad participation rate? If one other person half-assed it, that's 50%.  

Sigh.

How are you? How was you weekend?
lydamorehouse: void cat art (void cat)
 We are packing up the dishes still from the pantry reorg, and this happened:

Buttercup discovers he fits!
1. Buttercup discovers he fits!

Rhubarb wants in
2. Rhubarb wants in!

Now Rhubarb has a box
3. Now Rhubarb has a box.

Poor Buttercup. But, his heart is too kind to deny the women he loves.
lydamorehouse: (Bazz-B)
 Saint Paul only just now called a snow emergency, which means they won't even start plowing side streets until 9 pm. I just shoveled an additional 7 inches of snow from my sidewalk. Shawn and I estimate that about ten or eleven inches. (25.4 cm or 30 cm) fell in the last day.

A bit of snow for Minnesota
Image: the snow covered tree in front of our house. (The little blue sign is our "We protect the Mississippi," thing which really just means that Mason adopted a storm drain when he needed a volunteer project a few years ago in order to get into the honors program in high school. I think his favorite part of that program was getting to name the drain. These are in Rochester, but explain what I mean: https://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/funny-storm-drain-names-grate)

So, yeah, it snowed? 

I have not tried to move the car, nor do I intend to. Since St. Paul won't even be dusting off the plows until after 9 pm today, I am parked on the "night plow" side of the street and that's where I plan to stay. Technically, D&D is tonight, but I am hopeful that either we will ALL move to Discord or they can let me "phone it in," as it were.

All this snow started falling yesterday. Shawn was supposed to go into work for her performance review, but that meeting got shifted to virtual so she bailed at around 11 am.  She worked from home all day yesterday, but Mason and I (neither of us who normally have work do to right now) treated it as a snow day and spent the day watching TV (he is re-watching and I'm watching for the first time FullMetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I'd seen FullMetal Alchemist a long time ago, but, even though everyone TOLD me how much better "Brotherhood" is, I never got around to watching it. GUYS, IT'S A WHOLE LOT BETTER.)  I tried to do some quilting, but was stymied by the angry peanut.

angry (actually very sweet) peanut loafing on top of the quilting frame
Image: Rhubarb (who is actually very sweet these days) loafing in the middle of the quilting hoop.

I should say that even though Willow and Rhubarb still stalk each other around the house, we have mostly settled into a détente. Rhubarb no longer holds any ill-will towards the people. I can't remember the last time she swiped at us with claws out. It's all been play bats. Willow would still like it very much if this interloper would move along, but she's settled back into snoozing under the covers by my legs at night, and otherwise TOLERATING this other cat. Buttercup is still baffled why his two favorite black-haired ladies don't love each other as much as he loves them.

I hope you are all being safe out there, if you are also experiencing snow (and even if you're not.)
lydamorehouse: (nic & coffee)
 Buttercup ready to help paint! (Sitting tall on a ladder.)
Image: Buttercup ready to help paint! (Sitting tall on a ladder.)


A big orange goofball who has wedged himself into a very small cabinet
Image: A big orange goofball who has wedged himself into a very small cabinet

It's impossible to see the painting progress in these two pictures because the cat did not chose to pose majestically anywhere work has been done, but suffice to say that there is still much to do and BUTTERCUP IS NOT HELPING, DESPITE WHAT HE WILL TELL YOU.  
lydamorehouse: void cat art (void cat)
 Buttercup attempting to demonstrate a relaxed pose to his two favorite black cats.
Rhubarb in foreground (left), Buttercup (orange) attempting to model relaxed posture, and Willow background (middle.)

We are currently trying something new. All the articles we've read about cat introductions are really insistent on this whole continued separation thing, but they also seem to want us to have screen doors in the interior of our house so that the cats can get used to the sight of each other. Well, we can separate, but only with solid doors. This has been leading, we think, so a lot of anxiousness. Where did that interloper go? Did I chase her off? Rather than, "Ah, yes, the annoying look-alike that lives here with me is still here being annoying and looking exactly like me only smaller/bigger."

So, we decided to devote the day to supervised observing. We are only isolating briefly if there is actual teeth out, claws scratching fights. And, even then, we are only closing off the attacker for a few minutes before reintroducing them.

This seems to be working better.

It helps that Buttercup is LITERALLY putting himself between them during tense stare downs and flopping around as if to say, "What? It's chill here. I'm chill. How are you?"

Rhubarb, Buttercup, and Willow. Two tense ladies and one chill boi.
Image: Rhubarb, Buttercup, and Willow. Two tense ladies and one chill boi.
lydamorehouse: (Default)
A river runs through it 
Image: a river runs through it

On Saturday, we had arranged to meet my parents at the Apache Mall in Rochester (Minnesota, not to be confused with Rochester, NY,) and since Shawn and I are not ones to waste a drive anywhere we started looking into things to do around Rochester. Turns out, not far away was Carley State Park.

I do not mean to imply that our trip down to see meet my folks was not its own adventure. We had a lovely time eating out at a place called The Workshop, catching up in-person, and making the exchange of goods--my aunt had collected some church cookbooks that were being passed on to us. 

But, after all that excitement, Shawn and I headed to the woods where we continued to perfect our "retirement plan." The current plan is that i will do the nature hikes and Shawn will set up in some lovely spot with our glamper (this is the dream, at least,) and read while I walk. Absent the glamper, Shawn found a lovely picnic table while I tackled the Minnesota Hiking Club's trail....
WTF MN Hiking... What. The... F*ck
Image: A sign that says both "Hiking Club" with an arrow pointing this way and CAUTION, to which *I* say, "WTF, MN Hiking Club. What. The. F*ck,."

Yeah, so I almost died.

"Died" might be an exaggeration, but let's just say I am glad I had my asthma inhaler and that I still mostly bounce when I fall. (People say there's no good use for body fat, but PADDING is definitely one I personally appreciate now that the bruises are setting in,.) The trail was lovely, though I would have loved to see this sign at the start of my hike rather than when I was 2/3rds the way around. The maps were also less clear about the elevation change. 

That being said, the official hiking trail did have lovely views of the river... if deeply treacherous bridges.

scary bridge
Image: concrete slabs that I had to jump across. Not for the faint of heart. Or the wobbly of knee.

Then, despite GPS's insistence that she could find us a faster route, we meandered home via Scenic Highway 61, stopping off at Pepin Heights for bags of fresh apples. Even though it's been dangerously dry (partly why I slipped on the trail, the ground was basically slick, dry leaf covered dust), the fall colors were still surprisingly lovely. The October blue sky is just so amazing against the russets and golds of the last of the leafed trees. 

Sunday we spent catching up on some house chores--we finally put the air-conditioners in the attic, etc. I also had signed up for a game (via Discord) at Gamehole Con on Sunday afternoon. I played Lex Arcana again, which is a system and a world that I'm really very fond of. You play in as Praetorian Magical guards in a Rome that never fell (thanks to precognition magic.) I played an assassin... excuse me, "diplomat" which was fun, although his super powers only kick in if he manages to deal damage and so we nearly got our butts handed to us by a bunch of Egyptian god-infested Libyan workers. Again, for me, the fun is in the playing pretend and I had a pretty good group for that, thought it's always so much harder to have character moments in one shots. We still did, though, because [personal profile] tallgeese had some clay dolls that, my character was deeply terrified of, which was only exasperated when they started to MOVE.

So. Good times.

Today, I managed to get our Halloween decorations up and we took Clover, who is now officially Rhubarb (Rhu for short) to the vet for her two week post-surgical check-up. She got the big thumbs up from the vet tech. Rhu is also now fully vaccinated for a year. We are still having some issues integrating the cats, but we are bound and determined to go slowly.  We got some advice from the vet and reassurance that it can sometimes take MONTHS if you do it right. The trick is that you have to go at the speed of the most stressed cat, and that can just be... however long it takes. So, we're still doing one cat gets free range, the other has to be in a single room switch (which we OF COURSE call the "Big Switch-a-Rhu.") 

Buttercup is either convinced there is only Willow Big and Willow Smol or is actually as intensely kind-hearted as we always suspected he was, as he is chill with both lady friends. Possibly Both.

So, that's us. I hope y'all had good weekends. What are you looking forward to this week, anything?
lydamorehouse: void cat art (void cat)
 Willow and Clover eyeing each other on the bed
Image: Willow and Clover eyeing each other on the bed. Clover is hiding behind a green comforter, her ears forward with wary worry; Willow has murder glinting in her yellow-green eyes. Blade of the Immortal lies open between them.

We are committed to a slow introduction.

The friends who were possibly interested in Clover came by on Sunday, had a short, if somewhat unfruitful introduction (more on that in a bit) and still are, but, for reasons, can't take her in for another week, regardless. Meanwhile, we have been having more and more moments like the one above where the two ladies warily regard each other in close proximity with only a small amount of growling and hissing. Our friends are very patient and kind and are willing to remain as back-up in case we simply can't introduce these two no matter what. In the meantime, we have scheduled a spay for Clover on Monday next, with the intention that we keep her. 

So, our friends came by on Sunday around 1 pm. They got a little lost because St. Paul repels anyone from Minneapolis. It's just the nature of the rivalry between the two cities, I firmly believe. (I used to be able to navigate Minneapolis no problem, but after decades of being a St. Paulie, Minneapolis now sees me coming and jumbles up the streets.) We had shut Willow up into the TV room in preparation of the visit. Likewise, we'd let Clover have the run of the house hoping that she'd make her way downstairs. She didn't. In fact, when I picked her up from the bedroom windowsill to show her off to our friends she grumbled and hissed in my arms.

I'm beginning to believe she has decided we are her people and is having none of this being shown off to other people.

Because, wouldn't you know it, the first time our friend very carefully reached for her there were growls and snaps... and then she literally turned tail and ran upstairs to hide under the bed. Said friend later went upstairs with Shawn and had, from all accounts, a much better interaction, but Clover remains very... I swear to all the gods, intentionally unlikable when in the company of other people, particularly other people whom have expressed interested in taking her away from us.

Despite all this, our friends are very willing to remain on stand-by. So, they are the good people we always knew they were.

In the meantime, a fascinating new cat dynamic has emerged in our household.

Like a hidden object game, find all three cats in this messy living room. Hint: big orange tail on the floor, two voids on either chairs.
Image: Like a hidden object game, find all three cats in this messy living room. Hint: big orange tail on the floor, two voids on either chairs.

When Clover is on walkabout at the same time Willow is out, there have been a couple of times when Willow seems surprised to remember that there is an interloper in her household and she will actually make sudden aggressive moves towards Clover. Both times that this happened, I was moving to interfere when.... Buttercup got there first. The first time, Willow had been on the porch and suddenly spotted the smallest little girl out of the corner of her eye and freaked out. She made a mad dash at her. I was standing up to grab her when Buttercup flashed in-between the two ladies and physically blocked Willow's attack, allowing Clover to escape upstairs. He then bullied Willow back a bit before running upstairs to check in on Clover.

I have long joked that Buttercup was a Golden Retriever in a past life, but this is the single most "dog" like behavior I have ever seen him do.

Just to prove it wasn't a fluke, he ended up doing it again when Willow attempted to corner Clover under the dining room set. 

For the record, I am not afraid that Buttercup will hurt Willow. He is similarly fiercely protective of her to the point that, if I am giving medicine to Willow and she squawks at all, he will come up and give me a fierce stare like, "You'd better not hurt her." If any of you remember the story of when Willow swallowed a needle, you also will remember that he was the one who literally brought me to her, Lassie-like, when she was hiding in the basement and alerted us to the problem. 

So, I don't think he has simply shifted his affection. From what I saw (and granted it was only twice) he will made a jump at Willow, but only to get her to back off. They did not fight at all. Fingers crossed their relationship stays this way. I'm not depending on it, but I do think it's kind of amazing that Buttercup is acting protective like this to the littlest one. 

We are, of course, separating them immediately when this happens. We kept them apart for several hours, and we're still making Clover sleep in a shut room. We are trying to be slow and careful with our introductions so that we can have as few of these incidents as possible. Hopefully, Willow will get used to her. I suspect that even if she remains wary the rest of this week, that it all might change once Clover is spayed. 

Fingers crossed at any rate.

QUILT!

Nov. 29th, 2021 12:44 pm
lydamorehouse: (??!!)
 As many of you know, one of the things I've been doing to shed nerves during the pandemic is quilting. Mostly, I've been piecing. I have probably "finished" piecing three or four quilts, but over Thanksgiving, I actually finished one of them.

Willow sitting on the finished quilt
Image: Willow standing on a brightly colored quilt made up of blue, green, orange, and yellow bird-patterned squares.

Some of the details are hard to see, but I quilted the batting and backing onto the pieced section with buttons. They are probably easiest to see on the solid colored squares, because they kind of otherwise PERFECTLY match the cartoon bird yellow squares. The birds' eyes are very reminiscent of buttons, as it turns out. Anyway, it was a big project, but now I am looking at my other quilts and thinking about edging and batting, etc.

It should be noted for the record, that for reasons of pandemic (and not being comfortable with sewing machines) this was entirely done by hand. Even the quilting. Witness my quilting frame/hoop (plus cat)!! 

Buttercup "helping" with the quilt hoop
Image: Buttercup sitting on the quilting frame/hoop.

Tomorrow Shawn gets her second eye done--cataract surgery. She's looking forward to being able to see the same strength (or thereabouts) through both eyes. Will catch you all up on how that goes after tomorrow.

Hope all my fellow Americans had a lovely Thanksgiving (my Canadians, yeah, I'm REALLY belated with this. Sorry.) The rest of the world? Yeah, I dunno, it's a holiday where we eat. Nicely secular, actually. One of my favorites since it is always my made family/friends that I celebrate with. 
lydamorehouse: (Default)
 big orange fluff belly
Image: Looking down at the big, orange, fluff belly

sleepy willow manages to look eeevil
Image: black cat, being sleepy, manages to look eeeeevil.
lydamorehouse: (Bazz-B)
 It's several hours into 2018 and it's going pretty well so far!!  After ringing in the New Year, Mason and I stayed up until 3 am binge watching Haikyu!  There may have been tears. Such a good show.  Now I have to wait on my hands until the next season airs... or, take the plunge and read the manga.  I'm only a little nervous about joining another on-going fandom, due to how badly Bleach burned me. I would feel so much better if Haikyu! wasn't a Weekly Shounen Jump product.  I don't trust WSJ to treat its properties very well or to have the editorial spine to tell a popular mangaka that their ENDING IS TOO STUPID TO LIVE.  Lookin' at you, whoever edited Kubo-sensei and Kishimoto-sensei.

I ended 2017 arguing with people who are Wrong on the Internet (tm). Honestly, it wasn't bothersome that they were "wrong," because we were talking about the new Star Wars film, and I actually ADORE intelligent people who have serious, thoughtful criticisms of the things I love. I was raised Unitarian Universalist, debate is my RELIGION. Bring it!

But, in this case, it was bothersome because this person's strategy for arguing their point was, when they were failing to win, call people "gas lighters" and suggest that if they didn't get a 100% agreement on a point they would say people were being dismissive of them. (See, how, if I agree with you, you actually win and I lose and that's not how this works. That's not how any of this works.) 

What's particularly sad about this, is that this is someone I know in Real Life (tm), a former student of mine, whom I previously respected a great deal.  I got nothing for people who can't stand and fight, however. I mean, if you just want to shrug and say, "Meh, it didn't work for me."  I'm fine with that.  Lots of my friends fall in that category, but coming to my feed and INSISTING that I agree that it sucks? Fight me.  I mean, I presume that's why you came, right?

Before you ask, no, I didn't unfriend this person. I don't unfriend people for having a strident opinion or even for being kind of a dick about it. It's a do onto others thing for me, because OMG can I be a dick about my fannish opinions.  :-)  In fact, I think that if my fan clan had a coat of arms, its motto would be: FIGHT ME (in all caps). Let's be honest, I adore a good debate. (New caveat: so long as it is actually a debate.) Anyone of you who has ever seen me on a panel knows this to be a Truth of my life.

But, so that's how I rang out the year.  Then I stayed up too late consuming amazing anime, and this morning we took down the tree and all the decorations. The house always looks so sad and empty after the tree is gone, so we are consoling ourselves with mimosas (faux-mosa for Mason) and a nice chicken roast for dinner.

We did our traditional pagan ritual of putting silver (dimes are our metaphorical substitute) outside our house and bringing it in on the morning of the New Year. The idea is supposed to be to encourage silver (both as a monetary thing, but also general prosperity) to flow into the house. We keep the dimes in a hidden cache in the heart of our home.  We've been collecting dimes from each year that we've done this (I found a 2017 dime last minute!), so we probably have twenty or thirty cents or so built up over the years.

Meanwhile, our cat has become an Internet junkie:

cat playing with iPad mouse

He will now come up to Shawn when she's reading on her Kindle and paw at it, hoping for his mouse game. Alas, it's only on the iPads, but of course we run get it for him when he does that. He has us well trained.






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