Thor the kitten has picked up on the vibe Izzy the cat sends out and usually gets out of her way, except when he doesn’t. He likes to push his luck when he can. My eldest was giving both Izzy and Thor scratches and he decided to reach out and touch Izzy. She didn’t do anything for awhile, so he kept his paw there until she noticed and told him off. Kittens.
I noticed that my eldest’s Prisma colored pencil case was full of pencil tips. My hypothesis is that the pencils got sharpened, then the tips break in transit. To try to prevent future breakage, I grabbed a strip of foam sheet and used double stick tape to hold it in the end of the box.
I regularly pick a stem or two of basil for my chickens. I was surprised when I snapped one off and came away with two little tree frogs. Oops! So I still have garden guardians, they are just tucked under basil leaves. I shook them back into the garden to keep guarding before taking the basil to the chickens.
I’ve found my best way to give the chickens the basil is to wedge it in a hole in their swing. I have drilled holes in the ends of the wooden board, and I push the fresh basil up through the bottom, and an old dried stem down through the top to lock the stems in place so the hens can pull off the leaves easily.
I’m not entirely sure Griffin the dog knew he snuggled Thor the kitten. It seemed very casual. Normally Griffin doesn’t put up with cuddles, scratches yes, cuddles not for long, even from humans. He’ll put up with Missy being close when they are in the car, or wrestling, but nothing that could be called a cuddle. Which makes me think this was unintentional. I’m very interested to see what happens when it gets cold around here.
I’m also trying a new photo caption method. I’ve almost always tried to have meaningful captions on my photos in case the photo doesn’t load, or my reader can’t see the photo and is using a reading program. It has long irritated me that on some displays the caption looks like part of the narrative, like some lost sentence fragment. I know about alt text, but I don’t like that it is hidden except for audio renditions. (It makes it hard to proofread and feels clandestine.) I saw a post with this type of photo description, and I like it. It a concise photo description with what is, I hope, the essentials of the photo. For those unable to see the photo, it gives enough to form a mental image, and for those able to see the photo, tells them what I think is important in the image. Nothing deliberately hidden, I hope. “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou
I have recently moved my craft supplies into a new space. I did have everything in one side of a master closet with a small work bench. I’m not sure how I fit it all in that space, as it now fills a regular bedroom. No pictures yet, I’m still sorting and evaluating, but I have setup three folding tables, and decided I had room for a fourth. Before I could go buy another folding table, I spot a working treadle sewing machine for sale for $50. Hm. I’ve actually wanted one of these for a long time, but either didn’t have the car space, or the floor space, or the money (restored sewing machines can be pricey). But at that moment I had the space, and I had the cash. I bought it and my husband helped me fetch it. There is a reason it was reasonably priced. It was stored in a feed room in a barn. Yup. But the wheel turns. The owner bought it from the original owner a few years back (I’ll let you do the math here in a moment), but didn’t get around to using it. It had a bag of parts that went with it, and I’m still counting the wasp nests that hitched a ride. It is living in the garage until I can do a basic clean.
I found the serial number and looked it up. This machine is a model 27 and on May 1, 1907, 70,000 machines were allotted. So it is 116 years old and I am the third owner. Hm. It definitely needs some TLC and oil. My plan is not to restore it to new, I rather like patina and that it shows its age, but I will remove the rust, stabilize what I can, and see if I can get it functioning well. This should keep me occupied as the kids head off to school. Oh, and I’ll post updates of course.
Critters and Craft 