cat wrangling

This is another one of my there and back again posts. This time I’m Traveling with Cats.  I travel, more often than not, with three cats.  It’s not that they aren’t used to the car, they are.  Each has traveled since the day that I got them.  Bu has ridden in cars for eleven years, Zak six, and Sammy, a year already.  They just don’t like traveling.  For the most part, they are pretty good about it.  It’s the getting there.  First things first, Cat Wrangling: The Prep.  It’s imperative that they do NOT see the cooler. Seeing this one item signals to them that loading of cats into the car is imminent. The suitcases don’t worry them nearly as much, they see them all the time.  Usually only one cat parent is traveling and the cats are safe at home, wherever.  For example, all summer, C and I have managed to keep the cats in one location.  Only one of us has left with a suitcase, well… backpack, at a time.  So, packs of clothes, aren’t a huge  signal for the cats.  The cooler, however, is.  We pack food only when we are going for a period of time.  You know what I mean, the period of time that the food would go bad, or the period of time in which we want to eat the food, or..or.. food IS the flashing red light.  Upon seeing the cooler, they run to hide.  The thing I dread, is to be the last one to leave and have to do the cat wrangling alone.  The cats have figured out that the one nearly impossible place from which to be retrieved is smack dab center under a queen sized bed.  Better yet, the king.  No one has arms that long.  Items such as the vacuum cleaner handle work best for this kind of extraction.  Zak is particularly good at finding hiding places.  There have been times when I’ve had two cats loaded and then spent ten minutes just finding Zak.  That’s not including extraction time.  Yesterday, C had gone on ahead and the Cat Wrangling was mine to do alone.  They were perfect. All three were sitting on top of the bed, waiting to be carried to the car.  Never before!  Thank you, cats.  And, not one of them tried to escape from the car while I was loading in the others.  That’s happened too.  Maybe it had been the morning. 
I ran down to the barn around 8:30 to get my Ashford Joy.  I decided at the last minute I might need it.  In front of the barn was a neighbor’s pickup, I wasn’t expecting to see him.  Beside it was a tractor I couldn’t identify andthere was a dog.  A very stinky beagle, one who had obviously had a run in with a skunk.  My cats are terrified of dogs.  I am terrified of dogs around my cats.  I couldn’t have my cats running to hide out for the day in the woods, I was working towards getting them indoors, where the wrangling is easier.  Here is this damn smelly dog, nice dog.  I grabbed him by the collar and started yelling out, hey, who’s here and who’s dog is this and that sort of thing.  Another neighbor, one I hardly know, with a Bud in hand (did you know that tractors have cup (beer can ) holders.. ours do too, but at that time of the morning I’m wishing for coffee and was surprised to see the Bud.  This would be a perfect spot for me to interject that I had to give up coffee, cold turkey, a week ago.  I knew I couldn’t do it any other way.  It’s been bad, imagine… from a pot to start the day, to NADA!  Forgive me if I ramble.  (The doctor AND his nurse told me today that you should NEVER go cold turkey….it’ll give you a whopping headache.  That’s TRUE!)  Back to the Bud, maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea, no coffee, my pants and hands now smelling of skunk, three cats in the woods, Cat Wrangling alone ahead and then a 4 1/2 hour drive.  This story has gotten way out of control.  The cats were terrific, all went well.  There was no anxious projectile vomiting when we neared our destination. Everyone traveled in the way that made them the most comfortable.  Almost everyone.  That would be 28 pounds of cats on my lap.  It’s the kind of travel best left for the now cooler weather. 

I love these guys. they are so good.

I took a break from Swallowtail.  I needed to get a grip on those nupps.  The yarn is from Ellen’s 1/2 pint Farm.  I bought it at the VT S&W last weekend.  I bought 32" addi turbo #1 to use magic loop style.  After comparing my gauge with a #2 against my sister’s  on a #1, I stayed with the 2.   Guess I knit tightly.  75% merino/ 25%nylon.   I love Ellen’s color work.

Has anyone tried her merino / tencel for socks?  I was wondering how well it wears.