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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

I'm WAY behind in posting Kitten updates....

Honestly - I spend a lot of the home time trying to get things done between pulling the kitten off the older boys and trying to keep him from going where he oughtn't...more-over - he can't resist helping me type. Hence - I'm kitten handicapped in my blogging attempts...

So - here are some pics - but not the current ones. I think these are from about 2 weeks ago...





You've seen these toys....










General attack mode...









DH's Shoe is a good perch...











LOVE to play under the monitor stand!











"Mine, mine, mine, mine..."








And then we started to let him loose in the house for supervised visits with the big boys...





Superball is fascinating!












CooPurr monitors the little one's play time.















Kitten likes to hang out with CooPurr.







(Translation - jump on CooPurr with great vigor and wide-flung paws [too fast for camera focus...])





When CooPurr is tired of kitten attention...he goes Up...
















Kitten attack mode foiled!!

Monday, June 15, 2009

Sunset pics from the other day...and office bunnies

When I go into work in the AM - there can be bunnies.














I missed this one up on it's hind legs to munch on the bush above...














These bunnies hopped into the "shade" when I came out of the building. I think they're overestimating the camouflage benefits here...










































I took these sunset pictures last week - glorious!


































Sunday, June 14, 2009

That Kitten is SO fast! How fast is he....?....?....?





(Exit stage left...)











There was a kitten here a second ago....












(Heading North...)










("What's that on the floor?!?")












(Pulled into the dragon's lair...)












("What're you do'in?")












("I'll get it!")













Sheer Cuteness.









This too swift blog is dedicated to my friend, Joyce. Love Ya!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Tucson World Wide Knit in Public Day (WWKIP)

Weeeeelllllll....
The attendance at the Tucson WWKIP Day was a bit light.
Borders Cafe in Park Place was one of our two official Tucson WWKIP event sites.
So - I hung out, knitting, in the Borders cafe from about 9:30 to 10:40. I was knitting alone.
Wait - actually there was this nice elderly couple that asked if they could share my table whilst they read the newspaper and enjoyed their coffee. [grin]
I did get up to investigate if the meeting was somewhere else in Borders...knitting all the while.
(Now, knitting as I'm walking about places is normal for me - I kinda do the WWKIP thing all the time.)
But...nada.
No one stopped me, asked about the scarf I was knitting or about the "agree (1)" Ravelry shirt I was wearing, or stopped to talk with me in the craft book section.

(Pause for gleeful acquisition moment...)
Where I found this book...looks like a good read and I really like some of the patterns.
(And there was this Borders coupon burning a hole in my...purse!!)



(Ironic title to the situation, though, huh?)







Borders was suffering from a serious shortage of knitters.
So - I headed over to Grandma's Spinning Wheel (Thank goodness we had another Official WWKIP option!). I got to see the expanded store - quite spiffy! I LOVE the rearrangement and tempting colors and fibers everywhere.
Vicki and Michael were MOST kind and setup a spot for me, the *lone* WWKIP participant, to knit in the front of the store. [read with a tragic and pitiful tone.]

And then....Valerie arrived!! I was NOT alone! She too had spent time at Borders looking for WWKIP knitters to no avail.
We chatted and knitted for a while. Michael of Grandma's Spinning Wheel modeled a unique and fun felted Mohawk hat (note the lovely flowers at the tips of the spikes!). They do all sorts of spiffy felting over at GSW.














We also got treated to some nifty show and tell - I want to learn how to make the ?Moebius Hat? Vicki came up with! I also had to take home an Interweave Hand Woven magazine!!
(Michael took some of the pictures for this blog. I bet you noticed the superior quality and focus. He's been a photographer since he was quite young - my little camera was appreciative of the more experienced handling!)

Guess what!?!


Gordon arrived!










He works a few doors down from GSW and didn't have any appointments until 2 so he came down to KIP! We shifted to the other side of the store, knitted some, and listened to the spinning class (the teacher sang the Niddy Noddy song!).

And then we were four! Sarah came by, also looking for WWKIP activity. She had also abandoned Borders for lack of knitters.


So we 4 intrepid knitters celebrated WWKIP day at Grandma's Spinning Wheel.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The Human Chew-Toy and the as of yet Un-named Kitten

Kitten has LOTS of energy. And sharp claws.
The Vet-Techs said they trimmed his claws last week.
So either someone fibbed or I'm REALLY lucky they trimmed his claws.

He continues to play:


























































When I bring in food and such, he bolts out the computer room door and down the hallway in search of CooPurr.
CooPurr isn't quite sure what to do with him. I think he's unnerved by how little kitten is and how swift he is - CooPurr can't seem to shake him. ;-)
Until I catch up to whisk kitten back to the computer room.

And then he eats and plays some more. I think he's getting a little bigger.













I do tend to be the favorite chew-toy. And he has clumsy or startled moments where he tries to catch himself and I'm the convenient thing to grab.
He's "helping" me to type this after a brief rest in my lap.
I'm trying to patiently teach him not to play too rough (whilst I collect more small scratches and dents). [sigh]
The mere act of typing is toooo enticing for the little one.
He hides behind the keyboard, under the monitor stand and pops out on the right hand opening to bap at my mouse-hand. It's kind of like peek-a-boo. Hmmm.














I did take a few moments out from my new career as "chew toy/kitty tree" to finish the toes of my 2nd-ever pair of socks. I do think they're still a teeny bit short. I don't think I compensated well enough for the smaller yarn diameter. Live and learn. I still need to weave in the ends.
Time to start another pair. The next pair is intended for a dear friend of mine. (She'll love me even if the socks don't fit...but she will probably have to make fun of me a bit.)




























Little one does eventually slow down a bit.


Thursday, June 4, 2009

The rampant kitty-play continues

Well, LBK showed me what the F6 key does on my keyboard. And there was some other command he performed that inspired me to close Firefox to recover...(sigh)

I am getting some reading time in ('cause I can do it one-handed as he bounces, pounces or snoozes on me) but my knitting is pretty well abandoned just now.

He discovered the chenille yarn toy today - it's supposed to hook onto a wand for kitty play, but I just brought in the tip of the toy.
And he was off and playing:


































































And then the camera batteries died.

I didn't get pictures of the static electricity wrapping the chenille around his back/backside like fingers.
Tooo funny!!!!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Looks like LBK (Little Black Kitten) will be staying with us!

LBK had his first real vet visit today. He weighs 1.2 pounds and is about 5 weeks old.
And I wasn't sure I was going to get him back from the Vet techs. He was climbing on their shoulders, having his picture taken, and generally fussed over. Aside from the hearty approval of the kitten-smitten Vet Techs, the Vet said his health seems good, he was well behaved but spunky, and beginnings of a tummy bode well for the improvement of the slight bony-ness of his hips and shoulders. Oh - and he's teething. He'll go back in a few weeks for his first kitten shots.
AND he does Not have the major kitty diseases. [YEAH!!]

I've only had him for 4 days. He now purrs when I come into the room and pick him up to say Hi.
Litter training was easily achieved on Saturday - he's smart!

He plays most of the time. Sometimes I think he plays because he doesn't want to go to sleep...and then he conks out (kind of like a little kid...). It may be my imagination, but he seems to have taken a liking to playing on me or around me.




(The big brown things are my knees.)



































The co-worker who helped rescue kitten came to visit tonight. Well, he also visited with the big kitties too. (Darn, I shoulda got pictures! Rats.) Seems he's been a dog person all his life and was surprised and delighted to find cats were so affectionate and had such personality. He was tickled that the kitten seems to have put on some weight and that he was playing so much.










































There was even some purring involved. I think he's sor
We interrupt this blog for a sample of kitten-typing:
"11111111111111

..0000..4......//////////////////////////////////////////////"

Some of the above message was created the old fashioned way - by kitten standing on the keyboard. Some was typed in a more stealthy manner...
Kitten has taken to hiding underneath the monitor stand and bapping at my fingers as I type. Obviously today, he felt he could do a better job typing the blog...



See the little toes darting out of the darkness over the "F3" key?





And now back to our not-so-regularly-scheduled blog...

I think the co-worker is sorely tempted to keep the kitten but he stated several times he wouldn't take him away from me after seeing how the kitten watches me. I noted that he does still have first dibs but if he wants to adopt the kitten, he needs to say so soon before I'm so smitten I couldn't part with him. (Soon - as in yesterday.)
He reiterated that the kitten should stay with me. Nice man. He's even insisting on paying part of the vet bills - I think he'd pay for all of it if I let him. A very nice man.
We plotted to have another kitten-visit evening so his girlfriend could come by and also considered a dinner out we and another co-worker have discussed in the past.

So - it appears the kitten stays. Guess now we need to start considering a name more seriously.



Why yes, I did type most of this blog one-handed. Why do you ask?