Major ManCat Monday

This is to introduce you to the newest member of the household. Yes, I decided to adopt another cat. The house seemed to be way too quiet without another being in the house. 

I really hadn't planned this, I went to the shelter's website to send an email to where and when I could drop off the remaining food and cat litter. Like I usually do I did check out the adoptable pets and this guy just jumped out at me. I hadn't been truly attracted to a picture on the shelter website in ages. 

This was Max, six and a half years old. A hefty fourteen pounds. A huge switch after mini size Ducky. I figured he was old enough that he shouldn't outlive me like if I had gotten a kitten. He was from an only cat household, so would have the same thing here. 

The following are his shelter pictures.  

He is a gorgeous copper colored tabby. His eyes are a very light greenish-yellow. Fur is soft and very dense. His tail is up so I think he is happy. 

Now he has been here since March 19! Yes, I managed to keep him a secret for a few days but I wanted to make sure we both were settled in. 

His first few hours were spent under my bed, but late evening when I went to bed to read for a bit, he jumped up on the bed. When I turned out the light he was doing laps around me on the bed. When I woke up he was laying at the foot of the bed. He has been sleeping on my bed since. 

While I let him out to roam the rest of the house he managed to get access to the basement. I wanted to keep him upstairs for the first bit. He did come up with lots of cobwebs once, and another time he was just sitting on a foam pad down there. I figured a way to block access so I knew he has to be upstairs. He was allowed back down on Sunday while I did laundry. 

He has adapted well, he will sit on me and cuddle. Sit behind me on the back of the chair. I can hear him purring like crazy at times. He is also a vocal cat at times. The first time I got in the shower I could hear him meowing just outside the shower. 

One thing different that either Derby or Ducky is that he has claws. Derby was totally declawed, Ducky was front declawed. He isn't that great with letting me handle his paws. I am having to monitor him so he is using the scratcher and not the furniture. 

Oh yeah, I changed his name too. I went back and forth on names for days. I finally settled on Dobby. Yeah, from the character in Harry Potter. So Dobby, the HouseCat Elf!

A few pictures I have taken once I got him at home.  

 

Dobby may make some guest appearances on the new blog but won't be blogging like Derby and Ducky did. 

Crochet Time

It is the day of the spring equinox or the first day of spring, or partial day of spring. The snow of last weekend is rapidly melting. I can again see my spring bulbs pushing out of the ground. Temperatures are bouncing up and down but at this point no more snow storms in the next week. When you are outside the birds are singing up a storm. 

March Madness is a bust for me. The Wisconsin Badgers lost by one point and are out of the tourney. Now I really don't care who wins. If I am not watching games I can get other things done, but then I am crocheting less too. Oh well, I crochet when I watch TV anyway.  

Retro Stripe, Red Heart Yarn. One of my favorite color mixes that I have worked with. Bright, cheery pastels. 

 

I had this happen last night starting the last skein of a project. All of the other ones pulled out just fine. I got it sorted and then crocheted enough to not have all the little bunches of yarn. 
  

Happy Weekend and Happy Spring. 

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

Hopefully we had the last hurrah of winter this week with a snow storm. Officially they were giving us blizzard warning from late Sunday through 4 PM on Monday. At least by me the visibility never got that low and the winds weren't that high either. I think I got about 5-6 inches of snow. Also had rain, some sleet as well before the snow started on Sunday evening. 

It is supposed to be in the 50s late this week, so it will melt quickly. Plus the spring equinox is on Friday, more and more sunshine to enjoy.  

Nice with being retired. I can anticipate the storms, make sure I have food, books, crochet stuff to keep me amused for a day or two. 

I spent part of my inside during the bad weather on Sunday to go through my TBR. Checking to see if the library system has the books, removing the duplicates, removing books I didn't find. I have had one books, the first of a series, on hold for over two months. I just deleted the whole bunch. I figure that the first book is lost. I have a nice long TBR list, I won't lack for books to read.  

The Queen Who Came in From the Cold - It is the spring of 1961 and Queen Elizabeth is off to give a speech near Liverpool. Traveling by train Princess Margaret's lady in waiting swears she saw people dragging a dead man near the tracks. Digging deeper into the death they discover a plot to get a defector from Russia to the UK, using the royal yacht Britannia. 

A Fountain Filled with Blood - the second installment of the Clare Ferguson Mystery series. It has been six months since the first book, mid-summer and a few issues with gay men being targeted and beaten. 

Austen at Sea - in 1865 two Bostonian sisters start a correspondence with Jane Austen's surviving brother. To add to the mix, they decide to travel, alone, to meet him in the UK. Needless to say things don't go smoothly for the two, last minute chaperone, an at sea wedding, meeting lots of different people, a surprise gift, a divorce and other legal proceedings. I stayed up past my usual bedtime to finish this as I so wanted to know how it ended. 

Snacking Dinners - is just as it says. Having snacks for a meal. Not just chips or popcorn, but fancier stuff on toast, deviled eggs with what ever on top, cheese plates, antipasto, noodles with made up sauces. Whatever you want to throw together! I do it all the time!

All This Could Be Yours - Tessa leaves a corporate trainer job wanting something more. Three years later she is a best selling author on a book tour. One thing she seems to have gained is a stalker. Every stop there is someone asking very personal questions, things go missing etc. An ending I wouldn't have predicted!

The Woman in Suite 11 - A Ruth Ware novel, bring back the main character, Laura Blacklock, from the book The Woman in Cabin 10. Laura is restarting her professional life after getting married and having kids. She gets invited to the opening of a luxury hotel in Switzerland. Laura finds herself in life or death situations, wondering whom she can trust. 

Spitfires  - the true stories of twenty-five American women who knew how to fly and were recruited to come to the UK and fly. Not in combat, but in moving military planes from factory, to bases, to repair shops and back again. Follows their lives, loves, accidents through the war and beyond. 

 

 

 Happy Reading.   

Mini ManCat Monday - In Memorium

 

 MALLARD OLYMPUS CUTIE PIE aka DUCKY

6/28/2008 to 2/16/2026

Gotcha Day 2/13/2010 

 

 

I think I am finally ready to do this. One month ago, you decided it was time to join your brofur Derby at The Bridge. You wanted to make it so I would never for get the day. So you picked my birthday. You know I can't and won't forget the days you came to live with me and they day you left. Plus all the days in between.  

Ducky, oh how I miss you. The house is quite, too quiet. Even though you weren't making much noise as you got older, you were always around. You were my lap cat, or in many cases if my lap was full of a laptop or crochet you would sit on my boobs! 

You were just a bit over a year and a half when you came to live with me. A reject as it were from your first family. You ran away and when you were found, they didn't want you back. Why I don't know, you were the sweetest little guy. 

A little guy indeed. Even at your prime you barely made it to 9 pounds, a small package that even some of the people that would come to clean the house thought you were a kitten. Even though you were eating you were losing weight, I could feel all of your ribs as we cuddled. 

In your younger days you were a jumping fool. So much so that you won a gold medal in the CatOlympics back in 2012. High jump indeed. Here is a link to the video showing his winning jump! 

As you got older, like so many cats, you had some kidney issues. Lots of deposits in the litter box. That was treated with special kibble and wet cat food and lots of water available for you to drink. Lots of discussion with Dr M to see if there was much more to do, maybe SubQ fluids but we never did get that far.

You also developed this chronic sinus issue and were too old to sedate and get your sinuses cleaned out. I had to endure your sneezes, sneezes with lots of snot getting all over things. On my laptop, me, furniture, books or crochet projects, walls. One of my tasks will be to go around cleaning stuff for the near future, a little bit at a time.  

I knew your time was coming. You were supposed to see Dr M in March and I figured it might be time to send you on your way. You had a surprise for me.  

Your final 24 hours with me, watching racy cars, cuddles on the couch, then bedtime. When I got up that Monday I didn't see you at first, but then heard this sound and found you. On the floor, limp and shaking. Not responding to me. Off to the vet we went and they promptly took you back and got an IV started. Then rather that moving you to an exam room I was brought back to the treatment area. 

Dr M explained what she had seen and we agreed to let you go was the best option. I had a few minutes with you and then we sent you off to The Bridge. Farewell my sweet boy. I will miss you forever. 

Days alive 6,442 which was close to 17 years and 8 months. Time spent with me 5,847 days, 16 years and 3 days. 

Following are some pictures over the years. First few are from day one at the shelter and then at home together, even under the bed.  

With Derby on the left. 

 

 

The canister with your ashes. Golden, just like you with little paw prints on the container. I wasn't asked what I wanted for a container, but they did a good job picking this out. Your paw print, with your name nicely imprinted as well. You are back with all you little rubber duckies. 

Until we meet again sweet Ducky. 

Crochet Time

Again I forget to add in the comments from me. First Happy Birthday to my brother, Stormy. Don't want to use his real name, he is three years older than me.  

Supposed to be a very windy day with a snow storm to follow on Sunday into Monday. So far I see one of my outside chairs is blown over, along with one small bird feeder. Plus I can hear the house creak a little bit while I am in the living room, but not in my bedroom. 

I have a couple of things to take care of on Friday AM outside the house. Then I can stay home until Tuesday! 

Mystic Mermaid, Big Twist Value yarn. Nice blend of colors in the purple family with a bit of pink added in for contrast. 

 

 

 Stay safe and warm this weekend. I have lots of books and crochet to keep me busy. 

Happy Weekend 

Wonderful Wordy Wednesday

Lots of work over the past week getting things on the computer back to "normal", I wasn't thinking and just clicked on the button from my cloud storage to restore EVERYTHING. Wrong move, said it would be three days, so I let it run for three days. Then I couldn't find anything. Early on I knew I could find individual files and I found the 10 or so I really needed. No pictures included. 

Then as I figured it out, I could just download certain folders with documents and pictures. Got that all done and finally have things where I want them and can find them. In January my old hard drive was nearly full so I bought an external hard drive to move really old pictures off. But after restoring so much to my new hard drive, that is over half full already. Maybe I should go get another external hard drive.  

After thinking about it I will be starting a new blog concentrating on what I do with books and crochet projects. The reveal date will be 

 Wednesday April 1, 2026 

https://bookshooksyarn.blogspot.com/ 

This will give me a chance to get things organized over there. I haven't done much with setting up a blog in ages. Just doing posts is easy, all this other stuff I have forgotten how to do it. Plus a few things aren't quite the same. I will figure it out, nothing like a new challenge. 

We had a successful evening at trivia on Monday, second place again. Which means a $25 gift certificate which we use for our drinks and appetizer for the evening. Taking the rest of the month off as one of our group will be on a trip.  

Monday March 16 will be a memorial post for Ducky. 

So on to the books, yes, still finding time to read. Makes me calm after being stressed out with all of the computer stuff.   

Home of the Braised - White House Chef mystery. Ollie is in the midst of planning a last minute White House dinner, trying to get her wedding organized and oh yeah, save the day with the President. 

A Dream of Death - first book in a series, Kate Hamilton Mysteries. Kate is an antiques dealer and widow from Cleveland, Ohio. She is on a trip to visit her sister-in-law, Elenor, who lives in the Scottish Hebrides. She finds out her Elenor is planning on selling the large family home that serves as a hotel. The night after Elenor announces the sale she is found murdered and buried under a pile of snow. So can Kate figure out who did it? 

The Twelve Books of Christmas - it's Christmas time and Brooklyn and Derek are hosting the entire family. They get a call from from their Scottish friends. Would they fly to Inverness to be witnesses at their wedding? Yes! However while there they look into missing books from the castle library and find a couple of bodies. I've managed to read all 17 books in this series already in less than a year. Now I wait for the author to release a new book. This last book was published in October 2023, so two years ago! I want a new book! One is in the works. 

In the Bleak Midwinter - First book in a series. Main characters are Rev. Clare Fergusson and Police Chief Russ Van Alystyne, both are former Army as well. Clare finds an abandoned baby on the back steps of her church. In trying to track down the parents, some church members aren't too happy, and when they figure out who mom is, the mom is murdered. Lots of twists in this one. 

Every time We Say Goodbye - Vivien has written a play that audiences love, but the critics don't. To escape London she goes to Rome to work as a script doctor in 1955. While there she also searches to see if she can find her any trace of her fiancee who died during World War II. Lessons as to looking behind to the past or looking forward to the future. 

Karen - a memoir by actor Kelsey Grammer about his life and that of his sister Karen. Karen was brutally murdered in 1975 when she was just eighteen. Book was hard to read, party on the subject matter but also the writing style of the author seemed disjointed to me. 

The Lost Key - second installment of The Brit in the FBI. Nicholas Drummond is a newly minted Special Agent and manages to be involved in a few deaths on his first day on the job. Those deaths lead to a much deeper sinister plot that involves a world order, nuclear material and a bit of James Bond magic. This book moved much faster than the first one, which I liked better. 

 Happy Reading. 

Crochet Time

Hello and Hallelujah. I'm back in business on the laptop. Got most of the basics done, programs re-downloaded. In the process of restoring files from my cloud backup, but that will take time. Lots of files to come back. Plus I think I am going to start using Google Drive docs and whatever they call their Excel clone. I don't want to pay for access to Microsoft 365. Or at least get free access to Microsoft stuff. I wonder if I can still download the student edition. Hmmm.

What was wrong, well the hard drive crashed and burned. Nothing that could be fixed. So they replaced it with a drive that is now twice as big as the old one. It took me 6-7 years to fill up the old drive, so this one should last a while. I may need a new laptop before then.

When I first tried to get into the blog it wouldn't let me. I had to hunt around, re-activate or recover this blog. It wanted me to create a whole new new. Maybe I should do that, but leave this one as a archive for Derby and Ducky. Will see if that happens or not, I did think of a nice title and did start it up. So I can move it when I want. Don't worry, I will give you lots of warning. 

It is Friday, which means crochet stuff. 

Yarn is Big Twist Rave, color Unicorn. This yarn has been discontinued. Lovely mix of lavender and mint. It was also a soft yarn so would be good for a baby blanket.  

This catches me up to the blankets I finished and then donated in early February. What I finish from here on out will be stored until fall for donation. 

Happy Weekend!