Very Random

In the news.

First up:  Baxter

He lives to escape this house and be an outdoor cat. We started out by letting him out on the deck with a baby gate at the top of the stairs.

Pfttt he sneered, jumped over the gate, and down the stairs he went.

So then we (royal we, meaning my husband) built a tall gate/door using lattice.

Oh, pulleeze, said Baxter.  And then he jumped up and over, and went down the steps.

So then dH put lattice above the other lattice so that he couldn't climb over.

Again? sniffed Baxter, and found all the weak spots between pieces of lattice and wiggled out through them, and, of course, down the stairs he went.

NOW, we think we have him trapped.

He climbs up the lattice a.n.d, can't figure out (so far) how to go across, upside down, the horizontal piece at the top.  There is also a piece coming back from the corner of the post and he can't (so far) get around that.  

So he is confined, for now.  I'm not betting against him.

It is sort of an ugly solution, but maybe when the lattice is stained to match the rest of the deck, it won't be so bad. I hope.

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In further news, inquiring minds have been inquiring What did Knittergran get for Christmas? (You know you have.)

This:

What is it?

That's what I asked too; turns out it is a boot jack. I have a pair of boots that I just love, but I can only wear them when my husband is home to pull them off of me. Problem solved, except for TSA agents. If I fly alone and want to wear my boots, well, I can't. I don't think I can ask the TSA agents to pull them off of my feet, and I don't really want to carry my boot jack with me. Takes up space that can hold knitting!

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Which reminds me:  knitting.  

I frogged the huge sock and have started over with the yarn that matches the finished sock.

And I finished this:

made from this:

It's a simple generic pattern.  (Cast 120 stitches on to size 7 circular needles, knit until you don't want to anymore, or until you have just enough yarn to bind off with, use Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, and you have a cowl.)

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In other news, I heard a commercial on NPR for a program called News in Slow French, I checked it out, and I love it. I have a subscription now and I can listen to it anytime and for as long as I want. Since my French-speaking friend moved back to Quebec a few years ago, I haven't had anyone to speak French with, and I don't want to continue to lose what I had. This program is perfect. There is also News in Slow Spanish. 

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Soon I am off to the gym where I work out with a trainer who is trying to kill me.

He is not this scary, but ALMOST!

So far, he has not succeeded in getting rid of me, but he keeps trying. OUCH!

If he continues to not succeed, I will live to write another post.