Midsummer Miscellany

Posted on July 13, 2016 by Lori Finding Joy
  1.  Back around  Christmas I somehow clicked on the wrong button and, poof, we became Amazon Prime members.  That led to the discovery of Acorn, which is a subscription service that gives you streaming access to all sorts of British television, including my latest obsession:  TIME TEAM.  It’s a show about a bunch of quirky British archaeologists running around Britain digging up remains of the Roman Empire, among other things.  When I was a kid I went through a phase where I desperately wanted to be an archaeologist, and this show has me wanting to dig up the backyard.  I’m a little obsessed.
  2. Were I to dig up our backyard, I would have to navigate the many skeletons of dead mice that one of the cats keeps dragging home.  I was actually fine with her killing the mice,  but when she caught a bird I made Erik buy her a collar with a bell on it.  The collar in no way deterred her, in fact I watched in despair one morning as she tortured a chipmunk while the little bell on her neck tinkled away.  (In her defense, the stupid chipmunk kept running off and then coming back, even after Erik intervened with a broom.)  So far, she’s lost two bell collars and the dead mice keep piling up. dip digging
  3. Although only one bird has come up on the wrong side of the living, I am now conflicted about filling the bird feeder.  I worry I’m luring them to their inevitable demise at the paws of the Dipster Kitty.  Technically there’s no need to fill the feeders this time of year, except that I like having the birds around, but this of course presupposes that the birds are alive.
  4. The other problem is that, after she lost a third of her fur and I became worried that someone would call the ASPCA on us, and after several trips to the vet, we discovered over the winter that this cat is allergic to normal cat food, necessitating the purchase of ridiculously expensive cat food made with rabbit.  Once we changed her food she perked up quite quickly and her hair grew back.  All was well until she started catching critters, and even though she’s not eating them completely, we are starting to see indications she’s over-grooming again and think she probably is supplementing her diet.
  5. The obvious answer, you’d think, would be to leave the cat inside.  The problem with that is she beats up on the other cats, runs around IN CIRCLES as if she is chasing a ghost, PEES ON THE WINDOWSILLS to mark her territory (!), and generally makes life miserable for everyone else.
  6. Yes, we *have* watched “My Cat From Hell”, why do you ask?
  7. In other news, I am going through one of my increasingly frequent “I want to move back to Maine” spells.  There is truly nothing like summer in Maine, and I miss it, and also if someone could maybe FedEx me a lobster roll and a big bunch of lupines I’d be much obliged.
  8. I still miss my Dad.  A few days before he died we were up in Maine visiting him, and on the way home we listened to an NPR segment on Florence & the Machine.  They played the song “Saint Jude” and I cried, because even though I had no idea I still knew….“and even though I’m grieving I’m trying to find the meaning / let loss reveal it”.  At any rate, I keep hearing this song in weird places, like restaurant bathrooms, and it gives me goosebumps.
  9. If you are here for the knitting, there’s been a lot of that while I’ve been watching Time Team.  Skeins of Malabrigo Worsted keep following me home from yarn stores, begging to be turned into baby sweaters, and I am happy to oblige because the people we know keep procreating.  I continue to be conflicted about knitting baby sweaters with hand-wash wool, because I’m guessing it’s pretty impractical, what with babies generally being messy…but, well, I’m not the one that has to worry about that part. I just keep making them.  (New favorite pattern here….I’m on my third one.)
  10. Looking forward to our annual August camping trip, this time to Lily Bay in Rangeley, as well as two weddings and a family get-together.  Also looking forward to our anniversary at the end of September, because every time I open the freezer the top layer of our wedding cake taunts me.  I can’t believe it’s lasted this long.
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About Lori Finding Joy

Native Mainer. Compulsive knitter. Occasional writer. Bird watcher, star gazer, window dreamer. Mom.
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