Dogs And Cats And Pens... Oh My!

[ethernautrix]

Now there's a friendly looking fellow

Thank you, Scribs. She is a lovely furry friend and an integral team member of our Wielkie Wycieczki Rowerowe (Great Bicycle Tours). This photo is from the first one three years ago, to show how she travels. On this trip, the _przyczepka_ (little trailer) was hitched to my bicycle, because that bike couldn't be fitted with a bike rack and panniers. BTW, I took this photo, awkwardly holding the camera behind my back, while slowwly riding somewhere along the Baltic Coast of Poland.

 

No, she didn't much like it, if screeching like a monkey for kilometers and kilometers is any indication, but the alternative was there was no alternative. She ran alongside, hahaha, I mean in front, because she has to be in front, when it was safe (less vehicular traffic and bike paths) until she was tired, and learned to trust us when we suggested "pora hop-hop" (time to get in and ride). There have been times, stopped at a red light, for instance, when she hop-hopped of her own free will.

 

I am hoping for the Fourth Wielka Wycieczka Rowerowa in the Spring. If the Fates allow it.

 

[DrDebG]

This is Joshua and his pet goat. Joshua lives in a small village in Kenya and is one of "my kids". He and the other local children adopted me as their "auntie" because I help their teachers. And . . . well . . . I taught them how to play "Red Rover".

 

I just love the fact that Joshua loves his goat as much as I love my pups.

[Scribs]

I am hoping for the Fourth Wielka Wycieczka Rowerowa in the Spring. If the Fates allow it.

 

 

 

There's nothing like the great outdoors to keep a pooch happy and healthy. I'm told it also works wonders for us two-legged folk too.

 

May the Fates allow both of you many more Wielka-Wycie-thingies!!

Edited October 20, 2019 by Scribs

[Tom Kellie]

 

"Dese inks for ME, Daddy? Me no like! ME wanted Edelstein...."

 

 

~ inkstainedruth:

 

Yubi's friend and private chef has never used any Edelstein ink.

However, a local source has been found.

From your experience, are there any Edelstein inks which you particularly enjoyed using while writing?

I'd be obliged to you for any positive recommendations.

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

This is Joshua and his pet goat. Joshua lives in a small village in Kenya and is one of "my kids". He and the other local children adopted me as their "auntie" because I help their teachers. And . . . well . . . I taught them how to play "Red Rover".

I just love the fact that Joshua loves his goat as much as I love my pups.

 

~ 5Cavaliers:

 

Wonderful!

What a lovely surprise.

Thank you for posting this portrait of Joshua.

May I please ask in which Kenya County Joshua's village is located?

I'm been fortunate to have had many lengthy stays in Kenya.

Tom K.

[DrDebG]

 

~ 5Cavaliers:

 

Wonderful!

What a lovely surprise.

Thank you for posting this portrait of Joshua.

May I please ask in which Kenya County Joshua's village is located?

I'm been fortunate to have had many lengthy stays in Kenya.

Tom K.

 

 

Joshua and his family live in Makueni County.

[Tom Kellie]

Joshua and his family live in Makueni County.

 

~ 5Cavaliers:

 

Thank you for that information.

I know where Makueni County is located.

When travelling to and from Tsavo West National Park I've passed that way.

I once stopped for fruit in Makindu, in Makueni County.

I'm glad to know about your connection to Joshua. Goats in Kenya are favorites of mine.

Tom K.

[inkstainedruth]

 

~ inkstainedruth:

 

Yubi's friend and private chef has never used any Edelstein ink.

However, a local source has been found.

From your experience, are there any Edelstein inks which you particularly enjoyed using while writing?

I'd be obliged to you for any positive recommendations.

Tom K.

 

I really like Tanzanite (a lot of blue blacks lean too teal for me, and it doesn't). I LOVE Smoky Quartz, which was last year's Ink of the Year. Amethyst (if you can still find it for anything resembling a sane price); ditto for Olivine (last year's Ink of the Year). Topaz (yes, it's almost identical on the page to Diamine Havasu Turquoise, which is a lot cheaper -- but there's just something about the flow of Topaz that made me want to have both). And I'm starting to really like Ruby Red (this year's Ink of the Year) -- I have it in the M120 Iconic Blue (M nib) at the moment.

A lot of the regular line, though, I didn't care that much for the colors, as it turned out.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Tom Kellie]

I really like Tanzanite (a lot of blue blacks lean too teal for me, and it doesn't). I LOVE Smoky Quartz, which was last year's Ink of the Year. Amethyst (if you can still find it for anything resembling a sane price); ditto for Olivine (last year's Ink of the Year). Topaz (yes, it's almost identical on the page to Diamine Havasu Turquoise, which is a lot cheaper -- but there's just something about the flow of Topaz that made me want to have both). And I'm starting to really like Ruby Red (this year's Ink of the Year) -- I have it in the M120 Iconic Blue (M nib) at the moment.

A lot of the regular line, though, I didn't care that much for the colors, as it turned out.

 

 

~ inkstainedruth:

 

I'm obliged to you for your time and kindness in explaining the above.

Your preferences will be in mind when I revisit the recently encountered local source.

Like you, I prefer blue-blacks which are simply that, without undercurrents of other hues.

With Appreciation,

Tom K.

[ethernautrix]

Oh, Internet glitches... please stop it.

Edited October 23, 2019 by ethernautrix

[ethernautrix]

Sweet photo of Joshua and his pet goat. I've had experience as a neighbor of goats, and so... they were fine 'til mating season. Then even closing the windows didn't prevent the seeping in of the, ah, the, ah... scent of goats' musk. Powerful stuff.

 

Another photo of Łapa, cos I miss her (will see her in less than two weeks!). Here she was in September, completely unimpressed with my attempts to take this contrived-cuteness photo of her snuggling with Benno Bunny. She scratched her chin, then curled up into a ball of sleep, ignoring Benno.

 

When I return, I will have to undo the misguided and well-intentioned kindness of friends who overfed (ae still overfeeding?) her in my absence. We'll take long walks and, weather permitting, our usual bike trips. Otherwise, more long walks. Can hardly wait!

 

[Tom Kellie]

~ ethernautrix:

 

I love the soft, fluffy look on Łapa's head.

She looks like a lovely friend.

Yubi and I send our best.

Tom K.

[ethernautrix]

Thank you, Tom Kellie (dziękuję).

 

Łapa (pronounced Wah-pah) really is a lovely friend, and I've missed her.

 

I've long enjoyed your photos of Yubi, who looks like a sweetheart. I really enjoy looking at all of these photos, dogs, cats, goats -- and I might be close to convincing my family to bring a dog into their home. There is a cat, a lovely cat, Cleo, maybe even the loveliest cat (except for the shell-shocked geckoes and gecko tails she leaves on the floor). Cleo probably wouldn't mind, eventually, tolerating co-habitating with a dog (I keep telling my family). Hahaha.

 

Łapa, I'm sure, joins me in sending our best back to you and Yubi. Thank you.

[Tom Kellie]

I really like Tanzanite (a lot of blue blacks lean too teal for me, and it doesn't).

 

~ inkstainedruth:

 

Thank you!

Tom K.

[Tom Kellie]

Yubi and a Birthday Gift of Montblanc The Beatles Psychedelic Purple

[ethernautrix]

Oh! What a nice photo! Did Yubi get a bottle of ink for her (his?) birthday? Hehehe! Happy (number of) Days After Your Birthday Day, Tom Kellie!

 

I don't have -- actually, I have hundreds of pictures of Łapa, but instead of posting one of those, I'm going to relate what just happened in this house. In which a cat, Cleo the Gecko Hunter, lives.

 

Not even an hour ago, I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye. "That better not be a spider" was my first thought. Because tarantula size if a spider, but probably just seemed bigger in the blur of movement. Then it came back, and automatically, practically involuntarily, I screamed, "A MOUUUUUUSE!" It turned and scampered off the other way. Presumably past the open door where Cleo was lounging on the Mother's bed. I screamed out the alarm: "A MOUSE! A MOUSE! THERE'S A MOUSE!" Implying, "We have to catch it and let it go outside."

 

The Mother came over. "Where?" We stood in the hallway (all carpeted up here). The Mother looked this way and that way and went back into her room. I went back to mine. And the mouse tried to sneak down the hall. "THE MOUSE!" The poor thing stopped (so small! so cute! probably carrying disease, right? or disease-bearing ticks and fleas, I don't know, but still, so cute!), the Mother came out of her room, and the mouse ran back down from where it had come, meaning, it ran past us, as we screamed and picked up our feet in the stereotypical "mouse in the house" dance. We laughed at ourselves. Then the mouse came back. We screamed again and laughed, our feet hopping off the floor as if on hot coals. Serious now, we had to search for the mouse, which now was in my room.

 

Long story short: It was a stand-off, between my wanting to rescue the mouse and take it outside and the Mother's wanting Cleo to handle the problem, which huddled between the wall and the UPS device that was just long enough to keep Cleo's long arms and sharp claws away. I used a bunch of paper to corral the mouse into a long, narrow, cardboard box.

 

In other words, I won. Sorry, Cleo, but not on my watch!

 

I don't know what kind of mouse it was, but it was gray, small, with a long, skinny tail, like furry cake pop, and when it realized it was free, it hopped away. So some kind of field mouse, maybe?

 

I know, I know. I'm not a vegetarian, and I understand that creatures hunt and kill each other and other lamentable situations. I'm sure it's the mosquitoes that will take me down (which is why the enemy of the mosquito is my friend; I'm looking at you, bats and spiders).

 

So. I'm sharing that, cos it just happened. Actually, it started while I was posting over at fpgeeks. Hahaha. But I had finished there before the happy rescue. Who knows what butterfly effect my intervention started, what disaster for someone, manna for someone else. "Accept the mystery." (Nods to the movie, _A Serious Man_.)

[DrDebG]

LOL! ethernautrix, you made me laugh with your story of the mouse. So, with that story, I must tell my story of "the mouse in the house". Many years ago, my first Cavalier (1st of 5) was named Chester and, at the time of this story, he wasn't really old, but he was the "old man of the house". We had a younger Cavalier named "Higgins" who was young and spry and very funny. We were hosting a Christmas Dinner Party for a bunch of our friends. Everything had gone so well. The Boeuf Wellington came out perfect as did the Swabian Cheesecake. And our Cavaliers were perfect gentlemen. All in all it was a perfect evening. Just as our guests were saying their goodbyes, Chester came out into the middle of the living room and dropped a dark brown object in the middle of the floor. He promptly sat down and glared at me, as though to say "Look what I found in my water dish. How could you let this happen?" And Higgins was just jumping around and barking. At first none of us knew what it was. Then it moved! It was a very wet, half drowned mouse. Apparently the mouse went for a drink in the dog's water dish, and fell in. I quickly grabbed the dust pan, scooped the mouse up and ran it outside, while all of my guests were laughing! I was too!

 

Prior to this we had never had a mouse in the house. And we haven't ever had one since.

 

We lost Chester a few months later, then Higgins a few years later. After the boys came the girls. Pirouette was with us for 9 years, and now we only have Wally and Yofi. 5Cavaliers.

[ethernautrix]

Thanks, 5Cavaliers.

 

What is it about a cute, little, scampering mouse in the house that ignites such laughable panic? If we had had chairs, my mother and I would have been on them, hopping from foot to foot. Probably.

 

Ohh, Chester seems like he was a fine furry companion, to bring the mouse to you alive. One little mouse, they're like tiny comedians. I needed a box to rescue the one yesterday, cos he hopped and jumped as well as scurried. He wouldn't have stayed on a dustpan. Luckily, no shortage of boxes around here (still in the midst of multiple DIY home-improvement projects. Sigh.).

 

If I were here more often, I would insist on having a dog. But I'll see Łapa soon. The last time I returned, she saw me from down the block (after I whistled for her a few times and my friend pointed at me). When Łapa realized who was whistling, she ran at me like a rocket. But she doesn't jump at first. She runs at you, then veers at the last minute, turning and wagging her tail crazily, dancing and crying around your legs, and if you crouch down, she puts her front legs on you, momentarily, runs away a few feet and returns, again and again. I confess... I milk the moment. Can't help myself.

 

Your boys and girls sound like they gave you as much of a good life as you've given them. Sending cyber scritches to Wally and Yofi. *Smiling*

[ethernautrix]

I found this photo with a Google search. Despite its name, kangaroo mouse, its habitat is southwestern California. I think the mouse was a young one of these, not a baby, cos its tail was longer. The name explains the little mouse's hopping. *repressing the girly squeal*

 

 

[DrDebG]

Thanks for posting such a cute picture. They are cute, but unfortunately do carry disease that is easily transmittable to humans. The mouse that Chester rescued was just a plain little brown field mouse - not nearly as cute.