Jack’s Walk

I call her Cocoa © Voyager, all rights reserved

Jack has been having problems with swelling and pain in his left shoulder. It’s likely arthritic, and it would be good for him to start taking an anti-inflammatory drug called Meloxin. Our first lab Lucy had a lot of joint problems and she took Meloxin for years with good effect and I want Jack to have equal comfort in his senior years. Trouble is, that Jack takes a steroidal allergy tablet every day because he’s allergic to grass, and the two drugs are incompatible so he can’t start it until the grass is dead and he stops the steroids. We see the Vet on Monday to discuss other options, but for now, Jack is limited to one short walk a day. He isn’t very happy about this state of affairs, especially since getting in and out of the car is difficult, and we’ve been sticking close to home. I can’t believe I’m actually saying this out loud, but I hope it snows soon. Sorry folks, but it’s going to come eventually, and the sooner all this lush green October grass goes to bed for the winter, the sooner my Bubba can have some fun again.

The photos are from last week.

Isn’t she beautiful? © Voyager, all rights reserved

This is Cocoa’s best friend, Nugget © Voyager, all rights reserved

Hallowe’en Photo Festival of Fun and Fundraising

Today’s photo is from kestrel and it’s a lovely, serene photo of a plant called plumbago. I did a bit of research to discover that this plant has a few practical uses, including as an emetic and a treatment for wounds and warts. Very useful for the wart plagued witches of October, no?

©kestrel, all rights reserved

 

(Also, apologies for the bad writing yesterday. That is probably the most awkward sentence I’ve ever written. I was trying 2 different ways to say something and I forgot to edit. Naughty, voyager!! No, please don’t go back and read it. Look at the pretty kitty and forget all about the description.)

Degupdate: Candy Mistaking Herself for a Cat

Apparently degus and cats share a tendency to climb up things they then have problems getting down again… I’ll have to take some measures to prevent them from breaking their neck, as Estelle managed to get into the “storage” compartment on top of Degustan and then fall most of the way down…

In the first video you can see Candy trying to jump onto the side track of Degustan where the food is kept.

In the second video she managed to get onto it, and up the side of Degustan. We quickly needed to make that top “degusafe” after that.

Here’s a triumphant Candy with a well deserved stolen treat…

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

They’re also trying hard to gnaw their way out of the enclosure. They’ll find out I have more hinges than that…

©Giliell, all rights reserved

And finally, our “latest degu”: Sugar, a giant crochet degu. There’s a distinctive lack of degu plushies on the market, but thankfully somebody on etsy sold a crochet pattern, so I made one for the little one’s birthday (Happy birthday my love!). While this is meant for small amigurumi projects, that wool was just too amazing.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

Hallowe’en Photo Festival of Fun and Fundraising

Today’s photo comes from William of the Bolingbrook Babbler and it’s a gentle sort of picture, titled Cat on a Fall Afternoon. We all know, though, that although even sleepy calico cats are ruthless killers at heart and this one’s dreams may be filled with mayhem and plans for world domination. Meow!

©William Brinkman of the Bolingbrook Babbler, all rights reserved

Enter the Muskrats

The town our friends live in has a really nice park, with an amazing playground that even the resident teen is happy to visit, so we declared it our meeting place while the plague is on. Apart from the playground it also has a pond with a muskrat family. Unfortunately I only had my phone with me, I promise to do better the next time. They’re neozoons in Europe, but cute.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

Hallowe’en Photo Festival of Fun and Fundraising

Snakes. Some people love them, some people loath them. Whichever camp you’re in, you’ve got to admit that they’re an alpha predator with a taste for the blood of small, innocent creatures.

Thanks to Kestrel, for bravely snapping this danger noodle to share with us today.

©kestrel, all rights reserved

 

Jack’s Walk

© Voyager, all rights reserved

Jack and I see lots of chipmunks on our walks, and I often try to take a photo, but they dart away too quickly and in unpredictable directions. Today, though, this little guy literally darted into the spot where I was aiming my camera, and then he stopped for a moment. It was just long enough for me to grab a few shots before he darted off again.  Although this looks like a planned sort of chipmunk picture, I was actually trying to photograph the saddle of the log behind the chippie. In retrospect, that would have been boring, so thanks, little guy for the photobomb.

© Voyager, all rights reserved

 

 

Hallowe’en Photo Festival of Fun and Fundraising

Today, we have a pair of beautiful early-autumn landscapes by our very own Giliell.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

©Giliell, all rights reserved

 

Hallowe’en is fast approaching, so don’t forget to send in your photos. Maybe you have some pictures of people in costumes or spooky decorations. Perhaps it’s photos of snakes, spiders, scorpions, or other creepy crawlies. If you’re not into any of those things, you could send us your pretty pictures of the fall landscape. Our address (affinitysubmissions@gmail.com) is always in the left sidebar underneath the colourful percolating head and if you click that link it will open up an email form for you to use.

 

 

 

 

A Soap Opera

I’ve wanted to make soap for a long time now. What stopped me so far was the lack of a safe work space. I am not going to handle NaOh in my kitchen with the kids running around. But with the workbench finally set up I got myself a “starting kit” for soap making and tried my first batch.

©Giliell, all rights reserved

I did everything by the book, prepared my stuff, and still managed to grab a bottle of bergamotte scent instead of lavender. That turned out to be a blessing in disguise. For one, my oils turned the colour pretty yellowish, the purple didn’t look that nice, and for a pure lavender soap it would have been ugly. But with bergamotte in the mix, the yellow “makes sense”. Second, while I used the amounts of essential oil specified in the recipe, the lavender does come off really strong. If I’d used 20 ml of lavender, it would have overpowered everything and probably made the soap unusable.

I let it rest for two days, and it was still too soft to take out of the moulds. Re-reading everything I came to the conclusion that the freshly made soap cooled too quickly as my work shop is quite cool. The next batch will get taken to the kitchen and wrapped thoroughly so it can cool more slowly.

My book also offered a dirty trick for dealing with too soft soap, which is to freeze it for an hour or so. That worked fine, but somehow turned the purple pink. I’m curious to see if it will turn purple again. It’s now off to drying and should be ready in time for Christmas. Yeah, this year’s Christmas presents will smell nice.

©Giliell, all rights reserved