All Cats are Beautiful

Kitty Farrell came into my life in the summer of 2009. She was one of a small litter of kittens,  born to a stray I called  Mom Cat.  Mom Cat  had multiple litters over the years. The first time I saw Kitty was with Mom Cat on a very rainy night. Mom cat was leading Kitty and a black kitten across the alley in the rain, from between a garage and fence. Kitty was grey, with a white patch on her chest, just like Mom Cat.  She began coming  into my yard and I would feed her. I really couldn't resist. She was adorable! I knew she was feral but needed help and deserved a chance to live. As she grew I realized that I could neither take her in nor could I have her put down. I also didn't want to see her live the life her mom cat had lived; having litters every year and being rejected and homeless, with most of her kittens disappearing.  I began researching the option of Trap, Neuter, Release (or Return), otherwise known as TNR. With some trepidation, I tra...

When I created this blog years ago, I titled it "Scraps and Surplus", both because it reflected the kinds of content I wanted to include, and it was something that resonated with me from the job I held at that time. It often felt that I had bits and pieces, random scraps and surplus ideas floating around in my head that I'd like to document. My employer had a process whereby you could dispose of unwanted or no longer useful items by completing a form called "Scrap / Surplus". The process was bureaucratic and Byzantine.  The disposal process is computerized now, yet still remains overly complex and bound up in the past.  After some few decades with that employer, I've freed myself of them, and am semi-retired.   Now it's time to free myself also from Byzantine and bureaucratic ways of thinking! I hope to begin living and doing in new and interesting ways, and occasionally blogging about my experiences.  Maybe my adventures in reinvention will amuse o...

As I get older, I find I often have my mother's words coming out of my mouth, or springing to mind. Time to document these before they're lost to the next generation! When I was being an incorrigible little pip: "I'll break your arms and legs, and beat you over the head with them!" "I'll hang you up in the closet by your toenails!" Now I know this sounds as if mom had a sadistic streak, but she actually only rarely resorted to corporal punishments of any kind at all. The effect was mostly cartoonish, in the ridiculousness and impossibility of the threats. Mom was also a big fan of the "I'm going to count to three..." school of discipline. Worked like a charm, at least til I was fast enough to out run her!

very busy.

I've been on a quest for creamy creamy scrambled eggs again. while I don't have the patience to set up a double boiler and cook them that way, as directed in Joy of Cooking or somewhere, I'm changing my scrambling style to try to find that unique point of cooked but "tender and moist" eggs. today's technique included low heat, and lots of moving them around on the pan, but they started to stick to the pan. Still, I got the texture right, but the flavor wasn't quite "eggy". More butter? more salt? I'll have to try the steel pan instead of the Analon one...

I just learned about tiny homes. Cute, compact, portable, affordable. But so much nicer than a mobile home! For examples: Tumbleweed houses MaryJane's Farm A tiny home in Minnesota