Cat Day Afternoon

Today is the only day I'll have this week to really get much fun stuff done.  I decided it would be a day of sewing and canning.  I took all of the tomatoes I've harvested so far and made my first batch of pasta sauce. At around 12:30, it looked like this:

While I was peeling and chopping, the kitties went outside.  Gracie is tolerating Smitty much better.  She likes him better when they go outside together.

Gracie has always been super cautious when she's outside, and so I'm hoping she'll teach Smitty the ropes.  She has already taught him the fine art of sipping water from the puddle that forms below the birdbath.

Smitty likes to hunt.  For now, he stays close to the house, but I expect he will grow more bold.  He caught his first mouse a couple of weeks ago, and now seems to have developed a taste for hunting.

And he really likes to lie in wait and attack Gracie when she's not watching out for him.

She hates that.

Do you see how one of his knee socks is longer than the other?  Either that, or one of them has fallen down around his ankle.

He looks appropriately chastened when Gracie boxes his ears.  This lasts for all of five seconds or so.

When the sauce was ready to simmer for a while, I decided to bring Mr. Smithers inside with me.  I don't like leaving him out when I'm not around to keep an eye out for predators.  We went down into the sewing room, and I set a timer to check the sauce and give it a stir every ten minutes.  It took about two hours to cook down.  At first, Smitty thought he might get into things.

But then, after playing outside most of the morning, he started feeling tired.

Then his little bed started looking like a good place to tidy up.

And within a few minutes, he was sound asleep.

I sewed the rest of the afternoon, taking care of my pasta sauce as needed.  I can't show you anything I sewed today because it is for:

You'll be able to see it there on the very first day.  Also, I volunteered to make a block for a mystery project.  It's so much of a mystery that I can't share it with you.  Many of you are also taking part, so I'm imagining you know what I'm talking about.  Still . . . shhhhhhhhhhh. No peeks and no leaks.

And here's what my pasta sauce looks like now.  I was able to get three quarts from this first batch, which is a pretty good yield.  

And may I just say, Yum.  This tastes like a burst of summer when I open a jar in the dead of winter.  I'm hoping to grow and harvest enough tomatoes for at least another five jars.  If I can do that, my tomato angst will not have been in vain.  For now, I'm going out into the greenhouse each morning and doing a little cheer for them.  I keep my pompoms out there for convenience.  I was thinking of making myself a little cheerleader outfit, but that seemed like overkill.  I'm so happy about my tomatoes, the I'm linking up to:

Tomorrow I have a full day away from home, which is a bummer.  I'm getting my hair cut and colored.  I always ask them to add a little gray so that I can look my age (snicker).  It's such a bummer getting carded all the time when I go into a restaurant (snort).  You know what I mean, don't you?  And then I'm seeing the doctor about my knee.  My knee has hurt for decades--literally, decades.  Lately it's been giving out on me when I go down the stairs. Not a good sign.  Several years ago I was promised there was a knee replacement in my future. I'm hoping that time has not yet arrived.  On the other hand, it would be good if it would stop hurting too.  In any case, no sewing for me tomorrow.  And probably none on Thursday either.  It's Smitty's day to go to the V-E-T.

How's your week shaping up?