Driveway Dining

It was another busy day yesterday, and I wasn't able to make my way into the sewing room until 3:30 p.m. That gave me just enough time to finish up the remaining two Marvelous Monday Mini blocks. The pieces for the Jacob's Ladder block were cut, and I just needed to sew them together. Despite laying it out ahead of time, you would not believe how many times I sewed it together wrong, then took it apart and sewed it back together.

Or, just looking at it, maybe you would. Next was the pinwheel block. The center points don't match up, but oh well.

It's good practice sewing together these minis, and for now, I'm cutting myself some slack where perfection is concerned...just like always. Now I'm caught up on this project.

As I've mentioned, the catio window is installed in the new camper now, and our next goal is to "acclimate" the kitties. A few evenings ago, we got the bright idea to sit out there for about an hour with the kitties, have a beverage, and watch the news. We didn't choreograph it very well, and...to make a long story short...both kitties escaped. We then spent the next hour trying to round up Sadie.

We can't blame Sadie's anxiety for this whole episode, but she is the more challenging of the two. With that in mind, we decided to try a product I'd read about on the "Traveling with Cats" Facebook page. It's a Sentry Calming Collar. They are made for both cats and dogs. 

Several folks on the Facebook page said they'd tried it and that it made a difference. So, I went to my favorite shopping mall, Amazon, and ordered a box. Then, I went to the door to find it had been delivered in the intervening 30 seconds. Not really, but you know...they're pretty fast. So anyway, they arrived yesterday, and we put one on Sadie right away. It looks a little like the old-fashioned flea collars. The plan was to put one on Smitty too, but we haven't done that yet. He's older and a little less crazy than she is.

It's hard to say whether it's making a difference, but it isn't bothering her either. About an hour later, we decided to give it another try. Dinner was made, and so we toted everything out to the camper that we thought we'd need. Then we each grabbed up a cat and loaded all of us into the camper for the next couple of hours for an evening of fun and exploration. At first, there was sheer

wide-eyed

panic.

They each gazed longingly at the door, willing it to open.

Ordinarily, the kitchen counters are off limits.

As is the dining room table.

For now, we just decided to be permissive and let them explore every nook and cranny.

Smitty gazed all around looking for an escape route.

Sadie was the first to go out on the catio.

Eventually, they calmed down, and we unpacked our dinner of Bibb Lettuce, Chicken, and Cherry Salad with Creamy Horseradish Dressing. 

There were two beautiful heads of Bibb lettuce in our last CSA share, and I'm always trying to figure out ways to use the radishes. We like radishes just fine, but I'm not accustomed to using them. Anyway...this was a new recipe, and it was really good. It isn't on our diet plan, but we figured...how bad can it be? Besides, Mike has lost 13 pounds, and I've lost 8, so we're feeling like we can branch out one or two meals out of the week.

While we were eating, the kitties were getting more and more relaxed. I was wearing shorts, and I'd taken a small quilt out to protect my legs. Eventually, they were both thinking they might take a nap. Quilts are cat magnets, as I'm sure you know.

I spread it out for Sadie, which meant that she lost interest in it immediately. Smitty thought he might like it though.

And then Smitty went out on the catio, and all was well, for the most part.

After a brief moment of fisticuffs, they both settled in.

We finished our dinner and relaxed for another ten minutes or so, and then we packed everybody back into the house. It was a pretty successful outing.

Our plan is to try this one or two more times before attempting a driveway sleepover. If all goes well, we'll try bringing in the slides and then going out for a ride that ends back at home. We don't want any escapees on the road, and that is for sure!

There's no rush on this because we aren't planning to take them with us before our August trip to Central Oregon to watch the solar eclipse. From what we understand, the entire country will be descending on us to watch, and so we want to stake out a boondocking spot earlier in the week. On the other hand, we can see the eclipse from our house. We're just trying to make an outing of it. If it turns out to be too hot in Central Oregon, we might camp in the driveway again.

Today we're halfway expecting the window washer dude to show up. He comes once a year, and he's past due this year. That will give you some idea how much the windows need washing. Also, we're having our neighbors over for dinner tonight. It's an easy dinner, with little advance preparation, and so it won't take a lot of time. If I can stay out of the window washer dude's way, I'm going to try to catch up on the quilt-along going on at The Inbox Jaunt.

Here's the last bit of quilting I did on it. I'm two weeks behind, and that is the last bit of catching up I need to do.

Before I go, here's something new. My friend Sandra told me about a project going on via the Brooklyn Art Library. You can read more about it by clicking on the badge in my right side bar. It's called The Sketchbook Project.

Basically, you pay them $30, and they send you a sketchbook. You can write, draw, include photographs, or fill it with whatever you want to. Then, you return it by March 31, 2018, and it becomes a permanent part of their collection. My plan is to include photographs with a short caption. Sounds like fun!