Final Full Week

Good morning, my friends. Things are about to get real here at the Three Cats Ranch. Real busy, that is. We'll be at home today, but the week starts off with a bang tomorrow when we take both kitties to the vet to collect their CVI (Certificate of Veterinary Inspection). Think of it as the kitty passport they'll need to enter Alaska. And, honestly, they are natural-born American catizens, so they are very put out at this extra hoop they must jump through. And if you don't know it already, kitties are not fond of doing tricks not of their choosing. Sadie won't even discuss it.

Pardon me while I go off on a tangent just now because I happen to know that certain cats will do tricks. We were fortunate to see The Savitsky Cats when they visited Portland some years back. You can see a video of them right here.

Okay, I'm back from my tangent. Let's talk about yesterday, shall we? I baked the Jumbo Breakfast Cookies. These are individually wrapped now and frozen to keep them fresh until the day we leave. These will ride in the truck with us, and we'll have them as a lunch or a snack. They're good hiking food too.

While I waited for those to bake, I finished off the second block for Le Jardin. I really like these.

Here are the two blocks I have for this quilt so far. 

When I laid them side by side like that, I could see that the "seed packets" weren't exactly the same size. It's because the design for the first seed packet was cut off at the bottom on my download. I simply turned the design upside down and finished it up by tracing the pink border the same distance it appears at the top. Now that I've done this second one, I can see it should have been closer to the 15c price. I might need to redo it. For now, I'm just going to leave it and see how the rest of the blocks look when they're finished.

With that finished, I took time to make up the Kitty Lovers Redwork block from Bird Brain Designs. Happily, I have plenty of floss in the suggested color. I have 8 days to finish this. Think I can make it? 

With that finished, I went to work on my quilt binding. I'm probably a little less than halfway around, but the corners are 50% finished. I'll aim for the third corner today.

The rest of my afternoon was spent studying the Milepost, which is a milepost-by-milepost guide to traveling from Seattle to Alaska and beyond. It's a voluminous and highly detailed book, and it takes some studying to figure it out. I'm working from the 2024 version, although there is a 2025 version out.

It's the third time I've studied this book recently, trying to figure it all out. Yesterday, I decided to see if I could follow along in the book for our whole route. It took me all afternoon, but I located all the stops and placed tabs to mark the pages where they occur. Ideally, I'll be able to start in Bellingham, Washington, and follow our route milepost by milepost for the whole journey. Also, I've figured out that I can view a digital version online. The digital version has search capability. I was having a hard time locating one stop, Bob Quinn Lake, in British Columbia, Canada. When I opened the digital version and searched, it took me directly to the page and even highlighted the words. Cool.

So I feel as if I'm ready, navigation-wise. There is still much to do, however. I've already mentioned taking the kitties to the vet. On Tuesday we need to take Mike's truck in for some service work he can't do himself. Routine maintenance only, thankfully. Then on Wednesday, I'll get a pedicure. Certainly, I can't neglect my toes when we're going on a trip. I'm sure you understand the importance of keeping ones toes looking good. In all of that, I still need to bake one more batch of cookies and make some breakfast burritos. After that, packing, packing, packing. It's a lot to do in a short period of time, but then, the wait will be over and we'll be on our way. I look forward to that. 

Today feels like the last day of peace before the big push at the end. I have a few things to work on today, but I'll have plenty of time for some slow-stitching too. Pancakes are up next, and then I'll take the first stitches on the newest redwork piece. After that, I'll get busy comparing my packing list to what's already in the camper. Today will be focused on inventory and organization. Careful planning pays off once we're on the road. Don't forget to bring your passports if you're going with.