Fat Cats Corner

I started buying my eggs from a local source.  They are 3 times expensive as the cheapest ones at the grocery but only $1 more than the store bought 'free range, cage free, organic'.   To be completely honest, I haven't done a side by side taste test but I'm not sure I could taste the difference in massed produced eggs and free range farm eggs.   I just like supporting local growers and I'm looking into more ways I can do this.  Last time I went to pick up a couple dozen the owner said 'Give me a minute to wash these. They' re so fresh they got feathers on 'em!'   I explained that I didn't plan to eat the shells  :D  When you buy eggs at the store, they're all the same.  Same size, same shape, same color, same same same.  Not so with farm raised... I never realized the how much sorting was involved.  And that different breeds of chickens laid different colored eggs.  I've discovered that the lighter in c...

Well, Florence stalled along the coast dumping upwards of 30 inches of rain.  They are still receiving rain and are now being flooded by  overflowing inland rivers. We received negligible rain and only mild wind gusts.  Honestly, if we hadn't known there was a hurricane off the coast we would never have known.  We are lucky and very thankful.   Today's weather..... Blue Sky Day

With Hurricane Florence just off the Coast and due to make land fall tomorrow,  we getting our ducks in a row.  Last year this time Irma made a direct hit on Florida and then plowed right up through Georgia into South Carolina.  We had winds strong enough to break a dock line Incorrect Position Correct Location  and  lost power for three days.  We were lucky to have friends who did not lose power that offered us a place to stay (we declined due to 3 cats and a dog), freezer space, showers and charges for our devices. Florence is going to be a bigger bitch than Irma was.  She has forced mandatory evacuations along the entire coast of South Carolina and parts of North Carolina.  People are taking heed.  In the 12 years we have lived in the Upstate I don't ever remember them reversing the traffic lanes on the highways so people can flee the Coast.  Nor do I remember so many people actually fleeing the coast. Photo from T...

So, there is a new Muscovy in town.  We had one show up with the flock of Canada Geese about 6 or 8 years ago.  Red, as we called him, hung around for a couple seasons and then disappeared.  Like Red, this new Muscovy (we are assuming it's a he just due to his size) arrived with the geese, is very friendly and started towards me when I spoke to him and rattled a few cat kibbles in a cup.  My Fearless Wonder Zoe immediately went to investigate. He is a beautiful bird with feathers of a color I had not seen before. And he ate right from my hand.  When the kibble ran out he wandered over to see Pipurr.  She was not impressed.  We've decided to call him Gus :)    Muscovy are a quackless, perching duck.  The males will make a hissing sound when fearful or agitated and due to their weight often lose their ability to fly.  The females make a type of cooing/peeping sound.  You can read more about them he...

My Ever Loving Patient Husband took me to Germany the first week in May.  And because it was close enough to our 25th Wedding Anniversary he used his air miles to get us First Class tickets.  I was very grateful for those fully reclining seats during the 9 hour flight. We flew into Stuttgart, the capital of southwest Germany's Baden-Wurttemberg state.  It is known as a manufacturing hub.  Both Mercedes-Benz and Porsche have headquarters and museums there.  There are a number of large green spaces (parks) that are popular with the locals.  They are making significant changes to the main train station across the street from the Graf Zeppelin hotel and surrounding area but it was surprisingly easy to get around.  It was cool but sunny when we arrived and we walked down to Schlossgarten Park.  At Schlossgarten (Castle Garden), Lusthaus Ruins in background The more than 400 years old remains of the New Lusthaus in the middl...

Yea.  Remember when I posted this list of Knitting Plans?  And a few months later changed that plan to  this one ?  Well let's just agree that this will be a fluid, ever changing plan, O.K.?  O.K., good.  I  did complete the Ocean Cable baby thrown and I frogged the Ethereal Shawl.  And since I didn't have the yarns for Simply Sheer I started Tilted Texture   a pattern that wasn't even on either of the two planned lists.  I'm using a beautiful, hand-painted, fingering weight, 50/50 Merino/Tencel from Briar Rose Fibers called Sea Pearl that I purchased at fiber fair back in 2010.   Sigh.  Well at least I'm knitting.

Just some random photos from the last few weeks.   Serious fireplace sharing during the Spring cold snap Boating on a beautiful pre-Spring day Coffee on the dock Sunbathing squirrel Signs of Spring