...but sleepiness.
They say that pets and their people come to resemble each other over time. It's true.
As soon as I hit the "post" button, I'm going to look just like this. Well, not *quite* as furry and not nearly so cute....
Maddie sets a wonderful example.
Have a lovely week all.
Not a day for wild enthusiasms here at Chez Ranger. 40 degrees, 40% chance of rain. Feels like time to ignore my responsibilities, drink coffee and nibble biscotti. I'm sure a good book or a computer game will enter into the picture as soon as I've overcome inertia. And Maddie?
Apathetic, you say? I don't care. At least I'm beautiful.
And there you have it.
The reason for apathy? Too much really really good macaroni and cheese last night.
Aparently adapted from an old roman recipe. Do not let the word velveeta even cross your mind.
And yes, I'm sure the wine has absolutely nothing to do with this mornings apathy. So there.
Happy New Year to all and sundry on the 'Net! We hope you've had an excellent start to 2012, and that the year to come lives up to it's promise for all of you.
Just got back from the Winter Palace. We had a lovely visit with LadyRanger's parents and sister. The star attraction was, of course, their cat Tabby.
She's still a bit skittish around people, but I'm sure that you can see that she is quite the sweetie. And a wonderful athlete! This is a cat that could play goalie for *any* team in the NHL. As long as they were shooting paper balls or mylar crinkles. Nothing gets by this cat. I wish I could have gotten some video, but she's shy around technology combined with strangers. Did have a chance to hand out some head pats though, and was grateful for the chance.
Grateful? And well you should be.
And how did Maddie fare? you ask. She had the usual annoying trip up and back in her carrier, but she weathered it well. She was mostly confined to our bedroom, since we did not want the two combative cats to come face to face. LR's parents confined Tabby in the rec room downstairs a few times so that Maddie could come out and wander about. Maddie had a good time sniffing around the tree. What did Maddie do the rest of the time? Read, mostly. Here's a shot of Maddie bogarting *my new Patrick O'Brian novel*!
Oh that Lucky Jack Aubrey is *so* dreamy! A man's man! I wonder if he needs a ship's cat! And I'd bet that Maturin would be a good vet, if I got too sea-sick! <sigh>
Okay, I'm not as wild about them as Maddie is, but they are roaring good books. About the only novel I read at this point.
I'd like to leave you with a pic with a special meaning to me. One that will go about half unexplained, but hey, no harm done really.
May you have your loved ones about you all the year in one way or another. May you prosper. May you find both contentment and growth.
Happy New Year.
We hope everyone has had a Merry Christmas, or a perfectly rewarding December 25th for those not into the Christmas vibe. It's been a long and busy day here at Chez Ranger. LadyRanger is a bit under the weather and not up to many festivities, but Maddie has more than held up her end of the bargain. She's been enjoying the boxes and tissue papers that have found their way to the floor.
But guys....I wanted Real Estate....
She did seem to love the bags....
Okay, now we're getting somewhere!
We gave Maddie a new catnip stuffed fuzzy carrot and a new tub of 'nip. She played with the carrot for a moment and then went digging for the tub. Here are a couple of (poor quality) videos. Blame the cinematographer, not the star!
We're off to the winter palace tomorrow, so a healthy dose of catnip and treats will be needed to soothe Maddie once we arrive.
We hope you all have had a lovely day on top of a lovely week. Thanks for visiting.
...are difficult, trying, tiring days. And (not to put on airs or anything) especially so for an elementary school teacher. As a result of the tiring days, today's blog post will simply be a pic of dear Ivy demonstrating that which I shall be doing much of today.
The maximum sweetie.
Wish me patience and endurance. Two more days of school a-coming.
Much has been made of the general efficiency of the modern feline. They don't waste lots of energy. They save it up until they want to expend it, then they do so, achieving their aims with the minimum expended. But what most humans don't know is that they are efficient in their use of energy that comes from sources other than internal.
Without a doubt! See? I'm only using enough solar energy to heat one half of me! 'Cause, y'know, the other half isn't chilly.
This way I don't waste precious solars.
Umm...Maddie, the sun's energy is practically limitless, you know. Giant ball of fusing atoms? Lasting for a few billion years? We really don't need to worry about wasting solars.
Stupid human...if the sun's energy is limitless how come it only shines on half the bed at once? Answer me that. Doofus.
0.o
I don't think I'm going to get into this with her....<backs away from the cat>
Fine then! Begone primate, you're harshing my vibe.
As I was saying. Cats = Energy Efficient!
One of the cardinal joys of summer here at Chez Ranger is LadyRanger's herb garden. We (she, mostly) harvests herbs and dumps the fresh yumminess into whatever we happen to be eating that day. We (she, mostly) makes PESTO (NOM!!!). We (she, mostly) grows lemon-thyme for fish and risotto (see previous "NOM!!!" annotation.
One of the gems of the herb garden this summer was the parsely. Not only did it have a lovely, vibrant flavor, but it grew like a champ. Grew so well that we just couldn't bear to pull it out of it's pot and pitch it during our end-of-the-season-clean-up. We left it in the pot to see what would become of it as the weather turned cold.
et voila! Here it is, a bit the worse for wear but here it is. And this is after many nights w/temps in the 20's. We don't know if it'll make it through the whole winter, but we're not betting against it. Superior genetics, obviously.
Did some Christmas shopping yesterday. Stayed far, far away from the Mall. Still awfully tired. Did manage to get a couple of perfect gifts though.
First off, we got all the necessary items for LadyRanger's yummy yummy fruitcake! Hah! I hear your scoffing! But this is not the sodden log of filler that most fruitcakes are. This is a delicious, spicey, fruit-and-nut-laden cake soaked in apple juice and brandy. A delight to the tastebuds. And hey, Maddie endorses the ingredients. Not everything we bring home gets the cheek-rub of approval.
The other item we brought home that won rave reviews was....Paper.
This butcher paper wrapped a couple of cheap restaurant wine glasses (for which we confess a fondness). Maddie immediately claimed it as her own. The paper has been at the foot of the bed all night. Thus, everytime our cat changed position or got up to go on cat-patrol, we heard it. Worth the sleep disturbance to let her have soemthing she loves. Paper. On the blanket stack. In the sun-puddle. How is that a bad plan?
Begone. Your camera-y thingie harshes my vibe. I'm resting on paper. On the blanket stack. In the sun-puddle. I'll attend to you later.
I'll try to get a pic of her in a new box soon, but it's charms are not as great as that of the paper. Who knew?
We here at Chez-Ranger hope that you had a lovely Thanksgiving Day. We know we did. We had our traditional soup, squash and corn garnished with toasted walnuts, avocado and cheese, and fresh bread.
Maddie had her traditional turkey slice. Nommed it right down, too. Then she retired for another Thanksgiving tradition. The nap.
Indeed, the nap is a tradition shared by all cultures with any sort of periodic culinary excess built in. Wise, wise people those founders of culture were.
Don't worry, she woke up in time to have some of the whipped cream off the top of our cake. Went back to sleep right after.
Maddie has always been in our thoughts and prayers of thanksgiving, as have you, our blog friends. We're grateful for your presence. Thanks!
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