Of clawtips and cookies
Right now it is 1:17 a.m.; Bryon is in bed already, being that he is taking the civil service exam in the morning, but I have a cat on either side of me just watching what I'm doing. (In case you are wondering, Bishop is on the right, and Ripley is on the left in his usual spot on the top shelf of the computer desk.)
Another busy week has come to a close, and the weekend is going to be just as busy. After the exam in the morning, Bryon has a Guard dinner Sat. night (I get to go too). On Sunday I am doing the local Victorian house tour with my mom and aunt. In between these things, we will be putting up our Christmas decorations.
We started the Christmas decorating last night. Basically, we were watching Alton Brown's marvelous christmas cookie episode on Good Eats, and it resulted in us making a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond and Target for a rolling pin and cookie cutters. We got a bit distracted while we were there and ended up buying Christmas lights to replace the dead ones on the deck railing, plus a garland strand to put around the door (they look great!).
Tonight I made Christmas cookies as planned. They came out quite nicely (thanks for the tips, Alton :D) and I even made my own frosting.
What else, what else? Oh yes. Bishop has a new fashion accessory.
Ok, I know I just called them a fashion accessory, but we did NOT buy them to be cutesy. Bishop is a serious scratcher. He claws on furniture, wood and everything else he can get his little paws on. I finally heard about SoftPaws, which are little vinyl claw covers which make it so that his scratching isn't destructive. So far, I am extremely impressed. He got used to them very quickly, and now it's like he doesn't even know they're there. The blue color (yes, they match his collar) makes it easy to tell if all the tips are still on, too. We're not getting them for Ripley (so far) because Ripley only scratches on things he's supposed to, but if we do, I'm sure we'll get red ones for him.
Here's one more photo—sorry it's so blurry, but it illustrates how the claw tips still allow Bishop to retract his claws like normal.
Well, it's off to bed for me, as soon as I finish watching this special on Charles and Diana's wedding.
Another busy week has come to a close, and the weekend is going to be just as busy. After the exam in the morning, Bryon has a Guard dinner Sat. night (I get to go too). On Sunday I am doing the local Victorian house tour with my mom and aunt. In between these things, we will be putting up our Christmas decorations.
We started the Christmas decorating last night. Basically, we were watching Alton Brown's marvelous christmas cookie episode on Good Eats, and it resulted in us making a trip to Bed Bath & Beyond and Target for a rolling pin and cookie cutters. We got a bit distracted while we were there and ended up buying Christmas lights to replace the dead ones on the deck railing, plus a garland strand to put around the door (they look great!).
Tonight I made Christmas cookies as planned. They came out quite nicely (thanks for the tips, Alton :D) and I even made my own frosting.
What else, what else? Oh yes. Bishop has a new fashion accessory.
Ok, I know I just called them a fashion accessory, but we did NOT buy them to be cutesy. Bishop is a serious scratcher. He claws on furniture, wood and everything else he can get his little paws on. I finally heard about SoftPaws, which are little vinyl claw covers which make it so that his scratching isn't destructive. So far, I am extremely impressed. He got used to them very quickly, and now it's like he doesn't even know they're there. The blue color (yes, they match his collar) makes it easy to tell if all the tips are still on, too. We're not getting them for Ripley (so far) because Ripley only scratches on things he's supposed to, but if we do, I'm sure we'll get red ones for him.
Here's one more photo—sorry it's so blurry, but it illustrates how the claw tips still allow Bishop to retract his claws like normal.
Well, it's off to bed for me, as soon as I finish watching this special on Charles and Diana's wedding.
