From our household, which just doubled in size with the new additions to the family.
We’d been catless since Rerun died of abdominal cancer sixteen months ago. We hadn’t replaced her because (in addition to the fact that she was irreplaceable) things have been too crazy, with me traveling so much and the Florida house. But on Saturday, we decided to get ourselves a Christmas present, and provide one for cats that needed a home. They’re sisters, six weeks old, part of a litter of four (the other two were boys, who were adopted as well, by another couple). They’d been found in a homeless encampment in LA; their feral mother was ill with pneumonia and too sick to feed them, so they were raised on a bottle. But they’re very friendly and love to be held, and to fight with each other. I think they’ll grow up to be good cats, and good companions, to us and to each other.
Yesterday, her second day in the house, the dark one on the right fell off the living-room ledge halfway down the stairs (about a sixfour-foot drop to a carpeted step), which literally scared the poop out of her. But we cleaned it up, and she seems to be using the litter box now.
And here (via Instapundit) is a little Christmas gift from Allison Krauss and Yo-Yo Ma.
[Mid-afternoon update]
Something I hadn't done in a long time: Made Christmas cookies with my late mother's 50s-era cookie gun. Martha Stewart recipe. pic.twitter.com/rekf1WzYld
— Rand Simberg (@Rand_Simberg) December 25, 2018
[Evening update]
For those curious, here is the recipe. I’ve long ago lost the box that the gun came in, but still have all the pieces, and keep them in a gallon ziplock, including the original instructions. I’m not sure which of the recipes she used (or I have, in the past) but they all require refrigeration before loading the gun, which is a PITA, especially if making multiple batches for different colors. What I liked about the Stewart recipe is that it can be done at room temperature, and it worked pretty much perfectly. But (as one commenter notes), do not use unsifted flour. It will make it far too dense if you measure it unsifted. Fortunately, I also have an ancient sifter from the same era (which I rarely use, now that I don’t bake much on a keto-ish diet).
Puddy-Tats! No life is complete without a cat, and tabbies are the perfect cat.
Merry Christmas to you and your extended family, Rand. 😀
Thank you, Barbara, and Happy New Year.
Merry Christmas!
Pooky is 11, she was my 2007 Christmas present to myself wh took over for Jonx my girl of 18 years who passed in April of 05.
Correction:Jinx
They are adorable!
Merry Christmas everyone.
So do they have names yet?
Merry Christmas to all. It is the morning of the 26th already here.
No, we don’t know them well enough to name them yet. We only met them on Saturday.
Sent the link to Mrs. McG for the cat pic. You may hear from her below.
“The time has come,” FC said,
“To talk of many things:
Of cats–and ketones–”
My adult cat gets Purina Beyond Grain Free dry food. It’s 35% protein, which may be a bit lower than optimal. (http://jeb.biologists.org/content/214/6/1039) Foods higher in protein and lower in carb are available via the Internet at about twice the price. My girl likes the Beyond and it keeps her appetite under control, so she no longer overeats. She only wanted two bites of Christmas turkey.
Happy Christmas everyone!
Merry Christmas to you and yours, Rand. Congrats on the new cats.
Rand, try measuring the flour by weight. A far more accurate way of figuring than the guesswork of packed/sifted, etcetera. A handy chart here: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html
I have a sifter. I didn’t have a scale. And the recipe didn’t have a measurement by mass, it was by sifted volume. Sifting worked fine.
And looking at that page, I see no way to determine the weight of a cup of sifted flour.
Sorry. The weight of a sifted cup of AP flour is 114 grams/ 4 oz. The truly serious bakers all have their own weights they go by, based on lots of trial and error, so there is variation. The above number is derived from a collation of several cookbook examples and personal fiddling. The very thing you complained about was what compelled me to move towards the weight measure rather than the volume, and it has smoothed things out quite a bit. Oh, and the kittens are shamefully cute!
Beautiful kitties, Rand! I love ’em! Our Russian Blue, Beethoven, lived to the ripe old age of 17. He was amazing. At 64, though, I’m more than hesitant to get another close companion…for its sake. I think it would outlive me, and I don’t want that. I’ll settle for the squirrels, and the lovely and talented KfK’s chickens (who are quite amusing) instead.
We’re hoping they won’t outlive us, but we’ll probably update the wills to make sure they’re taken care of. Of course, I’m getting to an age at which my pet housefly may outlive me.