Well, despite an exciting early week of power failures and dirty laundry, Disaster Cat managed to find time to go to Dublin and have the deep wart on her foot taken care of. It was not fun, and the traffic going home had husband going nuts before it was all over. Still, it was not as bad as I expected (they have made great strides in numbing sensitive body parts before sticking needles in them) and was over pretty quickly. The trip took most of the day though, and when I got back I was sup...
Greetings everyone to everyone reading this. As you can tell by the fact that I am on the computer, we do have our electricity back on. The day was a bit easier to deal with this time, mostly due to the Thermos full of hot tea I had ready this morning. But the rain and hail storms did not go down well...though I did manage to read most of the Sunday newspaper. The phone also kept working, which meant we could keep in touch with everyone. But only if we were willing to shiver in the hallw...
Well, everyone will be happy to know that Disaster Cat, her husband The Wolf and our House-mate The Lizard; have all returned safe and sound from an SCA Crown Tourney in Southern England. Now for those of you who don't know, Crown Tourney is a "fighting event" where people dress up in armor and hit each other with rattan sticks. The one who bashes the best gets the job of King (or sometimes Queen) for the next six months. He (or she) fights for his/her consort who then gets to be either qu...
Greetings everyone in Disaster Cat Land, I'm taking time from packing for our weekend SCA event (re-enactment) to let everyone know that things are improving here. From feedback I've gotten from concerned friends and family, I felt I had to let folks know that not every day here at Kilmurry is Crazy. Just most of the ones I decide to write about. The ones in between are often calm, even sometimes a bit boring. Though the latter doesn't happen all that often. Anyway, I am happy to rep...
Well, this morning here at Kilmurry House, Disaster Cat was not Flying. In fact, she did not even really get a chance to get airborne before things started to get really weird. First, there was waking up early. First time 6am, then 7am finally gave up at 8am. Now I know that for most of the world, these are normal times. But when your husband tends to write (or in this case be making jewelry for a showing) until 4am, trust me, a six am wake up is not ideal time to face the day. I decide...
Well, Those of you following the Disaster Cat Chronicles know that yesterday I decided to experiment with a self-help web site that promises to help you clean up and organize your home. This miracle is to be accomplished slowly and with "baby-steps," most of which are supposed to last between five and fifteen minutes at a time. Each day presents a few new additions to the mix of stuff you do. Here is my report from Day II.... This morning I managed to get most of the first assignment a...
Greetings everyone out there in Blog land. This week, we may actually have something to write about in addition to the saga of cats and other critters. Though for those who have asked, Thor the Cat is now doing fine even if his ear will always be bent sideways. This week he has decided that the stuffed animals in the bedroom are prey...nothing like finding a well chewed stuffed Wolf-let in your bed. I'm sure the Eco Store had this in mind when they came out with the products... Anyway,...
Well, today was a much less stressful day here at Kilmurry House. My shoulder told me it was time to take a break from apple pealing and tablet weaving. Since I had a lot of writing to do anyway, I thought I'd spend part of the day at the computer. But first I needed to do things like feed some of the critters and take my attempts at a "daily" walk. First discovery, its Monday and we are out of animal food. Husband is at the forge and not going anywhere. The house-mate (aka The Lizard...
Well, its that time of year again here at Kilmurry house. Our three apple trees are loaded down with miniature fruit (because no one ever prune's them) and the pear tree that usually grows nothing has branches dripping with them. Not to mention the blackberry vines are covering the roadside path, though they may mostly go to the birds this year. The advantage of apple and pear trees over blackberries is: they do not have large, prickly thorns to punch the hands of the unwary picker. Still...
Well, I was going to write about how yesterday we got to find out just how unprepared we were for nine hours without electricity. Can you say "matches" anyone? But instead, I'm going to write about what happened a few hours ago at a pet store in Dublin. Totally by "chance" but experiences like this make me wonder sometimes just how much of life, really is "chance." This is what happened: My husband and our house-mate are starting a jewelry making business, for which they need supplies....
Hello to everyone out there in Blog Land; After taking a couple of weeks off to gather my thoughts a bit, Disaster Cat is back and running. Much of this time period has been spent in front of the TV, watching what could be described as all "All Disaster Cat Viewing Marathon." The real news is starting to remind of an interview I heard once with the director of a documentary channel. He said that his viewer's just can't get enough of what he called "real disaster footage." You know, the...
Last night, as often happens, I couldn't sleep. So I decided to turn on one of my several dozen satellite channels and watch a late night documentary. One of the discovery channels was spending the weekend exploring one of my favorite disaster topics: Dinosaurs and Mega-beasts the blurb said. Oh goody, lots of magma, meteorite explosions, predators and prey; just what Disaster Cat needs to relax and get ready to go to bed. Most of these documentaries I have now seen about a dozen times al...
Well, those of you following the adventures of Disaster Cat know that when we last left off our story, our pantry was somewhat put together, but one of kitties was not very happy. Thor, a four year old forest cat who lives in our bedroom, was discovered to have a Giant Ear, when the Disaster Cat went upstairs to change clothing. A gadget called an Elizabethan Collar was rigged together out of cardboard to stop him scratching his swollen ear. Since many cats recover from this condition on t...
Well, yesterday didn't look like it was going to be a very, long day; when it started out. In fact, it looked like it would be something very rare here in Ireland...i.e. sunny, warm and relaxing. A bit of a problem since our water heater and our house heater are on the blink; so we have to burn turf in the solid fuel stove. But manageable, especially if you don't have to be in the kitchen much. One of my friends, aka The Fox, had been visiting from Dublin for a couple of weeks. She ...
Some of this blog was inspired by a post to a Survival list I am on. The original poster was asking about urban survival in bad situations and I shared some my experience in the San Francisco earthquake of 1989. I have been in several similar situations (hence the family nickname of Disaster Cat) but I think I learned the most from this particular earth quake. In future blogs, I may share comments on other Disasters I have known (mostly natural, a few man-made), but I thought I would start...