First off, let me say that the weather here has been gorgeous. Today it's supposed to get up to 84. It's sunny and bright out, and yes I'm stuck inside. But. At least I have a window. I can enjoy it from afar!
This weekend is the start of the St. Patrick's Day festivities here in the SAV. As per usual, I will be fastidiously avoiding downtown like the plague. It can be a mob scene down there, with too many drunk people weaving around and trying to give away their $1 beads to equally drunk exhibitionists. So! Yeah. Not going to that. Been there before, was designated driver. Boy is that fun, being DD in a crowd of 100,000 really drunk people. Don't bother to sign me up for that one again this year, thanks.
However! We will be attending the rugby tournament again this year, at least for a while. Noel wants to see what all the fuss is about (and probably to imagine little ole me being a rugby bruiser back in the day before my spine and knees told me NO! Bad Kelli!). Apparently this year there will be 2 teams of Irish prison guards flying in to play. HA! That should be fun! hee hee. I love me some rugby. It's such a gentle sport, a delicate ballet of strategy and grace. See?
HA! Just kidding.
Sersely though, the rugby tournament will be the only festivities I plan on attending. St. Patrick's Day is just getting out of hand here, and Noel said blithely the other day that he thinks it's only a matter of time before someone gets shot downtown during all the partying. I fear he's right. But. I might have some corned beef or a reuben or something, in honor of the Irish.
On a side note, I think I may have brought this up previously, but I have a dear friend who doesn't celebrate St. Patrick's Day at all, because it represents the stamping out of traditional pagan religion in Ireland and the dominance of the Catholic church. What's to celebrate? Good point. (I still might have a reuben though. Nothing personal).
On to other things now! Now some of you may know of (some of) my childhood career aspirations:
1. Long-haul truck driver with a pink truck and a kitten (I still think this would be fun)
2. Ballerina
3. Skating waitress
4. Sex symbol (at age 8. CREEPY)
5. Shoe salesperson (except the whole touching other people's feet thing dissuaded me of this)
6. Mechanic
Well, this past weekend I FINALLY got my first chance at #6. Noel wanted to do some work on his truck and offered to teach me some stuff about mechanic-ing. Cool! I jumped in and we replaced the shocks and the head valve gaskets (I think that's what they're called - obviously I didn't quite absorb EVERYTHING). Anyway. I helped! And we have photographic evidence!
Replacing the shocks on the front of the truck:
One must remember eye safety. And also safety glasses help with the whole Bono look:
(Also please note that the above photograph was a retake after the first photo showed a severe case of what I affectionately call Mechanic's Butt. It's like plumbers butt, but involves slightly more motor oil in a desperate attempt at keeping one's waistband pulled up with very dirty hands. Aren't you glad I shared that?)
Next up, replacing the gasket thingies (industry term). They're made of cork and form a seal around the heads (ahem, pretend I know what I'm talking about here). Anyway, the cork was old. This truck is old. 1971. So! Old cork. It had fused onto the metal on the head valve thing. So my job was to sit in the engine and take a scraper and get up the old cork so the new cork could be put on.
It was at this point that Noel commented that it's a good thing I'm small and agile, because most people couldn't work in this position. Or if they could they wouldn't be able to extract themselves out of the truck afterwards.
My hands got very dirty! I still have some residual grease stains on my cuticles, but I feel it makes me look utilitarian and tough and somehow sorta Mad Max. I like it. It was really fun working on the truck. I enjoyed the hands-on of it all, and the truck is running better and smoother now, which is very satisfying. This weekend we may be replacing the spark plugs or some wires or something. I dunno. But it'll also be fun!
I might not wear that shirt again for a while though. I never realized how bad my hair and that shirt clash. It's like Pretty in Pink. But not pretty. More like Colorblind Fashion No-No. But who cares. I was a mechanic for the day!
Also, (yet another) side note: Noel realized after we finished all this work that I hadn't taken a picture of him doing anything. He did. He really did work, I swear. He isn't forcing me into indentured mechanicship! :) Next time I'll try to get a pic of him in action.
In other (kitten-related) news, the boys are not having a good day today. Today is the day that they get their little special surgery that turns them from little boy kittens into....little kittens. If you catch my drift. They were NOT happy about seeing the crate this morning, and Poe decided to make like lightning and sprint every time I got near him. I cornered him under a chair and he hissed at me! ME! The one who gives him yummy tuna snacks and brushes his fur and scoops his box! And he didn't even know what was coming yet. It took me a solid 20 minutes to catch him. Meanwhile poor Loki was already in the crate and mewing pitifully because he was alone. Poor little guys.
Anyway, I dropped them off at the vet's this morning and will pick them up this afternoon. Loki weighed in at 3.9 lbs, which seems small to me considering he weighed about that last time we took him in. Poe, on the other hand, is HUGE. He was 6.9 lbs, and he's only about 8 months old. He's going to be a big kitty. I think they both will, but maybe Loki hasn't hit a big growing streak in a while yet. Poe just feels solid now, a clawing hissing little pile of muscle. Loki is still a love sponge and loves to sit on me and purrs so loud I have to turn up the tv. So cute.
In my attempts at making up to them for their imminent de-boying, I crocheted them a kitty bed out of my birthday yarn. Here's Loki posing for the camera (sorry it's so dark!):
I made it in a vaguely triangular shape, then knit the sides high. They were so floppy I went with Plan B, which was to make them even higher, fold them over, make a tube, and stuff it with some pillow fill. It makes a nice squishy pillow edge to the thing. I haven't actually seen them in it since this photo was taken, but I take comfort in the fact that they understand the hours of work that went into it and appreciate more than they can ever express to me. I am perhaps living in a state of denial.
I also knit them a kitten toy, but forgot to take a picture of it. Whoops! Maybe later. They seem to enjoy that thing a lot. It's a cute little bouncy toy ball on a spiral that hangs from a doorknob. Big hit. Might have to make a few more of those.
In honor of their impending surgery, I wrote a haiku:
Kittens getting snipped
What was there will now be gone -
licking not as fun.
I am, perhaps, not quite right.
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