Couch 248: Curiouser and Curiouser

Fluffy cat would totally rule the world if she had thumbs. She’s from barn cat stock. The spawn go get her when there is an annoying fly in the room. She’s brilliant at catching flies.

She’s never caught a mouse or bird, though.

I think it is more like I am their human shield - the two (over 65# dogs) get behind me at the first sign of anything and would probably shove me at the danger if need be. In that painting of the wolves chasing the wagon -I would be the one being tossed off by the dogs.

baby rabbits are where my woodchipper cat excels. Birds usually are not his thing. This latest development puts a damper on my desires to have a giant bird feeding/watching area in my yard.
But honestly, the most ruthless killing machine animal I have ever had was a husky mix who was the runt of the litter and had freaky eyes and no one wanted her so I took her. She was a great dog and luckily she was slightly intimidated by the house cats so she did not harm them (and it was good she was a mix) but any small outdoor animal was not safe from her prey instincts. I have never found another husky/mix that I trusted around the cats so I switched to a different breed

I like bergamot quite a bit. I'm sensitive to a lot of fragrances, so need to be careful when buying, well, a lot of products! I'm not sure how I feel about vetiver--I went through a brief essential oil phase maybe 5 years ago, and I could never get into the scent, even though it was supposed to help with...anxiety? I forget now. Maybe sleep. Clary sage is another i have trouble tolerating (not due to allergy--just dislike the scent), though used topically for certain, er, time-of-the-month issues at times.

I loooove bergamot. Earl Grey tea, hot or cold. Theres also Breakfast in Paris that i find enchanting. Best tea name ever.

I love tea and drink buckets of it (mostly green and black) -but I cannot stand earl grey - I just hate the bergamot flavor. And now they are adding it to desserts - earl grey tea flavored pastries and such. Well - more of it then for those who like it.
I don't like root beer or licorice/anise either. It was a great disappointment almost to the level of betrayal to find out the beloved little house on the prairie horehound candy tasted just like root beer. I never trusted L.I. Wilder again. A sadder but wiser and more cynical 7 yr old emerged that day

Luckily for me, Louisa May Alcott advocated for wholesome plain oatmeal in Eight Cousins. But i didnt get to try it until i was an adult, because my older brother had asked my parents for Maypo-Wheat, and the nearly full box sat in our cupboard for years as testament to the foolish wastefulness of children who beg for American hot cereals. Obviously, if he didnt like his choice ("it didnt taste like maple syrple"), it follows that i would not like mine. Period end of sentence.

My mother got into a LM Alcott mood when she and my dad moved to new england. She was a docent at the lma house - I found it incredible claustophobic and had to leave the tour and my mom told my person as I was leaving that I had always been difficult. Oh those crazy mothers. I believe mine did the best she could and I was odd. The LHOP books and LMA books I had were from my mother -they had been hers as a little girl. I liked the nancy drew ones from her better.

I grew up reading LHOP and watching the show. Adolescent me loved Nancy Drew.

I used to love Nancy Drew books too

Same here!

I never watched the lhop tv show - I was a bit too old for it when it started

I also never watched it. I may have read the first book. It just never appealed to me that much.

Struggling a bit because Dr. T said he was going to cut up/kill his one palm tree today because it's not healthy and he won't take it to the new building. Like, he brought in hedge trimmers to do it (and pointed them out). It sounds silly, and I'm not overly attached to that tree in particular (it's in a corner and not in my general line of sight), but I still feel sad about it. I asked if he'd at least bring some plants to the new office, and he said yes, but was pointing out another sickly one that probably wouldn't make it (in part due to space).

If I had any sort of green thumb, I might have asked if I could take it on, but I'd probably just hasten the plant's death, and I imagine that would make me feel bad. Plus, he probably would have declined anyway. (I admit that I'm also thinking "Are you going to take that small table? If not, could I have it? Or buy it?" As I'm in need of a bit of furniture due to some renovations. He's mentioned giving a microwave to a client before, so.

It did lead to a good discussion about the move, including some aspects that might be affecting me that I hadn't considered. So...I guess that's positive? May write more on it later.

I think I was primed to like it because we started reading the books out loud as a family when I was 6. I kind of identified with Laura Ingalls because she had a tomboy side and I did as well.

I read and re-read LHOP books as a kid. The whole series. My sister and I used to pretend to be Laura and Mary.

I also read every Nancy Drew book in the library, along with Hardy Boys. My sister and I also played Hardy Boys, because there were two so we didn't fight over who had to be Bess (Nancy's cousin/friend). Sometimes when there weren't any of those series available at the library I read Cherry Ames, Student Nurse, which was okay but not nearly as interesting as the others.

I could not stand Nancy Drew. It seemed she was always waiting around for someone to rescue her. I much preferred the Hardy Boys.

Read Cherry Ames, Sue Barton, the Dana Girls, and Clint Lane (set at West Point).

Ah, see, I very much do not have a tomboy side and never did. So that could explain it. And that sounds nice about reading the books aloud.

I don't remember Nancy Drew standing around waiting to be rescued. Then again it's been many, many years since I read any of the books.

For those into parody - there are some of the nancy drew etc series by Mabel Maney - hardy boys, nancy drew, and cherry ames are all included. They are not deep but they are light and fun. Nancy Clue and the Hardly Boys in a Ghost in the Closet by Mabel Maney | Goodreads

I loved Cherry Ames and Sue Barton. Also all the Beverly Cleary teen books like Fifteen and The Luckiest Girl. Man i wanted that pink rubber raincoat with the black velvet collar. All i ever had as a kid were the fold up clear plastic adult in-a-pinch "raincoats."

My girlfriend down the block who was the same age as me had a little bookshelf in her bedroom with all the Nancy Drew books. I think she let me borrow them. The only books we owned were a big book of fairytales, which i had done reading by age 5, and Little Men, which i found in our attic, and which i was told not to read as it was just for boys. But i eventually did anyway. I dont think my brother ever did.

So my uber driver to pick up my insulin today was a mountain climber!!! So much fun to hear him talk about places ive read about, like the football field on Denali.

How cool, Una!

I love hearing people tell their stories about walking the Camino.

I'm not built to do something like that...but I admire people who are fit enough to take on that challenge.

I know, right? I mean, mostly i read mountain climbing stories when its either very hot, to cool off, or when its very cold, to say at least im not THERE! So cool to run into him. I love my town!

We had some books (like my mother's old ndrew, lmalcott, liwilder books and the completely creepy original mary poppins stories that my dad's mother had) but we mostly used the library. When I was six, my other grandmother gave me a monthly subscription to receive a Happy Hollister book each month. I loved that present.

I had friends who were into trixie beldon books - that was horses (I think it was horses - I didn't read them really).