InMemoriam

Sad but as planned, it was time for KukkaTheCat to leave her physical body. The day is the same when GrannyDog was allowed to leave us in the physical way. Despite KukkaTheCat had photosensitive epilepsy since she was born she would have turn to 16 years next month. Last January-February-March was very difficult to her and we considered to free her already then but with the weather and extra care she started to feel better. Then we decided that it is time to stop her suffering and free her before the next seasonal change for her disease. We provided her one more summer when she is always better and let her go before it turns bad again. I know -despite she was 100% indoor cat- she brought a lot of joy to many of my online. For some reason she always knew when the live lesson was on and hardly ever missed the lessons, except on her very bad days on the last term. She is pictured on my many videos too and will stay there forever.💞  

MyTime

One of my dearest hobbies is making jigsaw puzzles. It has been almost two years since I had time for puzzles for the last time.

I received this turtle puzzle as a gift from my dear friend far too many months ago. It has been waiting in its bag on my desk since that. I started January 2023 with this.

I love the smart cut pieces of it. Finding the right piece is always a pleasure. When you realize it has a very special shape it brings extra joy!

In January I started -and was able to complete- another jigsaw puzzle. This one has 1000 pieces. There are several things that enchants me in making jigsaw puzzles. 

The first charming thing in jigsaw puzzles are the details. They say the devil lives in the details. But I love the details. At museum you would never investigate a piece of art as long as you spent with it when making a puzzle that represents it. You find all the wonderful details you would miss when just walking by or admiring it for a moment.

The second charming thing is mindfulness. I always make puzzles in silent. My mind just rests in it. It makes so good on my mental health. It is like mindfulness and meditation.

The third charming reason is to make something absolutely vain, unnecessary and useless. In this world we must always be so damn productive and efficient. It feels so good to take the finished jigsaw puzzle back to 1000 pieces and just wipe away the hours you spent on it. It is like a secret of lazy unproductive moments you sneaked to do and could not care less. Of  course it makes good to your mind, heart and soul in this busy busy world.

This Polish Trefl's puzzle is good quality. It is Winter Landscape by Dominic Davison. The sky is always a bit challenging but still very satisfying. 

I already picked up another jigsaw puzzle to work with. I started this set of two with YoungLady in spring 2021. The pack includes Czes Pachela`s Christmas Village and Macneil's Ice Skating on The Pond.

We just started Christmas Village but had to stop quite soon. It has been in the box like this since that. Now I will finish it.

At the end, the true reason for me making jigsaw puzzles is to make TheCat sit on them! Every now and then we have a strict conversations about it can She do so or not. The best ever solution for the cat tail wipe problems, playful paws and fast & sudden runs over it all is the storage box set Santa Claus brought me on Yule 2022! It is so easy to work with the puzzle (and TheCat) now when I have these puzzle boxes! I used to use all kind of kitchenware plastic boxes but these are absolutely the most practical ones!

GrowingUp

Do you remember when Nuka arrived? Do you remember when Go arrived? Do you remember when Pii arrived?

This photo was taken a month ago. Today Pii (left) weights 29,5 kg and Nuka (right) 27 kg. Still Pii is such a little puppy and counts everything on Nuka. Nuka definitely is the alpha female of our little pack.

Our cat Kukka is already 12 years old. Sometimes when it is cold enough she tolerates Pii's warmth and comfort. Slowly Pii has learnt the cat has sharp claws every single time she puts her nose somewhere it doesn't belong to. (Picture above taken by YoungLady.)

Pii is a working dog. She is just 8 moths old puppy but is learning it all. She is the lower one in our pack and loves the life in that way. But naturally, this autumn, she has started to place herself from Nuka's protection on lead when hiking or "being on the run" which in this case means moving on from a place A to place B. In wolf packs the alpha female is behind when moving on. She sees the whole picture better from the back and can give commands. They do communicate also other ways than howling. We just don't know it all yet how they do it. (Picture above taken by YoungLady.)

If we had a sled dog racing team this (Pii on lead) would be a problem because Pii is the biggest and strongest so she should be a wheel dog in the team. But we are not racing. We a living a real life. We need Pii to pull a sled, not to run for the team. She will pull her own sled or someone of us. That changes the situation. So, when you have a sled dog you need to figure out what you need it to do for you. We want her to work, to earn her own living in working: to help in hunting and transporting things in the wilderness. That is what for we need her. That is what for she needs to be trained. And that is why we must adapt her training now when she has naturally positioned on lead.

This means that yesterday she had an extra hard training day. We hiked 4,8 km route. She was pulling me and I helped a lot. The weight was not the most hardest thing. She weights 29,5 kg. I weight 59 kg. I walked and run so I was able to control all the time the burden she had on. The most difficult part was the new command she had to learn. 

"Choose the route."

WHAT!

"Yes, choose the route, decide where it is best to across the fragile ice."

GOSH!

"Yep, choose the route."

Always before we have chosen the route. When Pii has been insecure about it she has turn to us to ask where to go. Yesterday she had to decide. She had to take the responsibility which way to lead us. Only 3 times but it was enough to make her exhausted. Twice she wet her paws but we praised her a lot because she did what we asked, chose the route. In her opinion it was not the right one because she wet her paws in icy water. So, on the third time she was again about to choose the similar route twice before but suddenly stopped, looked back to see how Nuka was about to do it. Pii noticed Nuka was about to across the fragile ice from the other edge. Pii sniffed the ground and walked carefully to the other edge and across the fragile ice there before Nuka. This time she got super praising and we saw she was satisfied on herself too. No wet paws on this time! It was a lucky coincidence that is was the last chose she had to make. (Picture above taken by our GodSon.)

Other difficult thing Pii had to learn yesterday was "the bridge". We needed to across two challenging bridges. The other was 5 m long and 2 m wide but has metal cover over which you need to walk to get to the other side. This metal cover has ice cover on so it keeps similar but not the same sound as fragile ice. It causes confusion and fear. Our dogs love water but they have learnt the lesson. Water is wet and cold. When it is winter it is not fun. And water hides under the ice. (Picture above taken by our GodSon.)

The other bridge we needed to across was 1 m wide but 20 m long. It is made of wood so it doesn't keep scary sound. Under the metal bridge runs a flooding brook. But under the wooden bridge runs flooding rapids. So, both bridges are scary at the same level. 

But when I say "the bridge", they must trust and count on me that it is safe to go on and across it. That lays a huge responsibility on me. I am never allowed to lead them to across the bridge which security I am not 110% sure about. If the bridge falls down under us how can they ever trust in me when it is up to life and death? That is a very important thing we all should remember in our daily lives too. When someone counts on you, don't let them down.

Pii needs to learn to choose the right route because if she is going to be on lead we need to be able to count on her and the fact that she is experienced enough to make right chooses. Wrong choose can cost us quite a lot in arctic wilderness. 

BlingBlingPony

It all started because of A...

...who is a very special girl in MyLife.

I had to pin it to make it stay...

...and sew to make it more permanent.

Because DearA is a real princess...

...it needed something more.

That's why I decided to use the rest of Swarovski hotfix crystals that were left over from Little Lady's Turquoise Dress over three years ago.

It was a bit tricky to get them fastened on to fleece but He was kind and helped Me out.

It started to look great.

Also TheCat agreed.

And Dear A too. Not so many horses have real Swarovski crystals on their saddle cover decoration! Remember how I made the prototype but it turn out practical so I was not in a hurry to make new one.

BabyBlanketNo6

From my treasure box of yarns I found Sirdar's baby snowball yarn (100% polyester) (50g = 25m). I had two balls of green and one blue. I bought them to crochet something PrettyBaby but it turn out not so pretty at all. Now I bought Novita's Balladi (100% wool) (100g = 107m) to be knit with Sirdar's baby snowball yarn.

It all turn out much better looking BabyBlanketNo6. Sirdar's yarn is pure polyester so Novita's 100% wool yarn creates more warmth with pretty baby snowballs.

I knit the central part and decorated the edges by crocheting.
I designed the blanket while making it.

Of course TheCat wanted to pose with it... or sleep with it...

FirstSnow

 

Autumn is beautiful time of the year. Even though it means gloomy darkness, rain and chilly weather.

But despite our weather might be gloomy our life is not. That's why I hope as many as possible joined the silent wish with BellsForAleppo. I wish them to toll the bells until the situation is solved; very loud, annoying and everywhere -not just until October the 24th.

MyCatLife has slowly went to better direction: thanks to James Bowen and his books. I've read so many CatGuideBooks but none has helped me much. After reading about StreetCatBob I finally - after 9 long years- have started to get along with TheCat. The picture proves it! She really did that by volunteer. I was knitting and somehow She found Her way there.

Today we got FirstSnow. All day long the temperature was on "minus degrees" which means the dog was allowed to jump on bed when I was having a nap. She has been waiting that for many far too long months. But TheSofaSeason has started again and she is so so so  H A P P Y about it! I think it is one of her favorite duties to do. :)

At This Time

At this time of year I usually buy a Christmas magazine. Always before it was Finnish one, only once Swedish. But now I bought English one. I am so happy with it! It included free Christmas Crafting magazine (well, that was just average easy) and 4 coasters (WOW! I love them!).

Some pics of TheCat and Her loom adventures. She really tried to paw the warp but it is 25% of dog wool and when She understood Her paws stink *D O G* She got pretty hysteric cleaning session and since that She has not tried out to paw the warp.

TheCat chase the loom, TheDog chase TheCat but understood pretty fast it is better just to lay on HerOwnBed and dream about hunting the moose.

AppleShow

 

Oh! I got a fabulous delivery from DearChildhoodFriend who has lived for ages in South Finland and on whose property grows few old & huge apple trees. With her DearDad she sent me three banana boxes full of HomeGardenApples. Yummy I must admit. I made 2 kg of AppleJam and  2 kg of AppleMarmalade. I sliced the apples, cooked them and pureed. From that apple puree I made the jam and marmalade.

I made also 12 liter of AppleJuice concentrate by my juicer and 3 big trays of ApplePie. Already most of it all is hidden into our freezer. I also gave a bit away and changed it for something else from local friends' gardens. Now my mind is going wild to figure out what to send as a"thank you gift" for my friend and the apple driver.  :)

There was no waste at all. MyRabbits had their part and the rest is for the deers in the woods.

TheCat was a bit annoyed and meowed a lot to protest HerRoyalSupper was late because of TheAppleShow. Well, it actually arrived just in time but the kitchen was not ready for it half an hour before TheTiming. You know TheCats...

TheCat

I can only say this happened to this... Hope she can keep her teeth and claws away from it in the future...

At the library...

MyOwnLibrary is finally finished. It was a huge job to re-organize it all. It actually took 1½ weeks and approximately 60 hours of work! But now the library is there where it supposed to be and living room there where is its very own place. So, today we -I & TheCat- had finally some time to sit down and crochet more BlanketNo5. Only one more yarn ball left for it!

Vole hunting

Oi! We are so proud of Her!

She finally found out She is a cat indeed. Last night she hunt her first ever vole. (The pleasures of living in an old house.) She must have had such an exciting night because on the early morning she was found with the vole. Since that she has been sleeping all day. She is 7½ years old and this was her first ever big game catch. Yes, she have had opportunities every now and then despite she is indoor cat (pleasures of living in an old house). Before she has been so afraid of and someone has always rescued her from the monsters. Now she finally realized She is TheCat!

It's been lazy stitching day.

I stitched polar bears. Only one more left!

And I am very curious to see will this one bloom again.

Blinks of the Sun

First blinks of the sun have arrived.

We all love the sun.

But sun blinks are not good for the ones

who have photosensitive epilepsy.

She is very tired with TheCat and its weird action

because of the light effects in her brains.

But she

-TheGranny-

has official veterinarian permission to sleep on couch.

When she does it...

...I need to photograph my projects elsewhere.