Running Errands

Friday was a day for running errands. Of course I brought Loiosh -- he has a stroller now, after all!
I couldn't bring him into the first place I stopped (the post office) and decided to leave him in the car for the second stop, too -- fortunately it was cool and quite rainy, so the only thing I risked was him hollering at me for leaving him in the car (he's got a point, I have to admit).

The second stop was County Line Nursery, one of two shops in southeastern PA that carries my stuff. I wanted to check on their inventory (they still have plenty, though I got a very nice consignment check from them) and to take some pictures of my products in their shop for the wholesale page. Alas, my camera was acting up and I didn't get any while I was there.

It was working by the time I got to Java Good Day Cafe, though, and I got some nice pictures, and also stocked her up on soap and lip balms (since she'd sold out AGAIN).

Not that I object to this, mind you. I'm pretty fond of it, actually. I left her with twice as many tubes of lip balm as last time, and I'm entirely prepared to do that again pretty soon.

I had lunch there, too -- I almost never eat out, but I can't resist at the cafe, and since I've usually got a pocketful of cash from sales I figure I might as well treat myself a little. This time I had an egg salad sandwich -- no celery, which I hate -- it had chopped-up roasted red peppers instead, and oh my GODS was that tasty. On a lovely buttery croissant, which did result in a certain amount of egg salad on the plate, but that's the risk you take and I was perfectly willing to scoop up the last little bits with the spoon from my (also delightful) hot chocolate.

Lest this turn into a restaurant review (not an actual risk, as I haven't got the patience), let's get back to our roots: it really is all about the cat.

He took a bit of a wander around the shop...

(Courtesy of Ann, the proprietor, who hung onto his leash for me while I poked at my intermittently-cooperating camera...)

...but spent most of the visit comfortably ensconced in his stroller.

He's really very fond of the thing, and that makes me a very happy catmomma.

They see me strollin'...

...yes, it's also been done by everyone else with a cat in a stroller. I still had to. HAD TO DO YOU HEAR ME. I WAS REQUIRED.

I'd been following the blog linked above -- which belongs to a purebred, leash-trained, stroller-ridin' Abyssinian named Pellburn Jacoby Stealin' Home and his person -- for a while, and thinking vaguely that a stroller might make sense for Loiosh, especially when he gets tired and doesn't want to walk, or it's hot, or...all kinds of things, really. Wasn't sure if he'd go for the idea, didn't see a way to find out short of buying one and hoping, put the idea on a back burner and figured I'd deal with it later.

We went into the local pet food place a week or so ago to buy more of Chocolate's special grain-free hypoallergenic food (the things I do for my cats, but he breaks out something awful otherwise) and right up front is a pair of pet strollers. So naturally I immediately stuck Loiosh in one of them.

He wasn't entirely sure at first -- I zipped it closed; otherwise he'd've jumped right back out -- but after I pushed him around the store for a while, he decided it was Just Fine. It especially helped when the store dog came over and Loiosh realized that hey, he was taller than the dog! And also was driving a tank!

So this was obviously something I was going to have to buy for him. Equally obviously it was going to have to wait a bit; the RV still comes first, and since pet strollers average around $120 new, that would've been a substantial chunk of change.

Until I saw one on Craigslist yesterday for $20, and promptly drove down to Center City to buy it.

The immediate reaction was...unexpected.

Loiosh did eventually climb in, but it took him a while, and Chocolate (my shy boy, Mr. Camping What Are You Serious, my grumpy old man cat) spent much more time in it than Loiosh did.

He is NOT okay with the stroller moving while he's in it, though, so taking Chocolate out for a stroll in the thing might be a long time coming.

Loiosh, on the other hand? Yeah, just like with anything else new. He loves it.

We went out for our first walk today.

He rode in it for a while, but then he got bored.

We walked for a bit. He had cranky ears for a while -- I think the sound of the stroller rolling along with us annoyed him -- but he got used to it.

It started raining, though, and he realized an important thing -- the stroller has a roof!

It was a short trip, but I think he's gonna wind up really liking the thing. It pushes pretty easily on pavement -- not so much in the (fairly tall) grass at the park, but in short grass on level-ish ground I think it'll do okay. It really increases our walking range (cats are built for speed, not endurance) and it'll make it much easier to take him out when it's warm and sunny and all he wants to do is lie in the shade.

I'm really hoping to get Chocolate used to it, too -- as it is, even though he's actually pretty okay about the leash these days, I can't take him out, because of his flea allergy. But if he's in the stroller and off the ground, he should be pretty safe from them. And once we're all living in the RV, there will be times I need to take Chocolate places along with me and Loiosh, if only because sometimes it'll just get too hot in the RV...

A project

I haven't done a project log in aaaaaages...partly because I haven't blogged in ages, but that's just what life has been like and more about that later.

I was expecting that late spring and early summer would be event after event, just like last year. This...has not been the case. There are fewer events to go to than usual (I blame the economy), I haven't wanted to stray far from home (my car is getting pretty iffy), and on top of everything else I had two events in a row cancelled out from under me. One of them being a pretty big one, over Memorial Day weekend.

So there I was, all caught up on production, everything else under control, all ready for the big event...and instead I had four days all to myself, with nothing hanging fire on the todo list.

I'll admit I thought about just taking the damn weekend off and doing a whole lot of napping. (I did, in fact, take a couple of naps; they're rarely a bad idea.) But I've a whole long list of changes and upgrades I'd like to make to my booth, and I thought, well, unexpected time, let's do this.

So I did.

The original plans, drawn up in Corel Draw.

Once I knew what I was doing, though, all I needed was the sketch.

Making sure my notches work.

Sanding and sanding and sanding…

All of the pieces…

…come together to make a whole.

I found the perfect purple on the ‘oops’ shelf at Home Despot.

Voila!

The lip balms fit perfectly…

…and the colours go really well together too.

In its natural habitat!