Can you believe that January is mostly over? It is 6:30 as I write this and there is still a glimmer of light in the western sky. Cool beans. Now is the time that it is the hottest part of summer in the southern hemisphere. How weird it seems to us, to live in Australia with Christmas in July, as it were.
I would like to experience the white nights of summer sometime in Alaska or Sweden. The gloriousness of having the sun available for so long. Parteee!
Anyhoo. Here in realtime, Wednesday is growing! 4.6 oz. after tonight's feeding.
I've taken to putting W. into mom's cage for feeding. She feeds and grooms him nicely, but he still lives in his bowl. (Not that I know he's a boy, but I hate to keep calling him an it.) His eyes are open! He can be weaned at three weeks (he's two weeks now) if need be. In a few day's time he'll outgrow the bowl and I will have to decide where he'll live. Mom may go into the backyard enclosure - no more boarding with Percival!
Here he is in his bowl with Candy's pelt.
The late, lamented Candy. Her pelt is in it's final stages. It is out of the brine, has been washed, and I am conditioning the skin side stretching and pulling on it while damp. Lastly, I will rub the flesh side with mink oil. Considering the circumstances under which I acquired her pelt, I believe it has turned out purty good. I now have the confidence to do this again - and may try some fresh road kill raccoons later on. Or squirrels. Maybe not skunk. Spring is fraught with wandering small mammals around here. The poor little flattened things could be put to some use beyond buzzard food. They can have the innards, I will take the fur.
The New Shawl is progressing. As are the Sweetie Socks. Nothing worth imaging. The shawl is a mere purple blobby boob on the 16" circulars. It is time to cast on for the second sock, as I have knit the better part of the first sock's leg bit. I am a firm believer in knitting a pair of socks simultaneously in order to avoid the dreaded Second Sock Syndrome.
Sheila has been in a nest building frenzy! She's taken the Swiffer sheet from the mop, along with refuse from my studio (NNS old jacket sleeves, for example), and every bit of alfalfa and broom straw that she can find. Her babies are not due for two more weeks.
