lumberjacking, crafting and kitties

i chopped down a tree on saturday! all by myself! my back is punishing me now, of course, but it was very satisfying work. we had a mulberry tree growing in the front yard, pretty close to the house. i've been meaning to do something about it for years, but mostly i just hack the top of it off a few times during the summer and ignore it. i like to eat the berries in the spring, but the thing was getting dangerous... i ignored it too much this year, and with all the cool weather and the rain the silly tree was getting really top-heavy and huge. and threatening to topple over into the neighbor's front window. and probably ripping out our foundation at the same time. so! i chopped it down. well, i SAWED it down using a little hand-held saw from el Depot. then i had a huge pile of brushy stuff in the middle of the yard. and i wanted to run away or sell the house and move. instead i dragged a chair outside, along with a can of coke and an array of saws and clippers, and set to work. i now have 4 big logs, about 93 smaller logs/sticks, and a bajillion skinny branches - all drying behind the front bushes. once they are dry, we'll be set for camping firewood for a weekend or two. i'm pretty sure the neighbor's think i'm crazy. in fact, i know they do. and dad? if you're reading this, i'm pretty sure you would have had a thing or two to say about Safety With Saws. (standing on the tippy-top "this is not a step" step of a ladder while wielding a hand saw above my head; sitting down, sawing through a branch that is braced against my fleshy bare leg; sawing towards my own hand; scratching mosquito bites with the sharp edge of the serrated saw; doing all this while wearing flip-flops instead of real shoes; you get the picture. i'm very sorry.)

second meeting of Sew Watts Cookin' on sunday - 4 new people showed up! yay for that. i embroidered a cute little dogger onto a boring thrift store handkerchief. some folks knitted and some cut fabric. all was well in the world. next month we are meeting in rock creek park to do camp skillz (fire making, cooking, whittling maybe) and knitting scarves.

and..... we got another cat! a kitty sister for nilsson! a co-worker of mine knew of an abandoned kitty that needed a home, so i said i would take her. i picked her up on sunday morning. she is peachy-pale-orange tiger stripey, very very lovey and kissy, probably a little younger than nilsson - maybe 7 or 9 months? right now she has an efficiency apartment set up in our bathroom and bedroom. she'll meet her anxious grey brother tomorrow... yikes! i hope he doesn't stay mad forever. and that they have fun playing together.

pictures to come.