Official Now - He's Home

And he's sound asleep while I'm watching a rain delayed ball game. I'll try to hold out.

Elcie's been asleep for two hours, Rebecca and Rochelle are bedded down in the living room but should be asleep soon. It's their campout night.

My alpha kitty Spunky is sitting on my bookcase like a vulture. Fidget is cuddled up with Rochelle, probably for the night. They're both under the covers and all I can see is two heads.

I promised a dryer story. Of course I also promised new pictures. I'll get there eventually. Rochelle hasn't brought hers home yet but Elcie's and Rebecca's are beautiful. I'm thinking about changing the banner but haven't decided whether to go with their school photos or a group snapshot (or both?) I have one that some of you have seen of the 4 of us on the beach in SF. It's a good shot but it looks like I live in Portland, OR with my bright red Trailblazer Starter jacket. The price was right (free) , it's the warmest jacket I own, it has great pockets, and it has a hood.

An anonymous friend (who may recognize herself) gave me two dryer balls. Do you know what they are? They're soft, blue, and look like little hedgehogs. They live in the dryer like gremlins and they cut down drying time and help soften clothes. They are little workhorses, last for two years, and do a great job. They also migrate and occasionally, they split up.

My friend Dawn and I have been playing find the dryer ball for a couple of weeks. They have a tendency to snuggle up in the laundry (something like my cat). Once one ran away across the street in my neighbor's laundry. She thought it was a kid's very strange toy football. Ray picked one up from behind a wastebasket and was totally bewildered. With his love of outer space he may have thought we were being invaded.

For some reason (maybe Dawn and I need to get a life) we find all this hysterical. We've finally trained ourselves to check each load of laundry as we take it out but it isn't as much fun as making up stories about the dryer ball.

I've discovered another use for the dryer ball. It works better than a small rubber ball for slightly arthritic hands. My left hand seized up this morning while I was taking clothes out and I grabbed the little alien and started squeezing it. My hand relaxed almost immediately and it's been fine since. Don't worry, it's not serious. My left just has a tendency to cramp up when it's in the same position for too long. This morning we'd been playing cards and that probably did it. Sometimes it's from gripping the steering wheel a little too tightly. It may be a vestige of the carpal tunnel problems that helped me decide on early retirement. Once I stopped spending hours at one stretch at a keyboard, it didn't need medical attention; it just went away. Now, here I am again but I have the good sense to do other things (like the dishes).

I'm glad you're enjoying the Friday Cat Blogging. I'd seen it on other sites and decided to try it out. Julian over at Out of the Blue has a post today entitled Friday Squirrel Blogging. I've thought about featuring my daughter's pet rat but you might not appreciate her. She's actually pretty cute as rats go.

We just tied the game. Had been ahead 3-0, managed to struggle back, and now I think I'll start paying a little more attention.

Take care everyone.