A Very Hectic Week

First the big news: I am officially a Nufern employee. As of last Tuesday, Nufern bought the Electro-Optics department from Optelecom-NKF. My coworker and I signed contracts with Optelecom a couple of weeks ago, which transferred over to Nufern in the sale. My boss absolutely refused to sign one or work for Nufern, and nobody except him really knows why. Whatever his reasons, we'll miss him.

Nufern is located in CT, and the plan is to move the facility up there over the next two years. They would like us to move too, but in my case it's unlikely... Scott makes 3x what I do, so it wouldn't make financial sense. But Nufern and Optelecom gave me a nice, fat raise to stay and help with the transfer, so I'm willing to help out however they want until then. Nufern seems like a great company, and we've received a warm welcome. My coworker and I will travel up there on the 30th (just for the day) to see their ginormous facility. But I keep having what you might call a waking nightmare, in which my flight back home is delayed and I miss Sheep and Wool entirely. It's horrific. Also horrific: the obscene quantity of email I've had to keep up with. There is a lot going on, and I fell behind my winding schedule a bit. I'm hoping things will calm down soon.

In other news, I took the cats to the vet last weekend. Sam is in perfect health. Marlowe's health is not so perfect, but his ailments are all minor- an infection that caused a weird lump, bacteria in his ears, and swollen feet that it turns out may not really be swollen... After contacting his foster mom, I learned that a large male stray living near where he was found (who may be his father) also has huge feet. Apparently the big male had been brought to the vet at one time, and they couldn't find a reason for his huge feet. So what the vet thought was swelling in Marlowe's hind feet, might just be a weird genetic trait (no cause was found for Marlowe's big feet either).

The cats were amazingly well behaved at the vet. And Marlowe continues to be really good when I clean out his ears or give him ear drops. The worst I've gotten is a dirty look- no scratching or biting. Awesome. I wish Spencer was so easy! They also continue to be well behaved in general. Mostly. I do catch them sinking their nails into the couch once in a while, so I think it might be a good idea to get a second scratching post for downstairs. And they recently discovered how much fun my table centerpiece is- currently a bowl of yarn. I sort of knew it was only a matter of time before it had to go, though. Sam continues to hate Spencer, and will take a swipe at him anytime he's within reach. But Sam's getting braver, and venturing downstairs more often. Marlowe and Spencer are getting along pretty well! Marlowe is incredibly tolerant, and puts up with all the chasing and creepy staring and stinky breath.

I can't figure out if it's Scott's mere presence, or just the time of day he happens to be home, but all three are absolutely crazy when he's here. It's like as soon as he walks in the door, the dog is barking and chasing the cats, the cats are running around like they're on fire, and it's totally out of control. Whereas most of the time I'm home with them, they're pretty subdued.

In typing that, it seems I've temped the fates: Sam just nearly turned on one of the burners on the stove. As I leaped up to turn it off, the dog got excited with all of the commotion and started barking, the startled cats bolted up the stairs, and the dog chased them as they ran. Spencer went right back to sleep, but the cats are now fighting upstairs, making quite a ruckus.

Yesterday was sort of crazy day... I was going to meet a friend, and wanted to vacuum and rinse off the Jeep. As I'm halfway down the block, I notice that it feels a little breezier that usual. Glancing to my left, I see a huge, jagged v-shaped slice in my vinyl window. Motherfucker. Some douchebag cut open my window hoping for a few bucks in change or maybe some CDs. The worst part is that I always leave my doors unlocked. Always. Specifically so that some asshole thief doesn't need to slice through my windows. I was, and still am, livid. And I'm seriously contemplating booby trapping the Jeep in deadly, deadly was. Like with nerve gas. Or cobras. Anyway, I continued to the car wash, took great care not to spray too close to the gash in the window, and went back home. I filed a police report over the phone, and got ready for my play date.

Scott has a good friend named Joe (you may remember him as the recipient of the Socks of Doom). Joe has a girlfriend, named Maria, who is also a knitter. One day Scott mentions this, and says that she is interested in felting, but as a vegetarian with vegan tendencies, and being concerned for the sheepies, it might be difficult. It is, honestly, pretty impossible to know for sure whether a commercial yarn is spun with fiber from humanely raised animals. However, I had an idea! There is a local woman with a small spinner's flock, and she spins, dyes, and sells their wool. And it just so happens that she is part of the Countryside Artisans tour this weekend. After some facebooking, it was determined that we would go together, after a stop at the delicious Crepes-a-Go-Go (Maria's fantastic idea).

So Maria trekked out to our place, and we met for the first time. I was super relieved to find out that she is awesome, and a lot of fun to hang out with. We drove to the Kentlands and had some pretty amazing crepes. If you like crepes, that is the place to go... They have 74 (!) crepes on their menu, or you can build your own. Then we were off to get yarn! My favorite! We poked around, and Maria found some lovely handspun yarn. I got a skein of sock yarn, and a bar of Patchouli soap for Scott. As we were leaving, Maria pointed out that the sheep had wandered into view in one of the back fields. Back at home, I showed Maria my stash and spinning wheel, she met my boys, we chatted for a bit, and then she was on her way. All said and done, I'll chalk yesterday up as a good day, despite the window slashing. I hope we hang out again, perhaps at Sheep and Wool. Also, I may or may not intend to use Maria as a perfect excuse to go to Great Sage, the world's tastiest vegetarian restaurant.

Now I have to go find those child-proof knobs for the stove so the cats don't burn down the house.