Archive for year: 2007

We’ve placed seven of the eleven kittens and we’ve trapped the mommas and taken them to KittiCo and gotten them fixed, vaccinated, tested, etc.

We’ve still got three kittens that need homes. They’re sweet little kitties; they’ve been handled since they were about four weeks, and they’ve been living inside for most of a month now. One (Tiger, brown tabby male) is from the litter I took to the vet for worming and flea treatment; he is about a week or so ahead of the others in age. The other two (Spookey, black short-hair male, and OG, red tabby male) haven’t been wormed or flea treated, but living inside with the other kittens has gotten them pretty flea-free. They use the litter box just fine, are easy to handle, etc. Please let me know if you know of any homes for these little guys!

Photos of the kittens!

We had a cat deliver kittens under our back deck. We have placed all but one… little Tiger.

This is Tiger. Tiger is about 9-10 weeks old, litter trained, flea-treated, and wormed. He’s been handled daily since about 5 weeks, and he’s lived inside with us for the past three weeks. He’s energetic and has a good disposition. He’s ready to be somebody’s kitty. He’s a really precious cat, but we have 3 (we’re keeping one kitten, and already have two other rescue cats) plus three dogs. Our house is FULL.

We are also helping to place another litter which Momma Kitty’s adult daughter, whom we call Pretty Kitty, had across the street. The folks there have been feeding and handling these kittens for almost 5 weeks. Since we took away Momma Kitty’s kittens, she’s been helping to raise and feed her daughter’s litter, and she brings them over to our house for additional food. These are all boys. They’re a little younger than our litter; they’re probably 8 weeks now, eating solid food all the time and so far as we can tell no longer nursing. They haven’t gone to the vet, but appear in good health. We flea-treated Momma Kitty (who is the grandmother of these kittens), and it seems like it’s cut down on their fleas – they do have a few, but not many. Yes, we are working with KittiCo to get Momma Kitty and Pretty Kitty spayed, and we’ll neuter our kitten when it’s old enough.

(Momma Kitty on the right, Pretty Kitty on the left)
click here for more info on the litter-from-across-the-street!

I packed an unbelievable amount of stuff into five (!) boxes – one of them the size you could put a microwave in – and shipped them off to California yesterday for the Fabulous Fiber Fest. I’ve never done my silk workshops in a location where I couldn’t drive, with my heavily-laden car, before – it’s been a definite learning experience. Since I’m doing a workshop, I can’t just get by with one reeling setup, I had to have four, etc. Now, I just have to hope that everything arrives in good shape, and all the stuff that the organizers are pulling together at that end (borrowing items like burners and kettles so I wouldn’t have to ship them) all play together nicely! I’m also ordering live silk worms, which should be delivered to the building where the event is being held – again, hopefully the timing is all good and the silkworms arrive promptly, fat and happy. When I saw that Mulberry Farms was in the LA area, I thought maybe I could meet up with some of the folks from there – but, it’s still nearly a two-hour drive from where I’m going to be in Santa Monica.

Now, I just need to finish up warping the student packets (which I’m carrying with me) and get everything packed that I’m going to take on the plane. It seems like it’s tomorrow.

I had the coolest yarn + science experience yesterday.

Dr. Ray Baughman of the NanoTech Institute saw my silk presentation at the Dallas Asian Festival in June, and invited me to come and deliver a seminar for their students. They asked a lot of very interesting and insightful questions – some of which I knew the answers to. I’ve never been quizzed on the finer points of silk-related physics and chemistry by a room full of PhD’s.

Then, the coolness began. We went down to the wet lab, and they started showing me how they grow carbon nanotube “forests” on silicone plates (in a special oven at 700’C – about 1300’F) and use them to spin yarn. Tough, tiny yarn, made out of what amounts to fantastically organized soot. (see their article in the journal Science) The yarn is amazing stuff. I’m only beginning to get a grip on the things they’re thinking.

And, then, coolest of all – a long meeting with the research leaders, and we’re talking about the possiblities of silk/nanotube yarns and woven fabrics, and I’m going to go to the lab and work with them on some of my days off. I’m going to be a collaborator in their research. Pinch me.

A friend of mine in California was given this baggie full of fiber. The purchaser’s husband thought he was getting a package of rubber gloves, and was quite surprised to find the wad of fluff inside. She says it looks like cotton, not like silk. It is short-stapled, not shiny, with bits of what appear to be vegetable matter. I’m wondering if the labeling on the package would clarify. I’m thinking it may be silk noil. I’m curious what it’s bagged up like this for – it doesn’t look like it would be for spinning, in an amount like this – maybe it’s for some household use? Is silk fluff used like cotton balls, for wiping off makeup, etc.?

The two characters on the left-hand side of the second line mean “silk,” and the same characters are in the middle of the green band at the bottom. But, that’s as far as my Chinese-character-recognizing skills go. Can any of y’all give me a hand?

Thanks!