Cat Toy

I got this fun little guy for the kitties. It’s a motorized ball with a tail and when you turn it on the tail spins around. I was a little disappointed to find that it doesn’t really travel as advertised—it just sits in one place and spins—but the cats like it. As you can see, they have accepted it into their uppermost tier of toys, an exalted group that includes the Beer Box and the Packing Paper. Because no, nothing in this picture is trash.

The only problem is, it eats batteries like candy. It shuts off by itself after 15 minutes, but even on only 15 minutes a day, it runs down after a week or two.

• Item that needs a lot of batteries = Battery Pack

Don’t pick that prickly pear by the paw

In summer I always have fun trying out sparkling water flavors I haven’t tried before—ideally, flavors that come in 12-packs because who are we kidding, thinking we only need 8 at a time? Balderdash. Anyway, I found cactus fruit sparkling water!

It’s tasty, too. Depending on the day I get notes of guava or strawberry or even peach. (Although what do I know? Maybe they’re adding guava and strawberry and peach flavors too. If they are, I’m not mad about it.)

Probably my favorite way (definitely the easiest) to do Cactus Fruit. No thorns, no tracking down, no skinning, no processing. Just coming in hot and bothered, and …ahhh.

Puzzle Apricots

I got a new puzzle as a gift! I’m working on it and half-expecting the cats to demolish it. It’ll be out for a while, though—it’s pretty difficult. There are only a handful of colors and they correspond variously to abstract background, skin and hair, and clothing.

And I recently treated myself to dried apricots, which are a favorite. So tart, tasting of summer sunshine, with a texture you can really get your teeth into. Delicious! And it’s easy to eat a bunch of them at once but (a) they’re so chewy it slows me down and (b) they’re good for you in any case.

• Fun activity = Rabbit’s Foot
• Dried fruit = Raisins

The extra-effort cookbook

From https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/from-scratch-michael-ruhlman/1130856266

I love this cookbook. The concept is great and so far things are pretty good, although he puts too much fish sauce in the chicken soup for me.

My favorite are the lasagne recipes. There’s the basic one with store-bought ingredients, and there’s the Super Effort version where you make your own pasta and ricotta. There’s usually a low-effort version, a standard version, and a deluxe version, which I think is perfect, because the capacity that you have for cooking varies every day, and it’s nice to dial it up or down.

There’s more to the book than just varying degrees of effort, but that part of it is definitely Monster Musk—you make it harder on yourself because it’s fun and/or because you want the rewards.

• A book (any) = Book (Any)
• Increasing the difficulty = Monster Musk

A good ol’ Wisconsin squirrel bag

Sophie knows a teenage boy who was excited to attend a “squirrel bag” back in January. I had never heard of this. Neither has Google, for the record—must be a local phrase. And by the way, googling “squirrel bag” is probably horrific for anyone with strong anti-hunting views, because you mostly get bags with cute squirrel designs interspersed with bags for dead hunted squirrels. And no results for the event.

But apparently, you win a squirrel bag by having the greatest weight of dead squirrels. You’ve got to pick your targets carefully, because you can also only have so many. So you go for the fattest, heaviest squirrels and hope they’re fatter and heavier than everyone else’s.

It just really reminded me of Squidfest. And at the end of the day, after the weighing and awarding of prizes, they put all the squirrels in a big pot and share squirrel stew.

• Good-natured competition = Squidfest
• Everyone contributes to a stew = Pelican Town Luau

– Book (Any) –

Any book!

By NYC Wanderer (Kevin Eng) – originally posted to Flickr as Gutenberg Bible, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9914015

I mean, literally any book. I don’t know how I can pad this one out. Read or write a book, or use it in any way (collaging, doorstop, pressing flowers…). Topic and genre irrelevant.

The debate might be whether to allow magazines? But I gotta say, I don’t have a strong opinion about it. Especially the thick ones, with a spine like a book, probably do count. Especially if you save them.

CANON: Yeah, books exist. Gotta be a book-book, though, and not a magazine, if you’re going for canon. And a physical book, not an e-book.

– Strange Doll (Yellow) –

???

(1) Any doll or plushie that is (a) yellow or pink or (b) of a human character

via .

Unlike the green Strange Doll, this one doesn’t even really seem tied to anything in the game, although the wiki says it’s a character from a ConcernedApe webcomic called Wumbus World, which is news to me.

As far as I’m concerned, that means you can make it whatever pink-and/or-yellow doll you want. This doll looks more humanoid than the Wumbus one, so if you aren’t matching colors, at least go with a human character.

CANON: Canon would be an orange-pink humanoid wearing a yellow shirt and shorts. This is another “yes, with effort.” It doesn’t really remind me of anyone or anything and I’ve never seen it in the wild. BUT are there some mad crocheters who could make this exact thing in an afternoon? Absolutely.

Are you likely to find something like this, say, buried in the dirt? Not so much. You gotta go out and get it. By which I mean, make it.

– Woody’s Secret –

Felled trees have a 5% chance to yield double the wood.

(1)(a) Any information about forestry or (b) Anything that improves efficiency

via .

Pretty straightforward. Whether you’re reading materials from the US Forest Service or learning chainsaw techniques in the Conservation Corps, it’s all about trees. In fact, anything about trees or forests will count. Plant one! Or maybe it’s time to take down that dead menace in the backyard. Tap a sugar maple. Sign up for trail maintenance or invasive species removal in a park near you.

Otherwise, anything that increases the yield of something counts also: watering your tomatoes with banana water, pruning a fruit tree, cutting back herb blossoms… plant-based yield is ideal, but whatever it takes!

– SquidFest –

Any good-natured, celebratory contest

via .

“-fest” always makes me think of loud, cheerful gatherings of people who are primarily there to eat. And yeah, there might be contests or competitions, but overall the vibe is friendly.

So Squidfest could simply be a gathering dedicated to eating large amounts of squid in your favorite format. Personally, I adore fried calamari—I’m aware that there are other ways to cook squid, but this might be the only one I’ve tried and I see no reason to fix something that ain’t broken. It has to be good, though, obviously, not rubbery.

You can also replace squid fishing with any quantity-based contest of your choice, as long as the competition is good-natured and not cutthroat. Take that shit to the Trout Derby.

– Stardrop Tea –

A very special gift that would delight anyone.

(a) Any expensive tea, or (b) your very favorite tea

via .

I’m assuming Stardrop Tea is expensive based on the price of Stardrop Sorbet. So any expensive tea will count, especially if it’s a gift!

Alternatively, think of your very favorite tea, the one that, if someone were to gift it to you, would increase your friendship level by one whole heart. That’s Stardrop Tea too.

I guess the absolute Stardroppiest Tea you could have would be your very favorite expensive tea which is also purple. If you can check all those boxes, you nailed it.

CANON: Nope, unfortunately there have been no confirmed reports of stardrops in real life as of this writing. You’ll just have to stick to other things that remind you of your Favorite Thing. (Psst… it’s a super personal question, but what’s your Favorite Thing?? Mine is usually garlic or cinnamon.)