Summer Solstice and the Llama of Friendship

We’re Under The Dome this week – the Heat Dome, that is, and since it’s National Hydration Day too, grab your refreshing beverage of choice and let’s sit in the AC with the blackout curtains drawn and catch up on the events of the week.

Monday was take your cat to work day, but sadly no one where I work decided to participate. In fact, Monday proved to be a long day as, between scheduled vacations and unscheduled sicknesses, I ended up being the only full time person in our department. Thankfully it was a slow day (summer days are usually hit-or-miss in that regard) and I had other coworkers checking in with me to make sure I got some breaks and stayed caffeinated with Coke from one of the vending machines.

Monday was also the day someone online asked If you could be any tree, what tree would you be? Of course I had my answer immediately: Number One: The Larch after all, it’s not like I use it in social media or anything . . .

Monday night was not the greatest. Everything from my knees to my head was tired but my lower legs and feet decided to alternate cramping and spasming, with periodic interludes from my lower back, such that I needed to put a heating pad on my back but it was also already very warm and I didn’t think that was very fair. I still don’t.

Tuesday and Wednesday passed as normal, with Wednesday being a rehearsal night but without a D&D session due to many folks being unavailable. So now would be a great time for you to get caught up on our two current campaigns: Hilan: Legacy and Shadows of Eclipsium!

Thursday was the Summer Solstice and over the past few years it’s become one of my favorite days: not exactly because it’s the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, but because afterwards the days will start getting shorter and in several months’ time cooler weather will arrive and it will be the best time of year: Autumn.

I asked across social media if summer was really folks’ favorite season and about 20% of people said it was.

I have questions. Mainly, my question is: do folks really like summer, or is it just ingrained from childhood that summer is a time for no school and few responsibilities? Do folks really like the summer heat? One can always do more to get warm in the colder months but there’s only so much cooling that can be done in the hotter months.

What do you think?

Anyway, a friend gave me some rosemary on Thursday (both fresh and dried) and that was exciting since I cannot keep plants alive. There was also a new Pusheen plush reveal, and I went ahead and ordered Pusheen’s Kitchen Refrigerator, and on top of that, Krystal got me a Pusheen-themed drink she saw at the store!!

I also did my part to warn my friends to be careful, posting that

The the veil is thin on Midsummer’s Eve - be careful of standing stones and fae circles, and be wary of the quarreling courts of Titania and Oberon lest you be turned into an ass for the rest of the night. Should the worst befall you, fear not: Robin Goodfellow will ensure all is mended come morning.

This warning turned out to be prescient as one friend texted me they found a few things out of place on their property and heard their name being called but no one was in the vicinity. I know not everyone believes in such things, but I think it fair to say the world is full of things we don’t know about or understand. Sometimes caution is key.

Friday I started pet-sitting for a dog (Luna), cat (Fermata), and bunny (Sebastian). Not only did I get to spend time with furry friends, but the house also had access to Tubi so I watched a lot of MST3K.

Friday night Krystal and I had a date night to a local place where one of our friends was playing the live music. I made reservations, and a good thing too, as a downtown event had brought even more people into the area. Of course, that also meant parking was even more of a problem. Convenient public parking is at a premium most weekends . . .

But after fighting for a parking space and making our way to the venue, our seats were in a very nice corner with a good view of the music.

We started with Pinchos Morunos: a dish new to us but which contained grilled North Carolina sourced pork, Moroccan spices, Harissa sauce, tortillas, and house-made fries. It was very good, particularly when spritzed with fresh lemon.

Krystal ordered a strawberry drink and I ordered something called Flying Talking Donkey, which contained, among other things, beet and shallot shrub. I’m not sure what possessed me to order such a drink other than it sounded something that Dwight Schrute would drink, what with it being made from beets and all. Somehow I’d forgotten that I don’t much care for beets, and despite the presence of other ingredients, the beets were the focus of the drink. It wasn’t the kind of thing I could sip and enjoy, but I discovered that drinking it along with my entree made it mostly palatable (to me).

For entrees, Krystal had the short rib and brisket Reuben without sauerkraut (which I said made it a not-Reuben) and I had fish and chips, which came with fries and house-made slaw. It was all very good.

For dessert we had crème brûlée and I made up for the disappointment of the Flying Talking Donkey with something called “You’re Killing Me, Smalls” which came with a toasted marshmallow and tasted kind of like a campfire in all the best nostalgic ways.

You might remember that line from the movie The Sandlot, which I first saw while flying cross-country to California back in the early 1990s.

It was really a great evening.

Back with the pets, Fermata had found the coolest spot in the house (under a bed near a vent) and periodically meowed for me to come find him so he could head butt my hand three times but NO MORE or it was a “bad touch” that resulted in hissing and a play bite. Or a bite without teeth, at any rate. Eventually he came out to eat.

Luna, meanwhile, decided to eschew her basket full of toys and instead found some hard biscuit treats and proceed to bark at them, attack them with her paws, and then take a treat gently in her mouth . . . before flipping it wildly in the air. Thankfully I was only hit in the head once, and the lamp was undamaged by the aerial attack. The offering of a dog-safe iced treat was accepted as an alternative.

Saturday I got up and did some journaling. Since May of last year I have tried to write in my journal more often, and in thirteen months I have filled twenty pages front and back. This might not seem like very much, but since I never used to write in them for fear my words weren’t good enough for them, I think it’s going okay.

Saturday was also Summerween, and while I didn’t do anything Halloween-specific, I escaped a visit from the Summerween Trickster, so either I did something right or others did something really bad. I did go to a summer solstice party, for which I made a lemon poppy crockpot cake. Maybe it was the burning effigy that kept the Trickster away?

Be that as it may, this event is one that has become a yearly favorite of mine and I’m already looking forward to next year.

Saturday evening I was introduced to the concept of the Llama of Friendship. An online acquaintance posted the following:

Cat-sitting for a friend who offered me a weirdly large amount of money to hang out with her cat (at least by my grad student standards, we generally just give each other some beers). Turns out her cat is super sweet when her owner is there and almost supernaturally violent otherwise. 

Within 2 minutes this cat had drawn blood on all four of my limbs as I filled her food dish. 

My wildlife biologist training (can’t reflexively jerk your hands when a bird in a net is ripping those hands to shreds) really came in handy here! 

Really appreciating my two non-violent cats haha

Contacted a friend who rescues angry feral cats, she recommended this hand gesture, which they call the Llama of Friendship 

It may mimic non-threatening inquisitive cat ears, but regardless of the mechanism I have learned I will not be attacked as long as one hand is llama-shaped . . . 

The very angry cat will not attack me if I present her first with the llama hand, and now even lets me pet her and purrs a bit (as long as I approach with the llama hand first) . . . If I pet the angry cat too long after presenting the Llama she will grab my hand and bite *through* it and then I get to go to the ER and see my bones! Fun!

So, I decided to try the Llama of Friendship on Fermata, who I’ve known for a while but he’s always been a bit standoffish. He was on the table when I came in the door; I approached with the Llama; he proceeded to nuzzle it, flop down, and allowed his head to be scritched for eight minutes (yes I times it) before deciding he wanted food – and proceeded to follow me getting it. This was different than anything I’ve seen with him, so of course I had to try again later to see if the result would replicate.

This morning Fermata was meowing for food and seemed perturbed I was not his usual person, shying away from me when I went to get his dish. The Llama seemed to settle him a little and he rubbed up against that hand while I got his food with the other.

Unfortunately Luna wanted to play and Fermata decidedly Did Not, so further experimentation at that time not possible/profitable, but when his people came back home this afternoon he came rushing out and allowed me to say goodbye to him, so I’m going to say that the Llama has potential.

Well, I started writing this around 8:00 am and it’s now almost 6:30 pm. In that time I’ve gotten lunch (McDonalds) and supper (milkshakes) and doing my best to beat the heat.

How are you doing?