Tuxedo

I seem to have acquired another cat. She's not quite full grown, and is what they describe as a "tuxedo cat", meaning mostly black with a bit of white on the chest. I saw her hanging around the yard in the fall, kind of getting along with my cats, and fairly friendly towards me. Two nights ago, I went out to change the cats' litterbox and saw her again, meowing plaintively from under my car. I guessed that she was hungry, and opened the garage and put a can of food in there for her. She gobbled it up in under 30 seconds, so then I put out a bowl of dried stuff for her. I saw her again the next day, and showed her the rest of the dried stuff she'd left behind, and gave her another can of food last night.

This morning, she rather insistently barged into the house. It's about -10° out there, so this is understandable, though it was actually colder yesterday. Anyway, I was most worried about how Dovienya would react, but Dovi just ignored her. Pouncer seems mostly interested, but cautious. The two girls, Princess and Jilly, are rather unhappy about her. They've been having staring contests all morning. I think I'd better lock Tuxedo (hopefully a temporary name) in a separate room while I'm gone, as I'm not sure what they'll do without me around to mediate.

She's got the same snub nose as Princess, and similar ears and facial features to Dovi, so I'm wondering if she's possibly related to Dovi (same mother?). If so, this might explain why Dovi wasn't worried about her.

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Antiremembrance Hazards

I managed to forget that, in addition to checking on my mom's cats, I was also supposed to be checking on my dad's cat and dog. He wasn't gone, but he's a bit forgetful about these things. I made it over Tuesday, before the stomach issues hit, then completely spaced it until I talked to my mom tonight. They were both fine. Ji'e'toh still had food in her dish, though it was a bit low, and a bit of water. Buster gets more immediate attention, anyway, so he was at no real risk. So, no harm done. Thankfully.

My mom also said that her heating pad died en route to Las Vegas. Apparently it worked when she left home, but not after she got to the hotel. She's assuming the flight killed it. Not sure why the flight would have any effect. Presumably the heating pad would have been exposed to rather cold temperatures, but surely that wouldn't mess up the circuitry; it probably got shipped to Wal-Green's at similar temperatures. So...security scan, maybe? Could that have affected the electronics in the turn-on switch? If so, I'm not finding anything about it online. It was a few years old, so maybe something was just loose enough that rough handling or cold jogged it out. *shrugs*

Oh, and I finally got my Christmas tree up this afternoon. I'd meant to do it during Thanksgiving break, but other things took precedence. Other things still take precedence, but I wasn't actually up to doing them. Tomorrow I've got to get a philosophy of science paper written, and polish up a 99% done philosophy of language paper. As I was not up to writing philosophy today, I figured I might as well get the tree up and get some more D&D tokens printed out. It struck me while I was punching them out that you could use them as decorations on a very small Christmas tree. They would be rather odd decorations, saying "bloodied" and "dazed" and "petrified" and the like, but they would also be quite colorful!

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Odd, Long (Oblong?) Week

My mom's out of town, going to a class to keep her accounting license current, so I've been taking care of her cats. Meanwhile, I've had a slight cold or weird allergies or something, on top of some* food item disagreeing with me sometime prior to Wednesday morning, so I haven't eaten much in the past three days, and it's starting to catch up with me. Still, we finally got the chest open in D&D tonight, so now I have to figure out what all Dovra saw. She was mostly focused on the chest, except when the harpie summoned everyone closer to it (rather idiotically as it turned out), and when Allonar took a crack at the chest for one turn, so she finally got to use her Healer's Mercy.

Inside the chest? Some sort of fire-elemental-in-a-rock, as far as I can tell. No clue why Blue Cheese put it in there. It's friendly, and can enhance flames (though Dovra doesn't actually know that yet), but I suspect it may turn out to be more trouble than it's worth. As we quit for the night, it had lured our dragonborn, who was supposed to be on guard duty while the rest of us slept, out to go "hunting." The DM assures us that they won't actually find anything to hunt, but... *shrugs*

There were other activities going on at the meeting place (a sort of weekly gathering that some of the group go to independently of D&D), but lack of food was massively catching up with me, and there was nothing non-poisonous there to eat. So I went shopping instead. At 10:00 pm. Eggs tend to agree with my stomach no matter what, and I was out of them at home. Now that I've had a semi-decent meal (two scrambled eggs and an apple), I feel considerably better.

*AM UPDATE: I am about 99% certain that it was the turkey stew I made from my family's leftover Thanksgiving turkey that upset my stomach. I did not eat any on Thursday, and had no major problems on Friday. I ate a small portion on Friday, and had some problems today. I'm not sure if it went bad in the fridge, as it caused no problems at the beginning of the week, or if there was just too much of something-or-other in it and my body got oversaturated with that. Either way, the stew is now going in the trash.

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Random Holiday Rambling

(1) Pouncer had a cold for a few days this week. I can't remember ever seeing a cat with a cold before; it took me a day or so to realize that's what was going on. First I noticed he was drooling a bit, and seemed to be leaving his mouth open more than usual. He also wasn't his usual "First!" self. I noticed that he seemed to have a bit of a runny nose and he was wheezing a bit, and then made the connection to his keeping his mouth open: he was breathing through his mouth because his nose was stuffed up. It lasted 2-3 days, and I just kept an eye on him and made sure it wasn't getting worse. It may have just been good timing, but it started to go away shortly after I shared some roasted chicken with him and the other cats. Probably coincidence, though it would be nice to think I cured him.

(2) I was beginning to think I wouldn't get any turkey this Thanksgiving, but my mom found a free-range Norbest turkey, which specifically said "gluten free," and their web-site indicates that all of their whole, uncooked turkeys are also soy-free. Gluten-free we had covered, but soy free is tougher, since every turkey I looked at had unidentified "natural flavors" in it. Technically "natural flavors" can include stuff made from wheat, but I never had a gluten-reaction to anything labeled that way. I have had several soy reactions. As far as I'm concerned "natural flavors" is equivalent to a skull and crossbones symbol.

(3) Apparently three weeks away from push hands was good for me, as Don and Mark both commented on how much more relaxed I have been the past two Saturdays. It seems backwards until you've tried it/experienced it/felt it, but being relaxed makes your attacks and defenses much more effective. Hmmm... possibly I should experiment with my dice and see if relaxed tosses produce higher rolls than tense tosses. Somehow I suspect that won't be the case, but it doesn't hurt to try. ^!^

(4) We still haven't finished with the chest in D&D, and we won't finish this week since our thief will be out of town. So even though I may start writing a narrative version of it, there won't be much point in posting it until we actually finish with the chest and I can include a conclusion.

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Cats, Ladders, and Heights

I had to rescue Jilly from the roof of the garage this morning. I'm not entirely sure how she got up there, but when I went out to get the cats in, there she was. My best guess is that she climbed up the neighbor's fence and jumped from there. She was meowing plaintively, like she didn't know how to get down, so I went into the garage and got the ladder. I don't like ladders, but I can use them so long as I feel stable enough on them. I got her down, found Princess hiding between the garage and the fence, and took off for work with the wrong set of keys. Thankfully, the secretaries get here before 8:00 am and have keys.

My first real indication that I have a minor problem with heights came when I was seven or eight and at my grandma and grandad's house in Akron, Colorado. There was something we had to climb up onto the garage for, and I got nominated because I was the smallest and lightest. I hated it. Give me handholds and rocks and ledges, and I'm perfectly happy. Put me on a ladder and I'm miserable. I think it's the same issue as with the stairs: all the open space makes me feel unstable. On a ledge, I feel more secure because I have the rock-face/building/whatever right next to me.

Interestingly, having the cold and medication nullify the effect for a day seems to have resulted in it mostly abating. Or, it might be more accurate to say that I've found a way to feel stable despite the open air of the staircase, and I think that I would not have done so without that moment of drug-induced clarity. That let me know that it was possible for me not to feel the effects, so I went looking for a way to duplicate the "cure" without the drugs in my system. Essentially, it's a mental image of dropping my root into the structure of the stairs, rather like the sensation I get whilst rooting against a taiji push. I wonder if that would work on the catwalk at the Minidome?

In rock-climbing, we climbed up the catwalk, which runs across the very center of a large stadium. It's probably a 100-150 foot drop. Climbing up the catwalk was much harder for me than rappelling down from it. Okay, the first time I said something like, "I'm a little bit terrified here," to the person who was helping me secure my harness, but, seriously, the rappel down was fun. The climb up...not so much. Incidentally, part of the reason I took rock-climbing was to work on my fear of heights.

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The Princess and The Squirrel

I looked out the window yesterday afternoon to a rather surprising sight. There was a squirrel eating spilled birdseed from the bird feeder, completely unaware that Princess was less than two feet away from him, behind the sack of sunflower seeds. Princess watched the squirrel intently, and I kept expecting her to pounce, but she seemed to be waiting for something. As far as I can tell, she was waiting for the squirrel to notice her and run. So either she wasn't interested in catching the squirrel—she only wanted to chase it—or she doesn't quite get how one actually would go about catching something. I'm really not sure which.

What makes it even funnier is that Dovienya passed about eight feet behind the squirrel, and he turned to keep a close eye on her, completely unaware of the cat much, much closer to him. After about five minutes, he finally noticed Princess, and scurried up the clothesline pole. Then when I went out to get the cats back in, he used the distraction to make a mad dash for the elm tree. Princess scampered after him and up the tree, finally getting her wish to chase him. I don't feel like going to the trouble of putting a caption on it, but if I did, it would be "Run, dammit! I want to chase you!"

Note that the picture was taken through a window and its screen, so it's a wonder it turned out as well as it did. This is after Princess had worked her way out from behind the sack:

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Tempting Fate

I put a bird feeder up in June, more for the cats than for me. They really like watching birds, and they have a clear view of the feeder from the west window. I think the birds are interesting, but the cats' reactions to them are far more interesting to me.

And, yes, the cats do try to catch them when they're outside. So far as I know, they've only caught two. One was a starling, who wasn't actually dead when Pouncer brought it into the house, so I had to catch the poor thing and put it back outside. Have you ever heard a starling scream? It's very loud and disturbing. Pouncer brought a smaller sparrow who was dead into the house another time, and got scolded for it. But those are the only two.

Two days ago, though, one seemed to be daring Jilly to catch it. It would sit on the clothesline, looking down at Jilly, and then swoop down just out of reach before flying back up. It did this repeatedly. I have no idea if the bird was really trying to tease Jilly or if there's some non-anthropomorphic explanation, but it was a bit bizarre to watch.

Anyway, I mostly have house finches and house sparrows (aka Parking-Lot Birds; you see them in parking lots around here rather often). There's one that I'm not sure of. It might be a female house sparrow. It might also be a different species of sparrow. It's got a distinct stripe running along its head through its eye. The female house sparrow here has a fainter stripe, and several other species of sparrow also have a stripe. I'll have to see if it/they have any of the other distinctive markings.

For a while, I had some starlings coming as well, but they were more interested in the suet cakes that I put out before putting up the bird feeder. Since they were the only birds I ever saw at the suet cakes, and I'm not a big fan of starlings, I haven't gotten any more of the suet. Admittedly, it was entertaining to see them trying to feed at the feeder; it's sized for finches, and starlings are almost twice as big. Picture a 7 foot basketball player trying to write at an elementary school desk; that's what it looked like when the starlings tried to use the feeder.

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Mea Idiota

You'd think that I would remember that, if I can't find one of the cats and if I've had the garage open at some point during the day to check the garage in the initial panicked sweep. Last night Jilly didn't come to say good night (or, more accurately, come to demand I pet her before I go to bed), so I started looking for her. She wasn't in any of her favorite sleeping spots. I banged on the upstairs floor, since there are places where the cats can get into the space between upstairs floor and downstairs ceiling, but she still didn't come out. I thought maybe she'd gotten out of the house without me seeing, and wandered outside with a flashlight frantically calling her name. Nothing. Once or twice I'd think I heard a faint 'meow', but then I'd decided I imagined it.

I was convinced that she couldn't possibly be in the garage because I was certain I'd seen her inside the house after I'd shut the garage up again. Now, bear in mind that it was even less likely that she was in the freezer or the refrigerator, and I did look in both of those places. I suspect I was too tired to think clearly. I also suspect that it was Dovienya I'd seen in the house, but only out of the corner of my eye, and that I'd mistaken her for Jilly. So then this morning I woke up, thinking at least somewhat more clearly, and went to check the garage. Yup. There she was. She was probably hungry and thirsty, but otherwise just fine. So now she's happily sleeping in the cat tree.

Meanwhile, I got about four hours of sleep, plus about an hour's nap after I finally found her and could relax. I did not drive to IF for taiji, as I figured there was a greater than 50% chance of my sleep-impairment causing a wreck. When I woke up after the extra hour, it also dawned on me that my car was nearly empty of gas, and I doubt I would have been awake enough to notice it before I left. So if I hadn't caused a wreck, I probably would have run out of gas somewhere in the middle of no where and had to call someone for a ride.

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Failure...Not particularly catastrophic

My water heater died yesterday, in a pool of its own rust-stained water. Two days before, the hot water for my shower had been behaving erratically, like it does when I try to take a shower while the water is running on the garden, but there was no water running. I didn't think much of it at the time. Then last night, I discovered that there was no hot water in the house. At all. I went downstairs to check the water heater. There was a small quantity of water under it, but no other suggestions of a problem.

This morning, the heat coming on woke me up. I'd forgotten to turn it down from the cool-spell yesterday before going to bed. I got up to turn it off, and, since I was up anyway, went to check on the water heater...and this time there was a rather large quantity of water surrounding, and I could hear more water running into it to fail to be heated. The two largest streams of water came from either corner of a panel on the front. I managed to get buckets under the panel, and then tried to find a shut-off valve for the thing. I didn't find it until after breakfast, after scanning the connections diagram from the manual that had been taped to the tank. Then I knew which pipe to hunt down, and it was there, almost buried at the back. It didn't get rid of the water already on the floor, but at least no more would be collecting.

The plumber I called got someone out to look at the thing within a half-hour of my calling. He pronounced the thing dead, told me that if I wanted to switch from electric to natural gas it would more than double the price (as I had no hook-ups or flue), and indicated that the person with the new tank would be coming before noon, probably within the hour. In fact, he got there at about 1:30 pm, or about 4.5 hours after the first visitor. I found this very frustrating. Now, if I'd been told something like "There are three people ahead of you; it probably won't be until noon or so," I would be fine with it. But "within the hour" and "before noon" were both entirely misleading. I could have gone out and gotten some lunch or groceries had I had even a semi-accurate time estimate.

Okay, done ranting. The plumber was a decent enough guy. Somewhat amusingly, I didn't even notice he had a Japanese face until he mentioned his aunt visiting from Japan. When I looked for it, I saw it in his features, but he had a perfectly normal midwestern accent. I had noticed the black hair and not-quite-white skin, but there are so many hispanics in this area that they barely registered.

So, I now have a new water heater and a slightly cleaner (and damper) basement. Since I had to pull it out anyway, I finally got the cats' cheaper climbing tree repaired. It needed the bolts tightened and the rope for the scratching posts rewound and/or replaced. Princess seemed to like having it outside, though: it put her at the perfect height to watch the housefinches flying around the birdfeeder. Oh, when the first guy was there, Jilly was in the basement. She does not like strangers. She climbed into the ceiling and growled the whole time he was there. When the second plumber came, all the cats scrambled outside somewhere until he was gone.

Actually, there had been hints of a problem before this week, but I'd misinterpreted them. There was a little bit of water in the storeroom around both the furnace and the hot water heater. I had figured that the discharge hose from the furnace just had a hole in it and needed to be replaced (for those who don't know, modern furnaces give off water as a byproduct of the heating process). I never got around to it. If I had, I might have found a perfectly intact hose...and turned my suspicions to the water heater a month or so sooner. Ah well. 20-20 hindsight and all that.

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Ceiling Cat?

Okay, more like "Rafter Cat". Pouncer has found a way to get into the rafters of the garage. I'm not entirely sure how he's getting up there, but I did see him get down by leaping onto a table. This afternoon, I needed to leave for a short trip to get more screws (explanation coming tomorrow, unless I get distracted), and decided it was easier just to lock the garage than to try and get Pouncer down. I didn't particularly want to leave the garage open, and I'm not sure what he would have done if I'd tried to put the ladder under him and climb up. He wasn't too happy when I got back, so I don't know if he'll keep climbing up there or not. For reference, there's an old door up there that's been there since I bought the house, and it's the ceiling that slopes, not the door that Pouncer is laying on.

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Cat in a Drawer

Normally, this drawer holds telephone books, but I'd pulled them all out and Pouncer decided he wanted in:


I'm not sure how long he would have stayed had I not started taking pictures. I got the impression that the flash both irritated and interested him, so he came out to get a better look at the camera.

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Winter (temporarily)

After our refreshingly springy first day of spring, the cold front did indeed move in... there was about 4 inches of snow on my front porch on Monday morning. So I haven't accomplished much in the garden/yard work department this week. I've been working on cleaning instead, which in large part involves dealing with things that I've been ignoring (like a nice little cupboard that is meant to be hung on a wall, not sitting on a floor where it can be knocked over).

And my mom did change Skitzi's name. To Snickers. I'm not entirely convinced this is an improvement, but she's not my cat. Apparently the biggest problem for Mom was that she couldn't remember the name Skitzi. I've got to admit that I find this entirely puzzling, and can only conclude that my skill in learning languages was not inherited from her.

As for travel, I'm hoping to drive down to the Salt Lake area on Thursday and stock up on some things at Whole Foods Market. There's a Barnes and Noble next door to it, and a few other interesting shops nearby, so I'll probably make a day of it. I was considering going tomorrow, but between the tires in my trunk and the "70% chance of precipitation" vs. "10%" for Thursday, I figure I'd be better off waiting. Most of the snow from Monday had melted off today, until another half-inch or so fell tonight. With any luck, Thursday will be a melt-off day rather than a re-deposit day.

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Skitzi Pics

Here she is:





And my mom definitely wants to change her name, as people seem to equate it with "schizo."

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Skitzi

I've got a new baby sister! Sort of. My mom adopted a cat yesterday at the animal shelter's adoption day. The cat's about one year old, and has a rather sad story. She's a "foreclosure kitty", meaning that her owners lost their house and had to move into an apartment and, well, the apartment didn't allow pets. Still, I'm not sure that the cat isn't better off, as these people apparently had a rather large dog that liked to chase her around and they declawed the cat. I'm not big on declawing anyway, but declawing a cat that has to fend off a large dog? That's just nasty.

So she's called "Skitzi" (temporarily; I'm hoping Mom will change that) because she was rather skittish, or so her foster-owner said. But she's actually much calmer than most cats I've known. Yeah, she howled through the car ride, but as soon as she got into Mom's house, she was just interested in everything. She hid once or twice, but never for long, and she came right out under very minor encouragement (gentle noises, or rubbing fingers together). She hid a bit more thoroughly when she was left alone for an hour*, but, again, came right back out once she figured out we had come back.

I wound up going shopping for a few basic supplies for Mom (supposedly so she could practice her offertory at her church, but she actually just stayed at home and played with the cat). So I got her two sets of bowls, a kitty-condo, a blanket, and a bed. She has thusfar ignored all but the bowl with the food in it. ^/^

I hope to have picture to post of her soon, but she's described as a "tabby point Siamese", almost certainly not a purebred, and likely all the more gorgeous for it. Here are what the purebreds look like. Skitzi has a face much like this cat and a body with patterning like this one. Slightly cross the eyes of the first cat and you'll have a pretty good image of my mom's new cat.

*She found a way inside the couch with built-in recliners. Ah, cats!

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Signs of Tiredness

I'd just gotten home yesterday afternoon and was removing my boots. Pouncer came over to watch.

Me: See, I've got external paws that I can take off! Don't you wish you did?!
Pouncer: Mrow?

Pouncer also gave me one of his looks that I tend to interpret as confused or puzzled. Can't say that I blame him.

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The Kitties' Christmas Present

My mom and dad both gave me a bit of money this Christmas, so I used most of it to get the cats a nice climbing tree. This is the top level. It's roughly five feet tall. Among other things, it gives the cats a safe way to get to the window that's above Pouncer. They had found rather interesting ways to get up there without the toy ... one of which involved climbing on top of a television set. I figured if they were going to get up there anyway, they might as well have a way that was less likely to damage them or the house.

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Snow, In Pictures

kitten tracks
in the snow
lead the way

The top picture is of the back yard, and the very specific paths that the cats have been using. They go to the chairs, the 'house' and the sheltered area under the old fence boards. There are also some leading to the driveway, but those aren't visible. However, I like to leave the back part of my driveway unshoveled. It gives me a reasonably safe place to practice getting stuck in snow drifts, and then getting back out. Sadly, I haven't managed to get stuck for more than 30 seconds this year.

The lower picture is of Pouncer (grey, in the lead) and Jilly (black), trying to figure out why I'm making funny noises at them. Answer: to get them to look at the camera.

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Of Cats and Heating Pads

A few weeks ago, Jilly discovered the heating pad. Today, she kept meowing at me. I'd been leaning against the heating pad both for the extra warmth and to work on a sore spot in my back. I pulled the heating pad out and set it where she could get to it. She immediately went over and laid on it. She'd been begging for the heating pad! And now she looks absolutely content. *shakes head*

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Run Away!!

I love how Jilly is looking all wide-eyed and innocent in this one, while behind her, her sister tries to burrow into the chair. Princess likes to burrow into anything, particularly blankets and bags. The mostly asleep one at the front is Pouncer.

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Twelve Idiosyncracies of Christmas

On the first day of Christmas
the snow gods sent to me:
a book on philosophy

On the second day of Christmas,
the snow gods sent to me:
two wool ponchos
and a book on philosophy...

On the third day of Christmas,
the snow gods sent to me:
three taiji hours,
two wool ponchos
and a book on philosophy

On the fourth day of Christmas,
the snow gods sent to me:
four calling cats,
three taiji hours,
two wool ponchos
and a book on philosophy

On the fifth day of Christmas,
the snow gods sent to me:
...five jack-knifed semis,
four calling cats,
three taiji hours,
two wool ponchos
and a book on philosophy

On the sixth day of Christmas,
the snow gods sent to me:
six songs a playing,
...five jack-knifed semis,
four calling cats,
three taiji hours,
two wool ponchos
and a book on philosophy

On the seventh day of Christmas,
the snow gods sent to me:
seven drivers speeding,
six songs a playing,
...five jack-knifed semis,
four calling cats,
three taiji hours,
two wool ponchos
and a book on philosophy

On the eighth day of Christmas,
the snow gods sent to me:
eight icy red-lights,
seven drivers speeding,
six songs a playing,
...five jack-knifed semis,
four calling cats,
three taiji hours,
two wool ponchos
and a book on philosophy

On the ninth day of Christmas,
the snow gods sent to me:
nine slippery exits,
eight icy red-lights,
seven drivers speeding,
six songs a playing,
...five jack-knifed semis,
four calling cats,
three taiji hours,
two wool ponchos
and a book on philosophy

On the tenth day of Christmas,
the snow gods sent to me:
ten cars that slid off,
nine slippery exits,
eight icy red-lights,
seven drivers speeding,
six songs a playing,
...five jack-knifed semis,
four calling cats,
three taiji hours,
two wool ponchos
and a book on philosophy

On the eleventh day of Christmas,
the snow gods sent to me:
eleven lights a flashing,
ten cars that slid off,
nine slippery exits,
eight icy red-lights,
seven drivers speeding,
six songs a playing,
...five jack-knifed semis,
four calling cats,
three taiji hours,
two wool ponchos
and a book on philosophy

On the twelfth day of Christmas,
the snow gods sent to me:
twelve degree windchill,
eleven lights a flashing,
ten cars that slid off,
nine slippery exits,
eight icy red-lights,
seven drivers speeding,
six songs a playing,
...five jack-knifed semis,
four calling cats,
three taiji hours,
two wool ponchos
and a book on philosophy

And that was my day. Shorter version: first big snow storm of the season hit last night. The road to Idaho Falls was bad, but by the time we got to a place we could turn around, the road was getting better, and it seemed more sensible to go on rather than go back over the nastier bit. There were at least 10 slide-offs, possibly eleven if a car ensconced in the median with three police cars was a slide-off and not a pull-over. There was only one jack-knifed semi, thankfully, but it was the most severe angle I've ever seen between a semi and its trailer. Still, we made it there for taiji and back, and the roads were much better on the way back.

After I got home, I let the cats play outside for a bit, but they didn't seem to like the snow very well. At 2:00, I went with my mom to choir practice, as she needed a page-turner. Decent songs, good melodies, but the more I look at the actual lyrics of the more overtly religious carols, the more I find myself inordinately puzzled. But that's for another post.

EDIT: Forgot to explain the "book" or the ponchos. Melissa needed to stop at Barnes and Noble to take care of some books she'd ordered that had been damaged in transit, and I found a book describing various approaches to the "meaning of life". Then this afternoon I discovered a beautiful little shop in the mall, ensconced in the corner where a jeweler used to be, carrying a ton of alpaca coats and sweaters and ponchos. I bought one coat, and my mom decided to buy me a poncho as a Christmas present (as she has no idea what kind of clothing to buy for me without input). She bought it with me there because there were only two on the rack, and we both figured they'd be gone if she waited. So I know one of my Christmas presents.

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