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We have been spending our weekends for the past month working in our backyard. Yes, it needed that amount of work, and more. No, I won’t go into the gory details or give you a “before” photo. But I got enough war wounds wrestling with blackberry briars that I thought it merited a self-congratulatory “after” photo. To clarify the extent of the damage I did, the brambles had overtaken the space down the entire length of the shop and well above the top of the fence.

Take THAT, blackberries! See you in the spring.

-Julie

Although it will likely be a while yet before I am finished typing my current Project Gutenberg texts, I wanted to post a brief update to let you know where I am, and what’s taking so long. Because Sir Charles Grandison is not the most engrossing book I’ve read, especially in the wake of Clarissa, I am splitting my PG time between that and The White Peacock, by D.H. Lawrence. I have been trying to switch between them a chapter at a time, and am making fair progress on each.

Sir Charles Grandison, Volume 2: 36% complete
The White Peacock: 32% complete

-Julie

Thanks to the Olympics, I finished the back of the Juliet pullover last night. I think it went well, but I was a little anxious about the measurements and the slightly harsh texture of the fabric, so I couldn’t resist washing and wet-blocking it right away. Consequently, please ignore the darker color in this photo—the one from my last update is much closer to the actual color. I can’t tell yet whether the fabric texture was much improved, though it seems promising, so I’ll say a few words about the fit.

I am making the second to smallest size, which looked like it should fit me nicely despite my yarn substitution; but I was dismayed to find that the waist decreases rapidly took the body from a comfortable 35.5″ circumference down to 29.5″ over the course of less than 6″. I figured that I could add a bit more ease through the waist with blocking (it worked, too!) but I also had to take into consideration the fact that I have a very short waist. I ended up reducing the height from hem to armscye by an inch to position the waist shaping at my waist instead of on my hips, which are decidedly NOT 29.5″ around. With those minor adjustments, it looks like this could be a really great finished product. On to sleeves!

The Sparks Gallery has been updated with a few more of my older prints. There are two subtractive monotypes, Pathways I and The Siq, and one light-over-dark reductive linocut, The Fountain. Check them out!

-Julie

Less than two weeks remain before I make the move to ‘the city’. Perhaps the most traumatic event on that path occured this past weekend—Julie and I sold our Jetta.

For the last four years the Jetta has been there for us and it was sort of surprising to find how attached we had become to it. It was our first new car, as well as the first car that we bought completely on our own. We have been through a lot with that car…

Farewell, Jetta… we’ll miss you.

Now to see if I can survive two years without a car?

-Jeremy

(I apologize for the delay in the final Ferret of the Week post; I was at Portland State University all day Friday for a book repair workshop.)

I think by this time we have about run the gamut of ferret opinions on treats and toys. Ajax loves treats, though like Niki, he has never been given many things like raisins. He enjoys ferret treats and human food as well: he likes licking empty ice cream bowls and yogurt cups, and getting pieces of fruit and chicken. Like the others, he gets a kick out of drinking from our glasses even if (or perhaps, because) it means knocking them over, but his favorite beverage to steal is iced tea.

Ajax will play with anything—paper bags, plastic bags, pillows, towels, tunnels he can’t actually fit in, old socks, new socks, socks with feet in them, squeaky stuffed socks rabbits, other ferrets—as long as it doesn’t give too much of a chase. He is such a big boy that he tires rather quickly (for a ferret) and pancakes out on the floor for a breather if he has to run or war-dance for more than a few minutes at a time. The other type of toy he likes a lot are large hard balls: he has several favorites, including a small grey plastic “boulder,” a sturdy ping-pong ball with a weight inside, and a Chinese meditation ball. He pushes them around with his nose, then picks them up with his paws and rolls over on his back, trying to get a good grip with his teeth, an amusing impossibility.

Well, this post concludes our Ferret of the Week series, as we have run out of new ferrets to introduce. Our ferrets bring us a great deal of joy, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the stories and photos. Now I just have to come up with something else to write about…

Ajax has a very sweet personality, and for the most part, is very patient with being held. I cart him around cradled like a baby (as in Tuesday’s photo) because he is so large, and he rarely struggles. He doesn’t seem to like being held by Jeremy quite so well, which I think is because Jax knows Jeremy is bigger and stronger than him. But that just means he tends to wiggle and whine when Jeremy holds him for more than a few seconds.

We also discovered that Jaxie is a good ferret ambassador with children. Despite his huge size, he is instinctively gentle with kids, and doesn’t wiggle the way Loki and Rocky do. He has been good friends with our niece, Leah, ever since he was a kit, as shown in the photo above. Every time she sees him, Leah happily carries Ajax all around the house, and walks him all over the backyard on his leash. She gives him SO much love and attention that she tuckers him out—quite an impressive feat when you consider the nearly boundless energy of a young ferret.

But it makes for some good photo opportunities.

Ajax is the champion heavy-weight wrestling ferret in our busyness. Never mind that the other four don’t even approach his weight class—Jax could take them all on together, with one paw tied behind his back. He is a little overwhelming to Loki, better with Rocky. Nikita has been his buddy ever since we brought him home, and she trails in his wake like a little toady, ready to jump on whomever he decides to scruff. Ajax is surprisingly gentle when he wrestles with Niki, though you’d never know it to hear her chattering.

The one ferret that Ajax absolutely cannot get along with, no matter what we do to intercede, is Pandora. As the alpha ferret when Ajax was brought home, Panda showed her dominance to the new kit early on. Unfortunately for her, he grew—a lot—and quickly. Soon he discovered that he could fight back, and that was the beginning of the end. Now Pandora is terrified of Ajax. She immediately runs away from him if they are out at the same time, and he naturally gets excited and chases her. Then she screams and wriggles, which just excites him more. If we don’t keep them apart, we end up with a mess on the floor, and gashes on Panda’s neck. More recent attempts to get them used to each other have resulted in Pandora gaining just enough confidence to clamp onto some part of Ajax’s face and not let go, which could injure them both. As a result, they have separate housing and separate playtimes, and we have virtually conceded that they are arch-nemeses.

Ajax (a.k.a. Aiantes, A.J., Maximus, Jaxie Maxie, Jaxom, Chubba Dub, Teddy Bear, Big) is a 2-year old half-angora Siamese sable gib. Both of his parents were half-angoras, so although his fur is very soft and thick, it isn’t as long as a full angora ferret’s fur can get. It does mean, though, that when he sheds his coat twice a year, we really notice it. It also means that he is not fond at all of the hot weather we have been having in the summer.

Ajax, aside from being born to sturdy European bloodlines, was allowed to grow to his full size. Male ferrets, left unneutered continue growing for over a year, and actually have a second growth spurt at 18 months of age. We had Jaxie fixed when he was about 16 months old because we couldn’t stand it anymore. He had been in rut for several months previously, which is not very pleasant: he dribbled urine on himself and all over our house, he dooked and chattered like a Geiger counter every time he saw the other ferrets, and he eventually had to have a separate cage and playtime because of the aggression he showed toward Rocky and the amorous passes he made at our three spayed ladies. Now he’s back to his sweet friendly self.

Ajax was named after two Greek champions, the Aiantes: Ajax the Greater and Ajax the Lesser. We figured Ajax would end up being the size of any two of our other ferrets, so it seemed appropriate. We also considered Achilles and Alcibiades, both of which seemed a bit arrogant to us. Plus they didn’t lend themselves to nicknames.

Since we only have five ferrets, it’s time to bring the Ferret of the Week series to its close with a grand finale: the Mighty Mighty Ajax.

A few months after we brought Niki home, we were informed by the breeder that there were several new litters of kits that would be available once they reached 8 weeks of age. We very happily drove up to Oregon City and picked out a quarter-angora, light sable boy with a black nose. Although he was microchipped for identification, when we came back to pick him up, somehow he had already been taken home by someone else. That was how we met little Ajax, another 8-week old male kit, half-angora with siamese sable coloring. He was very round and fuzzy, and from good European stock—his daddy, whom we met, was an enormous half-angora so strong I could hardly hold onto him—and the breeder was keeping his champagne-colored brother to be a breeding hob.

We brought little Ajax home to meet his new “big brother and sisters,” only to realize that he was already bigger than all of them. By three months of age, he already weighed 3 pounds, more than Rocky weighs at his heaviest winter weight. Once he grew up to his full size, he settled into a comfortable 4.5-5 pounds.

(Check out that burly neck!)