Sledding!

So we went sledding this weekend! We walked on over to Fresh Pond, which is actually a reservoir used by the city of Cambridge surrounded by a park and a golf course. Most of it is actually a quite natural setting (except for the chain link fence surrounding the pond to keep people--and dogs--out of the water supply). Well, when we first went there, Nathan said of a nice clearing with a hill, "That's the perfect sledding hill!" So last weekend we bought this sled-type thing that was $1.50. It's actually just a piece of hardy foam with handle holes. Anyway, here are some pictures of us sledding (and one of Nathan with the half-frozen pond behind him).

That's Nathan, halfway down the hill.

Can you see Nathan? He's at the bottom of the hill. We we able to slide a good 60 yards or so. That was probably in part because the snow was VERY icy - it had snowed, melted, then froze again, which made the snow have an icy layer on top. It is actually a little treacherous for walking, but it made for good sledding.

Me, about to head down.
The funny thing about this day was that it was 32 or 33 degrees outside, and after a few weeks of below-freezing temperatures, we didn't even miss our winter jackets! It's funny how you acclimate to the cold over time.

Me, about to mow down a couple of kids. :)

Fun with Yarn

Nathan and I have discovered that our cats LOVE playing with string. I've never seen cats get as into it as Livvy and Vi. They could go for hours, and it's so fun! (I'll take some pictures and post them this weekend.)

So last night we came home and found that they had discovered my yarn basket. We were cracking up because there were balls of yarn all down the hall and three on the bed, which apparently was the "trophy room," as Nathan termed it. I even found one under the bed later! I counted, and they had dragged about 10 balls of yarn around. What a fun day they must have had!

What's in a name?

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet. . . .

Yes, we went with the Shakespearean names, Olivia and Viola. The tri-colored cat is Livvy, and the long-haired one is Vi.

More Cat News . . . or shall I say Mews

We have nearly settled on some names--Livvy for the tri-colored cat and Sophie/Sophia for the long-haired one. Nathan suggested Sophie, and we're trying it out for a bit before deciding.

This morning, when Nathan let the cats out of the kitchen (we had closed them in there overnight with their food & litter), Livvy, who we thought was the shy one, followed on his heels into the bedroom and insisted on being petted for 20 minutes. We were a little surprised that she was so friendly, but we were very pleased. Sophie, on the other hand, stayed in the kitchen for a while and is now hiding under the bed. We think she may be mad at us for locking her in the kitchen all night. :)

Nathan took this picture of me last night. He was kind enough to cut my head out of it, as I was asleep and looked crazy. But we wanted to put this up anyway because the cats are cute here and it shows how quickly they're becoming attached to us. They each found a warm crook:

Kitties!

Nathan and I adopted two cats today!!

We were intending to adopt kittens, but apparently it's not kitten season (May through Sept.). Instead, we ended up liking these two cats, who are most likely sisters. They're a year and a half old, which comes with some definite advantages--they are litter trained and are already bonded with one another. They were a little shy at the animal shelter, but the more time we spent with them, the more they warmed up to us, and we ended up going home with them!

We have not decided on names for them yet. I had liked "Olivia" and "Ophelia" if we got two girls (a la Shakespeare), but we're not sure those names suit them. We like the idea of naming one of them Olivia and calling her "Livvy" for short. I also like the idea of naming one Olivia and one Viola (anagrams that Shakespeare used in Twelfth Night), but like I said, we have not decided yet. We are open to suggestions! I'm leaning toward literary names, as you might have guessed.

They're both very sweet and like to be petted, but the gray long-haired one likes to be held more than the short-haired tri-color one. They're very nice girls. :)

Straight Hair

Weird! My hair is really straight today! It's because it's so dry - the humidity usually makes it curlier, so I guess it works in the other direction, too.

Superbowl Sunday

Football, shmootball. The most entertaining thing going on in our living room right now is Nathan trying to rip a phone book in half with his bare hands. He found some special technique online and has been working at this for about the last 40 minutes. By now he is honestly, truly frustrated and got kind of miffed at me when I was giggling at the sight of him, red faced with a blood vessel throbbing in his temple. But the fact that he is so serious about ripping a phone book in half is so dang funny!

Okay, he finally decided it's not worth it and has sat down to read the paper. Whew!