Oh boy do I have a story for you this week!

So the kiddo had a four day weekend (Parent Teacher Conferences) and on Tuesday I was really looking forward to some quiet, productive time.

(Spoiler alert: I didn't get it.)

I hadn't managed to get my tutorial to finish up the shawl filmed over the long weekend for obvious reasons and I'd also fallen behind on my Bloomtober paintings. (Chime in on whether or not you think I should do a Toxic Florals Collection here, by the way!)

That morning, I had was a nice long to do list sketched out in pencil beside my coffee cup and I was actually looking forward to (some of) it, for a change.

Cue a horrendous ruckus in the backyard.

I jumped up and ran out the back door to witness a mongoose killing a baby chicken, multitudinous chickens screaming and running everywhere, and the landscapers zooming by on their riding lawnmowers just to make it all even more chaotic.

When I realized it was too late for at least one of poor Dipper's brand new babies, I stopped waving the broom around like a madwoman and sadly went back inside and watched her continue to cry out warnings to her remaining babies. Four of the six eventually turned back up, so at least she didn't lose them all.

Meanwhile, back inside the house, after having a bit of a cry, I admit (it's hard to watch helpless creatures die, even when it's part of the circle of life and all that), I noticed Truman (the cat) was playing with something under the couch.

I'd already picked up two skittles out of the floor by the couch on two separate occasions that morning, so I thought it was probably another skittle since they're exactly the sort of thing he would love to swat and watch skitter across the floor.

So I lift up the flap on the back of the couch and see...

no skittle on the floor.

I lean down and look further under the couch and my brain screams, "Mongoose!" and I snatch up the cat and run to lock him in the bathroom.

The couch then received the beating of its life.

It was then moved, vacuumed, moved again, and had its footrests extended and back flaps pinned up to fully expose it to the best of my ability.

Nothing.

I let the cat out of the bathroom and he crawled through the couch once, sniffed around, and then went and flopped down on the landing halfway up the stairs.

Like so:

Huh.

I decided perhaps I simply had mongoose on the brain and had imagined seeing the thing under the couch.

Still not certain, of course, I sat and stared at my exposed couch for some time while finishing another cup of coffee.

Still nothing.

I must have imagined it. Right?

I had called my husband at some point during all of this and when he sent me a text back I told him everything was fine but that there may or may not have been a mongoose in the couch and that he could help me turn it upside down and I'd tell him the story when he got home.

His response?

"You mean like the outdoor couch right? Right?!"

One minute later:

"Right!?!?"

Umm...

I reassured him that I didn't actually see one FOR SURE and that even if I did it could have run out the open back door while I was wailing on the couch.

Eventually, I gave up my watchpost (the coffee was gone, after all) and headed upstairs to work on finishing up one of the paintings and set up for my tutorial.

Rhododendron = meh. Oh well.

I paused before beginning the tutorial to go refill my coffee one last time and turn up the AC so it wouldn't kick on while I was filming, and there was Truman, playing with something under the couch again.

Uh oh.

It was the other couch this time, though.

Carefully, I pulled it away from the wall and sure enough! There's a beady eyed slinky little mongoose back there!

I was NOT crazy!!

But there WAS a mongoose in my house. 👀

I chased that thing back and forth and back and forth under the couch and along the wall and then it was just... gone.

I did NOT see it go out the back door. But it WAS open so that it COULD go out.

Clearly, this was a two-person job, since I couldn't both beat on the far side of the couch and watch on the door side of the couch to see that the thing actually ran out the door.

Eventually, I gave up.

Again.

Truman investigated and acted like he was pretty convinced there might still be a mongoose up inside the (other) couch.

So I sat in the floor with my sneakers on (I was totally wishing I had boots—mongooses can be mean little things I've read!) for an hour while I waited for someone from housing to come help me chase the stubborn rodent out of my house.

They finally showed up and turned both my couches on their fronts and then their backs to investigate with lights and phone pictures inside the underpart cavities and beat on my poor couches some more with both the front and back doors flung wide open to allow an escaping mongoose optimal exit options.

With Truman locked in the bathroom again.

Nothing.

They think it must have snuck past me on my second go around with it.

One of them was clearly disappointed that he didn't get to see a mongoose up close. He asked me, "Did you actually see it??" Yep. Definitely. He told me he had one die in his vents one time. 🤢

Then another hour or so later Terminex showed up and proceeded to abuse my couches once more for good measure, even though I told them the guys from housing were pretty sure it wasn't in the house anymore.

Truman, of course, got locked in the bathroom yet again.

I would say poor Truman, but he was pretty useless.

While I was chasing that mongoose back and forth? He sat in a corner across the room and just watched!

Useless beast.

Needless to say, I did NOT get my tutorial filmed that day.

And I slept rather lightly that night.

I wish I had gotten a picture of it. My phone, unfortunately, was upstairs during the second assault. You know, for the tutorial that didn't get filmed, lol.

There have been no further mongoose sightings. INSIDE the house, at least. So I'm thankful for that.

And in the future, I promised I would try to remember not to leave the back door flung wide open when I run outside to defend the feral chickens.

And the tutorial did get filmed the next day! Despite having half an eye on the couches most of the rest of the day.

The shawl also got to have her bath after the video was finished and I managed to find enough blocking boards AND enough floorspace in our guest bedroom for it! Though the ends are shoved up underneath both of the dressers in order to make it fit, lol.

Here's a partial view, ha ha:

Oh and if you made a guess on the number of blocking pins I'd need, the answer was three! Except I did decide to go ahead and add some knit blockers along the second edge with the decreases, just to make sure it wouldn't start curling back up.

So if you count those, it's a lot more than three, of course!

I haven't even measured to see how long it turned out yet, but it's sooooo long! Definitely the longest thing I've made to date. It'll be fun to try some different ways of styling it!

What's the longest shawl or scarf you've ever made? Do you like a lot of length?? I usually do, even though I'm short! I want a scarf to be at least 70" long —and I'm only 60" tall. Well, technically, 59.5" but I've rounded up my whole life!

Hit tip, if you don't already know it: if you're making a scarf for someone else, you want it to be at least as long as they are tall. Oh and a person's "wingspan" (when you stretch your arms straight out to the sides) is usually about the same measurement as their height!

I like to tie fun knots in my scarves, so I like a little bit of extra length in mine. But I'm worried this particular shawl may end up being TOO long for my short little self! We shall see soon enough. And I'm sure I'll come up with something that doesn't look ridiculous, even if it does turn out to be a hundred inches long, ha ha! Wish me luck.

Okay. That is quite enough from me for one day!

Here's hoping today will ACTUALLY be a nice quiet day at home. I've got a pattern to finish writing, after all!

Cheers!

-Connie

P.S. My husband made this meme just for me.

P.P.S. Here are a couple pictures of cute baby chickens! Um, before the mongoosapocalypse. (She still has four.)