Handstands Are Good For You

Dearest Reader,

The aliens LOVE handstands. They spend more time inverted than upright. Some yogis believe that handstands lead to mental calmness and focus. Other scholars extol stimulated digestion ... Not a regular partaker, I recently attempted one. At first, the feeling of my muffin top moving toward my cranium and the weakness of my arms was unsettling. This was soon surpassed by the thrill of flipping upside down and feeling the blood rushing in the “wrong” directions. I stayed in the pose for a long time … about a minute. And, while I didn’t feel any mental calmness or focus afterward, it was just fun to feel like a kid again. The jury might be out on the benefits of handstands, but fun is good for you. Go ahead, do one!

Irrevocably yours,
The Trouble and Strife

PS Not sure there's much evidence of the calmness in the Aliens either.

The blog left to Justus!

Whims has flown the coop and left me to blog--here goes!

My name is Justus (rhymes with "whose twos"), and this is me with a squirrel. We met out in the forests of Nesting where I was on an errand, and we just sort of hit it off.

And here's a picture of Mr. Whims himself, deeply at work photographing the

cat shelter.

Finally, here's a picture of my girlfriend, Robin. Isn't she beautiful?

Well, that's it! I'm going climbing soon, I'll send some thoughts from the boulder field!

justus

Running Round in Circles

Dear Reader,

After running around in circles for a couple of days gathering the pieces, it's pre-dawn now and we're ready for action!

The car is full, the Aliens are sleeping soundly after running in their own circles and I'm heading out.

Pics from today's shoot next week :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Vacuum Sucked Acorns

Dear Reader,

Yesterday was filled with some big leaps forward in our quest to bring acorns to you! Indeed, even our first attempt, so proudly displayed here by Alien Two, was recognizable as an acorn :)


It all started with an artfully sculptured mold situated inside a sturdy housing and a vacuum cleaner split into two hoses.

Our industrial dipper dropped our housing into a slurry of pulp paper liquified by hand (a la the Aliens effort) ...




... by ad hoc mechanical madness (witness, yours truly with a Squirrel King drill attachment), and Vivian's genius with the blender (somehow undocumented)!

There's still a little way to go, but every 10,000 mile journey has a 69,823rd step, and I believe we just took ours :)

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Roofing the Cat Shelter

Dear Reader,

Yesterday Alien Two said goodbye to the concept of a bamboo roof for the Nesting cat shelter ...

.. and Alien One and I went foraging for another whimsical alternative at the local nursery. With Irish Moss stowed alongside her gold rush calla lily we returned to Squirrel King headquarters ready to implement our greener find.



On reflection - with the integrity of the shelter structure (which is predominantly cardboard and paper) in mind - we've decided to live on the edge, leaving the actual application of the moss to the roof until our Friday shoot!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Cat Shelter

Dear Reader,

To fit with its namesake, the town of Nesting needs a cat shelter.

Searching the web for reference images and inspiration, I came across some groovy pieces like the one to the right, but we wanted a shelter that housed many cats together.

In the end ours is a more geodesically inspired design. I've tried two different roofs - pink tiles and bamboo - but think I'm headed back to the more organic idea of sod which Alien One and I will procure today :)

Filming of the cat shelter happens this Friday!

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims

Acorns ... A Big Plan

Dear Reader,

In a bid to bring some Squirrel King magic to you, we've started work on constructing acorns. A lot of acorns :)

As with many of our finest projects it all began with some high-end power-tools! Indeed we treated ourselves to a new circular saw (the one used earlier for cutting the coconuts was borrowed and simply whet our appetite).

While I created a housing, Vivian was left to sew steel into the shape of an acorn!


Stay tuned, it's going to be a busy week watching, not only this project unfold, but preparation for Friday's shoot too!






By the way, if you look carefully you'll see that's Alien Two helping with the clean-up. Of particular note, is the newly formed twin-hose vacuum cleaner she's wielding ... whose true meaning will soon be revealed.

Chin chin
Ruthless Whims