Sophie's Story

     Hi! This is Skamp!    Sophie is working a lot this week so I decided to write her column for her. It's been awhile since I wrote anyway. I thought some of you might want to know how I'm doing.    It's been almost a year since Colby got sick and crossed over to where all good animals go. It's been tough, a sad and lonely time. Sophie and C did their best to comfort me. Sophie groomed me every morning. (Something that still continues.) C gave me extra attention whenever I needed it. (That also still continues.)They are very good humans.    I've been keeping busy. I am now the Chief House Cat, which means that I am in charge of keeping my humans safe by warning them of intruders. Yesterday an intruder spent several hours with C doing something to our house. Sophie explained that he was only putting up the lights that were removed when the new siding was installed. I watched him carefully from inside the house but wanted to get out for a better view. Sophie offered

       Wednesday C and I took a day trip. We wanted to go someplace we had not been before. We looked at several places and decided to go to Northfield. It is a small city in Minnesota, south of the Twin Cities area. For us it was about a 40 minute drive straight down I35.    I knew a little about Northfield as I lived south of there in Faribault many years before. Of course all good Minnesota Lutherans also know about Northfield as one of the three Lutheran Colleges, St. Olaf, is located there. The Cannon River flows though it. It is also home to another college, Carleton College.    When we first drove into Northfield we were greeted by the smell of cereal. This is because the Malt-O-Meal/Post factory is right outside of town. We drove into town and found a place to park by the river. There was a small park nearby. We walked along the river, There were several bridges crossing it that had been decorated with planters of flowers. C paused to take pictures. A female duck with several d

     Yesterday I got a welcome surprise phone call from my friend Dana. She's been working nights for quite awhile so I don't get to see or hear from her much. We spent some time catching up on what each of us was doing which wasn't that hard because neither of us has done anything  interesting. We've both been working and not much else. Fifteen minutes after the call ended I realized I had forgotten to tell her a funny story about some baking I had done recently. I thought I'd share it with the rest of you as well.    It is my custom to bake my tech, Chrys, a birthday cake each year. Normally she prefers carrot cake, but this year she asked for chocolate or carrot. I decided to do two small cakes, one chocolate and one carrot. I bought some carrots and cream cheese. Then I started to bake.    The carrot cake went together easily. For once I managed to grate the carrots without scraping my knuckles. It went into the oven to bake. Then I mixed together the chocolate

     Once again I find myself sitting in front of the computer with no idea of what I'm going to write. There are several thoughts going through my minds at the moment. None of them are enough of a thought to make a column out of them alone.     One of the things I've been doing during the pandemic is watching The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. I can get it on You Tube so I don't have to stay up late. Since gatherings have not been permitted because of the pandemic, Colbert has been doing his show in his office with only technical staff and sometimes his wife with him. A week or so ago he announced that he would be doing his show in front of an audience again. The audience would all have to be vaccinated. It's clear he can't wait until that day arrives. I'm not sure I'm going to continue watching it. I like the office show with the laughter of a few people when he tells a really good joke. I enjoy watching him flub up his lines or miss a cue and make jokes