Deary me, but I’ve spent two full work days in a design charette.

We answered such burning questions as “Should the theatre be permeated with the smell of tallow, pork fat and black powder?” and “If we find the cat – where do we put it?”

I’m not entirely sure that these are questions that most museum folks have to answer – but nonetheless, answer them we must.

I’m thinking that the answer is a definite “no” to the first question – but the second one is far more difficult.

If you don’t know the story of the cat in the Dahlgren, you can read a full account (complete with theories about it) written by my buddy Jeff here.

But the quick story is that one of the crewmembers of the USS Monitor claims to have stuffed the cat into the barrel of one of the guns before the ship sank. No one knows if it’s a true story or not, but nonetheless, we are searching for the historical (hysterical?)kitty now at Ye Olde Monitor Museum. But I have to quote Jeff directly, because I think he makes a strong argument against the kitty being there in the gun – “As the proud owner of four cats, I can believe that the act of placing a scared, wet, and agitated cat into the 11-inch opening of a Dahlgren cannon for its protection would certainly have been a noble act. It also most certainly could have provided a bit of comic relief in a very serious situation. In fact, I think of Francis Butts every time I try to place one particular black cat into the kitty carrier with a 15-inch opening just before a routine trip to the vet.”

Anyway – be assured that if we find the kitty – y’all will be among the first to know.

As for the smell of tallow, pork fat and black poweder……I think we’ve decided that the answer will be a resounding NO on that score.

Not too much else going on. My mother continues to learn how to send email on the laptop we gave her. My father continues to hover over her as she works on the computer, but as far as I know has yet to actually touch it. She has successfully sent 4 emails now and is proud that she has not committed any “illegal operations.”

In other words, she hasn’t encountered the blue screen of death whilst working on the laptop.

We had dinner with Homer and Kate and Bob and Allison and Hank last night – and the ickle cousins Collin and Owen were also in attendance. Sigh…. the old ship’s crew back together again….

That’s about all I can think of. More anon, I am sure.

Facebooktwitter

You must be logged in to leave a reply.