Wednesday, 31 January 2024

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ~ Fudge is Reclining while Pandora is Meatloafing, Smooch is Schlumping and Melvyn's Wearing This Weeks Surprise Bandana

Midweek News Round Up with The B Team ©BionicBasil® Winter Banner 2022

Epic Wednesday Greetings Furiends

Welcome to the BBHQ midweek news round-up!

How's your week going? 

We've had a busy few days at BBHQ, and we finally managed to herd the P.A. outside to start some rose pruning on Caturday. Luckily it was not bad weather-wise at an incredibly heady 12C or 53.6F.

So she spent about four hours pruning many of the BBHQ roses, though, at about 4pm, she turned to Fudge and said, "Dude, I've had enough now. I'm going indoors!"

Can mew believe it?  

Fudge replied, "But mew haven't pruned the two standard roses, or any of the rambling roses on the fence yet. And let's not forget the three shrub roses either!"

Seriously, mew just can't get the staff! 

Anyhoo, we've made a deal with her, that if she completes the pruning this weekend, we may (may - being a very loose interpretation) buy her something for her birthday on Monday, though we're not promising as Amber's thrashed Parsley's credit card again and all funds are currently locked down - but the P.A. doesn't know any of this! MOL

Midweek News ©BionicBasil® Winter Post Divider

First up in the news 

Fudge is Reclining, while Pandora is Meatloafing

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® Fudge is Reclining, while Pandora is Meatloafing

Fudge was enjoying a really relaxing time on the sofa the other day; just look at that supurr, reclining pose! 

While Pandora was in her classic and well-loved meatloafing and completely oblivious to all snoozing position.

Midweek News ©BionicBasil® Winter Post Divider

Next up in the news

 Smooch is Schlumping 


The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® Smooch is Schlumping

When Smooch sits like this, for want of a better expression, like a sack of spuds. We call him Schlumpy Smooch.

We did just go and check the official definition of SCHLUMP, as we thought we'd better do a bit of recon just in case it was offensive because so many seemingly ordinary words can now have many connotations, some of which may not be what we think they are.

So the definition of Schlump from www.dictionary.com is:

a dull, colourless person

a slovenly person; slob

verb (used without object)
to loaf or idle

Obviously, the first two are not applicable to Smooch, as he's definitely not any of those; however, the third, when used as a verb without object, is bang on the money, to loaf or idle, and fits the criteria perfectly.

So if mew're ever looking for a fun word to describe general loafing, schlumping is the way to go! MOL

Midweek News ©BionicBasil® Winter Post Divider

And finally this week

Melvyn's Modelling The Top Bandana Pick


Today, Melvyn is modelling the Surprise Lucky Clover bandana; it was chosen at random because we didn't check how many Wednesdays were in January and we fluffed up! MOL

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® Melvyn Modelling The Surprise Lucky Clover Bandana

We think he looks epically fluffing lucky, and we've just remembered that it's St Paddy's Day in March, so now we're going to have to find some other lucky bandanas to share then! MOL

Check out his videos on your preferred social media channel:




Midweek News ©BionicBasil® Winter Post Divider


Which one should he model next?


We did have to go back into the bandana archive to find this selection, as sadly, the P.A. didn't have time to make any new ones.

The BBHQ Midweek News Round-Up ©BionicBasil® February 2024 Bandana Collection - Valentine's Day

The February Valentine's Collection:

1. Multi-coloured hearts with lilac fringing

2. Red hearts with red fringing

3.  White hearts with glitter ribbon

4. Red heart with red tassels

Leave a comment with your top pick for next week!

Midweek News ©BionicBasil® Winter Post Divider

That's us done for today. Amber will be back on Friday with another fab book just for mew. And if mew missed Monday's post, click here to catch up on our fourth Valentine's Crafting with Cats post. And we'll be back again tomorrow with another supurr crafty project just for mew!

Also, Chapter Thirteen of our epically exciting adventure, Claws of Terror was posted yesterday, so if mew missed that, click here to catch up on all the action. Mew won't actually be able to catch your breath this week while reading it.

In the meantime

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Epic purrs

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 














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Tuesday, 30 January 2024

CHAPTER THIRTEEN ~ HALLOWEEN STORY TIME **CLAWS OF TERROR** A BRAND NEW BASIL AND THE B TEAM ADVENTURE FOR 2024

Claws of Terror ©BionicBasil® Adventure Story

Tuesday Tails Text Banner ©BionicBasil®

Tuesday Tails Banner ©BionicBasil®

Tuesday Tails Text Banner ©BionicBasil®

Claws of Terror is an action-packed and immersive adventure that takes mew on a journey through a world of danger and excitement. With vivid and detailed descriptions of the intense battles and spine-tingling encounters, the story draws mew in, making mew feel as though mew are right there with The B Team, fighting for survival.

HANG ON TIGHT GUYS, THIS IS GOING TO BE ONE WILD NIGHT!!!

If mew missed the start of this brand-new adventure click the link below:

Chapter One   Chapter Two   Chapter Three    Chapter Four    Chapter Five

Chapter Six    Chapter Seven    Chapter Eight     Chapter Nine     Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven     Chapter Twelve

Claws of Terror ©BionicBasil® Halloween Adventure - Divider 

Chapter Thirteen

The Thirteenth Parallel

Implementing Code 792-Delta-Echo-9 utterly freaked the fluff out of me, but given the circumstances, I felt I had no choice if I wanted to protect the very foundations of what I’d built.

          The platform descended from the ceiling, and I glanced around the room, watching everyone’s reaction as a few moments later, the BBHQ Time Travelling Telephone Box appeared. The platform descended flawlessly into the shaft in the floor until the TTTB was at ground level.

For those of mew who may have not read any of our adventures before, let me digress for a moment. In the courtyard at BBHQ stands a seemingly, ordinary K6 red Telephone Box with the King George V crown moulding, which was in production from 1935. It has been here at BBHQ since 2007, and I’ll be honest, we really, really wanted a Tardis, aka blue Police Box, but sadly, to get an original one is nigh on impossible, so we got our mittens on the next best thing, the K6 Kiosk otherwise known as The Jubilee Box. And after a few modifications, we had our very own K6 Tardis, which we call the Time Travelling Telephone Box or TTTB.

Smooch glowered at me. “Dude, that was so fluffing sneaky.”

“Yeah, Basil!” Fudge agreed. “How come mew never told us that mew’d created this escape route?”

“Just a quick question,” Humphrey interrupted. “Won’t that necromancer notice a fluffing red telephone box sinking into the ground?”

“OK,” I began. “Let’s step inside first.”

Parsley pulled the door open, and we all trooped inside. Mew know stepping into the TTTB always takes my breath away, just a little bit, as the inside is nothing like the outside. From the outside, it’s about two feet square, but inside it’s like another world. We stood on the gigantic bridge of, for want of a better word, a spaceship.

A huge reactor core at the centre of the bridge descended deep into the depths of the TTTB and its multiple levels. Surrounding the reactor core were several computer consoles, lights flashing and raring to go.

Snowie and Amber took their stations, while the M-Unit and Melvyn headed towards a lounge area and sat down.

Humphrey nudged me, and I looked at him. “Oh yeah dude, don’t worry. That necromancer won’t have a clue what’s just happened as when the TTTB descends, a holographic image is automatically projected, so it still looks like it’s sitting right there in the courtyard. Clever, huh?”

“Oh,” Humphrey murmured. “Nice one!”

“And the reason I didn’t tell anyone about it was, in fact, I was saving it as a surprise,” I explained. “I wasn’t trying to keep mew all out of the loop; yes I built it in secret, though I did plan to reveal it at the upcoming Catmas Party, but obviously, here we are today, so SURPRISE!”

Parsley, Smooch and Fudge wheeled the trolleys towards a cupboard and pushed them inside, while they muttered amongst themselves.

Humphrey looked at them and then said to me. “Basil dude, the guys are obviously a little hissed off.”

I nodded. “I know. I’ll go and apologise. Can mew get Astrid online and let’s head to the stone circle?”

Humphrey patted me on the shoulder and then walked over to Snowie, who was busy tapping on the keyboard at her console, getting the precise coordinates for the jump.

As I headed towards the cupboard, a hinky, icky prickling feeling of dread crawled all over my skin. I jerked around and scanned the entire bridge. But there was nothing out of the ordinary. Stepping into the large supplies cupboard, Smooch, Fudge, and Parsley secured the trolleys into purpose-built docking bays and picked a few choice weapons out, stuffing extra ammo clips into their tactical vests.

That icky feeling crawled all over me again, and I shuddered, trying to shake it off.

“Are mew ok Basil?” Fudge asked.

“Something’s not right,” I answered, glancing over my shoulder again. Shaking it off again, I said. “Dudes, I’m sorry I didn’t tell mew about the new room and stuff. I was going to reveal it at the Catmas party as a surprise.”

Parsley replied. “Yeah, we had just come to that conclusion, Basil.”

“Smooch guessed it was going to be a Catmas surprise,” Fudge said, turning to Smooch. “I guess I owe mew five pounds, dude!”

“Mew bet on that?” I baulked.

“Of course,” Parsley laughed.

Smooch and Fudge laughed too, as Fudge handed over a crisp five-pound note he’d just whipped out of the top pocket of his tactical vest.

“Dudes, something feels so off.” I shuddered again, and then it hit me like a sledgehammer on the tail. “Where the fluff is Posie?”

>^.^<

Posie, in her ghostly form, activated her personal invisi-bubble, which masked her completely. She floated through the Control Room wall and into the corridor. Carnage ensued as shufflers relentlessly pounded on every door in their frenzied attempts to break through, clawing over one another as feline body parts flew in all directions as more and more appeared and they tried to fight their way to the front.

Gliding soundlessly above them, she reached the broom cupboard and headed through the wall, but a massive blast of power unexpectedly hurled her backwards. She spun over and over as she was hurtled uncontrollably up through the bunker ceiling, through the earth, and up into the garden above.

Spinning through the air, she whizzed straight between the two gigantic T-Rexs and the pack of Red Wing Raptors. Travelling higher above BBHQ, she regained control and finally stopped spinning.

‘It’s a good thing ghosts can’t puke!’ she thought. ‘Otherwise, I’d be covered in it right now!’

Hovering in the night sky, the full moon glowing like a ball of luminous ice and stars twinkling all around. She looked down into the garden. The thick mist was swirling in mesmerising circles as the enhanced prehistoric beasts trampled everything to smithereens as they stomped towards the bunker’s main entrance behind the summerhouse.   

The necromancer stepped over the broken gates and laughed as he followed the creatures towards the blast doors.

“Oh fluff!” Posie gulped.

The evil wizard abruptly stopped dead in his tracks, scanning everywhere.

Posie held motionless as the necromancer closed his eyes for a few seconds, and when he opened them he was locked on her exact position. Extending the crystal-tipped wand, a surge of white light shot from the end. Posie swooped to the left and the searing blast missed her by a gnats whisker.

“Fluff me!” she fumed. “How can he even know I’m here?”

“I know you’re there, little B Team cat!” the necromancer taunted as several more blasts shot towards Posie. “Don’t be shy, come out and play, or are you too chicken?”

Posie had more sense than to be goaded by the silly taunts of a necromantic fluff-numpty, and she zoomed off into the night, heading towards the church.

>^.^<

          The mist was still crashing like angry waves over the stone circle, and Pandora was still reeling it in as the first Red Wing Raptor sprang towards her. Its jaws were wide open, ready to kill, and she didn’t hesitate for a second. The huge white frothy mass, which she had been magically spinning into a candy-floss substance, shot forward and hit the raptor right in the face. The white mass unfurled and ensnared the raptor in a sticky, white net. The creature writhed, bellowing and snorting as it tried to fight its way free of the web.  

Four more raptors, who’d darted around the outer edge of the stone circle, crept slyly between the huge monoliths, using them as camouflage as they slipped through the heaving mist on silent claws.

Miss Warts and Mogs were motionless as they spied a glowing red eye peering from behind one of the tall stones.

Communicating telepathically, Miss Warts said to her familiar. “I’ll take this one, but there will be more trying to ambush us from every side. Stay vigilant.”

Mogs answered in the same manner. “I sense two at the back of us, and one to the right. Pandora has the other trapped.”

Pandora had edged backwards until the three of them were in a back-to-back triangle, watching the mist from every angle, readying for the next strike.

The temperature plummeted, and their breath puffed out in little vapour clouds as they watched and waited in acute apprehension.

High-pitched clicks and chirrups sounded as the raptors edged nearer and nearer between the standing stones, and then all became ominously silent. The mist swirled, and an owl screeched above as it swooped low over the stone circle.

The trio actually jumped at the unexpected noise and huddled closer, so they were touching, as they scanned the immediate vicinity for any movement within the circle.

The raptors were eerily quiet, moving closer and closer. Miss Warts, Mogs and Pandora were standing in the centre of the ring. They knew what was coming, in an instant, a loud growl echoed through the mist, causing Miss Warts, Mogs, and Pandora to spin around. As they did, they noticed that the glowing red eye was now joined by several others, all fixated on them. The trio had underestimated the number of raptors and were now surrounded. With no clear escape route, they braced themselves for what was about to happen next.

>^.^<

          Rushing onto the TTTB bridge, I said. “Astrid, locate Posie.”

The TTTB A.I. responded instantly. “Posie is above the garden.”

“Astrid?”

“Yes, Commander Basil?”

“Please track her.”

“Affirmative.”

Snowie waved to catch my attention. “I have the coordinates for the circle, and Astrid has confirmed they are correct. It’s a little difficult when magical portals are involved as sometimes the numbers are incorrect, it can be a bit and miss as they’re constantly changing, and it’s all a total cluster fluff, but Astrid is sufficiently happy that we have them dialled in.”

“Excellent,” I answered. “Let’s go, as Vera is implementing Code 792-Delta-Echo-9 and we don’t want to get caught in the backwash!”

Amber pushed the button on her console and the TTTB rippled out of existence.

>^.^<

          Vera, the bunker A.I., was on the final countdown of implementing Commander Basil’s command Code, 792-Delta-Echo-9. She, her chosen pronoun as a sentient, self-aware cyber-being, was curious as this command had only been run through various simulation platforms, and this was her first time in total actuality.

During the previous simulations, carried out in an offshoot of the bunker on Level Ten, Vera had tried many avatars to combat various virtual threats, and Commander Basil had given her full autonomy to choose the best avatar for the perceived peril that she was facing.

She had been tracking the T-Rexs and Red Wing Raptors since their first appearance in Mewton-Clawson, assessing their strengths and capabilities. Observing the inclusion of a magical element intricately merged and woven into their organic and mechanical composition.

This was something new which she hadn’t encountered before, but with utter certainty, she knew that if nothing else, she could slow them down, and she transcended into the optimal avatar for her mission.

>^.^<

          The TTTB landed with an ungainly thwump in the stone circle. Tapping my comms unit, I said. “Pandora, are mew on channel?”

Silence.

Turning to Amber. “Can mew do a quick external scan?”

She busied herself tapping on the keyboard before replying. “Nothing Basil, the circle is completely empty.”

Humphrey looked at me, concern clouding his usual unfazed by anything expression.  

Tapping my chin thoughtfully, I pondered the possibilities.

Snowie said. “Astrid, please confirm the co-ordinates.”

The TTTB A.I. answered. “The coordinates are correct. However, there was a slight time-shift within the stone circle portal during teleportation, which I could not recalculate during the voyage, and we appear to have drifted through a black hole.”

My team looked a little bewildered.

“Astrid, what does that mean?” I asked.

“It means we are in the right place, but in another dimension,” Astrid answered. “We are now in The Thirteenth Parallel.”

**AND CUT**

Claws of Terror ©BionicBasil® Halloween Adventure - Divider

Guys, mew know how we roll, so many apologies to cut it right there, but we will say, fluff me, and fluffing fluff, it's just so bonkers!!! MOL 

Oh My Cod, what the fluff is Vera going to do?

Will Posie, Miss Wart and Mogs be able to fend off the raptors?

and

Where the fluff is Parallel Thirteen, and can we get back?

If mew would like to read Chapter 14, let us know in the comments, as OH MY CAT, this is getting wilder each week. In fact, it's getting so fluffing wild that the P.A. has had to go and have a little lie-down! MOL

  Remember, this story is for mew, and mew decide if it continues.

Don't forget to check out yesterday's Valentine's Crafting with Cats post, and we'll be back tomorrow with some more Midweek News.

In the meantime...

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Wing Commander Basil & The B Team 











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**PLEASE NOTE**

Copyright © 2024 by BionicBasil® & Cathrine Garnell  ~ Author & Publisher

All rights reserved. No part of this blog serialized publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including; content scraping, screenshots, blatant copying or any other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author and publisher. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the email address below:

cathrinegarnell @gmail . com 

The right of Cathrine Garnell to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. 

All characters, people, places, names of businesses are fictitious and any resemblance to real people, alive or dead, is purely coincidental. 

Except for The B Team as they're REALLY REAL!

 

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com 

Monday, 29 January 2024

**VALENTINE'S CRAFTING RE-RUN**PART IV** Crafting With Cats Valentine's Special ~ **CAT TREE GLOW UP** The Best Cat Tree Makeover In The World **MEW WON'T BELIEVE YOUR EYES**

Welcome to

Crafting with Cats Valentine's Special Banner ©BionicBasil®

Supurr Furbulous Greetings Pawesome Pals

Thanks for joining us for Part IV of our supurr fun Crafting with Cats re-run. We thought we'd get a head-start on the Valentine's Crafting, as the big day is only a couple of weeks away, so if mew want to make anything we share over the next couple of weeks, mew should have plenty of time! 

If mew missed Part I, click here to see how we made an epic heart shaped crinkle mat, and here for Part II, when we made some epic catnip hearts and kicker toys. Check out Part III for the most epic Valentine's Cat Cottage ever.

Stay tuned for more epically epic crafty fun!

If mew missed any of our previous CWC posts, stop by the Crafting with Cats Page and see all our previous projects, and mew don't have to be an expert in anything to make any of them. Plus we offer workarounds and no-sew projects for those who don't like to sew.

*    *    *
**A quick note before we begin**

All Crafting with Cats ideas and creations are of our own design and we share them fur purrsonal/home use only.

  So purrlease do not copy for commercial/resale purrposes.

Copyright ©BionicBasil®


This time we're updating an old cat tree, which no one loved, and we're calling it...

CAT TREE GLOW UP

The Best Cat Tree Makeover in the World!

We don't know about mew, but we think that most cat trees are sooooo horrendously bland and boring, with zero purrsonality. 

So when we were planning this project we decided that if we're doing a makeover, WE'RE DOING A MAKEOVER, if mew get our drift. There's no point in getting some faux fur and redoing it the same, what would be the fun in that. Besides mew guys know what we're like by now, and if we can't make it look epically epic then we're not going to do it.
Valentine's Special Crafting with Cat ©BionicBasil® The Best Cat Tree Makeover In The World

What We Used:

An old cat tree that still has some life in it but looks a little sorry for itself

Funky fabric, we chose a selection of rather ditzy kitsch fabric in fun patterns

Trim, we used some small pom pom trim in 3 different colours

Glue gun + extra glue sticks

Staple gun + extra staples

Gorilla tape and self-adhesive rubber grommets

needle and thread

Today we're doing things a little bit differently again; instead of step-by-step instructions, we're sharing a video of the entire process... so get a lovely beverage, sit back, relax and just press play!


If for any reason the video doesn't play go here to: watch direct on YouTube

If there are any parts of the process mew'd like to know more about, ask us in the comments.

Pandora loves her new princess cat tree in the catservatory, although Smooch did manage to try it out before it even made it into the catservatory, and then Melvyn and Fudge both tried it out while she was outside!
Valentine's Special Crafting with Cat ©BionicBasil® The Best Cat Tree Makeover In The World - Cats
Everyone loves it, in fact we think it's one of the best things we've ever done! MOL

What do mew think to it? 



And that furiends furry sadly brings us to the end of today's pawesomely fun Crafting with Cats post, we do hope mew liked it. Don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel as we've got lots of videos there, and some of which mew might have not seen before.

We'll be back tomorrow with Chapter 13 in our brand new, and terrifically exciting, claw-biting, edge of your seat adventure, if mew missed last week's installment, click here.

Epic crafty purrs

Wing Commander Basil & The B Team








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Disclaimer:
We at BionicBasil HQ are not responsible or liable fur any injuries to person/s and/or cat/s, crafting addictions, glue on cats, paper cuts, misplaced pins and needles, cats stealing your supplies, broken scissors, cat fur stuck on your projects, or your project not turning out as planned.  By using this information you hereby agree to indemnify and hold harmless BionicBasil and staff from and against any and all claims for personal injuries or damages of any kind arising from the use of any Crafting With Cats posts we may share.

Graphics created with paid licence www.canva.com and www.befunky