Stand Under My Umbr-Ela
Part 17 ~ 11 August 2025
Played: 31 March 2025
So I decided I should finally have some sort of shelter for my bed and cats rather than having them out in the open. With a supply of every colour wool now at my disposal, I got a wave of inspiration: this spot is right on the shore, so how about a big umbrella? And what kind of umbrella are we repping? That's right! The non-binary umbrella! This one's for all the enby frens out there. Y'ALL. ARE. VALID :D
I grabbed some blackstone from the netherite mines to use as the handle, iron bars for the shaft and runners, and of course wool for the top. Then I cracked open a sphere generator web tool to figure out where to place the blocks to make a passable dome shape. Five layers down (thank goodness for scaffolding) and this is the result! I LOVE how this turned out; it's just such a big, bold splash of colour! Only after putting up the brolly did I remember that this is the savannah and it doesn't rain here – but it's a sweet parasol in any case :)
I gathered my cats under the umbrella for the grand opening – and their naming ceremony! Yep, I finally came up with names for them, and picked up the requisite 11 nametags. So, let me formally introduce you to:
- Booboo, the black cat
- Bri, the british shorthair
- Kiki, the calico
- Jary, the jellie
- Pokey, the persian
- Riri, the ragdoll
- Rory, the red cat
- Sandy, the siamese
- Tally, the tabby
- Tomo, the tuxedo
- Fifi, the white cat
And here they are – the complete cat-alogue of Elaville! This got me wondering though – are Minecraft animals non-binary too? They sure seem, uhh, "compatible". I can feed any two animals of the same kind, and they'll immediately be drawn to each other – and then spawn in a baby. I tried asking the cats about this, but they just meowed back. You know what? That's valid too :3
Next up on the every-colour-wool checklist – organising my storage. Yep, even though I can stack things past 64, I still have to lay out my storage thanks to the sheer variety of items available. Not to worry – I've sussed out a colour-coded system! Each item goes into one of 16 chests based on category – for example, red for redstone, green for plants, brown for wood. Some items are a bit slippery (where do I put wooden pressure plates? They're both wood and redstone) but it works well enough, and I can adapt over time if one category gets too full. So anyway, what better place to store my storage chests than... a giant chest? Good thing I added brown wool to the farm – I need a lot of it now!
As I was finishing up with my rainbow chest of chests, the skies opened up – and then turned dark. The first thunderstorm since I got my trident. IT'S GO TIME. First, it's time to say hello – and goodbye – to this plains villager that popped out of the breeder. Wait, what? Yeah, so it turns out that I built part of the carrot farm in river biome instead of savanna, meaning there's a small chance of plains villagers popping out. I wanted all savanna villagers in the trading halls (wait, am I doing eugenics in Minecraft? Actually don't answer that) so I left this guy out for – well – exactly this occasion. There's two advancements to be had here: (1) Pop down a lightning rod a few blocks away and light it up for Surge Protector, and (2) Strike the villager, transforming it into a witch, for Very Very Frightening!
Still storming, so time for a quick flight over Oak Coast to a small plain for some charged creeper combat. I channeled lightning into a couple of creepers, let them explode while I blocked with the shield, and was rewarded with... a zombie head. Dangit! A zombie got too close, and the game decided to drop that instead of the creeper head. Okay, new plan. Strike every creeper I can find and kill off everything else. After much frantic running around, I had what I wanted: two charged creepers, and the thunderstorm over so no more mobs would spawn in to interfere. From there it was as simple as letting them approach while holding up the shield. KABOOM! One super-dead charged creeper, and one creeper head for me! And as a wee bonus, somewhere amid the chaos I picked up the "far" music disc too!
Whew, what a rush! Now that the storm is over, I can finally stop to catch my breath. What can I say; this was a complete success! Two advancements, two mob heads, and a random music disc, all from one round of thunder. Feeling grateful to the plains that just gave me so much, I decided to repair the two giant craters in the land. It took hundreds of dirt blocks, but it's worth it for the good karma. Spontaneous sidequest done, I'm headed back to the village with my new disguise to spook up the locals :P
