Nice work. I’ve replaced sisal rope on a few cat towers and scratching posts, but haven’t built one myself. Now you have me thinking…

I have two of them that will cuddle up with me no matter how warm I already am.

But I still get the better end of the deal. We also have a 60 lb dog, and he will usually cuddle with my wife, again, no matter how warm it already is.

I moved and took my cat to a new vet near my new house. That vet was not great with him, kind of rough, and we could hear dogs barking constantly, so he was already stressed before the vet even started.

I’ve never seen that cat so upset. But I got him home, he left the carrier, went a few steps, and flopped on his side, and I knew all was forgiven.

I never took him back to that vet - I ended up taking him to the previous vet instead. Much longer drive but they were already familiar with him and his issues, and were much better with him, so it was worth it.

When we adopted another cat, we started using a different vet local to us that we still use (the first cat passed away years ago).

I have a gray and white cat that LOVES to sleep on my arm when I’m in my chair in the living room. I love him, but there are times when I just need a little space or want to be able to use my arm…

He, actually. Snowball was a character. I remember when my girlfriend/now-wife moved in, she thought Snowball hated her. I was like, “Are you kidding? He loves you! That’s why he’s curled up on your legs all the time.”

When I was making burgers, we had a routine where he’d wait at the sliding glass door to the patio, and I would tear off a little corner of cheese, open the door, then he’d turn around, and I’d toss the cheese in front of him, and he’d gobble it up. He had major food allergies but that was his little treat.

Sorry for the delay. Snowball actually passed away about 10 years ago, so I had to dig a picture out of the archives.

Winter looks like my Snowball!

The good news is that he’s really careful with his toys. It’s rare that he destroys one, and even then it’s more from wear and tear, not outright shredding it like many dogs. So the fish might still work!

Yeah we have one that does exactly that. Unfortunately our dog thinks it’s his toy.

One of ours likes to climb behind our microwave now and then. Usually when he’s in a mischievous mood and looking to get into something.

It’s crazy. I’ve read in a few books (fiction, of course) that mention, in passing, that the 40 hour workweek was now replaced by a 32 hour workweek, or something similar.

When do we get to reap the benefits of all of these boosts to productivity?

Those dilated pupils…when I see those in our cats, I know trouble is coming.

The original thinking was the electoral college could stop any truly disastrous votes. But we’ve seen how that goes! Now we’re stuck with it because it helps one party and would require a constitutional amendment to abolish, and too few people in power are interested in doing what’s right for the country - they’re interested in doing what’s right for their party.

(For another example of the “party first” mentality that has taken over: Washington, DC residents have no vote in Congress. This seems like an obvious thing to fix, give them a two members of the House and two Senators…but whoa, we can’t do that, it would change the balance of power in Congress! Seriously. That’s why DC residents have no real voice in Congress. For clarity, their votes do count for the Presidential election.)

My first cat would climb on top of the fish tank and drink the water coming out of the filter. That lid on the tank wasn’t very solid, so I was sure he’d fall in at some point. I got him a circulating fountain and he stopped using the fish tank.

We also had a tabby that liked to drink from the kitchen sink. Moving the fountain away from the food helped that a lot.

She’s adorable. I thought I was seeing two cats for a moment!

One of ours has taken an interest in my glass of whiskey a few times. The last thing we need is for that cat to be drunk. He’s enough trouble sober.

A few weeks ago, I was riding my bicycle on the street I live on, heading for a stop sign, when one of my neighbors driving their SUV passed me, not caring I was stopping at the stop sign. When I’m on my bike, I normally slow down and roll through this sign if it’s safe, but this time, a pickup was coming on the cross street. The neighbor rolled out right in front of the pickup without stopping - she was so intent on passing me that she completely ignored everything else. I even pointed at the truck because I had a feeling she was going to do that. Fortunately, the pickup was going slow enough to stop and avoid a collision. I just shook my head as the people in the pickup waved at me.

“Must Get In Front” is the term cyclists use for drivers that do stupid shit to pass us, only to pull into a driveway or something similar a moment later, instead of just waiting for a few seconds for the situation to resolve itself.

One of ours does that. I’ve accidentally kicked him on several occasions after he unexpectedly stepped in front of me. Just the other day he ran between my legs while I was walking!

But he’s curled up on my arm right now, so he must not be too upset.

I am so sorry. I know how it feels.

That does sound familiar! Yeah, I can’t really explain the tick thing, especially since it happened a few weeks after we moved in - if it had been a day or two, you’d think that would make more sense. More likely, it was caused by something else and the tick thing is just the most common way it happens.