My cat, Spencer, has been doing his best to reach the highest spots in the house. After teaching on Tuesday, I came home to a broken tea pot from the top shelf of the kitchen stand where I keep various items, including the microwave and small appliances. He had found the precious cat toy stash that I kept there out of view. Apparently, he saw me put things there and remembered. I moved the toys on Tuesday afternoon, but that didn’t stop him from continually trying to climb the stand.

On Thursday morning after my shower, I found Spencer sitting very still surrounded by glass shards. This time he broke the coffee pot. He looked at me with such confusion. There was no way that he could leap past all of the glass. I wish I had a picture of his expression. It’s not one I see often. Spencer has things handled. He has this confident, cocky attitude.

I picked him up and shooed him away from the kitchen while I swept up the glass. It was everywhere, so I had to get out the shop-vac to clean the floor. Then, I had to mop the floor with the floor steamer that doesn’t work as well as it should. It’s faster than the all-purpose steam cleaner that works perfectly every time.

My Thursday, which is typically busy since that is when I receive students’ homework assignments, started around 10:30 am. I nearly gave up on my plans to make boeuf bourguignon until I saw the fresh stew meat that I would have to freeze if I delayed the cooking project further.

It’s National Cat Day! I didn’t even know there was such a thing. If I wasn’t heading out for dance class, I’d post a photo of a cat. Oh well.

This is for anyone who hasn’t seen it posted elsewhere.
Spencer\'s Jewels

Just what I needed…

He’s a Cheetoh. That’s a new breed of cat that is a cross between a Bengal and an Ocicat. He still has plenty of wild cat in him. He even has webbed feet. This morning I caught him playing in the toilet. I have yet to figure out a name for him. He really doesn’t show much interest unless you meow at him the same way he does.

I just love this video. I would never have seen it if it hadn’t been posted on Salon.

and this…

The videos came from Born Free, an organization that helps wild animals return to the wild.

Again, I have been neglecting writing here. There is a lot of stuff happening, but not that I can really talk about–at least not coherently.

One thing I did do was pick up a cat that was huddled next to the road on an overpass near my house. He was a black cat and seemed pretty scared. I was lucky at the time because I had a friend in the car who jumped out to either scare the cat enough to have him run off the road or to pick him up. The cat was friendly, so we took him back to my house. The cat had a tag with his name and a phone number. So, the cat was returned to his owner this morning. My cats were upset at the intruder. The owner was rather happy to get her cat back alive.

This photo is rather remarkable because I took it while holding the camera and the shutter speed was 1/15 sec.

…to have pictures of just one cat and not the other two and the dog.

Ana

 Baz

 Zach

The camera got here. I can no longer blame bad photos on the camera. Now it’s obvious when it’s me. Mostly I shake. I did get a couple of good photos of one of my cats.

I am currently at 50 pages on my script. I wrote extra pages last week because I wasn’t going to be able to write over the weekend. Overall the weekend was good. So after being away, I have a lot to take care of today.

I am currently coaching the leadership program that I began last fall. I haven’t completely enjoyed coaching, but after this weekend, it’s great. I get to know some really great people. The weekend classrooms that happen every six weeks are great becausether are people from Northern California, Seattle and surrounding areas, and Vancouver.

My cats need extra attention because I have been gone. It’s driving me crazy to constantly have a cat (they rotate) at my feet or in my lap.