Jeremiah hopped up on the couch yesterday and parked himself on my shoulders, where he looked very content with himself, at least until I pulled out the camera…

I took a break from cleaning and Corey came over to sit on me and quickly dozed off.

I told him he should open his eyes and look at the camera, so he did.

And then he got down and I went back to cleaning.

Sometimes I go days in between posts because I’m busy, and sometimes because I have nothing that seems important to say. Other times, it’s because the posts I should be writing (book reviews) require a lot of time and energy.

And then there are times like the past couple days. Since I last wrote Thursday, I’ve opened my laptop and a new post page every day, and every day I’ve stared at the cursor blinking away like a heartbeat and closed it back up.

Thursday, we thought we had great news about Posey. We brought her in to the vet’s Thursday afternoon to start treatment, and then brought her home for the night. They’d warned us that they’d given her a double dose of sedatives, so she’d probably just be groggy and want to sleep, and that was true. She turned down supper, but was happy to curl up next to Rudi in bed. Rudi got up early on Friday to take her back for the rest of the treatment, and I headed to work, so I could leave in time to pick her up at the vet that evening. (more…)

Carole used to do these posts every once in a while, and tonight I’m just coming up blank for something to share that won’t take ages to compose. In the interest of posting something here, washing the dishes, and getting to bed in the near future, I’m sharing three things about three random topics:

1. Places I’d Like to Visit
• Hawaii
• Someplace where I can see the Northern Lights or the aurora australis
• Costa Rica
2. Things about My Cats
• Posey has, since this summer, started using the tub to poop in. It doesn’t happen all the time, but happens often enough that it’s a problem.
• We got some long, heavy-duty twist ties with our new Christmas lights, and Corey has adopted them all. He likes to toss them around and carry them around the house and up onto the bed at night. When he’s carrying them, he kind of looks like he has a handlebar mustache.
• Jeremiah is in a playful mood right now. He’s been tumbling in the tub (where Posey has not pooped today) and chasing the rings from the glass milk jug lids and instigating games of chase with Corey.
3. Things I’m Looking Forward To
• Our friend John’s 50th birthday party this weekend.
• Seeing friends and family next week.
• The apartment being clean for our tree-trimming party in a couple weeks.

Have you ever had difficulty getting a jar open? If so, I have novel solution:

Place the jar on the floor. Feel free to leave it in the bag you used to carry it home from the store.

Take one cat. (You may borrow Corey if you don’t have one of your own.)

Add one bicycle, parked in its usual spot, but maybe not quite balanced.

Have the cat jump on the bicycle, as is his wont.

And, voila! The cat will tip over the bicycle, and the brake lever will cleanly puncture the lid of the jar, saving you the strain of trying to open it on your own!

Ta da!

What’s that you say? It seems unlikely that the events will unfold in just this way, and isn’t it far more likely that the jar will break, rendering its contents unusable?

Why, yes, I suppose you’re right. It does seem unlikely…

(And, yes, my first thought was how glad I was that the brake lever encountered a jar of tomato sauce, rather than Corey’s head.)