Category: Life with Coon Cats

1.  I want to thank those who have supported my efforts in the Clarion West Write-a-Thon.  Together, so far, we’ve raised $87 toward the organization’s operating costs.  I should say here that donations to Clarion West are tax deductible.  More information about the Write-a-Thon and Clarion West here, and here.  My personal participating author page is here.

2.  Those of you in or near Atlanta, Georgia may want to mark your calendars for Friday, August 2 from 8-10 p.m.  My buddy Ed DeGruy and his photography partner Aubrey Bell, will be having their first solo show at the Doo Gallery (part of the DooGood Society).  The address is 205 Holtzclaw st. Unit J, Atlanta, Georgia. There will be refreshments, and art, and interesting people present.  More information here.

3.  I have here on my floor (because Trooper has made the top of both file cabinets his own by the simple expedient of pushing all the Stuff onto the floor) an old black-and-white Nook ebook reader.  I have no more use for it; frankly, it may not even work.  Anybody either (1) want it  or (2) know if there’s anything like the used cellphone programs for ereaders?  The Nook has found a home!

4.  Not for the faint of heart:  Photographs of Lac-Megantic, before the explosion — and after.

5.  Mozart declined to have his picture taken this morning, so here’s a picture of Trooper on the cat tree:

 

Emotions are settling down here at the Cat Farm.  Mozart and Trooper both managed to sleep on the bed last night, albeit on opposite sides.  Mozart has given over cursing, which is, I think, a Great Relief to us all.  Which brings us to this morning’s situation.

Trooper came to work:

. . .and Mozart came in to check out his various places under the desk, and the rocker.  He observed Trooper in position, and deliberately sat down — with his back turned, of course.  He cleaned a shoulder, to show the depth of his unconcern, and then casually strolled down the hall, with nary a curse-word to singe the air.

Progress, we haz it.

And now I’m for the living room office and the Rest of the Manuscript.

 

So, we wandered down to our neighboring lovely state of New Hampster, where we were interviewed by Trooper, Nate, and Missy, Rita, Kelly, and Kim.  They decided that they would allow us to bring Trooper home, so we did that.

This is Trooper:

He’s looking up at Mozart, who was cursing at him from on top of the file cabinet.  Mozart’s not usually a curser, and the high, squeaky voice does lend a certain. . .piquancy.  Still, he got his point across.  Trooper’s voice is kind of a mellow honking sound — very charming.  Mozart was. . .nonplussed, but did not descend from the file cabinet.

Here’s Mozart on top of the file cabinet:

Here’s another picture of Trooper, who really likes my blue oriental rug:

Right now, relative peace reigns.  Trooper is on the copilot’s chair and Mozart remains on the file cabinet, but has decided to ignore the fact that there is Another Cat in the room.

In a strange reversal of roles, Scrabble is perfectly OK with the fact that there is a Third! Cat! in the house, and has allowed Trooper to pass her several times, unmolested and uncommented-upon.

I’m hoping the drama will be well in the past by tomorrow this time.  I’ve never known Mozart to hold a grudge even half that long.

 

. . .but the cats are so delightful.

Here we see Mozart getting into position to meet today’s 90F/32C projected temps.  Note the pink toes, spread for maximum cooling surface.

Scrabble remains on-station in Steve’s office.  Here also note the deployment of the toes.

On a related subject, today saw the first flowers bloom in the Cat Garden.

Steve is getting the air conditioners into the service, and I plan to spend a good part of the day doing laundry and playing around with the workshop description/class plan.

 

So, no writing today.

I did Other Things, so I’m not a Complete Loss as a human being, and perhaps words will happen tomorrow.  Certainly, it’s possible.

Things that happened instead of words included:

Business and Other emails.

I followed Steve to Augusta, so that his vehicle could be made road-ready for his upcoming trip to the Old Country, Baltimore.

Had lunch at Longhorn Steak House in Augusta, while waiting for said car &c, where we preserved our unbroken record of not eating steak.  I had a bowl of (wonderful) tomato and basil soup with a chicken cobb salad.  Steve had the tomato and basil soup and a chicken fontina sandwich.

After lunch, we spaced around Pier One, which is an excellent forum in which to space around.  I cleverly purchased neither the Gray Owl (which I commend, if you or one near to you has a stuffie fetish — a very soft, squishable and satisfying owl) nor the elephant tapestry curtains , though it was a Near Thing in both instances.  I do regret the Owl.

Following our adventure at Pier One, we decamped to Barnes and Noble, where we had the very great pleasure of catching up with Stew, who had been “in charge” of the SF/F section, back when BN had booksellers who were “in charge” of sections.  Also?  I bought books.  Be amazed.

From BN, it was back to Charlie’s Subaru, where we collected Steve’s car and, each in our own vehicle, proceeded in a homeward direction, through bands of heavy wind and rain.  It was on this return trip that I discovered that the minor problem my car had been having is now a problem that needs to be dealt with before Steve leaves for the Old Country, Baltimore, else I run the serious risk of being stranded 15 miles out of town for a week, which is not a proposition that I am able to entertain with equanimity.  So, tomorrow! Perhaps Even Before Coffee! I will be calling Mr. Smith’s garage and hoping he will be able to see me in a forthwithly timeframe.

I also today sought out and found yoga lessons in Waterville, even, yea, yoga lessons that are affordable for an aging and inflexible woman on a freelancer’s budget.  So, tomorrow, assuming all is well with the car in a timely manner, I will be attending my first ever yoga session.  Pray for me.

Have I mentioned here that Baen/S&S is sending Steve and me on a New England book tour in support of Trade Secret?  It will definitely encompass Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and (upstate) New York and may dip down as far as Philadelphia, depending on Circumstances.  When the tour is made solid, I’ll post details here.

…and that’s all I got, beside reading with Mozart on the couch for an hour or so.  Maybe I’ll go back and read some more.

Hmmm…

Readers of this space will perhaps recall that the cats ordered in a cat tree a couple weeks ago.  They bought it on eBay, from a company based in New Jersey, and it arrived very quickly, whereupon it sat in the living room looking like this:

. . .waiting for someone to open the box and assemble the contents.  Clearly, Mozart wasn’t going to do this, and neither was Scrabble.  We intended to, but had things in queue ahead.

Right after the box landed, I did some prep work — moving the couch. . .

. . ., and taking the paintings down. . .

Today, having early (early!) this morning sent Jethri on his way to Madame the Editor to be Disciplined (*ahem* Sorry. Wrong story.), was the cat tree’s day.

Steve is a Hero of the Revolution.  He did all the heavy lifting and building and stuff.

So, here’s the cat tree, unboxed. . .

…and here is the base, going together with, may I say, majestic deliberation:

 

Scrabble was extremely into this whole building thing.  She performed multiple inspections of the pieces, and climbed on the incomplete tree to encourage Steve in his efforts. She also performed a little half-time cheer, to keep his spirits up.  I don’t know that we’ve talked about Scrabble’s considerable skill as a choreographer here.  Below, you see her in a classic move:

Cheered, Steve returned to the task with renewed energy, and very shortly, we had. . .

 

As of this writing, Mozart remains of the opinion that the cat tree worked better when it was inside the box.  We expect him to shortly publish a revision.

Here ends this photoessay.

UPDATED TO ADD: