Don't Touch It!!

**As if there wasn't enough going on around the ol' hacienda, it looks like we are in the process of being adopted by a stray cat. Naturally, when this cat first appeared in the neighborhood, it found it's way over to Al and Julie's place. It proceeded to take shelter from Wednesday's storms there. When we brought Julie some fans to help dry out the basement carpeting is when we happened to meet this particular cat. Not bad looking, I guess, as far as cats go. Definitely male, definitely unneutered. Grey and white, nice yellow-gold eyes. Not scared of people, and appeared to know that the door was the place to go to get food and attention. My best guess is that it was a cat adopted by an NIU student, and then abandoned at the end of the school year. It also looked like it had recently had it's belly fur trimmed, for what reason, I can but imagine.
Anyway, as we were standing in the house talking to Julie, this cat is out on her porch, basking in the sun, pleased as punch. Julie proceeded to us her tale of the cat trying to get into their good graces, and their resistance on the grounds that their intent was to get a puppy to replace Meenah. As usual, my opinion was mostly neutral regarding the cat. I didn't want to see any harm come to it, but I also knew that our house had hit maximum pet density a while back, so the idea of adding him to the collection was out of the question for me. Plus, he was a cat. I am in a position in my life that I can, and do, have dogs. They are my preferred companion animal. If I were in an apartment, I could very well have a cat. But I'm not, and I don't. I had my fill of litter boxes when we had the ferrets, and don't really car to start that again. But the cat is innocent in all this. He just got his ass booted to the curb. I can't fault him for that. Still, with all this in mind, when I walked out of Julie's house, I walked right past the happily sunbathing cat, down the driveway, and out to the sidewalk. once there, I noticed that the person I live with was no longer following at my heels. Instead, she was on the porch, petting the cat. If I weren't so incredibly slow on the uptake, I would have known right then what was going to happen.
Once she finally disentangled herself form the cat and made her way back home, she was, of course followed into the garage by that same cat. So now we have a cat living in our garage. Temporarily, of course. All the area no-kill shelters are full to their limits with cats (duh, it's spring), so the best we could do is get on the waiting list of the same one that we got Gracie from. Even at that, it'll be two weeks before they can interview the cat. OK, did y'all get that? It will be 2 weeks before they can INTERVIEW the CAT. Is it any wonder why I have a headache all the time?
A quick check from the vet showed no fleas, worms, or mites, but moderate gingivitis. (NOTE: I will NOT find myself brushing the teeth of a cat.) TAILS will be considering us a 'foster home' for the cat until other arrangements can be made. So I guess we've been adopted by a cat. For now.

**Happy Graduation to TrekEve! What was it the we finally decided you degree stood for? I can't remember....

**The dealine has been set: July 13. And this time......I mean it.

**The book I would currently most like for Freckles to write: "Dreams From The Back Porch".

**Elkhorn WI, or Sandwich IL? Where will the tiki gods direct me to go on Sunday?

**Happy Graduation wishes also go out to Dimples, who has completed her first step on the road to nursehood! (Dimples, please note the total lack of innuendo in the previous statement. Aint you proud of me?)

**Twisted bits of metal and packs of cards. What a nice package to get in the mail.

**So far, I am not overly fond of the iTunes software package. I'm hoping that as I use it some more it ends up being more user friendly than it seems at first.

**The overall irritation level is starting to tip the hairstyle scale back in the direction of self inflicted baldness.

**So far the estimate for just fixing the taillight and the associated minor body damage is $900. I am so in the wrong line of work. Of course it does go a long way towards explaining all the people I see who have tape over their busted out taillights. In the process of checking my car out, Motor Works also managed to find that the right rear axle seal is now leaking. I have no idea how much that's going to cost. I also have no real good idea of what it is. Positionally I can safely say that it's in the right rear of something, but that's about it. I sorta do need to look into getting a rental, though. Trying to juggle our schedules around just one car is rapidly becoming a pain in the ass. Plus, I have no idea when the insurance company will approve the payment, and so I have no idea when the work will get started or completed. And I still haven't heard from the company that covers the person who caused the whole accident.

**More and more and more rain means more and more and more grass growing. My banana plants should be taking notes.

**A day's worth of cleaning and straightening has left me with additional functional studio space. The unfortunate side effect is that now there is an equivalent amount of unfunctional space in the garage.

**Mr. Koch is most likely thinking I have recently dropped dead, and am now starting to smell rather funky. While the latter part may be somewhat true on various occasions, it does not tend to overly affect my ability to play chess. It also does not enhance it in any way that I am currently aware of.

**Kittyluv resurfaced in a most brief and cryptic manner the other day.

**MIA: Bluegirl, Dhawk, Ladyjustice, and The Princess Cowgirl.
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