I finally mastered a move on Stack the Cats in which I can score 256,000 points in one blow. That sort of took the challenge out of it for me, though.

You stack up cats of whatever one color you choose, in a sort of Y formation, only one of the two prongs of the Y has an extra three cats stacked, one space to the right. You have to do this fairly close to one side or the other, in order to leave enough room to stack and clear other cats while you wait.

You're waiting for a matched pair of your chosen color to fall. When it finally comes, you turn it horizontal, and one cat will hit the extra stack of three and the top of one prong. The other one of the pair will fall into the center of the Y formation--taking all twelve cats (14, if you count the final pair) out at once.

Let me see if I can sketch the Y formation:

= cats of the color you're going for. Let's see if I can sketch it here. Don't highlight. I had to white font some characters, to get the spacing. Pay no attention to that.

c = cats of any color other than the one you're trying to group

cccc
cccc
cccc
cccc
cccc
cccc
cccc
cccc
cccc

This may be a miserable failure. Let's see.

Dealy has a square, Daley has a plaza.

Cindy, I've gone back to what some people were doing accidentally when we first discovered The Stack, using only the left/right and not the rotate function, to keep it interesting.

You can turn the cats?!?

This is vital information. Which I seem to have missed by just jumping into the game without paying attention to the demo.

Hee.

Use the up arrow to turn them.

I do that sometimes. Sometimes, I will only go left, or only go right, too, and see what I get accidentally, or what I get when the dog comes and clears things out. Stacking them in the extended Y formation isn't all that easy though. A lot of times, it takes a few tries to get it, because you'll accidentally clear one of the colors supporting the Y. Also, once you score the 256K, you move up one level with each new foursome you clear off, so you almost immediately move up to something like level 20. The cats fall much more quickly then, and trying to do it again is more difficult.

This is vital information. Which I seem to have missed by just jumping into the game without paying attention to the demo.

Or, ya know, paying attention to the directions on the start page. Whatever.

...I'm going to assume that Stack The Cats is a game I've never heard of, rather than a pet-related activity. Although if it's the latter, my awe of Cindy knows no bounds.

No -- actually, I'm booked the weekend of the 20th b/c my brother and SiL will be in town for Shindig #2: Electric Giftaloo. The 27th, however, would work just fine for me.

Ah, this could work VERY well. I'm going to make arrangements--DH needs to do some studying that weekend and if he takes the day to do that, O and I can come down to see you.

Cindy, you're still stacking the crack the cats???

[link]

Now, be careful with this stuff.

Timelies!

and I am making peach mango salsa.

Oh, yum! Plei, could you send me the recipe, or even better, could we include it in the cookbook? I’ve been looking for a good peach or mango salsa. Peach mango would be a double treat!

I love thunderstorms. Summer thunderstorms have been "normal" for me for a very long time, and I have to say that I miss them here.

We’ve had a ton the last few days. They’ve been pretty amazing. Toto is terrified of them, though.

It’s my dad’s birthday today. I’ve already called him to send good wishes, and I’ve got to get on that cake I promised to bake. Busy day ahead! Trying to keep myself occupied since I’m supposed to hear on Toto’s tests today.

Edit: Brenda, you should have e-mail from me.