the water heater guy has a girlfriend. and she has a male calico - I didn't even know they exsisted.

They're very, very rare. I wonder if she had him neutered.

Um, the CAT, not the boyfriend.

Hey, I read "has" as "is." Was a little concerned for beth's plumber.

all I know is that the cat is not allowed outside. The boyfriend is allowed to fix waterheaters.

Therefore the boyfriend can't be the calico!

OK, someone tell me to stop fretting about the tortie. 1. If she has people, she has a place to go. 2. If she doesn't she has kittens she is raising and is thus able to survive. She was lean, but postpartum cat lean. And her fur was in good shape, as was she. So I shouldn't worry.

Besides, Devi might hate her.

She was so lovey.

WHY AM I WATCHING MAID IN MAHATTEN??@!?@#@!#$

CSI is a repeat. Nightalker bored me. Oy.

Alias sure has [] issues, doesn't it?

Heh -- you're just now noticing this?

What just happened on Alias? I am confused by the ending scenes.

I'm really not caring about Alias anymore. I think Garner and Ben Afflek have ruined it.

sarameg, you're not the only softie. A cat tried to adopt me last night. About 9:30 there was a series of loud meows outside my door. Like a sap I went to look, and there on the walkway was a medium-sized cat. He was short-haired (gray above, cream below), long-tailed, vocal, friendly, and painfully thin--his cheeks, shoulders, ribs, and hips were all sharp and bony.

He wanted attention. He was head-bumping and shin-stropping, and twice flopped down on his side in that "See, you can even rub my tummy!" way. He had no collar, but he had been neutered. I suppose he had been somebody's pet who either wandered off or was abandoned. He seemed a nice guy who just needed some feeding up and some TLC.

I brought him a bowl of water, and went down to the corner store for some cat food. (See above, re: sap.) He was still on my doorstep when I returned, so I opened a can for him and left him to it.

About once an hour after that he would make a few enquiring calls, but he wasn't a long talker or a yowler, thank goodness. After three hours I couldn't ignore him any more and went outside to see how he was doing. Half the food was still there, so I guess he wasn't as hungry as I expected him to be. Problem was, the leftovers were attracting ants. I worried that if I left the food and water out until morning they would attract unwelcome attention from the nosy old couple in the apartment next door, so I threw the can away and brought in the water dish.

I thought about the local animal shelter. They could scan him for an ID chip, but if they didn't find an owner or an adopter fairly quickly they might kill him. I didn't like his chances.

I wanted to let him in. I couldn't let him in. The internal debate was painful.

When I checked an hour later, he was gone. I've been fretting all day about whether I did the right thing.

If he comes back, well, I still have one can of cat food in the cupboard.

Aw, poor little guy. It's nice that there's people like you there for him. Is there a no-kill shelter in your area?