My dad would squirt this milk from the cow's teats into a little tin cup, and when he was done milking he'd feed this milk to the cats. But sometimes a cat would sit next to my dad, and he'd squirt milk from the cow's teats right onto the cat's face. They loved that.

My mom grew up on a dairy farm and has told me stories about her dad feeding the barn cats the same way. Grandpa sold off the cows about the time Mom went to nursing school (getting older, and only one son stayed on the farm after doing his Army service) and then passed away when I was only three, so I don't remember him at all. But, the barn still had some of the old dairy equipment there when I was a kid, and was pretty fun to play around.

Too bad the farm is now being turned into a development--I miss the apple orchard, walking through the sweet corn field between Grandma's house and Uncle Ray's, and playing in the hayloft.

This is the first day in a week where I don't have a deadline hanging over my head. My place went to shit, I need to do laundry and take out the trash and buy groceries.

I don't want to do any of it, I just want to rent a couple of movies and sip champagne and let my brain ooze out of my ear.

But what is it, tommyrot? What are we seeing? Fire? Plasma? Starfire?

But what is it, tommyrot? What are we seeing? Fire? Plasma? Starfire?

Plasma.

At least I'm pretty sure that's what it is.

Allyson, I recommend putting out the trash and ordering takeout and sitting around with champagne and dvds. Go you! I'm so pleased for you.

Trash, and enough laundry so that you have clean clothes for Tues-Friday? Then DVDs!

This is a not-bad plan for my own afternoon, come to think of it.

A Dog Man Gets a Cat

I have this book by the same author sitting on my to-be-read pile, a Christmas gift from Emmett's mom. I've poked through the introduction and the first few paragraphs of the first chapter, and it looks marvelous.

Congratulations, Allyson! Also? So not surprised.

And belated happy birthday to the pinkest and elegantest of us all.

Perkins, we should plan for another day of visiting and apartment-up-fixing, me and my drill and you and your bare windows and un-hung curtains and ginormous cats, and possibly a movie or three.

Holy crap. Those atomic explosion pictures are unbelievable.

This is the first day in a week where I don't have a deadline hanging over my head

Allyson! I've skipped - does that mean you're all done? Can I un-cross my numb fingers now?

Also, I vote for what Suela and Theo offered. You deserve spoiling yourself after all the hard work.

I have this book by the same author

That link takes you to Amazon, where they have the usual picture of the book with their "Search Inside!" graphic sitting right above. Except the big arrow in the "Search Inside!" graphic points right at a sheep.

OK, maybe I'm weird.