When my folks' cat, Chaika, got to be 16 or 17, my dad started leaving a heating pad on in the garage to sleep on. Needless to say, she loved it. She would sleep on it so much, her sweat would felt her fur into one great mass on her side that would have to be shorn off.

So beware, kitty cats! The seductive heating pad will lead you down a rocky road to lopsided furriness.

The raccoons were always trying to break into the house. I'd wake up with a freaked out cat trying to hide in my head and there would be these beady eyes peering through the screen, poking fingers into the rips. They'd moved a tree stump to the window for just that purpose. I'd usually just sit up and chatter at them for a little while before going back to sleep. They were pretty funny too. When they'd hear/see me, there would be this mad scramble of raccoons trying to get the best view, which meant a tower of raccoons that frequently tumbled. They were quite used to people up there.

Oh good lord. I freaked out in the best possible way the day I ran across a pair of them when on my way to work. I fear that, were this to have happened, I may have had to open the window for them and just invited them to take whatever they felt like. And then Bec would have been angry at me. (Actually, she likes raccoons more than I do. She might have got to the window first.)

What kind of a crazy land is Spain, anyway?

One word: siesta.

Ooh! And lemon gelato drumsticks! And fanta limon!

Puppycat's OTP is Puppycat/Heating pad. She sneaks onto it whenever I get up. She will also sleep on it when it is off, just hoping that the magic heat will come back. She's a heat ho

Cats? Desert creatures. Looooove the heat.

This is why they love little old ladies who keep the house at 90+ degrees. It's not that there aren't little old men keeping it that hot, it's just that they usually die off before the little old ladies do, and cats orchestrate to be with the ones that can give them the heat love longest...

It may be mind control.

Harvey is asleep on the heat grate right now, having been disturbed from draping over my chest and shoulders for quite a while today.

I have now escalated and have left messages for 3 of the people I need things from in addition to the emails. I leave tomorrow evening on a business trip, I really need answers on these things before I leave for work tomorrow.

My favorite raccoon encounter was when I was in Princeton for my brother's wedding back in 1988. We were at the campus for some pre-wedding deal (the ceremony itself was at the university chapel--awesome setting!), and we saw a family of two adult and two baby raccoons, just strolling down the sidewalk surrounded by students doing the same. They were so blase about being that close to humans that I was amazed.

I feel your pain, msbelle. I have left messages for several people. I need to hear back from them tomorrow. I fear it may not happen.

Timelies all!

Well, my folks have made it back ok from their trip to New Zealand and Australia.(guess they weren't on flight 815 :))

There was an Animal Planet documentary called Cheeky Monkeys that shows up every once in a while, about the urban monkeys in South Africa. Think raccoons, only give them real opposable thumbs, and the tendency to descend in troops of 30-40, and you can get a fearsome level of destructiveness that would make you long for the halcyon days of skunks, bears and so on.

Here is where they are getting all of that crap. If men are forced to choose between "someone who is funny" and "somone who thinks you are funny" they choose the one who thinks they are funny, and they are especially prone to do this if they are thinking of a long-term relationship. If women are given the same choice, they choose the partner who is funny over one who thinks they are funny. But both men and women would prefer to have someone who is funny AND who appreciates their humor, so the whole thing is a slight of hand.

See, now THAT's really interesting, and totally rings true to me.

Are there any plebian masses at the Bellagio?

Oh hells yes -- there are plebian masses everywhere you go in Vegas.

For the last 15 minutes, I've been fantasizing about a hot cup of tea, while sitting on my sofa looking through a Crate & Barrel catalogue.

That sounds like an excellent fantasy.

Me, I don't need fantasies, because I have 75% off Valentine's candy!!!!

Oh, and best of luck to katefate and Megan's MIL. Kate, a friend of mine just had her gall bladder out, and it's made a world of difference.