I'm sorry Hil.

I love kitty stories.

Penny was the neighbor's kitten and she couldn't keep her so she is mine. Matthew's niece found Duchess in a dumpster when she was about a week or so old. His SIL and niece took care of her for a bit then Matthew took over. Duchess is bonded to Matthew ... although she will sleep on me or near me but still hisses if I try to touch her.*

Scrappy was at Matthew's work with his 2 siblings but other people were able to get them first. Scrappy was the last kitten. He is still very skittish. If you get on the bed he will come find you and cuddle. Last night he curled up next to me on the couch. He will get on Matthew's lap on the couch. But if either of us move to close to him anywhere else he runs.

• I have to be careful when I sleep . A few times I thought the cat next or on me was Scrappy and almost got clawed. Even though Scrappy is about 4 or 5 months old he is almost the same size as Duchess who is 2 1/2 or so (she is a petite kitty).

Vlad and Miss Erzabet No Biting were at the kitty shelter that was two blocks away from my therapist's original office, so I'd go there after therapy to look at kittens and wait for Mr. Loomy. We asked the staff if we could interact with the kittens in a particular enclosure. The tiny black kitten swarmed straight up Mr. Loomy's shoulder, and the tiny tabby came straight to me. We signed the adoption papers that day.

Pearl has a good origin story: someone in my sister's old neighborhood must have known she was feeding a swarm of feral kitties in the back yard, so they dumped 8 unweaned and badly frightened kittens onto the front lawn. My sister is a rescuing angel to cats in need and had raised bottle babies before, so she calmly took them in hand.

The first time I saw Pearl, she was tucked into my sister's cleavage and couldn't hold her head up because she was falling asleep with a full belly. She'd wake up startled and make a tiny hiss to say, Don't You Mess With Me! I was taken immediately, thinking that she was smart enough to understand there might be something to be afraid of, but she was brave enough to defend herself and willing to love anyway.

A miracle occurred and homes were found for all the kitties, except Pearl. I thought I might inquire if any Buffista wanted a kitty because of her Firefly tail with a bright beige spot at the tip. Then I realized that supervising her myself was ideal and she went home with me.

She still likes being wrapped up in cloth, under shirts and blankets. I'm so glad to have my talkative Yap Cat.

What's a Firefly tail?

She's a gray cat and the tip of her tail has a light spot. It reminded me of the Serenity. It's one of her cutest features and makes it easy to ID Pearl when she dives under the bed or plays on the cat tree.

Aw, cute.

My gray, Casper, has a kink at the end of his tail and I love it so much

Hill, you mentioned being worried about calling in sick too often.

One thing I have heard of people doing if they expect to be unable to attend class more than usual because of a medical condition, kids who get sick a lot, or a demanding travel schedule for research, is to build a hybrid conventional/online course. They plan on 90% of the days in class but then have a few online modules that match the time it would take for students to attend class. Every time they can't come to class they release one of the online modules as a substitute. If they are lucky and don't miss class much, they just release the modules periodically through the semester.

From the administration's perspective, the students are well-cared for, so the instructor doesn't have to be nervous about it. I suppose that the cumulative nature of intro math classes would make this more of a challenge than it is in psychology classes, but there might be enough side topics or 'application to the real world' topics to make it possible.

Of course, the other option would be that the students actually show up on the days that you are there, and pay attention the entire class. That would increase the de facto instructional time with no added effort by the instructor.

The ducks are nibbling today.