40 Comments

More dogs and cats!

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I agree— can’t read enough about kitties and doggos— and thank you for keeping Philip warm 🥹

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Gene, kudos to you and Rachel for looking after Philip.

Some people think cats don't make good pets, but we should have le chat about that.

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We kidnapped a feral cat a few years ago. She's sleeping at my feet as I write this.

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Cats. Dogs. More.

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You must be aware that cats, like Musk, are striving towards world domination. You have admitted a 5th column. Good luck.

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For several years I would see & talk to my neighbor's cat who spent a lot of time luxuriating on their front porch. One day a blizzard was approaching and the neighbor told me she hoped the cat would survive it. I asked why he wouldn't, and my neighbor said the cat was a stray who had lived under her house for several years. (!!!) She named him "Crybaby" because he was always crying for food. Well, I picked him up right then and there, brought him into my home (to cohabitate with 3 other cats and 3 dogs), renamed him "Keily," and loved him as he lived happily inside for another 7 years.

THANK YOU for your kid/catnapping venture!

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Years ago when we lived in VA, there was a Maine Coon that wandered the neighborhood. He technically belonged to our loony next door neighbors, who insisted that he refused to live inside or use a litter box. Because I am allergic to cats, we couldn't bring him inside. One cold winter, though, we bought a dog house for him and a heated kennel pad, and we put it on our deck and covered it with blankets.

I am allergic to cats, but our petsitter, Sara, fell in love with him (the cat, not my husband). One day he mysteriously disappeared when Sara left our house. He lived the rest of his life loved and cosseted by Sara, and never wanted to go outside again.

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I suspect this was Philip’s plan all along. He put on a good show, though. For about an hour? Not very long, really.

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Lord, what fools these mortals be! Believe me, Lexi knows and is simply going through the motions to placate you and your accomplice. Think Rachel is the only actor in the house? Think again. Lexi is a Plott Hound afterall.

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Highway crashes are at higher speeds so generally more lethal so city streets with some delays is better.

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On the other hand, there is a much higher likelihood of having a collision on the streets vs. on the highway.

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My experience is that delays noted on the google maps are always always far more severe than noted. I’ll take the scenic route.

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I optimistically assume that delays are more likely to go away than to get worse. I'm not sure whether that is due to my inexperience with reported v. actual delays or where I live. Or maybe I am optmistically resistant to bad news.

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I do think it has to do with where we live. I’m in a fairly rural area with a few busy roads and once something is bolloxed it tends to stay that way for awhile.

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That's what I always think, that the delays will have cleared up by the time I get to that point, assuming it is not someplace that is ALWAYS delayed.. Nearly always I am right, that the accident or slowdown has been cleared by the time I reach that spot.

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Coming back to note the “very, very short hair.” Rachel is still doing chemo or is it starting to grow back? Police artist wants to know.

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It is new hair, post-chemo. Pixie-like. Mary Martin as Peter Pan.

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Since it's been more than a year since we had a professional performance at the Pool --- Valerie Holt's superb presentation of Edith Piaf's anthem, "Non, je ne regrette rien" last August --- your sit-down comedy gigs notwithstanding --- I suggest now that, for the moment, Rachel apparently also has a Betty Boop hairstyle, she consent to perform (lip sync just fine) one of Betty's classics for our delectation. Plenty to choose from including, "I Want to Be Loved By You," "I'd Go Barefoot All Winter Long (If You'd Fall for Me in the Spring)," "I Want to Be Bad," and her signature, ""Boop Oop A Doop!"

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I’d pick slower, no delays, but then again, I don’t use GPS. I’d take a quick glance at a map and make educated guesses. You can’t go too far on the east coast without hitting some major highway to help get your bearings and you never know what you might encounter. Fortunately, my wife was like minded, so no anxiety in the car. I think that the worst we ever did was add an hour to what was already going to be an eight hour drive with no traffic.

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Philip is like our little Zooey. A soft-blanket kneading + suckling practitioner. According to vets, even well-adjusted cats who nurse the normal amount of time can adopt this habit. Blessings for getting him safe from frostbite!🥶

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Tried to send a short video of it, hope you got it.

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Lexi is a good dog, ever watchful. Also, is that the ticking of many clocks in the background? I felt like I was in Poe's story.

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Yes, our house always ticks. The heartbeats of a house, almost all antique and mechanical. There are seven rooms and 12 clocks.

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That's marvelous! I love the sound of bells chiming on the hour. Unstoppable

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I noticed that home-y sound, too. 🩷

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Phillip must be a senior cat. I recall that he was the companion of the late Buster. Phillip's tuxedo looks to be in decent shape.

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Yeah, Philip has to be at least 13. He has not answered to at least five different names, as neighbors came and went.

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It would be so lovely if he could his few remaining years being cosseted. Lexi can learn to at least tolerate him, and he will either tolerate or adore her.

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Spend ...

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