owlmoose | #%$*@!

That makes the third time the goddamn fire alarm has gone off in the wee hours of the morning in the last two months. According to T, who works from home a couple of days a week, it's gone off at least that many times during the day as well. The current working theory is that the sprinkler system didn't reset properly after the actual fire engaged it. So water sloshes around in the pipes (we can hear it sometimes) and sets off various sensors. It's getting really, really old.

At least something possibly positive came out of it. When T and I were trying to get back to sleep (an unsuccessful effort), we got to talking about cats -- one of our neighbors had brought out their kitty, wrapped in a towel, and we had been observing it's reactions to being outside and surrounded by strangers. We never tried to evacuate Nadia during an alarm (she was always much too quick to hide, and there was never a serious fire during her lifetime with us here), and we started speculating about how we might deal with our hypothetical future cats in such a situation. Then he admitted to me that he has started to think positively about the idea of getting a cat again. Not completely, but he's coming around. It's a step in the right direction, for sure; every other time we've discussed the issue, his automatic reaction has been "nope, not ready". So I am hopeful. Maybe in a couple of months.

It's not enough to make up for the fire alarm, though. I hate them so.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This seems the season when we all wrestle with cats. Ikon is being given fits by a coeurl kitten.

We live with two cats - the one in the pic here is Charity. For years, whenever she has been frightened, she has retreated to a hidey-hole we could not find. Recently, we discovered where she makes her refuge. She climbs up inside an easy chair and stays there until she feels herself safe again. So I understand the difficulty of rescuing a recalcitrant cat in an emergency. If you can't find them, you can't save them. Our other cat - Prudence - is equally adept at hiding. When the telephone repairman came, it took me the better part of a day to locate Prudence. Ah, our petite hostage to fortune.

I saw Ikon's posts about the coeurl. These things do come in bunches. Although mostly I am wrestling with a recalcitrant husband! It's just that cats happen to be the issue.

Nadia was an uncommonly skittish cat who hid from all people and loud noises. We knew where most of her bolt-holes were, but we never did find the one she used when the fire alarm went off. I don't know what we would have done in a true emergency -- tried to grab her before she could run away, I suppose, if we had time. The cat in the easy chair sounds problematic; once she climbs up in there, I can't imagine you can possibly get her out if she doesn't want to come.

Such a hard life cats have: strangers running in and out, ruining their peace, their humans always wanting to know where they are...

Don't forget humans always trying to shove pills into them.

For some cats, true. Never Nadia, though. I am so glad that I never had to try.

I imagine taking the easy chair along is probably not an option in a real emergency...

The one really scary place my cat got into once was the heating duct, when I had opened the latch to turn on the heat, but not closed it fast enough.

And the time when I was locking my door to leave and looked down to see her calmly walking off down the hall!

Yikes! Was kitty gone for awhile before you noticed, or was she in and out quickly with no harm done.

Did I ever tell you the story about the cat in Geoff's engine? (It has a happy ending, I promise.)

I saw her go, but I had to get the tuna out to convince her to come out... the other place they occasionally get to if I am not careful is behind the drawers underneath my bed... and there is no way for them to get out if I close the drawer- that is scary.

You never told me about the cat in the engine.. that sounds scary. We had kittens who hung out in the engine of our fridge one year in italy.

G and R were driving to work one day (this was when they were at the same dotcom) when the brake light in his car started randomly coming on. They tested the brakes and everything was fine, so they just went the rest of the way. Then they popped the hood and found an unhurt but utterly terrified cat sitting on the engine block (I think). They got the kitty out and drove back home (because they couldn't just leave it in the office parking lot, it was a good 20 miles away). Apparently the cat was none the worse for wear; she actually started getting curious and trying to wander around about halfway back.

One thing that gets me about that story is that the cat had this big adventure, and its humans will never know.

Glad T's talking about cats!

#%$*@!

J

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