oh God oh God oh God I thought she wasn't ever coming back! Tenzing kept saying she wasn't ever coming back and I kept telling him that she would, but the sun kept coming up and she wasn't ever there to feed us in the morning and I was starting to worry that maybe Tenzing was right.He's the smarter kittybrother, after all.

Go out to lunch on a Sunday. Comment on the busy-ness that always comes with August, and the pre-dragon*con preparations. Stop by the grocery store to pick up random food bits we need. Come home and find this:

(Click on the photos to get a larger version.)

There's a rule in life. I know this rule, and I broke this rule, and now I'm paying for it. Never, ever say, "I'm having a good week," no matter how true the statement is. The cosmos has ears, and it doesn't take well to being taunted.

(Sigh.)

So, a complete recap of the weekend: swim a quarter-mile for the first time, fit into size 14 jeans for the first time in a decade, get mauled by skittish seventeen-pound cat.

Top of left arm:

How do you make the guest bed when it means interrupting this?

More importantly, how do you get the eighteen pounds of white kitty belly fur off of the dark green comforter without a trip to the dry cleaner's?

I'm sure that in the feline world, this position makes a weird sort of sense. (Click photo for larger image.)

Unfortunately, I don't live in that world, so I'll just have to speculate. I guess Edmund's belly was too warm?

To the humans reading this missive, We send casually-meowed greetings and salutations. We recognize that the visitors to Our domicile wish to receive only the best of care from Our humans for the duration of their stay, and We are pleased to announce the results of Our ongoing quality-check program.

Prior to all guest arrivals, We thoroughly investigate the sheet situation of all guest beds in order to assure our guests a 100% mouse-free experience. We simply will not tolerate even the merest whisper of a hint that We might inflict any but the best of mouse-free experiences on Our tolera….uhhhh, beloved guests.

(We'd stand behind the guarantee…but that'd mean We'd have to wake up.)

Click on the following photo to see a demonstration of Our quality-control procedures at work: