He is developing a bit of a lion’s mane though.

Hehe.

I like Norwegian Forest Cats.

And my friend's cat Sophie.

Yes, I think those are about the same as a Maine coon, and may in fact be so.

Whom I affectionately refer to as Sofu Tofu.

My grandparents’ cat, now my mom’s, it a giant Maine coon.

I will show you a picture of Sophie. She's adorable.

He outweighs both my kittens together.

@Mahnax Please!

Here she is, the darling.

Polydactyl?

About how big?

Er. By weight.

@tchrist She's not too heavy, pretty average I think.

I have no idea what to estimate her weight as though.

But for a Norwegian forest cat, she could be 15 or 20 pounds or more, right?

debilitate means to make someone weak or to make some one feel lesser / lower?

Is she too big to sit on your lap?

@tchrist No.

She's the perfect size for a lap cat.

@tchrist I don't know if she is a Norwegian forest cat or not, actually.

That’s nice. Lorin is too, but he’s very tiny at only 8 pounds. My mom’s cat only fits on your lap if you cross your legs the wide way, almost Indian-style, and then droops off the edge. And you need good support.

My math teacher's cat.

Gosh.

Wearing a shirt because they had to keep him from licking his wound and the cone made him very sad.

He moped around and cried, and cried, and cried, so they asked the vet—in desperation—for an alternative.

He was quite happy to be rid of the cone and didn't mind the shirt at all.

Oh, I see. Yes, the cone-of-shame really depresses a kitty, and telling them how regal they look in their Elizabethan collar does nothing to lift their spirits.

Randy just came in talking to me.

Obviously wants something.

Oh, what did he say?

Lorin had to teach him to talk.

Aww.

I think it is the come-appease-me-at-my-feeding-station talk.

It is definitely not the I-have-a-trophy talk.

Nor the I-want-to-out talk.

He just wants me to go with him somewhere. BRB.

Hehe. Have fun!

Yay cats.

So, how old is your boyfriend, Cerby?

Hah!

The scary b-word!

He was born in freaking 1990...

@Cerberus Woah. I could date him.

I know!

I'm a cradle robber.

Do you think this has the potential to be a serious, long-term relationship?

Who knows?

(If you don't mind my asking of course)

@Cerberus Hehe, OK.

We'll see.

Good luck!

I prefer not looking into the future too far.

Do you?

That's a good idea. Live for now and all that.

@Cerberus I like to keep the future in mind, but I don't think about it too much. I like to enjoy living now.

Great.

My question was intended to be a bit more specific...but of course you don't have to talk about that here and now.

@Cerberus Oh, you mean in regards to my current thing?

Yes!

Sure. Don't see why not!

OK.

So is it going steady?

No passengers have fallen off, and no icebergs?

Well, we're coming up on a year sometime in the summer, so steady is a pretty good word.

Wow!

That's good.

Mhm!

It's been that long already!

Yeah! Time flies.

Of course I would not dare even hint at a picture.

Hmph. Let me see.

Ohhh!

digs through blog

A blog, even?

Well, I've had a tumblr for ages now.

Ow.

barely knows what that is

Back. Gosh that was a chore and a half.

Feeding?

Lorin just does not want to come in after dark.

Ah, yes.

Perhaps he needs a GPS beacon?

Randy is pretty easy, but Lorin gets skittish because he knows I’ve got his number.

I’ve thought of that, but they’re too heavy.

Hmm.

And anyway, it’s not like I don’t know where he is.

I can see him, sitting pretty.

Heh.

For now.

He just doesn’t want to be behind a closed door.

But what if he decides to go farther away some time in the future?

He does do that.

He’s been sighted down on Orion Court, by birders who think he is a scourge.

Understandably.

Um, that’s a coupla blocks downhill from here.

Right?

Yes, well.

Cats will be cats.

Even with bells.

Doesn’t seem to help.

Just lets me hear him at night prowling around my bed.

Perhaps a tail-bell would help.

They can't control their tails.

I guess there was talk of trying to get a cat-leash ordinance passed. That was quashed.

Yeah...

In the end, I had to pursue him with a flashlight into somebody’s front “garden”, between their wall and the street, full of shrubbery, distract him with some leaves, and then make a flying tackle.

Yeah, that sounds difficult.

You might not succeed next time.

@Cerb Gmail.

Yay!

@Mahnax I swear to you, I honestly thought “gmail” for a hookup site when I first heard the name.

@tchrist Oh my god, Tom.

Mail, though…

A friend of mine known for frequent hookups said to me, “Oh, I’m on gmail,” and I thought that was what it was about.

Oh, OK.

See, it was the context in which I first heard it that did it.

Right.

Plus it was spoken, so I took it the wrong way.

Hehe.

Speaking of which, I got a text from him early yesterday, trying to get me to come to Denver for the crazy weekend, but my phone ran out of charge before I could answer, and now I can’t find it. It is somewhere in the house, dead.

Oh, dear!

Oh well, my gardening-girl will doubtless regale me with tails of frenzy and frolic next week.

Oh dear!

Jinx.

Haha.

We're two old muppets.

It’s because I’m such an endearing feller.

@tchrist Why not go there anyway?

@Mahnax Back atcha.

@Cerberus What, walk around all day looking for people I knew? Yeah, I could have, I guess.

Oh, it is already in the past?

Pride was yesterday.

Mostly.

Gay pride?

I dunno, without a phone, I know no one.

Oh, well.

Next year.

Yes, he and my gardner were trying to get me to come to Denver. She’s a DNC worker-bee.

She does recreational gardening when she isn’t calling people up or knocking on doors.

Is your gardener also your houseboy?

No, gardner is female.

Grown up.

Ah.

And lives in Denver. Hence the invite.

Houseboy went off to some folk festival for the weekend on the Western Slope.

Was supposed to be back. Has to work in the morning. But I have no phone.

Hm.

Does your houseboy live with you, then?

I could call him from the land line, since it has his number, and ask him if he got blizzarded on the wrong side of the Continental Divide, or what.

@Mahnax Chthonically.

@tchrist In the basement?

@Mahnax Of course. :)

Kid I knew from when he was a teenager, like um 15 years ago or something.

Hehe. So what does he do? Clean?

I wish.

Yes, sometimes, with complaints.

Basically he’s just a boarder. But it sounds more exotic calling him a houseboy.

Oh, I see.

Perhaps.

takes off glasses

We’ve been to Burning Man together I think like 3 or 5 times. You get to know a person pretty well that way. Sometimes too well, of course.

Not really a companion, but sometimes keeps me from going crazy. Er.

Ah yes. I looked through a few of those pics, seems like an interesting time.

And I should give him more credit.

He showed up at my house after not having contact for several years, found me in deep clinical depression / death-grief, and moved in for my own good.

Probably just as well. Sometimes you shouldn’t be alone.

I'm glad he's there, then.

Was that a few months ago?

More than a year now.

Ah OK.

I think I first met you about that time.

I wasn’t doing very well.

I remember a conversation.

Yes, when I thought you were a girl because of how comforting you were to me.

How ironic.

Hah what?

flexes muscles I ain't no girl!

Yes’m.

Ugh.

I just assumed that a stranger who was sweet and comforting must be a girl.

Odd.

Stoopid.

I’m a little jaded, I guess.

You knew your mythology, didn't you?

That wasn’t it. People pick random names.

I suppose it is possible.

How are you now, compared to then?

Not as bad.

No longer on antidepressants.

But life doesn’t really get better.

I stick around because I have obligations. And miles to go before I sleep.

Obligations to other people, to not let them down.

Including kittens, who are people too.

I had forgotten what it was like to be happy.

At all.

Those things are important.

The kittens changed that, but it is still rare.

But you can be happy now, once in a while, with your kittens?

Or should I say...cats now?

Yes. It seems so mundane.