Happy Thanksgiving

Todd has been here for the past 2 days and we've been having a wonderful time in spite of the interruptions and inconveniences of a household about to move across the country. Today we spent the afternoon sorting through things of his that we still have in boxes or drawers - basketball trophies, prom glasses, graduation announcements, drawings of cars and, of course, boxes and boxes of Legos and baseball cards. He found the collection of school work that I had saved from each year in elementary school and was reading over his 'essay' from 6th grade entitled "My Cat" and which I reprint here for you in its entirety, for general amusement and because I don't have another blog topic. Ahem...

"This story is about my cat and how strange she is, and what she is like in general.

My cat is very fat. She is very fat because we keep her food dish full all the time, and because my mom spoils her. She eats about 3 full food dishes a day, and about 1 dish of water a day. Her favorite people foods are turkey and cheeses. She will only eat cheese if it is cheddar and shredded. She weighs about 15 pounds, and is still eating.

This cat is very lazy; probably the laziest cat I've ever seen. All she does is eat, sleep, wash, and, once in a while, chase string or bat things around.

She sleeps in a very weird way. She finds a comfortable spot (which is normally in the middle of my [indoor] basketball court) and lays down. She sleeps on her back with all four feet sticking up. With her tail too, she is a little under 3 feet long and about a foot across. That shows how fat she is, and how much of my basketball court she takes up. When she lays down she looks like a geek.

My cat is a calico cat with fur about 2 inches long on every part of her. She sheds all over the place. She can't always keep herself clean because her hair is so long.

She does not like people with beards for some reason. She hates birds because they fly and she can't go outside to catch them (like she would ever catch them anyway!) She likes to eat spiders. She's scared of the vacuum cleaner because it makes noise and moves. She likes to play with the little plastic rings that seal milk cartons.

She says "mrrrr?" a lot when you scare her, or when she wants to tell you she is there. She only comes to "kitty-kitty-kitty" because she thinks that means food.

She bites very hard, and all the time. She does not have front claws because she was tearing up our furniture so we had to have them removed. She makes up for not having front claws by using her back claws and her teeth.

My cat is not allowed outside because we don't want her to get fleas. Fortunately she has not caught fleas yet, even though she has snuck out of the house a few times. She is very sneaky about trying to get out. First she just walks around the door and acts like she's just looking out. Then when you turn around, she runs out the door and heads for the bushes. After she has gotten out and we have caught her again, we lock her in the bathroom for a while.

My cat is normally a happy cat, except when I terrorize her or when John Hall comes to our house. She doesn't like John Hall because he has a beard and he is mean to her. He hisses at her and pulls her tail.

All in all my cat is very fat, very lazy and very weird."

That's how it is at my house on this Thanksgiving Eve. Happy Thanksgiving to all.