Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Rascally Random

I woke up this morning and went downstairs to feed the outside cats.  Okay, I actually went downstairs and started the coffee first.  Then I went to the door and looked outside.  On the patio was the fattest raccoon I've ever seen.  He was sprawled out next to the empty food bowl, just like he'd been on a bender.  The outdoor cats were no where to be found, and for a moment I was concerned that the raccoon might have eaten them, as fat as he was.  I rapped loudly on the window to get the raccoon's attention, and waited for him to get the message and waddle off.  I wonder what we would see if we put a camera on the patio to run all night. 

My boss asked if I would like to work from home a couple of days a month.  It seems that the grand plan to give every 9th grader an iPad to use did not factor in the massive use of network bandwidth.  To put it bluntly, during the day, when all those wonderful iPads are being used(all the textbooks are on them), our district connections runs at the speed of dial-up.  When I am at home, I don't have to contend with all that, so everything runs faster.  So maybe I will work at home, at least once.  My challenge will be not getting distracted by random Lolcats or spending all day on Pinterest.   Because I am all about distractions when I have to work, sad to say.

Cats are predators. They are actually the most successful predators on the planet, with something like a 97% kill rate.  I thought about that the other day when we found some remains in the driveway.  I just read an article online today that says cats may be killing way more than we know, because they sometimes don't eat what they kill, but scatter the body parts hither and yon as they scamper back home. On the other hand, we do not have scorpions, or mice, or snakes within at least a fifty foot radius of this house.  I think we can learn a valuable lesson from all this: Animals may act domesticated, but don't piss them off.


We were all parked in the living room last night, crashing after a long day, when we hear two sounds, like something striking out window.  We began to investigate, and found a hole in the outside glass of our double paned windows.  We immediately suspected the house behind us.  Nefarious things happen at that house, and most of the time right in the back yard where we can see it, because the people who live in that house aren't really all that bright.   Fortunately, the police said that the window was not hit by a BB or rock.  Do double paned windows just suddenly decide to crack at random intervals?   Maybe it was a body part flung by a cat?  I guess this means that we will be investing in new windows soon.  I'd like to get some with some of that solar film on it. 

I am over visiting at Stacy's Uncorked, because she's awesome and has some cool looking new appliances. Go visit her and have a great day!


Stacy

4 comments:

  1. Cats weird me out in their predatory ways. I'm not sure they were ever meant to be domesticated!

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  2. Did you at least take a picture before you shooed the raccoon away?! That sure would have been a sight to see! :)

    I think it's cool your boss is giving you the option to work from home a couple of days a week - when I was working in Corporate America, I totally relished those rare 'at home' days. Granted I did have to rein in the distraction mode... ;)

    Our indoor/outdoor muscle-head cat Link is an excellent predator on the voles, field mice and random small critters that try to invade our living space...I didn't realize they did the whole scatter thing - I guess I better stay on his good side, eh?

    That is weird about your window - did the neighbors throw rocks or anything? Or maybe it was a bird trying to escape a cat? :)


    Fall Finally Arrives with Hotel Transylvania, Body by Vi Challenge Accepted, Comic Moment, Banana Spider and Genius Birthday Card

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  3. Mr. Chewey is one of the best killers/hunters I know. He is especially good at hunting my legs as I walk by his food, and my toes at midnight when I have reached the optimal sleep pattern. *sigh*

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  4. My friend has 4 cats and has a mouse running around inside her house...slackers! Ok, no offense but for some reason when I first scanned the sentence about you working at home a few days a month and saw the cartoon...I. Thought you were being asked to stay home for another reason! Lol

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