Please read this...Spring appears to be arriving early this year
This week, please humor me as I ponder the start of baseball spring training, what appears to the imminent, and potentially premature, arrival of spring and the adventures of Bob the cat.
Bob the Cat has been with us since last summer. He, and his buddy, Cory, were welcomed into our home as rescue kitties. They were picked out by The Other Half and our grandson, who was visiting from North Carolina. Grandson came up with the name Bob. As in Bob Cat. Bob Cat. Get it?
Bob is, well, rambunctious. Cory, not so much, most of the time. She seems to have somewhat of a bemused take on Bob's adventures, or misadventures, as the case may be.
Bob is curious, too. He's a cat, after all. His curiosity seems to know no bounds. Ditto for Bob, who seems to know no bounds and apparently has no limits as to where curiosity can take him.
Let's say we set a package of frozen hamburger on the kitchen counter to thaw. Bob doesn't seem to think that he needs to stay off the counter and that it's just fine and dandy to check out the hamburger. When I say "check out," that means eat the hamburger.
We have been trying to discourage his visits to our kitchen counters. And the dining room table, too. But he seems to have a rather short-term memory when it comes to discipline.
He's also been fine tuning the art of stalking rolls of paper towels and toilet paper, along with the occasional wash cloth. Or two. Or three. Last Sunday, I looked in the kitchen, and there was Bob, in the sink, unraveling a roll of paper towels. Another roll of paper towels actually was on a rack in a bathroom. Did that stop Bob? Nah. Same goes for toilet paper.
After Bob stalks his prey, and completes the task, he drags the carcasses of the paper towels or toilet paper away, where he proceeds to shred the victim. By the time he's done, all that remains are tiny pieces of paper.
I'm guessing that at some point, Bob will start hacking our computers, too. Bob is a very happy kitty, though. He has a big time purr. And he's very friendly. I just hope he doesn't do things that will cause us to start checking off a few of his nine lives.
With the imminent arrival of spring, we can only wonder what Bob will do on the first day we get to open all of the windows and let warm breezes make their way through our abode.
Speaking of spring...it seems that the season may be arriving a bit early, which is fine with me. During the past week or so, I've seen crocuses, daffodils, frogs and even a turtle.
Maybe even better...Major League Baseball teams have started spring training. Perhaps, just perhaps, the balance of the universe will be restored in 2017...the Cardinals will win another World Series and the Cubs will start another 108 years of futility...
...but I doubt that. As much as it hurts to say this, the Cubs are really good. Really, really good. Once again, I congratulate all of you Cubs fans.
We're about to finish up for this week. Before we do, allow me to share something which appeared in one of the 10,000 or so emails which showed up at The Paragraph Factory: "If I were God, I'd make every day the first day of spring." Sounds good to me, with a bit of footnote, 'cause I kind of like autumn, too.
One other thing: thank you to the caller who shared her thoughts about possums, North America's only marsupial and a critter with a prehensile tail. I just hope Bob the Cat doesn't make friends with a possum. Between his craziness and a possum's prehensile tail, things could get really silly.