cat sitting, cat yowling, and the tunnel of stink
A couple friends have left town for the desert. Two weeks of road tripping and serial relaxing. I'll be feeding their cats and drinking beer in their garden with the cats for those two weeks. The sun came out last night just before sunset, and it's supposed to mostly stay that way for two weeks. What beer should I drink?

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In unrelated news, a strange grey tabby got into the house this morning. Jen found her in the living room, near Hopey's skritch post. Hopey was hiding under the bed at the time. I was sleeping in the bed. The strange cat's only feasible exit was the window not too far from the bed.

I was awakened by a flurry of sound and activity, enough so I had a vague idea that there was a feline intruder in the house. A grey tabby ran into the bedroom and hopped up onto the chair next to the window. "Hopey?" I queried, blurry-eyed. "Hey Hopey. Watch out, there's a cat in the house." I got suspicious, then tsked at the cat, which prompted a low, angry growl.

Something in all that got Hopey riled up, and she shot out from under the bed, toward the cat on the chair. A lot of yowling ensued, and that weird spazzy thing cats do when they're not really ready to fight yet, but they're feeling each other out. Hopey managed to catch a claw on the chair, and was unable to extricate herself, so she and the other cat had a stare-down with occasional hissing.

Jen was stressed about the whole thing, worried that freeing Hopey would hurt her claws and cause an even bigger fight (Hopey never believes that Jen would hurt her, so she focuses her anger at the nearest object when it happens - in this case, the other cat, and since most cats are tougher than Hopey, Hopey would probably get her ass kicked if she attacked). I got dressed, walked over to the cats, and gave Hopey a pat on the head. She gave me a loud "meh" to let me know she had a handle on things, but wouldn't mind if I were to maybe start beating the other cat with a lead pipe. I tried lifting Hopey out of the situation, and as soon as her claw came free, she ran back under the bed. At which time, the other cat noticed I was about three feet away from it, and took off out the window.

Very exciting.

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And very stressful for Jen, who made her first bicycle excursion through the Posey Tube to her job in Alameda. It's a pretty terrifying ride through the tube, especially the first time, but she made it half-way, until a homeless man with a shopping cart necessitated her getting off her bike so they could get by one another.

Hopefully, she'll tell the story when she gets back from work.