Dear, dear readers, we are exhausted! Here it is, Saturday, and we climbed out of bed at 5 a.m.! You're grimacing, no doubt. Jane was grimacing, also. We are not an early morning person, though we are a morning person.

Let us explain: we are cat sitting this weekend. Our oh so delightful middle child, daughter #2, is off to a friend's wedding. Naturally, she could not leave her 3 fun, furry and frolicky kitties home alone. Though Jane's kitty and our dog do not always appreciate it, Jane always welcomes the 3 sleek kitties from Buffalo when the daughter needs to "drop them off." We have a spare room for them... separate from the rest of the house. But, not detached.

No, indeed. The room we save for the kittys, the very same room said daughter and her fiance occupy when they come for a visit, is just a stairway away from the main house. The kitties, Baily, Bella, and Loki, are content in that room...they rarely venture out past the bottom step. At least, they used to rarely venture past the bottom step. Lately, they have decided to brave the upper rooms...and the two other animals who live here: our kitty, Pandora (she's fluffy, she's not fat!) and Carmel, the still rambunctious 11 year-old German-Shepard.

This morning, bright and early -- let us amend that -- it was not bright, the sun was barely sneaking over the horizon in some far off world, we were awakened by Carmel whining to go out. Normally, we just give her stern instructions to "lie back down!" and turn over to catch more shut-eye. But, today...we needed to get up anyway...so, we thought we'd let her out early. As we navigated the laundry baskets at the foot of the bed, silently lamenting the fact that we'd failed to empty them the night before, we saw...Loki standing off to the right, near the dresser by the closet. He was, no doubt, looking for Pandora. It is his goal when visiting us to pester Pandora.

Instead of Pandora, he'd found -- Carmel. In days past, Carmel would never, no, NEVER, allow one of those cats in her room (we imagine that she refers to them that way)! She would have taken off after them, or him, at a pace a racehorse would envy. But, time has taught her that these creatures are not for chasing. These cats are family, just as surely as she and Pandor are family. She is not comfortable with this, of course.  She resists it...but, it was clear this morning that Carmel knew better than to pretend Loki was a squirrel. Preferring, instead, to be let out into the hot, muggy morning, rather than deal with the presence of this interloper. [pic courtesy of Cat Claws, a great place to get cat toys and gifts!]

Jane complied. Loki went back downstairs. Tragedy was averted. The day, for all intents and purposes, had begun. Though we returned to bed, we never did get back to sleep. Carmel came in, the cats (other than Pandora, who continues to creep around sniffing her favorite spots for -- we're not sure what, the scent of the other cats? )retreated to their room, and Saturday began in earnest.

The weekend promises to be full of fun. We are looking forward to a nap. [yawn, yawn, yawn -- really big YAWN]

What's not to like about that?