Leaving on a jet plane. Not Herself, but it will do
for purposes of illustration.
Herself is out of town, and Miss Mia and I are out of sorts.
Ours is a fragile ecosystem, especially Miss Mia’s little corner of it. You give her output, she’ll give you input, and plenty of it, especially if she catches you napping on the job.
“Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeowwwwwwww!”
“Hold my calls, stand by, and await further instructions.”
As Nick Nolte told Frank McRae in “48 Hrs,” “Yeah, I hear you, your voice carries.”
When we’re fully staffed, Herself takes the early shift. She gets up at stupid-thirty, feeds and waters and amuses Her Majesty, and then goes about her business while Miss Mia takes a nap.
I get the second shift, which starts a couple hours later. I feed and water and amuse Her Majesty, and then go about my business while Miss Mia takes a nap.
Then we tag team the rest of the day, which is mostly a breeze because hey, she’s a cat. Miss Mia requires about 20 hours of beauty sleep per diem.
But if one of us goes somewhere for a few days, it’s Katie bar the door. Double shifts, weird hours, and negative performance reviews. My first writeup came around 3 this morning.
“Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeowwwwwwww!”
It’s gonna be a long shift in the barrel. “Yeah, I hear you, your voice carries.”
Tags: 48 Hrs, Herself, John Denver, Kris Kristofferson, Miss Mia Sopaipilla, Peter Paul & Mary
Mad Blog Media 
March 24, 2023 at 9:27 am |
Isn’t it amazing how we allow ourselves to be trained? I remember telling his dachshund lady friend when she moved in last year, “I had these two trained in two weeks. Watch me wrap this lead around the mailbox. It drives Pat nuts.”
March 24, 2023 at 5:05 pm |
Truly. And Miss Mia has gotten really good at something I thought was strictly for the dogs. I’ll be working on something to the exclusion of all else until suddenly I sense a Presence, watching me, and boom! There she is, giving me The Eye. Doctor Strange ain’t got half her magic.
March 24, 2023 at 9:37 am |
Duffy told her, dammit. Her name is Biily Jean, but she’s not his lover.
March 24, 2023 at 2:09 pm |
The “Cat Alarm” goes off at our house at about 0600, courtesy of Maile, who turns 19 this year. Usually I am awake by then remembering I no longer have to get up to go to work. But if I am asleep, it is a looong version of “YOOOOOOWWWWLLLLL” repeated until I trudge to the kitchen and drag the cat food out of the fridge.
March 24, 2023 at 5:06 pm |
Miss Mia is 16 this year, and boy, can she still hit the high notes. I may miss the first meow, but I never miss the second, and she can keep it going a lot longer than I can pretend to be asleep.
March 24, 2023 at 8:00 pm |
Maile sings tenor and boy, can she hit those notes. It probably scares the shit out of any nefarious people wandering down the street more than I ever could with the black rifle.
March 24, 2023 at 3:37 pm |
Would you like me to give you a wake up call so that Miss Mia can rest her kitty cat vocal cords? I’m sure that just after I’ve followed my canine orders I can fit a quick zero dark thirty phone call in. “OOOOOOO’GGGGGGRRRRRRAAAADDDDYYYYYYeeeeeeeeeee”
But wait. Since “Smart” is word of the times, perhaps a design as follows is already in the works: When a specific meow is recognized, a smart pet door unlocks with a kitty treat being dispensed on the outdoor side. Then after sensing that specified kitty cat has exited and then reentered el rancho O’Grady, the pet door is relocked and a smart cat food dispenser deposits a specific amount of kitty food for the glutinous pleasure of said specific kitty. But if you don’t have a battery backup for your router, be forewarned that said specific cat may eat you.
March 24, 2023 at 5:10 pm |
I think Miss Mia likes to stay tuned up. These morning vocal exercises open the throat so that more breakfast can slide down it.
Thing is, it’s not always grub that she’s after. Sometimes she’s telling us she’s just used the litter box, and other times she simply wants company.
Whatever she wants, I wish it could wait until at least 6 a.m. It seems to work for Khal’s cat.
March 24, 2023 at 11:46 pm |
Miss Mia looks the boss, if only for those four hours. Otherwise, I’d bet you’re always “on call.” Anyone with cats knows this fact — we are mere servants to their very wish. Mr. Lolli also knows this, as his portrait conveys. Oh, and he also has his own bedroom. Because,… of course he does.
March 25, 2023 at 6:51 am |
Dave, that is a handsome cat.
By the way, Sierra Vista is the home of Tour de Zona this weekend. Might wander down to the park this evening and listen to some music and chat up the riders. If I remember correctly they had over 700 riders registered.
https://eltourdezona.org/
March 26, 2023 at 6:00 am |
A handsome cat indeed. I expect that he is an excellent supervisor and finds plenty of things for you to do.
Miss Mia will give me a barely passing grade when Herself returns. Try as she might she can’t rouse me at 3 a.m. to do her bidding. The English also had trouble motivating the Irish, until they invented the wheelbarrow and taught us how to walk upright so that we might use it.
Paddy me lad, did you visit the cycling event? How are my people?