The smell of burnt hair

It was Friday night. I promised Lauren I would meet her out for a few drinks, but since Mike's cough won't seem to go away, I planned on spending the majority of the evening home with him. So, I go to Mount Fuji, have a couple pomegranate mojitos then head to Randy's Pizza to pick up a yummy dinner. Mike wanted wings, and I wanted pizza, so it worked well. I love Randy's, but they don't have that addictive garlic sauce found at Papa John's. Therefore, Mike and I decided to look up a quick "how to make Papa John's dipping sauce at home" recipe. Everyone stated it was just melted butter with garlic powder. We can do that.

Mike put a pan on the stove, turned it up to middle heat and dropped in some butter. Scout jumped up on the counter as always, requesting to drink out of the kitchen sink. Mike put the faucet on a slow dribble and let Scout have his way. As Scout drank, Mike and I stood in the kitchen chatting and waiting for the butter to melt. After a few seconds, I happened to look over at the stove and yelled, "MIKE! Grab Scout! His tail is burning!"

Scout, so absorbed in drinking water from the faucet, had yet to realize that his tail was just close enough to the stove burner to singe his tail fur. Mike grabbed him and put his tail under the water. Scout had no idea what the commotion was all about. The heat only got the ends of the fur - he didn't get a skin burn at all. But our kitchen was quickly filled with the smell of burning hair.

Mike managed to wipe off most of the charred fur, and we even trimmed a bit. But there is still some remaining. Scout's little brown scar on the tail (which will be gone soon enough due to his incessant shedding). For now, it will serve as our reminder to better watch the cat when the stove is on. egads.

Thank you, Scout!

Mike and I are parents to three kitties - Scout, Buddy and Allie. The three do not get along. Well, Buddy and Scout do (as evidenced by the photo below), but no one gets along with Allie except for the people living in our house. Due to this permanent animosity, Scout resides in our bedroom 99.9% of the time - until now that is. Some sort of confidence has overtaken our all white warrior, and he is now coming downstairs, walking on the floor, and even going room to room. It is an amazing transformation.

Scout (L) and Buddy (R) in a snuggle

With that being said, Scout's new found freedom while wonderful for him, has added a whole new level of kitty antics to deal with for us. For example, Scout LOVES to hug the small Ikea lamp next to my bed; ramming his head into the lamp and causing it to make a loud "thunk" on the nightstand is a sure fire way to wake me up and deliver him to the litter box. After that, it's back to the bed to walk around for a bit, snuggle and purr as loudly as possible. If he is feeling antsy, like he has been here lately, the purring is very loud, the patting on the face and arms becomes consistent, and the banging of the lamp continues for fun rather than for purpose of signaling a need to go to the kitty loo.

This morning was one such morning. Coupled with his brother Buddy's persistent meows for food at 5:30am, I was up and awake. I attempted to go back to sleep, but after 30 minutes of near earth shaking purring coupled with my mind rolling wedding "to-do's" back and forth, it was a hopeless cause to go back to sleep. Therefore, I decided to make use of the time, get up, put on some workout clothes and go for a run. It was actually chilly when I left the house and entered the morning outside. By the time I walked out of the neighborhood and hit my run's starting point, I was feeling pretty comfy. I got in a mile and a half run, but the hills were too much - so I did a nice powerwalk for the next mile or so. I got back to the house 45 minutes later and decided I would rest my eyes for a few minutes. TERRIBLE idea. I have felt sleepy nearly all day now. It was great to get my workout out of the way first thing this morning, but yikes - it sure did make my day go kind of funky.

Anyway, thanks, Scout, for the valuable lesson in why I do not exercise in the morning :-)

Every morning at our house...

It seems like that as the weather gets colder, the kitties get much friskier. Therefore, the following video is a mild representation of what we endure each morning. This was passed onto me via e-mail, and I have no idea where it came from. If anyone knows, pass on the info so I can give the creator some credit!! ENJOY