Not actually raining

Still gray out there, still squishy underfoot, but I managed to walk for the morning newspaper. This qualifies as progress.

In said morning newspaper, an item that three cars went off the road yesterday, out in the section of bog that features in my weekday bike ride reports. The writer had to sensationalize this event, saying that one had been "washed" off the road. By a couple of inches of low-velocity flow. The bog, by the intrinsic nature of bogs, is _flat_, with maybe 3" difference in elevation between one side of the road and the other...

Well, the plotline looks better with a little fantasy in it.

I would _suspect_ a case of "driving too fast for conditions", myself. Hydroplaning on a curve and losing control.

Meanwhile, we advance into our second Mud Season of the year.

Cat politics

Okay, so I go out for my nightly amble down the driveway and out back before shutting down the house and heading upstairs. And in the darkness I see orange-and-white (neighbor cat, name unknown) in the driveway across the street, cat sees me, we interact. Then cat freezes and slinks back into the yew hedge.

I turn around and see a shadow approaching me, gray cat against gray, nearly invisible. Nikita, _other_ neighbor cat, asserting dominance by claiming me.

For those of you familiar with The Game, Diane Duane's cat wizards, I feel as if I am a marker of Position. The cat that claims me, gains points in The Game. I guess I have a reputation for good ear-scratches.