We have the smartest cat in the world!

Yesterday, the cat totally amazed us with the extent of his intellect. First he spent the morning studying very, very hard. (Note the presence of the long lost pink pillow filled with catnip.) Then Walter upgraded the cat door and he actually walked through it.

About 2 years ago, Walter put a cat door (well actually a small dog door as the cat is too large for a little bitty cat door) on the basement door so the cat could go up and down the stairs to his litter box with out needing to leave the door ajar. He could not figure it out. He never learned to push the flap with his head - maybe it was too heavy or something. Anyhow, we had to either leave the door ajar (which was the whole reason to install the cat door in the first place) or hold it up with a piece of string. He never got it.

Well, Walter removed the originally heavy flap (accompanied by lots of swearing - I think things go better when you swear as you work or something) and replaced it with a thin, soft piece of flexible foam rubber that is used to make crafts and things. I then resorted to the kitty treat bribes and, voila, the cat figured it out and walked right through it. As his name really is Shere-I-am-a-loser-and-will-do-anything-for-kitty-treats-Khan I am not too surprised and he did have two years to learn about this. Anyhow, he gets a gold star for the day and we will call him the smartest cat in the world for now.

I bet you are thinking, 'she leads such an exciting life'. I know I really don't. I am actually quite boring. Yesterday, I also went for a walk, returned library books, and braved the grocery store. I found out no OMWAHs went to Lahey yesterday. They were at the grocery store, parking badly, blocking traffic, and then using their highly refined driving skills in the store with shopping carts. It was somewhat eventful and I forgot to buy toothpaste. (Its not an issue yet as I have a little tiny bit left but means I will have to go to the store again in the next few days. Especially since I have a dentist appointment this week.)

Today I don't know what I am doing. There is a little bitty snow storm going on - somewhere between 5-14" expected depending on the TV channel you watch. Hence the chaos at the grocery yesterday. I can't really see out the window as the screen is full of snow but what I can see is that Mass Ave, the main road through town, is snow covered and has no traffic. Walter has opted not to go to work today as it is supposed to be bad most of the day. I don't know if I will get to my crisping appointment today. I will call them later and see if they are even open. That would be most upsetting to drive myself there in a snowstorm and find out they weren't even there! However I don't know what they would do if I miss an appointment. I hope they don't charge me or something for late cancellation. They must have some kind of snow policy for these daily appointments. Something new to learn today.

Otherwise, I will keep myself busy by doing the volunteer work I said I would do over the weekend, possibly even clean the bathroom, and supervise Walter's snow shoveling. (Now that would be the height of excitement!)

Seriously, I am not supposed to shovel snow or otherwise strenuously exert my left arm. No lie. After surgery last summer where they took out all those lymph nodes, they said, for the rest of my life, I need to be careful of my left arm and not over exert it, strain it, watch out for any injuries (cuts or burns) to the hand or arm, and report any issues with it to the doctor. I also can't have any blood pressures, blood tests, or needle sticks to it ever. (This is why I have my lovely port.) Its the whole lymphedema thing where the lymph system is compromised due to surgery and I can end up with permanent, uncurable swelling to my arm if I am not careful and it can occur anytime after surgery but usually happens within the first three years. I can do things like go to the gym and work out with light weights and work up slowly. But, darn, I can't shovel snow, especially this nasty wet heavy stuff that is falling today. Darn. I am so upset. (Not!) I will supervise the snow shoveling.