Nine Days of Thanks

Today I am thankful for cats. Especially pet cats. We've had a number of pet cats in our family and I am also thankful that Cool Guy likes cats as pets, too. Some men don't. Our current cat is no less wonderful than all our other marvelous kitties. One of our favorite things she does is act as life guard when we are in the hot tub. Whenever Cool Guy is in town we close the day with a pre-bedtime soak. We're in the tub blissed out in the warmth and, right on schedule, Kitty Cat strolls out the door and steps over to the edge of the tub. She gives us a sniff and then goes on about her appointed rounds. Every night she marches along the same path around the whole pool, stopping to sniff at each plant, sitting and gazing off into the distance at a pre-determined spot, then continuing the stroll until she has circled the pool and returned to the spa where we get checked out again. All she needs is a little whistle and one of those floats with a rope on it. After she concludes that we're not drowning (or running or engaging in unsafe horseplay or whatever life guards worry about) she steps through the fence onto the grass and flops down to watch us in the darkness. Every night---the same routine. We feel very safe.