Wednesday three bordering on crazy cat lady post.

I've been catless for over two years. I have enjoyed my various local no-planning-required weekend jaunts (and that four-month-foreign-country foray) immensely. I also started Auntie Jen(n)'s Kitty Camp for friends while they are on extended vacation. Guaranteed unconditional love and no charge to parents other than the cost of food, litter and any other supplies - which they've already purchased so they just drop off along with Kitty. This summer features a newbie whose parents will be checking out Sweden in a few weeks and a camp regular (and let's be honest, a camp favorite) whose parents are getting married and going away for their honeymoon later this summer.

Anyway. I think that's the level of feline commitment I'm willing to make at this point. I considered volunteering with the Oregon Humane Society but they require 12 hours a month (and about $50) which amounts to about 20 hours a month just from figuring out how to manage 12 volunteer hours a month. Frankly, I'm just not ready to give up that much free time so if I want to pet cats without having to deal with potential adopters (aka PEOPLE), I'll just wander through my neighborhood. And donate the $50.

However, certain things still make me miss Her Maj. I have had lots of cats in my life but this gal really stuck with me. Three of these things in no particular order:

• I still wait for the yowl and leg weaving when I open a can of tuna. Still. Probably will until the day I die. It looked a lot like this.
  
• Friends are coming to visit this weekend. As I was cleaning over the last few days it occurred to me that I haven't vacuumed since the last time a friend visited... at Thanksgiving. The lint tray in the dryer is always pretty clean when I pull it out. And the bathroom (where I would normally store the litter box) just required a quick wipe-down. Anyone with a cat will grasp the significance of any of this.
  
• All this baking lately! Back in my cat lady days, when I would cook or bake for friends I would scrub counters, ensure preoccupation of the felines in other rooms, before/after run everything through the dishwasher religiously, and promptly store dishes and utensils safely away to ensure no cat hairs would encroach. Now? Eh. Wash my hands and hope for the best. Wash dishes by hand, air them dry - or not - and maybe, eventually, throw it all into the cabinet or drawer.

All that said, I miss that little cat. So to bring some good karma into the picture I bring you my favorite Her Maj posts:

• Like this one.
• And this one.
• Or perhaps this one.
  

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Also, why I don't own a house: cleaning took me about an hour. An HOUR!! I spread it out over three days just to reduce the agony. THE AGONY!! I actually spent more time cleaning my car than my apartment.

And! It's also likely that Kitty will go home with an exciting new toy that I can't resist from Pets on Broadway so really, I lose and the parents and Kitty make out on this deal. I reaaallllly need to figure out how to market this widely (and change up the model so that I can live off the income).

Belated Friday five.

I have never claimed to be a "foodie" but I do enjoy food. In honor of The Rapture(TM) or lack thereof, I bring you five things I would want at my last supper. In no particular order except perhaps the last, most important item:

• an Arizmendi cherry corn scone (or six)
  
• a slice (or six) of Zachary's spinach/mushroom stuffed pizza
  
• The Olive Garden's spinach artichoke dip customized my way - more spinach, more artichoke, more parmesan cheese, more black pepper plus a little red, and more oven time
  
• crab ranggoon from Sweet Basil
  
• a bottle of Suntory Yamazaki, preferably the 25 year - but any year will do, really

I have an entire photo gallery of foreign food over my dining room table, but aside from swapping bullets #1-4 with an authentic Ecuadorian empenada or ceviche, or a kilo of that fine Andean cheese, I'm opting to stay semi-local.

There is no dessert on this list either. Despite my recent cookie obsession I'm just not big on sweets. (I considered something involving peanut butter but really, I've eaten enough of it in this lifetime. Chocolate? Nah. Which is not to say I'm not about to enjoy a bowl of B&J's peanut butter cup ice cream...)

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Inspired by this, which I ran across via a pretty darned circuitous route. Local, low-key, overcast Sunday = waaaaaay too much time on ye olde www...

One down...

... four to go.

A haiku dedicated to the life in your years.

buffalo tom: old
average age of crowd: forty
great music: ageless

hey, kids, rock 'n roll, rock on

Last night I got to see a 25-year-old band I loved in college play a tiny show in a fantastic venue. As I hoped, "Taillights Fade" was the second song on the set list. This served to thin the crowd who was just there to see the opening band ("The Heavenly States," a Bay Area band I ended up liking a lot). The rest of us stuck around as Bill, Chris and namesake Tom* alternated between excellent old and new songs. Great show worth every penny of my $17. In a rare turn of events, I was kind of sad that it wasn't more crowded.

Everyone but me was sporting a plaid shirt. It felt like the 90's. Also? The crowd was at least my age or older - at one point Bill said something about how he knew it was getting late and people had to get home to pay their sitters, but he hoped we would stick around for a few more songs.

Anyway. Had a few beers at the show, got about six hours of sleep, put in a hard day's work... and still ran 10 miles this evening.

Hey, Rapture? BRING IT.

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* I hate referring to band member names because it's pretty rare that I actually know the band members. But after 25 years there are certain people I feel I know on some level. Bill/Chris/Tom, Ed/Stone/Mike/Jeff, Billy, Trent, Michael/Peter/Mike - these are all friends. Or, at least "friends."

This haiku brought to you by The Rapture(TM).

fix the transmission
or cage dive with great white sharks?
you're really asking?

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Actually, it's brought to you by Mark Morford's column.

PSA: Tuesday evening stroll in the Gorge - a bazillion times more therapeutic than a gym treadmill.

Working for the weekend.

It's no Iguazu Falls, but Central Oregon will do in a pinch...

Belated Friday five.

Next month will mark a year in my fine '70s apartment, so I figured it was about time to get some greenery in here. My pots have been taking up space in the closet for far too long and the fake flowers I bought as an interim step are beginning to wear out their welcome. I also haven't done much local shopping lately so it was a good excuse to hit the Portland Nursery...

Behold my overwhelmingly exciting Saturday. Later I might vacuum!

Anyway, five oxygen-generating, smile-inducing additions to the abode, in no particular order:

Nephtytis - I'm a sucker for multicolored leaves

two "2 Inch Tropical Plants" (that's really the
name on the tag) for the bathroom

New Guinea Impatiens - should bloom orange, to match the couch

peace lily now gracing the bedroom, in the hopes
that it will bring me more pleasant
dreams than the one I had last night

When it comes to houseplants I usually have three requirements: smallish, needing low light (I tend to keep the shades closed), hard to kill. Check, check and check.

I give them all about a month of survival.

Early Wednesday three.

To counteract three recent pieces of news that totally suck (two personal, one public), here are three things that absolutely don't suck. In no particular order...

• perspective
• endless volunteer opportunities like this one
  
• Z-Trip Presents: All Access Beastie Boys Megamix
  

Oh, and ice cream for dinner doesn't really suck all that much either.