364 Days Till Christmas!

I hope everyone had a great day! I did. Mom outdid herself on Christmas dinner and it was wonderful seeing John here instead of Houston, as when we visit, the largest percentage of the time I go to Houston as opposed to him coming here - which is fine, but it was nice to see him in "home for Christmas" environment. It was also nice to see my aunt. She lives in town and there's absolutely no reason that we don't see each other more often than we do. Of course, my visit with Robert was via telephone, which is unfortunate that he lives so far away. But I totally enjoyed the day.

One of my gifts was the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" which I had made mental note when I saw previews when it came out that it looked like a top-notch movie, but never saw it. So, for my Christmas night entertainment, I pains-takingly, and patiently opened the DVD wrapper (don't you just hate those!); fixed myself a nice cup of hot chocolate and thoroughly enjoyed the movie!

Today has been multifaceted - did some paperwork and started laying out that bloomin' spreadsheet for my Rita expenses, put down a few more boards on my floor, and started working on a little depo. I picked up three little ones; so that will give me something to be working on.

Darndest thing happened today, and it's going to be hard to explain; but I'll try. I was working at my computer. House was quiet, kitties were all taking their naps, Molly on my desk, Quincy in the hall where I have my matresses leaning up against the wall while my bedroom is in disarray. He has chosen to lay on the "top" - literally the sides of them. It's a pretty good jump up, but that's where he has chosen to curl up for now. Anyway, all is quiet and peaceful and all of a sudden I hear water running. I get up to investigate where it's coming from, and my washing machine had turned itself on and was beginning to fill the tub. The last time I used the washing machine was Christmas Eve. The tub was empty, lid up. Nobody was in the wash room. Like most washing machines, you pull out on the knob to start the water to fill, and push in to make it stop. So, I pushed it in and turned it off.

Since I was stopped, I poured myself a cup of coffee and called Mom to tell her about the little "ghost" fixing to do laundry and I'm standing at the kitchen sink. Quincy, my youngest cat - he's 4 - comes from the hall, across the living room, through the kitchen, not hurriedly, almost sleepily but what seemed to be a determined mission, goes straight to the utility room, stops in front of the washing machine, looks up at it, perks his ears, tries to see what's on it. Realizing he can't see from all fours he raises up on his haunches, like a squirrel and tries to see what is on the washing machine, holds that position a couple of seconds or so. He repositions himself almost carefully and then jumps up to the edge (remember, the lid is up). He doesn't look around on the dryer, or the shelf behind the washer, but as soon as he is balanced, he looks down, lowering his head almost into the tub. Satisfied that nothing is there, he turns, hops down, and mosies himself back to I suppose conclude his nap.

Now, I will never know what that was all about! It was just plenty strange. It's not like the washing machine is not one of his hangouts. Animals have a sense we don't have! What in Heaven's name was he looking for! Strange indeed!