Magic

    This can't be a new thing, but I swear I never noticed it before. The current method of playing with the small, mad cat is to alternate between playing with string and with the laser pointer, depending which she's bored with at any given moment. This activity takes place on the bed because its height is well adapted to the length of my arms and the best length of string. The magic part is that when she's in the other room and I move to the foot of the bed (or string/laser playing position) she vanishes and appears at my feet. Now I know that cats are extremely successful hunters and that if stealth weren't a watchword there wouldn't be phrases like "cat burglar." So I'm not surprised by Amelia's magic skills; I'm surprised that I hadn't noticed earlier in our eight years' association. Maybe I wasn't worth sneaking up on until I got laser pointers?
    Cat people might want to know that Dollar Tree (where everything is a dollar) sells laser pointer keychains. This is a big improvement over pet stores, where they're closer to $5. Granted, the batteries don't last long (longer if you alternate with playing with string, of course), but they don't do too badly. A couple of weeks to a month, I would estimate, and when they start getting weak the laser doesn't go dark, it just gets harder to see, at least harder for the kitty to see. I'm on my second one, so far.
    Snow is busily melting; as freezing weather is done for the moment, things will just get safer and safer. Maybe not better and better; it's supposed to rain later. Just this once, I don't mind. Downtown U's fairly terrible men's basketball team won its second SEC game yesterday. They won their first one after the first blizzard. I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we aren't eager for more snow just so the roundball team can win another.