Pressure

    I saw a small calico cat dead on Olympia Avenue yesterday morning. It certainly made me feel more pressure to convert Harry into an indoor cat somehow. Still, not infinite pressure; he mainly seems to want to hang around on my street, the much less dangerous Ohio Street. Indeed, he MAINLY seems to want to hang out on my back porch. And he's very smart, and very wary, and very wily, and very, very, very fast. Maybe I should worry about the cars instead.
    We're making the usual two steps forward, one back. Amelia had quit hissing at Harry, but resumed, so I put him out again. I see no evidence of misbehavior on his part; more just that she resents his existence. Also, in a week he's gone from smaller than her to larger than her, which must be alarming. Well, he was already taller and longer than her, but he's almost certainly passed her in weight, or anyway will soon. His Starvin' Marvin days are definitely behind him.
    One thing that would make it easier to make him an inside cat would be if I could find a quiet vacuum. Unfortunately, the cheap ones cost $350. Mostly, they are Kenmore, a Sears brand. So far, I've looked at KMart and they didn't carry any of the quiet models mentioned by Consumer Reports. I think there's still a Sears in town, so I'll go look later. It would be nice if I could keep the place clean and our allergies under control without also scaring the hell out of the cats twice a week. I wonder if anybody could sell me kitty earmuffs?