Cat In My Lap

First the weather. Yesterday we just had a shower here and there, but today it's honest-to-goodness raining. I awoke thinking the sun wasn't up yet, but it was nearly 8 o'clock, so that didn't seem right. We have thick, dark cloud cover and incessant rain. It's the first rain like this we've had all season, and hopefully the water it leaves behind will last the trees long enough that we won't need to run the irrigation for a while. Water has gotten so pricey here, I really dread the drier months. Hooray rain!

Poor Raven, our black, indoor-outdoor cat, wanted in the worst way to go outside, though. He went out once, and came back five minutes later. An hour or so later he begged me to let him out, so I went out with him and sat in K's chair on the porch while Raven sat under mine and watched the rain for a bit. Finally he looked at me, headed for the door, and came back inside with me. He's not happy about it. Aren't we humans supposed to be able to control the weather or something?

I know, I know! You have snow, tons of snow, but here rain is a big deal. We sorely need it.

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In a prior post I mentioned how much I detest filing and paperwork. I really do, but the thing I hate about it most is paper cuts. The little nibbles on the cuticles as well as the ones that go deeper and actually bleed. At one time I worked in a photo processing lab, back in the days before one-hour processing, when we ran miles of film or paper through machines with tanks of chemicals. Some of the work had to take place in complete darkness, and splicing reels of photo paper together in the dark means paper cuts. Having to dip one's cut fingers into a tank of chemicals to save a strip of photos means pain. Later I did my share of filing in an office job. If you've never tried to knit or crochet with those little cuticle cuts you get from filing, you don't really know paper cuts. Today I dread having to handle much paper. My aversion is so strong that the last time I needed to go through some envelopes and shred some items, I decided to wear gloves. At the last minute, I thought "How silly!" and didn't put on the gloves. The first envelope I opened got me. The flap snapped back as if it was alive and cut me. So much for thinking gloves are silly. I know it's a little thing, but seriously at that moment I felt as if the universe was out to get me.

Down with paper cuts!