continuation of the cat saga, performances in-house and out, and job progress

Another heat wave, sticky and schvitzy. The cats seem fine with it.

Life with cats continues. We let Koa in to see Theo one morning when Theo was on the little staircase leading to the bed. They lasted a good ten seconds before the hissing started and Koa struck Theo (claws sheathed, of course). We were all shaken.

The barrier is up and separates humans and cats. We have a lot of air holes at the top, but constructed so that Koa can't use them as a toehold to get over to the other side. She loves staring at Theo, and Theo has started to sit in the hallway where he can be seen.

For three nights in a row, we also brought Theo into the study to play, and shut the French doors leading to the bedroom. Last night, Koa watched for a long time, then consented to play with me, and finally jumped onto the bed and allowed me to pet her.

Some nights, we bring Theo downstairs. We give Koa her dinner upstairs and close her in her apartment, then play with Theo for a while so he has some time with us. Then I often come upstairs to be near Koa before bed.

Theo peed in the bed three times, all around 6 or 6:3o in the morning. So now, we start the night sleeping in our respective beds with our respective cats. Around 4:30 or 5, I wake up and go get Theo. Robert puts Theo in the bathroom (with handy one-stop shopping, including litter box, food, water, toys, and fun fun bathtub), and then comes to visit Koa and me. It's odd, but it's working, and the bed has remained pee-free.

We feel that there's progress on all fronts, but it's slow. Robert will be away next week, which should be interesting. I'm wondering if I'll end up doing split shifts in two beds so each cat gets some time with me. I'll be at work only three of the days he'll be gone, which will help a lot.

Oh, and Theo had his second visit to the vet today. He's gained a whole pound, so that he now weighs what Juliet did when she died. And he's still a baby. I think we'll have a big solid kitty on our hands when he gets older.

In other news, we've gone to all four performances of the summer dance series in Concord. Three of the performances were by professional dancers, and the last by a group of student dancers, led by student choreographers. I love the informal format and the exciting dance we get to see. I love that it all happens less than 15 minutes from home.

We also saw a stunning performance of The Crucible at the Vokes Theater, where I've had a subscription for nearly twenty years. I'd been dreading going, and I'm so glad we did. It was one of those experiences where it's hard to imagine any other actors in the lead role, the fit was so perfect, and I had to wonder whether W read the play some time in the distant past.

This weekend, we're headed to the Berkshires for three performances at Tanglewood and a dance performance at Jacob's Pillow. I'm looking forward to being there. And we'll go back two weeks later for another long weekend.

Uncle Cen will stay with Koa and Theo will go stay at the Cat Cottage with Auntie Chanda and Auntie DeDe.


And on the job front, a few weeks ago, Robert had an interview with one of the more reputable head hunters in the area. She was quite encouraging and suggested that he "geek up" his resume. So he added lots of acronyms, and suddenly the phone calls started coming in. He had an impromptu head hunter interview today, and he has two phone interviews tomorrow. This is great progress.