Laundry Day

Tobias and friend

What a handsome fellow my kitty is!  Don’t you agree?  I’m sure you do!  Here he is, posing high up atop my washer and dryer with my precious plastic rat.  The rat was a gift from my jokester friend Samos years ago.  Once, when visiting, (Samos, not the rat,) crept upstairs and left the rat under my bed where it would leap out – at least I thought it was leaping out – the first time I looked under there.  Then he (again Samos, not the rat,) asked me to get something out of one of the storage bins I keep there. When I looked under the bed and saw the rat staring out at me, what a fright!  Actually, having had rats as pets, I am a rat fan.  He knew this, so he also knew that I would get a good start, but that I would not be too freaked out.  We all thought this was a great joke!  

Later, I put the rat in my pantry-laundry room where it still resides.  Then, it was in a very conspicuous spot on a shelf near the door.  Once when I was having a number of friends for breakfast, one of them, a macho, take charge fellow, opened the pantry door to get out the HP sauce, saw the rat, shrieked, and started beating at it with whatever it was he had in his hand.  Most likely, his egg spoon.  Rebecca and I were thrilled that our rat had had another sensational effect!  

Rebecca too is a rat fan.  Her little hooded rat, Sammy, was a darling family pet for years.  He was a very sweet and well behaved rat, living in a big cage next to my bed where he would join me when I was reading in the evenings.  He was a scrupulously clean rat, keeping his cage quite tidy, using only one little corner for his loo. He loved to sit on my shoulder as I read in bed of an evening, to receive the occasional sunflower seed treat, and to take the occasional nibble of one of my books.  Oddly, he only nibbled on the German books.  We speculated that perhaps Germany produces more tasty paper.  He frequently joined us at meals, going from plate to plate, sampling whatever we were eating.  Once, as we were eating breakfast, and Rebecca was telling us a fascinating story, Sammy, noting that we were all rapt in Rebecca’s tale, seized his moment.  Rebecca looked down at her plate, and her entire fried egg was gone.  Sammy had somehow picked it up and carried it behind the teapot where he was ecstatically munching in it.

Here is another pic of my handsome lad, looking like a great horned owl. Taken by Tobias's friend Samos.