Box, part 2 (and a funny story, continued)

The box from yesterday's Wordless Wednesday was officially claimed by Josie. She normally doesn't get in the mix with that stuff, but she made sure this one was her's. At least until company came and the box had to leave the kitchen and go up to the office. We don't like it as much in the office.

Remember a while back, I told a funny story about a friend's dog who likes to eat the mail as it is passed through the mail slot in the front door? Well, the dog, Mary Gertrude, just hates the mail slot. When that little flap gets flipped she just goes nuts. And recently, Mickey, our friend's 12-year-old cat, has gone through a bit of a mid-life crisis. After years of being a laid back, cool cat, now Mickey is slipping out through Mary Gertrude's doggie door, bringing in prizes for our friend Randy (including a live baby rabbit the other day, which Randy rescued). One day Randy was up on the roof fixing something and he looked over and there was Mickey. He's just turned into a rascal lately.

So the other evening, Randy is in the living room and Mary Gertrude hears the tink-tink of the mail flap and just goes nuts. Randy knows it's too late for the mailman and opens the door to see who is out there and there's Mickey, sitting at the front door. Mickey has learned that it gets the dog all kinds of crazy when he plays with the mail slot flap, and does it all the time now. I think we know who the smarter animal is in that house.

Strange hissing monster in the closet

So yesterday Mom and Dad were rushing around getting ready for the Willy Wonka opening night at the theatre, Mom was putting on the opening night party and Dad was going to be juggling during intermission. So Dad was downstairs getting some stuff together to go, when Mom was upstairs about to get dressed so they could leave. Mom stepped into the walk-in closet to get her clothes when all of a sudden she hear a ::hiss:: ... Mom stepped back, looked around to see where it came from. I sounded like it was coming from the shelf where Dad had hung Mom's pants after they were ironed. She didn't see anything and stepped forward and again ::hiss::! Again Mom steps back nervously. She does a quick scan and doesn't see any of us. She was thinking maybe we were hurt and in hiding in the closet, but doesn't see a cat.

She calls for Dad and he rushes up. Mom says, "I think something's in the closet. It keeps hissing." The attic access is in the closet, you see, so Mom was thinking some critter had gotten in the attic, then made its way into the closet, maybe a possum or a mean hissing lizard. So Dad slowly inches into the closet and sure enough ::hiss:: again.

He steps back quickly, tells Mom that she may want to go to another room, and he starts clearing items away from the closet floor (like the small dirty clothes pile) that something could hide in. Dad is looking around the closet trying to come up with a plan: trash can to catch "it" in (whatever "it" is), or "do I grab it?" He even considered bringing us cats in to hunt. And then he saw it -- saw where the hiss was coming from -- right there on the shelf: the IRON was letting steam out after ironing Mom's pants!

(Seriously, if there was a critter in the house, did Mom and Dad not think we wouldn't be all over that in a heartbeat? Humans can be so silly.)

Funny story

Since I still need to upload some pictures, and Mom and Dad have been busy getting back into a routine after their trip, I will share a funny story instead.

Mom works with this man who has a dog. Mary Gertrude is two parts of different kinds of terrier so she is very cute, fast and a jumper. Well Randy, her dad, has a mail slot in his front door. Mary Gertrude hates the mailman, and the mail even more. When the mail is delivered Mary Gertrude will attack the mail, and shred it as much as possible. To solve this issue, Randy mounted a basket to the door to catch the mail and keep it away from Mary Gertrude. This worked for a while, but she was determined. Now, when she hears the mailman coming, she runs to the door, and as the mail is passed through the slot, she will jump and grab it before it reaches the basket, and shred the mail. Randy now gets his bills digitally...