Excerpts

From The Trouble with Tulip:

Monday, October 13, 2025

Tulip's Actions in 3 Rooms

OFFICE ACTION:

• I already explained Tulip's forays into the wheeled wagon so she could eat the fabric/cardboard bin inside of it. That's just an appetizer. I keep finding pieces of cardboard in the living room.
• From there, Tulip will dump the waste bin - especially fun if there's appetizing paper inside. 
• When she hears my printer whirring, she runs to investigate. I have to be faster than her to collect untasted printouts. 
• While I was sitting at my laptop yesterday, Tulip kept climbing on the printer table to figure out the best angle from which to nosh on the documents saved within a dozen file folders. She tried walking behind the printer to see if that was a good route. She tried (unsuccessfully, I might add) to get her body between the printer and the stack of folders at the left. By facing the documents, there were several loose pieces of paper. Much too enticing.
• Done: Spoiled Tulip's fun by putting the files inside one of the two drawers beneath the printer. 
• Nearly Done: Repurposed the file folder organizer to cover lots of loose papers. I will have to go in-depth to organize the chaos within the plastic bin.

KITCHEN ACTION: 

Today, in another attempt to get my attention, Tulip tried exploring the dishes. I inverted the dishwashing tub over the dirty dishes in an attempt to stop that. But I still heard dishes rattle. When I got out of my chair, this is what I found. Dirty or clean, no dishes are safe from Tulip's inspection.

LIVING ROOM ACTION:

Tulip keeps trying to flip her full food dish from its place atop a living room table onto the floor. My back greatly prefers having her eat at table-height. If her cat food dish gets put in the fridge temporarily (in an attempt to dissuade her actions), it makes no never-mind to her. The second her food bowl is placed on the table, Tulip immediately tries to bounce, move and upend the dish onto the floor. 

• Solution (for Tulip): I moved the bowl to the floor. (Tulip scores another WIN!)
• Solution (for me):     Deal with it and move on.
• Tulip's water bowl is probably too heavy for her to move the same way as her food dish. Tulip often plays with the water by putting her two front feet in it, She paws the surface like a toddler in a bathtub. Maybe she prefers to have that bowl on the floor as well. 
• This time, I win! (At least for now).

From Merilee's Journey:

Miss June would be at the wake to welcome grieving friends and neighbors. Could the pre-teen handle the stress of meeting them and her classmates? What would she say if her Godparents, the McPhersons, showed?

Merilee made herself available at the funeral home, feeling very adult for having come to that decision. If she became overwhelmed, she could go into a side room to calm herself down. At least Miss June was here to help her get through the ordeal.

Merilee heard so many empty platitudes at the wake as folks met her in the reception line. She absolutely hated it. “Your parents are in a better place” or “You’ll get to meet them in Heaven someday.” The all-time kickers were, “God works in mysterious ways,” “It is not for us to question why,” and “Bad things happen to good people all the time.” If that’s true, Meri thought, won’t someone please tell me WHY?

Tomorrow would be the funeral Mass at Meri’s church. She would have to endure more of the same sappy, pathetic, sympathetic words. True to form, the McPhersons were no-shows.

God help me, she thought.

From Liberty's Scrapbook:

“I lived the life of a homeless tom cat. I was the stereotypical alley cat who yowled and meowed from atop the tall privacy fence behind the Cardamon Lane condominiums.

A typical human might think that either a female cat is in heat, or an alley cat is very hungry, or perhaps both. All condo residents endured several consecutive nights disrupted by my incessant meowing.

There I was: a cat with no name, no home, and (I don’t know why Trisha looked), no balls. It was plain to see that I was handsome in my sleek gray and white coat and unusual white paws.

Liberty

Allow me to describe myself. Picture a winning personality surrounded by a smooth grey and white fur package, ending with a 13-inch tail. (Yes, someone measured it). Now for the best part: I have nine fingers on one front paw and eleven fingers on the other. My rear paws have ten toes (just like a human).

The scientific or “real” name for someone like me with extra digits is polydactyl (Poll-ee-DACK-til). Or could that be a person? Is Polly Dactill in the house? Average polydactyl animals have the same number of digits on their limbs and only one extra toe per paw. I got the Mother Lode!

Some humans call my type of cat a Hemingway, or simply the product of in-breeding (how tactless). My multiple toes are supposedly a birth defect, but I sure don’t FEEL defective. Me? I prefer to consider myself to be SPECIAL.”

Housemates:

Callie

“Callie was a bit on the chunky side” and was known for having “an extremely loud purr. Her motorboat imitation often led to her getting kicked out of bed and, at times, even the bedroom. (How come Mom’s snoring never got HER kicked out of the bed? Do you think that is fair?)”

Bubba

“The affectionate Bubba grew into his tuxedo personality. He was a super-smooth (dare I say suave), loyal, and generally laid-back cat. I like to think of him as the James Bond of cats – always looking dashing in his tuxedo.”

About the birds: any cat would jump at the chance to snag a feathered flier. We had three choices on the menu. First, there were two parakeets (Pete and Repeat) who constantly taunted us cats from their cage. Then there was a lovebird named Rainbow who used to slide down (upside-down) on the vertical bars of his cage like a fireman.

Liberty