I get that chickens are close personal relatives of the dinosaurs, but what about cats? Look at this picture, and consider the curve of the spine, the counterbalancing tail, the back feet preparing to eviscerate, the glowing golden eyes, the slavering pink jaws,. . .at first glance, I thought he had gotten hold of a piece of rose-colored felt, but no, that is his tiny, precious tongue.

This youngster, at five months of age, has evolved from angelic baby to rambunctious teenager. A rambunctious teenager who doesn’t know his own strength and is armed with twenty tiny scimitars and an unknown number of wicked fangs, and whose favorite game is Hot Lava, with himself acting as the lava.

When my dogs Bandit and Kushtaka were one and two years old respectively, I bought a book called Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence, and it seems to me that the title thereof was not in the least overstated. There was that time we were getting ready to leave for vacation, and they ran away, and we had no choice but to leave anyway, and explain to the dog-sitter that they would turn up eventually. . .I could really digress here.

Anyway, I just got home after a month away, and have been reveling in the opportunity to play with my dear little scrumpkins. It’s the just that the games are much more fun for me if I wear rubber boots, a padded jacket, and oven mitts.