What begins? The holiday crush at stores, of course.

I looked at the critter food levels, realized that there wasn't enough to make it to next weekend, and headed for WalMart this afternoon to stock up early. I'm not sure if they'll be open tomorrow--before Katrina they were open 24/7 and the only time they closed was Christmas, but now their hours are 7 to 7 (am to pm). And I was afraid they'd be closed tomorrow and my poor critters would be unhappy.

So . . . . I headed out there mid-afternoon, on the theory that day-shoppers would be mostly finished, and evening shoppers not yet there.

And I was right--I had zero wait to get checked out.

I now have enough critter food to last almost two weeks and enough human food to do the same.

A few minutes ago I heard Pogo nomming away. (And now he is back--or a relative of his is.) It's been too cool lately to leave the door to the porch open a critter-width, but today it warmed up a bit.

With the weather a bit cooler, Lady has become extremely insistent about sharing body heat. She's found a spot to curl up with maximum body contact. It hasn't gotten quite cool enough for CC to join the body heap at night.

And I am wondering why I am celebrating the arrival of the Pilgrims--some of my ancestors were there to greet them.



(And on another note--Sr. Joan Chittister's commentary for this week is definiitely worth reading.)