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Festito Arrives

Garage sales blow. We woke up at the butt-crack of dawn on Saturday and began hauling our shit out to the driveway. Ryan wasted about 20 minutes creating the perfect �Garage Sale� sign. Meanwhile, everyone else shuffled in and out of the house unloading the crap we�d collected over the years. And it was crap � lemme tell ya! The good news is that most of the crap including all of the large crap sold. That bad news is that a bunch of it didn�t sell and that crap is currently in boxes in the back of my car waiting to find a new home at the donation center of my choosing. Actually, those donation centers are quite picky about what they�ll take, so it may be a trick finding one that needs the large collection of Arts and Crafts of the 80�s that fills the back of my SUV.

The one decent thing that came out of the garage sale was the appearance of a cute neighborhood cat. This skinny little black cat, maybe a kitten, sauntered her way up the driveway and spent the day lounging about the garage sale. Eli was inside, so he didn�t learn of the intrusion of his territory until later in the day. At dinner later that night, Holly named the new cat �Festito�. She�s a pretty cute cat, but I do believe she belongs to someone else. Last night, Ryan and I were bbq�ing some hamburgers when Festito returned. She was excited to see us and challenged us at the door every time we ran inside for a clean plate, catsup, etc. As we sat down to dinner, Eli rolled up from his day prowling the neighborhood. Surprisingly, he didn�t seem to be greatly bothered by Festito�s presence, though she howled and hissed at the sight of Eli. Eventually, they both settled into opposing corners on the deck and watched each other while we ate. I did notice a bit of a strut in Eli�s step as he followed us in the house. If cats could stick their tounges out at each other, I�m quite positive he would�ve at that moment.

This morning, we woke up to the low growling and yeowling of Eli. Festito was peering in the door looking to see if today would be her lucky day. Eli was informing her that it would not be. This went on while we showered, brushed our teeth, dressed, etc. When we left, Eli was perched atop his chair peering out at the neighbor�s window waiting for Stella to take to her perch so they could stare at each other all day like cats do. Festito walked me to my car then bounded back upstairs to stare in the window at Eli. The joy of cats. I�m quite positive Eli will have lost his little cat voice by the time I return home tonight.

3:13 p.m. - June 20, 2005

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