GaryNMaine Blog

At this point in this chair’s life, it is getting pretty beat up. There is a big tear in the seat cushion, one of the adjustable arms, which are plastic-encased foam rubber, was so tore up that I took it off a year ago. The metal under the foam rubber was exposed and I was afraid that it would scratch up my bass guitar. So off she went!

But, the really big problem, the reason I can’t stand this chair, and I would never buy another one like it is the single-post support for the back. Over time, these single-post supports begin to wobble and start to loosen so that when you try to lean back in the chair to relax, you end up leaning back so far that the chair threatens to keel over.

One last point, this was not a cheap chair.

The chair I am replacing this one with is a Sealy Posturepedic Geneva black leather executive’s chair. Tried out a number of under $400 chairs and this one was the best in my view. Whether it will hold up, who knows. But, at least, it does not have a single-post back support. The arms of the chair are attached to the back so it will be less likely to wobble.

Today was a big day for Glenn Beck, so it would appear. He had a rally of what Sarah Palin might call “real” Americans in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. Doesn’t appear to me that he was able to rally as many supporters as he had dreamed he could. Even with all the FreedomWorks buses to bring in the additional workers, I mean attendees, he still was far short of the half million he had hoped for.

I guess America is not as desperate as he had imagined.

He is right about one thing, though. America is angry with our government, and for good reason. Our government is no longer governing for the benefit of the people of this country. Sure, they will offer a tidbit now and then, but the bulk of the goodies goes to corporations–our government’s  biggest donors.

The problem is simple. Do we do what Glenn Beck and the right wingers want to do? Tear the government down and cede control of the country to their corporate masters. Nah, that sounds dangerous to our dwindling middle class, and the poor.

We just thought she was the cul-du-sac cat and didn’t have a home*. We watched her from the summer of 2006, through the winter of 2006-2007, through the Spring and back into the following year before we realized that she was getting awfully skinny.

Since moving from Arizona neither of us wanted another mouth to feed around the house, but we also couldn’t allow that homely cat who had been lobbying pretty hard for us to be especially nice to her, to starve to death.

That afternoon, we made a trip to the grocery store. While there, I picked up a few cans of cat food. My intention was to put a can of cat food out near the front of the garage to hopefully give her something to eat. Man, she was skinny.

After doing this for several days, I was outside doing some carpentry when Molly happened into the garage and strolled right into the house. It was like she owned the place.

After doing a few carpentry-type things, I went into the house and, when Molly saw me, she panicked a bit. I think she knew that she had not gotten permission to enter the human’s house. I calmed her down by petting her a bit, and then she made herself at home.

So the story goes, and it is three years later, and Molly is still here. By the way, she is very clever. She does not lobby walkers anymore. I have caught her several times laying in the front yard watching walkers go by. Once, I even saw her walk away from someone who had bent over to pet her. Clever girl!

I have had cats before, but Molly is a peculiar animal. She has had somewhat of a difficult past. She does not require much attention and does have a very independent streak, and she is territorial beyond what I would consider healthy. I saw her get pretty bloodied up taking on another cat who had the temerity to stray into her turf.

Most of the year she spends out of doors. Comes in for the occasional feeding, maybe some petting and very rarely a nap on the office couch. Other than these very brief visits, she is off and running. Except during the winters.

As you may be aware, winters in Maine can be uncommonly brutal. She is mostly stuck indoors during these long months, and she is less than happy about it too.

During the summer months, she does leave us mementos now and then. No, she is well potty trained (we have a litter box, but she almost never uses it). What I am talking about is the small animal parts on the front and rear porches. Now, this is gross. I have never owned a cat who did this kind of stuff.

I have heard some cat owners say that their cats leave presents for the food, petting and shelter providers who live in the house with the front and rear porch, but I think it has more to do with her not wanting other predatory animals in the neighborhood to run off with her prey. She figures that by putting the prey close to the door, none of the real wild animals would venture this close to the door to steal the carcass–wild animals usually take great care to avoid the human animals!

So, I get to put on the thick rubber gloves to remove the remains from in front of the door. I would have thought that after having her dinner disappear from in front of the door would have forced her to find a new place to put her victims. But, alas, no. She still does it.

We use to have squirrels around the house, and we had a chipmunk living in a hole in our backyard for several years. Now, they have all moved their residences to safer habitats (didn’t think anyone would want me to give the gory details, so let’s just leave it at that).