tortoiseshell

A slightly out of focus, mostly black tortoiseshell cat is standing perpendicular to the camera with her back arched. She is glaring. She is on an old blue floral print mattress that is on its side, aimed at a doorway. She loved climbing on it, but it's going to the curb where someone actually rescues it before trash collection.

One tortoiseshell's climbing wall is another's sleeping surface.

A mostly black cat lies on her side and a bit twisted on a knitted blue, turquoise, and white blankie on top of an upholstered chair. Her hind feet are nearest the viewer. She's got mixed pink and black toe beans.

Stretch them toes.

20 years ago, I spent an academic year in western PA and driving through snow in WV. I'm a moron from NTX, so I didn't know about winter tires. I was fine, had scarier times with newly wet roads here. This is more a data point than a recommendation.

AA and AAA batteries.

Everyone adopting the term footballer with zero explanation is part of the cinematic magic.

A close up of a mostly black tortoiseshell cat's face. Her bright green eyes and expression suggest she is experiencing consequences of actions she already doesn't remember.

How can anyone be expected to move when their blood has retreated from their extremities and/or their beloved 18-year-old cat must cling to them for life-preserving heat conservation?

Even the little one might be louder than the humidifier.

I have no particular insight other than he's been my Congressman for 6 years. A local politics knower thought the latest round of gerrymandering meant he would have gotten primaried from the left.

I assumed he was running because he was looking for a way to come home that wasn't straight-up quitting and was shocked when he didn't even need a run-off, which he did have in 2018.

Fine, you convinced me; I'll renew my subscription.

El Paso, Texas

Annunciationhouse.org

A glossy black cat is curled up tidily on a bankie printed with 50s pickup trucks and shirtless cowboys. Her yellow-green eyes peer drill directly into your soul. You are found wanting.

I could make a calendar of her in mud. Probably a better use of my time today

A gray and white malamute (wolf-looking dog) is lying on a wet deck, her back to a brick wall. She is sticking her tongue out slightly. All four ordinarily white feet are covered in black mud. She is very pleased with this arrangement.

All mud, no thoughts

Saltillo tile does need to be waxed every few years. Maybe that's obvious, my family lived in a house with saltillo tile for 10 years before figuring that out.

Even in Lubbock, a mere 140-mile jaunt away, they needed an explainer on Where Is Hall County

A mostly black tortoiseshell is tucked into a perfect loaf on a stack of note pads. She could be the model for the cover of a cozy mystery featuring a crime-solving lawyer cat.

Tort on desk duty

A close up that is level with a small, mostly black tortoiseshell cat who is mostly in loaf position and facing the camera. She has blond eyelashes, glaring green eyes, on off-center orange bib, and her left front paw is out of loaf position. She is on a blue towel on an office chair with a mesh back.

#proofofcat who isn't going to give my chair back.

Rude of them not to offer you an auxiliary Valium.

The head and striated toe beans of a mostly black tortoiseshell resting on several note pads. Her green eyes glare directly at the camera. She still hasn't forgiven the trip to the vet two days ago.

Tort sideways.

A small, mostly black tortoiseshell with green eyes sitting in a cardboard box is looking up, past the camera. She has crime thoughts.

Tomorrow is another day for crimes.

I was stopping her from assisting the HVAC technician on the other side of the door.

A mostly black tortoiseshell cat standing on her hind legs, with her front legs braced against a long mirror attached to a closed door. Her reflection is glaring at the camera. She is contemplating crimes.

Every day is tort appreciation day

Mutinee? I don't even know if my phone or my brain did that.

A small, mostly black tortoiseshell with vacant green eyes and an off-center orange bib sits atop a heavily used scratch post. Mondays are also for mayhem.

The "no thoughts" expression is a trap. Mondays are for mutinee.

A three-week-old tortoiseshell kitten glares up furiously from her bathtub prison. Her front paws look huge, but they are a false promise, as she is destined to stay 8 pounds. She looks all black except for some blond eyeliner and an off-center orange bib.

See many tort leave a mini tort

Ugh. Knower, not bowers.

The money he's raised is the only reason I think he's serious. I assumed he declared he was running for senate so he could have an excuse to get a private sector job.

Other politics bowers thought he'd get primaried from the left in the new, bluer 32.