Sorting Mail

Hamilton must have all the attention, all the time. When Matt was recently sorting mail, he tossed the few things we needed to keep onto the floor to keep them out of the way. Mr. Ham immediately found a new perfect resting place. 

Thanks for holding down the replacement cards, Ham. You are ridiculous. 

Tuesdays with Hammy - Climb Everything

While I'm impressed with Hamilton's skills at scaling vertical surfaces, I wish he would stop. 

Matt leaves the apartment to write at a coffee shop every weekday. Ham doesn't climb the door every time Matt leaves, but he does it pretty often. Tonight, when Matt ran across the street to the store, for example. Fortunately our security door is sturdy and can stand up to the abuse. Not so much our sliding screen doors on the other side of the room. Hrmph. 

I can't effectively capture the way he cries when we leave in image form, but trust me, it's annoying heartbreaking. 

Tuesdays with Hammy - Boardgame Empire

Look at the dope who forgot she was going to post about Hamilton on Tuesdays! Just kidding, don't look at her, look at Ham:

"Hey, thanks for the 83rd bed."

A few weeks ago we had friends over to play our current favorite board game, Small World. Our tiny vintage dinette table is too small for more than 2 friends at a time, so we splurged on a super chic black vinyl card table. We're first class all the way. Nothing but the best for our tiny hovel castle. Once we'd set it up and put the game down, Hamilton settled right in, assuming that we had thoughtfully procured another flat surface for him to lounge on. 

"You're still here?"

Make yourself at home, Ham! Glad we could accomodate you and your need to put your body on every surface. Thanks for leaving downy kitty fur behind too. Classy move. 

Of course the closed game box was only mildly interesting. While Hamilton was annoyed that we banished him from the table, he perked right up when put the box lid aside...

Tuesdays with Hammy

I have decided to make Tuesdays my personal Caturday. This inaugural installation of Tuesdays with Hammy finds Hamilton Houdini Danger dismantling my attempts at organization.

I use the popular Expedit quad as the prescribed landing strip to corral bags, mail, keys, and whatnot in an attempt to impose some order on our livingroom. Sometimes it's pristine. Other times there is a buildup of 5 months' worth of magazines and to-file and to-shred mail. Right now we're in one of the latter cycles. But even when the mail is in disarray I'm pretty good about putting my bags in the designated cube. 

Unfortunately, that very cube is apparently an extremely comfortable, highly desirable place for kitties to curl up and snooze. 

"Don't worry, I'm totally comfy."

Yep. Ham crawled in and pushed the bags out. Then he took a nap. We have an old "Keep Out" welcome mat stuck behind the shelves. If Hamilton could read, maybe he'd realize that applies very much to him on the shelf as well. But honestly, it isn't as if he'd care. He is a jerk and I love him a million.

Heatwave

Oh my goodness. Yesterday was yet another hot day here in San Diego. I'm not sure how hot it actually got, but it was hot and humid enough to make us all miserable. Don't get me wrong, it isn't that it's unusual for summer arrive in July and last until late October. "Indian Summer" is basically just "summer" in California. The only thing truly unusual about the heat here, is that it seems more relentless than usual. Due to our proximity to the ocean, we rarely have more than a few hot days in a row before the marine layer moves in and cools us down for a day or two. Very little of that going on lately. Today is finally a bit cooler, but I'm afraid it won't last.

The heat makes Hamilton sad. He has been lounging on the cool linoleum of the kitchen or on the plywood chairs under the fan in the dining nook, or sometimes he just gives up and flops in front of the fan:

Poor baby.

With all this heat, it's been way too hot to cook. But for way too long. There comes a point in an autumn heatwave when a girl has to stop eating out, can't handle one more salad, and must break down and turn on the oven. 

We reached that point a couple weeks ago. We've roastd a chicken 3 weeks in a row. Now we've moved on to turning on the oven AND cooking on the stove. Nothing complicated, just one of our staples, now that we're getting beets again from our CSA (did they ever really stop?). Ha! Looking back I see that we made this same dish on the same night last year. But last year it was nice and cool, and the meal was a celebration of that. This year it was in defiance! 

So yeah, it was still delicious. And we have enough leftover for breakfast tomorrow or Saturday. But I don't think I'll be bringing myself to cook with the oven and stove together again until the heat breaks for good. Tonight: Matt can cook. I'll just chop veggies.