Rambling again, this time with cats

I'm glad knitting is a productive hobby. Otherwise, I'd feel like I was completely wasting my summer.

My intellectual self has gone into hibernation. I don't want to read or think or write or do anything. Just watch TV and play with yarn... sorta like a cat. I need a change. A big one. I need to think of something I can do to alter my usual schedule, so that I can get out of this damned rut.

It rained all day today. Wonderful weather. I went outside and got completely soaking wet. But I checked on the grapevine growing on our back fence, and it looks like we're going to have quite a few grapes this year. They're already getting big and beautiful. It's a wild grapevine, "planted" by birds, so I don't really know what kind it is or anything. I think it's been growing for three years now. My best guess is that it's some version of a frost grape. The vines look really great on the chain link fence... make it look less industrial and ugly. So... maybe homemade grape jam this autumn, whenever the grapes are ripe? We'll see.

I feel sort of like a housewife, talking about jam and knitting. I keep having dreams about going back to college and not being able to find my classes, or discovering at the last minute that I didn't get into any of the classes I wanted. Sorta like the dreams I used to have right before I started high school. It's odd.

Schwatzi the cat just came in to sit on my lap and purr. This is also odd, because usually he's only affectionate with my mom. Poor boy; he's getting old. Keeps losing weight even though we feed him plenty. The vet says it's just because he's about 10 years old and that sort of thing happens to senior cats. But he gets 1/5 of a can of cat food twice a day (the can gets shared between our five cats), and there's always dry food and water out in bowls. He seems happy, anyway... still begs to go out for a walk on a leash every day. Yes, I walk my cat on a leash. Mostly to keep him from running into the road and getting hit. He's not too bright when it comes to cars. Also keeps him from going under or over our fence and into the neighbors' yards. It's not like he needs to go out; he's got a nice, frequently-cleaned litter box in the basement. He just likes to sit outside, roll in the dirt, eat grass, and patrol his territory. Of our five cats, he's the only one who ever wants to go outside. The rest of them are quite content to lay in the sunbeams streaming through our windows and chase their cat toys.

Once when I took Schwatzi out on his leash, he caught a baby bird. But instead of killing it and eating it, he carried it to the front door to show off to my mom, with me chasing behind him, trying to get him to drop it. She made him let it go (poor li'l thing made a mess on our front step, then hopped off into the bushes... guess the cat literally scared the shit out of it), and he was royally peeved at her for a couple days after that. He wouldn't get up on her lap to purr or anything.

Well... I think I'm getting tired. Time to head up to my nice cozy bed and sleep for a good day or so. Maybe I'll try and get up by 10 tomorrow morning, just to see what it feels like. Altering my sleep pattern might help me feel more productive, right? We'll see, I guess. 'Nite.