Martha was the loner kitty, a crazy calico. She chose when to give some lovin’ and it was intense. She would knead my back for 15 minutes if I lay still and wore polar fleece. She also liked dress pants. After U&A, going on interviews for the first time in more than a decade, she always found me, leaving large swaths of fur on my cuffs.

Most mornings George and Martha would wrestle and yell at each other, which in turn would cause the border collies to bark. It was a reliable alarm clock.

She was the mouser of the crew. Falco had no interest in chasing, and George and C.C. lacked a killer’s instinct. Not Martha. The chase wasn’t the point, the kill was.

The girl liked her boxes and open suitcases. She sought and found comfort in confined spaces. She comforted my old lab, Slicer. As Slice lay dying, it was Martha that slept next to her.

Most of all I’ll remember Martha for the socks. Each morning she’d drag several down the stairs, trophies from her imaginary kills. That hadn’t happened the last week or so, and I should have known something was wrong with her. Two fresh piles of socks to sort through on the table and not one was moved.

I think the artist should have at least one double-yolk.

Speaking of eggs… The hens are laying again.

Today, I decided to pull the trigger on purchasing a proper grass trimmer. I spend too much, but I needed to gain control. Sadly, I suck and trimming around trees, stumps and rocks. I sucked at it when I was 16 too. Anyway, I went with a near-professional model. I have finally realized that purchasing suburban tools is a waste of money.

Included with my purchase was a fancy compound limb cutter. I put it to good use. I clipped low hanging limbs in the front yard. When Robinson returned from the office, I proudly showed off my work.

She got a sad look on her face when she saw what I had done to our pear tree. Apparently it will no longer bear fruit. Damn. She said the yard looked better though.

I did do one thing right today: I recycled one computer and three monitors. And, I delivered the dry sink to Goodwill. Nothing makes Robinson happier than seeing my old computer junk carted out the door.

Between the pickup and new-to-me Toro garden tractor, I am getting some serious work done on the yard. I still have Kubota envy… maybe fantasy. As I mow the lawn, I see so many places a compact tractor with all the attachments would help me converge reality and fantasy. It also wouldn’t hurt to have a half-dozen stumps ground to pulp.