what a cat

A few nights ago I was propped on pillows and reading a chapter before turning off the light when Jim came into the bedroom and growled, "I don't know what's wrong with that darned cat, he's over there talking to me, there's plenty of water and food and treats in his bowls, but he won't leave me alone, and I'm sick of it, get up and do something about him before I throw him out the door."

Sigh.

So, book put aside and up, I barefooted into the kitchen. Hmmmmm. "Any idea why there's water on the kitchen floor?" I asked my disgusted partner, who by then was back in his comfy chair and reading his own chapter.

"No!"

Well, of course not, why did I even bother to ask?

And so I began to investigate. No, the icemaker cable had not disconnected, as it had in the past. I hadn't run the dishwasher in a week, so that couldn't be it. Had not recently used the sink hand spray, which no matter how careful you are always sends water everywhere other than where you wish it to go.

Opened the doors to the cabinet under the sink and, lo and behold! water puddled around the cans of cat food and bottles of furniture polish, soft soap and window cleaner. Pulled everything out and set the various containers on the floor then used the handy dandy cut-up raggedy man tee shirts to clean up the liquid.

Turned on the water and flipped the switch for the disposal. Nope, all secure. Moved the faucet and ran a stream of water into the other side of the sink and saw it gush onto the recently dried cabinet floor.

Evidently normal day-to-day vibration had caused the plastic connector on that side of the sink to come undone. Once the ring was back in place and tightened securely, no more water leaks.

Meanwhile, Kitty stood watching the entire process. Evidently I was not moving fast enough to suit him so he jumped into the cabinet to help me swish more rags from side to side. Finally, with a "my job here is done" smirk on his face, he hopped out, stretched a mile, and then sauntered off.

Leaving everything on the kitchen floor and the cabinet doors open to promote drying during the night, I put the rags out on the patio table and went back to bed. A few minutes later Jim set the house alarm, turned out the lights, and joined me.

"What a super cat!" he said, punching his pillow into submission. "Hears things that go bump in the night and finds water leaks."

"Able to leap tall laundry baskets at a single bound," I smiled, gently nudging to one side the little ball of purr contentedly sleeping on my feet.