2019 - Day 259/106 - Monday...Cat's-Paw...

Bubble gum and wine...that is all it takes right now to make me really content. It has not been a particularly difficult day, but I am having real concerns about traffic going in to Austin. Today made the second (out of three) days that I was late for my class, and I am supposed to be a model...you know, of efficiency and REALTOR® values...not of Speedos or Calvin Klein jeans. So, I will leave EVEN EARLIER tomorrow and see if I can make it to the board on time. Tomorrow is the last day of the class, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. I did get to spend some time outside this evening when I got home, watering plants, communing with nature, that sort of thing. I missed doing that while I was out of town over the last several days, and I think the plants missed me too. The chickens did not miss me, they do not really care who is paying attention to them, as long as there is shredded carrots or meal worms in the giving.

Cat's-Paw -- Noun. 1. a light air that ruffles the surface of the water in irregular patches during a calm. 2. one used by another as a tool: dupe. "You're no one's cat's-paw. Quit worrying that people are trying to use you for their own purposes." Jeraldine Saunders, San Jose Mercury News, March 27, 2013

Did You Know? Being made a cat's-paw may not only be embarrassing-it can leave you with singed fingers (or paws, as the case may be). The "dupe" sense of cat's-paw comes from an old fable in which a monkey uses flattery to trick a cat into taking chestnuts out of the fire where they are roasting. The cat succeeds in removing the chestnuts but also burns his paw in the process. And when the unsuspecting feline turns around, he discovers that the monkey has cracked and eaten all the nuts!