December 18,  2003

      The war is on.  The cats have decided that our Christmas tree is fair game for all sorts of wild goings on.  Sheesh.  The other day i came home to find a string of lights pulled completely off the bottom branches.  And just to add to the festivities, a roll of toilet paper shredded nearly beyond recognition.  Yee. Ha.  

      But all is not lost.  Himself's daughter and i finished decorating the tree last night.  After we picked out the tufts of cat hair we found on some of the branches - clear evidence that they've been climbing as well - we festooned the fake-tree splendor with many bows and ornaments.  And crossed our fingers that it survives the felines.  Last night they seemed to figure out we didn't want them pulling anything apart.  This morning is an entirely different story.

      Enter the crop.  Heh. There are definitely some advantages to this lifestyle.