Friday, July 11, 2014

Lap Sitter


In early May, I broke my office heater.  I had taken it to our family's cottage for the weekend (it gets REALLY cold there) and brought it home.  My office is the farthest from the furnace and it's COLD there from October through May.

The heater's wheels idn't turn as well as they should and as I was pushing it toward the door to the house -- oops! It tipped over.  The next thing you know there's oil allllllll over the driveway. Luckily, There was cat litter in the garage.  I tossed it on the oil and the next day you wouldn't know it had ever spilled.  Of course, the heater was a goner. It went out with the trash on Tuesday, but it was rescued by someone looking for metal to recycle so I guess alls well with that. Except for one thing.

My cat Betsy was very fond of that heater. In fact, she practically lived next to it all winter.  She's got a cushion she sleeps on on one side, and a towel on the other. Sometimes there's a bit of snarling if Chester decides HE, too, wants to sleep there during office hours.

Since there was no more heater, Betsy decided she was going to sit on the only other warm object in the office.  ME.

Betsy takes a break on Mr. L's foot for a change.
This is all well and good for five or ten minutes.  But even a 7 pound cat gets heavy after a while. And it's extremely difficult to type when said cat decides to CONTINUALLY rub her head on your hands WHILE you're trying to type. And when typing is a VITAL part of your job ... well, let's just say productivity goes down pretty quickly.

Betsy likes to sit on my lap first thing in the morning. All morning. Right after lunch, most of the afternoon, and then in the evening when I'm trying to read the newspaper.  I figure she puts in 4-5 hours a day on my lap.

I often sit in the living room to edit what I've written.  My butt isn't in the chair 30 seconds before there she is ready to spend the next hour on my lap.

I'm not really complaining.  Betsy is almost 18. I don't know how much longer we'll be blessed with her company, and I want to make her happy.  So ... I guess she'll continue to sit on my lap for as long as it pleases her ... and me.

Have you got a lap sitter?