Sugar the Cat Wants to Know Why She is On This Side of the Sliding Glass Door
Posted on February 20, 2022 Posted by John Scalzi 31 Comments

Don’t worry, the instant she’s on the other side, she’ll wonder why she’s on that side, too. She’s a very cat-like cat this way: The best side of the door is the side she’s currently not at.
This Sunday has been given over to arguing on Twitter and picking up the house a bit. How is yours?
— JS
Typical cat!
My weekend so far has been yard work, garden prep, more yard work, hauling dirt and rocks and mulch, and bemoaning the fact that my 54 year old body is getting too old for this ish.
But the results will be worth it in a few months and I’ll have forgotten that right at the moment I can’t move without groaning.
What she fundamentally wants is for the doorway to be left open so she can sit in it. Cats are nothing if not liminal.
I have a cat asleep in my lap, have the car race on the tellie, and am deciding whether or not to DNF a book. I never DNF books. So this would be a grave decision.
Sugar is DELIGHTFUL and I love her face.
In my opinion, don’t argue on Twitter. Arguing on the internet is arguing with idiots. Not worth your time.
Nice. Had a mixed grill – steak, chicken and sausage – at the Butcher Shop Beer Garden in WPB (as seen on Diners, Drive-Ins & Drives), then went over to Palm Beach and walked up and down ritzy Worth Avenue. Beautiful, sunny but not too hot Florida day.
As Pop Larkin would say, Perfeck!
I forgot to cancel my monthly donation to Donors Choose, & I’ve found a nice additional deduction for 2021 What a deal!
So… it’s going nicely.
Cats have very clean minds, they change them so often.
I got a good deal done on Friday so today I can do very little.
I did make a batch of soap though.
Since no one’s mentioned it yet, cf ‘The Door into Summer’ by RAH
I hope you weren’t arguing with a cat on Twitter.
That never goes well.
Moving into my liminal Airbnb between my old apartment and my new apartment & comforting the traumatized cat. Oh and catching up on a lot of overdue work.
Also look who’s so grown up! I remember when she was a wee kitteh. How’s Spice?
How’s mine? Pretty good in all. The family’s all well, the latest grandkid is keeping his parents running. The others are still on-again/off-again with school in the wake of Omicron, $HERSELF is home ATM with the cats, who have forgiven her.
My transplant seems to have taken, although no signs yet of engraftment. The chemo and radiation don’t seem to have done much secondary harm — no nausea, appetite is good, still up and about so far. The next couple of weeks will tell.
Cat: [scratches at door to go out]
Me: It’s raining/cold/snowing out there.
Cat: [scratches at door to go out]
Me: [opens door]
Cat: [glares at me about weather, goes to back door, scratches]
Me: It’s raining/cold/snowing out there.
Cat: [scratches at door to go out]
Me: [opens door]
Cat: [glares at me about weather, goes to front door, scratches]
As a profeshnul cat ‘owner’ of 50 years standing, I can confirm that cats, as a species, have a strong anti-closed-door policy, & will always protest closed doors in the strongest possible terms. You foolish hoomins can argue this all you want, but you will never win.
Mine was at Boskone, virtually (the virtual side of a hybrid format). Very nice. Now I’m mentally relocating back from Boston. Yesterday there was a touch of snow outside my window, I guess courtesy of Boston somehow. Very realistic stuff falling out of the sky.
Herodotos said that in the land north of the Black Sea, there is a place where feathers drift down constantly from the sky … but, he adds, perhaps it is only snow.
D. C. Sessions!!!
I take it that you’re the same person I used to know from NANA-U in the 90s? (You might remember me as nop@alt.net back then.)
I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve been having medical problems. Getting old sucks. :(
Glad to hear that you’re getting better though. :)
Good. Girl Scout cookies arrived.
@Rick Robinson
Are they made of real Girl Scouts though?
Has Sugar always had one green eye and one hazel eye, or is that a trick of the light?
My cats are the same way – if I leave the door to my place open too long, one of them will dash out and down the stairs.
Meatloaf did that the day before I had to leave town on business, so I asked my catsitter to put food out in the laundry room for him (he was hiding in a tire, too scared to come out or let me pick him up). The day after I left, he dashed out of the tire and back up the stairs, hiding in a corner until the sitter unlocked the door whereupon he dashed back in!
Went on the latest installment of location-based storytelling project that a local theater has been doing. You get a box in the mail with a location and what to do when you get there, and a package containing journal entries, photos and other items, maybe a link to a video or audio to play. There are seven boxes, and then there will be an open-air theatrical performance to tie it all together. Wonderful. For anyone in the DMV area, they have a sale on… you can catch up on previous boxes easily: https://rorschachtheatre.com/chemical-exile/ (use the code LOVE before 2/28).
The same. Don’t knock getting old. Not only does it beat the alternative but it’s been a blast so far. Even the cancers have been better than advertised.
Spent a chunk of the day setting up the new laptop I got with the tax refund. Still lots to do on it, mainly because Firefox won’t let me log in on the new one to sync my settings/bookmarks. On the other hand, the old one still works fine (it’s just a bit groggy about zone transitions when I’m playing Guild Wars 2) so I can continue using it while I try to avoid having to use Edge.
Convincing my cats that neither the front nor the back door go into summer. Still. Again.
Same as (almost) every Presidents’ Day weekend: I worked on Boskone.
@TimELiebe: I went looking for other pictures of Sugar, and there seem to be plenty where her eyes look the same, so I think it’s just a trick of the light in this particular one.
I worked on Greek vocabulary from the Symposium, finished watching the Olympics and Around the World in 80 Days, zoomed with sisters, and ate soft foods because of a broken crown. Both cats and dogs were in good humor, so overall pretty good, even if the guest priest didn’t have as interesting a sermon as I’d hoped.
She doesn’t seem annoyed, just patiently waiting for you to figure the door is shut and rectify the situation. Such a refined lady.
I earned assorted aches and scratches building a hat for my heatpump
Sugar needs to train Charlie to raise a fuss every time Sugar is on the wrong side of the door.
We had snow last night and the fallen precipitation hid a layer of ice, which my boot encountered whilst walking L’Rell. The laws of physics being what they are, I ended up on my backside with my knee twisted under me. Fortunately, nothing serious. L’Rell is pouting as I won’t let her in the back yard until the crows and magpies have had their fill of the peanuts I put out. It’s supposed to be below zero the next few days so I’m glad I paid my gas bill.
All fun things aside, that cat really would love to get on the outside of the door into the outside where it can be it’s true self, a predator.
Today’s tasks:
Let cat out
Let cat in
Let cat out
Let cat in
Let cat out
Let cat in
Let cat out
Let cat in
Let cat out
Let cat in
Let cat out
Let cat in
Let cat out
Let cat in