Temperatures "Plummet" and the Kitten Makes a Discovery

I use the quotes around plummet in the title because, well, this is Southern California, and to hit the dial under 60 counts as "frigid" in these parts.

And those temperatures (in the 70s and 80s during most daylight hours) inspired us to get our wall furnace kicked on.

And then Picasso, our kitten, made the discovery: Warmth! Coming from the wall! The sounds of the thing belching back to life had him transfixed, and then...well, he is a kitten:

This is, maybe, ten minutes after it was pumping heat. Makes you smirk.

In other cat news: A while back I remember thinking that when (or, frightingly, if) Tux returned to his normal self, un-afflicted by the bizarre skin tremors that have haunted him for the past twenty months and reduced his quality of life to shite, that he would be an elder cat, having slid past the dignified middle-aged kitty stage.

That turned out to be wrong. And I've never been so happy to have been wrong. Tux is nearly back to normal. A serious, HST-style drug regimen had helped, and he's mostly back. He comes for love, he connives for food, he's not really playing with 'Casso, but he's hissing at him less and less. It's a new day.

A Simpsons Halloween

Corrie and I were invited to a Simpsons themed Halloween party this past Saturday. A while back we were invited and told, as were all invitees, to dress as your favorite Simpsons character. Since we weren't really ready to devote enough energy to choosing, after all these years, or favorite character, we decided to pick what constitutes a couple and go as them.

At first I was pushing for Fry and Leela...which are characters from "Futurama" and not the Simpsons, even if they did make an appearance this past season with a special crossover event. I liked the idea of being outside the box.

Corrie was a tough sell, since, to quote her, "Aren't there nearly a thousand different characters we could be? I'll be Lisa and you can be that hippie vegan eco-terrorist or that Irish boy from the movie..."

Corrie has always felt like Lisa (second-born over-achieving daughter with a hell-raising older brother, Betty-Crocker-like mom and lovable thearsty-pops)(love you both so much, Ron and Carol!), so Lisa for her was easy and straightforward enough.

I loathed the idea of being a one-off character, and I have some cut-off shorts, so I let my hair get a little shaggy, bought a cheapo button-up shirt and cut the sleeves off to make a vest, and voila, add an orange shirt and you have Nelson Muntz.

Here we are, Lisa and Nelson, or, a mid-thirties version at least:

At the party there was a projector showing the Simpsons Halloween specials on the wall, thanks to the FX online site's continuous playlist of those specials, all eight hours worth. The party wasn't that long, of course. There was a quiz with prizes, and near the end, I dusted off my old point-and-shoot Cannon for picture 13,397, a group photo of all of us, nearly every one in costume:

Represented characters: Selma, Kent Brockman, girl Nelson (the only double!), Troy McClure, Scorpio (with flamethrower prop!), Lisa, zombie Frank Grimes, Duff-woman, Ms. Krabappel, Apu, Moe, girl Sideshow Bob, Malibu Stacy, Dr. Nick, and Nelson. Only one of us wasn't in costume, and she was the ultimate contest winner.

That winner, a young lady named Lauren, was part of a quartet of us who, on any given day, could have won the contest. Her and I were joined by Corrie and the young lady dressed as Malibu Stacy as the ultimate arcane Simpsons knowledge holders.

A grand time was had by all.

"It's Kearns you idiot!"

"No it's not."

"Disregard!"