An annoying nature fact.

The non-annoying fact is that fig trees can be grown in large pots, and can therefore be grown in New England by taking them inside during the winter, or, for instance, when Tropical Storm Irene is expected to come by.

The annoying fact is that -- and this isn't noticeable when they're outside, but it certainly IS when they're INSIDE -- is that fig trees smell disturbingly like cat pee. Apparently, fig pollinators are attracted to that smell.

So, Ford? Al? The cats HAVEN'T gotten downstairs. It's the darned fig tree. It doesn't do that through the winter, when it's colder, but when I take it inside because of summer storms. . . ew.

Just because our cats have an unusually healthy relationship to food doesn't mean they're not weird

It's been my experience that housecats usually have pretty dysfunctional food habits. Housecats often gorge on their food, sometimes to the point that they end up making themselves sick, to the point that they are pretty much binging-and-purging, and they often end up overweight to obese. Our cats aren't like that -- they eat when they're hungry, then stop. We're able to free-feed our cats, which is something that a LOT of cat people can't do. We can leave them with food just sitting there, and they'll just nibble on it all day, without choking it down then barfing it up.

I've mentioned before how grateful I am about this.

They also are . . . okay . . . about human food. Nicky gets to lick out empty bowls of cat-friendly foods like yogurt or beef stew, the sorts of things that are bad for them in great quantities (especially since the beef stew DOES include onions, which can cause kidney failure if cats eat them in significant amounts), but which are fine if they're just licking empty bowls. But we've gotten him to learn that he gets to lick them out once we put them on his tray, and not before.

Also things like tuna water. So they've learned that they get the water from the tuna, plus the empty can.

This just caused a little confusion. Lis and I decided that today was a fine day for giving the cats a treat, so I got two cans of gooshyfood, opened them up (at which point, the cats came running in), put it into the catfood bowls, then put the bowls on the tray and threw away the cans.

Nick then stared at me, and stared at the trash can where the cans had gone. And looked generally baffled.

I tried to point him to the actual food in the actual bowls, on the actual tray, where Nora was happily eating from one bowl, then going to the other, and eating from the other, back and forth.

And Nick just sadly looked at where the cans had gone. After all, the cats get the empty cans. That's what they get. The actual cat food? In the actual bowls? Not so interesting.

So Nora sat there eating both helpings of gooshyfood, while Nick sat and watched in confusion.