Scrambles the Death Dealer

Merry Christmas. Thank God it's over. This has been one of our busiest Christmas's ever just simply because of the economy. We worked right up until Christmas Eve. For that matter, George might still be working. Bill and I both took ill Christmas Day, and still are.

Still, we had a good holiday. I hope everyone else did as well. Rather than go out on Christmas Eve like we usually do, I ordered a variety platter from Tetchnochitlan. There were 9 of us and the platter was suppose to hold enough for 20. We inhaled it along with a tray of Spanish rice and re fried beans. It seemed that as soon as people found out that's what we had, they ran in and ate and then disappeared.

I kept gifts down to a minimum just because the economy bit us in the ass, too. Even so, we are five adults here. It isn't like disappointing children. We did get two major gifts though, that has affected everyone. First off the boys got together and bought a brand spanking new tower. It has 9 gigs along with space to plug in two more 9 gig hard drives. It took me almost five years and four novels to nearly fill the memory on the other computer. I can't imagine how long it will be before this is filled or wears out.

Now, enter our other gift. Meet Scrambles the Death Dealer.

Not that long ago I mentioned that we had two secrets we were holding from Bill. Well the first one is above. (The second is a pipe dream. Which he is well aware of.) Becki came home not long ago saying that a friend of hers had kittens and we could have one if we wanted. I said no. Unequivocally, no. I have two too many cats now. No more. Just make sure it's a female so it hunts, because I hate mice. Okay, I have no back bone when it comes to pets. Jon said no. Okay, he'll even spring for shots and having it fixed. Ed said, no. No more. Okay, if he can name it. So we went from Rosey, which is what I wanted to call her to Scrambles the Death Dealer. Ed saw the name used in an Adult Swim cartoon and thought it was funny. (What scared the hell out of me was when one of Becki's acquaintances recognized the cartoon.) When Becki brought her home, she panicked when she saw Bill coming her way, and tried to pass her to me to hide. I know that won't work. Face it head on. So I dumped the cat in his lap. He said, "No. No more cats! Now what do we name it?" She's his baby. She plays all day until she wears out. Then she crawls into his lap and falls asleep. Anyway, she's about ten weeks old. The other cats started out hating her. They're both beginning to melt towards her, particularly Mike. Now that surprises the hell out of me.