We have these cats that belonged to to some close family. They couldn’t care for them any longer and the two of them came to live with us. The older one is a male, a big black cat (Explorer) and I would guess him to be five or so. I call him Sploder. That is short for exploder which is short for explorer. The people next door have a male cat that sneaks into our house to eat once in a while and when Sploder sees him leaving, shit hits the fan. He is the boss.

I walk buddy early in the morning. I don’t like to rush into my day and when I send you an email at 6:00 I have already been up for a while. I like the quite.

About six months ago Sploder started following buddy and I on our walks. I take the safest route I can but cats do as they will. I get about five blocks from my house before heading in the general direction of home.

There is a cat we have had trouble with before. It’s a young cat bur when Buddy and I walk by, he (she) comes across the street like a crab, sort of in attack mode. I run with Buddy because who knows what a cat will do?

Well, the first time Sploder followed us, he straightened that grey kitten out in a big way. Right in his face, meow, meow. and nothing.. the grey kitten won’t move.

Other times, when another cat further from home stands it’s ground, I let buddy ( a 75 lbs lab) move forward a bit, and Sploder will pass right under Buddy’s belly letting the infidel know he has some muscle on his side.

This is what it’s like out there. Most of us are house cats and don’t go out there, don’t put your whiskers right on top of someone else’s. In real human life it’s difficult to tell who is going to fight and who will run. When you meet you enemy you won’t even recognize him.

Fluffy is the other cat. She is a log-haired young cat and rolls upside down when someone comes near. I call her “muffin”. It’s a derogatory name. I am sure she will be rolling around on her back when she gets run over.

It’s interesting to see how alliances are formed in human life. The simple ones are straight forward, there are others that are far more complex. The things we witness in in politics are certainly complex. I hope that your needs are being met.

At this point I would like to introduce Skip. His real name is Carl but I call him Skippy. He is a hands-on type of guy who has been helping me in the shop lately. This will blow you mind, I worked with Skip at Yeti in the early 90’s. He is a crafty dude and we will see more of him.

I built a snow bike a week or so ago with 7005. I guess they call them “fat bikes” so people in places without snow will buy them. I have 1/2 of one at the shop for myself. I should do that soon.

One thing that is quite interesting is that I will be teaching an aluminum frame welding session at Vicious cycles. Carl, (not the Carl we just talked about) has been sharing his diverse and creative frame building skills with other builders and I have been invited to be a guest instructor.
http://metalguru.viciouscycles.com/blog/

Here is a photo of the Sploder five blocks from home, the falling downhouse AND some stuff I made last week. Or perhaps the week before. I built a CX bike last week and will build a road racer this week.