THE CAT WHO UNDERSTANDS LAUNDRY

This weekend’s edition of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap is featuring an individual who can be described as a “Full Service Cat.” She focuses on laundry, among her many interests. A “practical cat,” the poet T.S. Eliot might have said.
Here’s how Chloe got the focus. It’s a travel story. 
Chloe is, as you regular Dear Readers know, the rescued cat who lets Andy and Annie Fisher and rescued dog Maxie live with her in the headquart- ers of the readlarry- powell.com Eastern Seaboard Bureau. That’s on the shores of Indian Lake in Denville, N.J.
The travel element was introduced in Thursday’s email from Bureau Chief Andy Fisher. 
“In advance of our trip to Maine tomorrow,” Andy wrote, “I did a wash. The folding came to a sudden stop when my supervisor decided to curl up on my nice warm pajama top.”

The next morning, in the early hours of Friday — long before sun-up in chilly, soggy North Texas — Andy sent a note reading, “ ‘Reel feel’ temperature in Denville this morning, 43° in Dallas, 36° ….Even weirder: Portland, Maine, our destination for the day, 50°!”
The hosts in Portland, in addition to humans, included “domiciled feral Cosmo and Fiona.”
Andy added one more note about Chloe’s being featured.
As her spokes- man he wrote, “Chloe’s agent loves the publicity; she finally let the pajama top go after about five hours and there was a pair of socks underneath it!”

Yes, Chloe was clearly keeping the socks warm for her aide’s toes.
This is not the first time she’s taken it upon herself to help with the laundry.
In mid-September, Andy sent the "Chloe: Stripes on Blue" photo with an explanation: “Laundry day. So I go to fold my US Senior Open golf shirt and I get one sleeve folded over and then Chloe takes command.” 

As you can see Chloe can demonstrate how to make almost any material look good. (Yes, "Stripes on Stripes!")
And, in that final photo, Andy swears Maxie was “whispering a secret to me."
 Might have been in the form of a question: “Does the cat get union scale for these modeling gigs?”
So, there’s the weather, dog, cat, travel and laundry report from the Eastern Seaboard Bureau of readlarry- powell.com. The message is: If you don’t have a rescued cat and a rescued dog, you’re missing out on rescuing the joys of life.
[LARRY REQUEST: As I sit here typing and astonished that Friday has been a chilly, wet day in the Metrosprawl of North Texas, allow me to urge you to send photos of your sleeping dogs and napping cats and any other snoozing beloved critter to Larry “A Catfan” Powell at [email protected]. Tell us their story, how much they’re loved and how your life is blessed by them. We’ll use their stories and photos to influence other people to give a home to dogs and cats and any other critter that could benefit from a loving human heart.
 Remember, seeing dogs and cats comfortably sleeping may encourage insomniacs to believe that they, too, can get some sleep if they can just find the right laundry that’ll allow them to spend quiet time in the folding department. Insomniacs will test any theory — in fact, tonight I’m lounging on my old Texarkana College bowling shirt, hoping to get rid of wrinkles while sleeping like one of the characters in T.S. Eliot’s 1939 poetry collection Ol’ Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. I'm not practical and I'm not a cat, but would it be so wrong to get a full night's sleep?

ONE MORE THING: That cat? Not a Jersey cat. That’s an SPCA of Texas cat, one of several I spotted in the adoption center while buying cat food at the Greenville Avenue PetSmart in Dallas last week. That is Charlie Bear. Yep, Charlie Bear.
Charlie Bear (42993534) was one of several charming adults and three pretty darned cute kittens in the SPCA display. He’s 2, an Orange Tabby and came to the SPCA when he was transferred from another facility. I didn’t notice this — I was fascinated by his face — but his former family had put nail caps on his front paws — you have to wait for them to fall off. Can’t yank ‘em off. But at least the humans didn’t “declaw” him. He’s ready to be someone’s loving personal housecat. I don’t know how he came to be known as “Charlie Bear,” but, as with all cats, there’s a story there somewhere. — From Larry Powell, in honor of cats who need homes.
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