Ember was crouched at the edge of her litter box during a bowel movement, so consequently the stools fell just outside of the box, onto the rubber pad that sits below it.
She noticed that when she got out of the box, so she went back into it and flipped litter out of the box and onto the stools sitting on the rubber pad.

Sigh. Even as I cleaned it up, I had to respect her clever solution to the uncovered stools.

I never got any wisdom teeth (my excuse for foolish mistakes). My dentist told me that the evolutionary trend is to not have wisdom teeth. They are a "dying" feature of human anatomy, according to him.

She is very non vocal, meows maybe 2 or 3 times a year, and some years not at all. She communicates through stares, knocking things to the floor, face rubs, and purrs. So when she meows, I listen. Must be important.

This morning she meowed, once, quietly, while standing in front of the microwave cart. Such an unusual sound startled me. I walked over to see what prompted her to speak. Found nothing. 10 minutes later, another meow followed by a more drawn out sound. Both sounds were quiet and soft, but any sound from the silent Ember is so unusual that it's the equivalent of booming shout.

So, again I went to see what it was about. She was seated in front of the microwave cart, staring at it. So I pulled it away from the wall while Ember paced back and forth next to the cart, tail wagging back and forth, too. (Ember wags her tail like a dog when she's happy or excited. It's an Egyptian Mau trait and she's 1/4 Mau.)

Under the cart were a small whiffle ball that she'd been playing with yesterday and two pipe cleaners that I hadn't seen for a while. I pulled them out and tossed them in her direction. She whacked the ball across the room like a golfer, then picked up one of the pipe cleaners and ran off with it.

Problem solved. No more meows. For reasons known only to Ember, it was very important for her to have the ball and pipe cleaners retrieved this morning. As her servant, I naturally complied with her wish.

Buffalo NPR program called What's Next? today had guest, 82 year old Greg Shershnevsky, who told his story of being smuggled out of a Jewish ghetto in Lithuania by his mother. He was 7 months old.

A Polish woman living in the city had a reputation for taking in orphaned or deserted children of any background and finding them homes or keeping them. Greg's parents arranged a drop off point to leave him. The Polish woman, Miss Alexandra, took him in and kept him til the liberation.

Meantime, Greg's father escaped the ghetto and joined partisans in Belarus. His mother was caught during the escape and killed. His father survived the war and went back and got Greg, who had been renamed Stanislaus.

Details of the story are here to listen to.

https://www.wbfo.org/podcast/buffalo-whats-next

EDIT TO ADD: Well worth listening to him tell the story. It has some amazing details about him, a Jewish girl who was also taken in, and how Miss Alexandra pulled it off.

For those who have never seen it and those who would like to see it again. National Geographic film of Jane's work with the chimps at the Gombe Reserve in Kenya. Some great scenes of chimp behavior.

Long video but worth watching when you can. General summary: We dodged a bullet in 2020 but the fascists are still trying to take control of the US. We cannot afford to be discouraged or complacent.

Positive outlook is to think of what we have already accomplished.

1) At the polls on 2020 we booted out a demagogue from office.
2) The Women's March in 2016 brought women together across the country and inspired several to run for office in the 2018 midterms and win.
3) BLM marches and protests held police accountable for murdering unarmed POC and stood up to fascist attempts to stop the protests.
4) The judicial system held up against Trump's Big Lie.
5) The 2022 midterms bucked the trend of wins for the party not in power in the WH. No red wave. We held the Senate and the House majority is slim.

Bill Barr and other members of the Trump administration (and the SC) are members of Opus Del, the ultra RW Catholic organization.

Make it a habit to every day do something to preserve democracy. It can be getting a non voting person registered and committed to voting, running for office yourself, helping a candidate who is running. If you are up to it (not everyone is), you can build bridges with a RWer. According to Ben Ghiat's studies, they go deeper down the hole if you ignore them. She suggests reasoning with them, but I disagree since their views are not rational. Instead, focus in general on shared views and values if there are any. Don't argue. Just keep them socially involved outside of their political bubble so that they regain some sense of reality. Ask questions that make them think and then let them mull it over for themselves.

Interesting facts and history about the domestic cat.

Her guest was screenwriter Billy Ray. They talk in depth about what approaches we need to use in getting out the Dem message to inspire and unify voters. Valuable advice for Democrats.

Just wondering how many DUers have any ancestors who trace back to that colonial village. Since colonial Puritans had such large families, they have huge numbers of descendants living today although not everyone is aware of their family history. Still, I was surprised when researching my own family's connection to Deerfield that many descendants of the people who experienced the 1704 raid are well aware of it and have family stories to tell about it.

So I am wondering if any DUers have stories to share about the 1704 French and Indian raid on Deerfield.