Philly Expatriate

Thursday, January 20, 2005

Talk about a ring of fire...

Before I continue this post, please promise me, dear readers, that none of you will call the SPCA/Humane Society on me!

Yesterday was a banner day for workouts for me - a 30 minute Pilates reformer session in the morning(a rather tortuous/medieval-looking machine that I use along w. a videotape) and then 45 minutes of Yogilates in the evening. After all of that contorting and stretching, I felt a hot bath was in order to ease my back and muscles.

To further set the zen-like ambiance in my faux-Feng Shui bathroom, I lit a plumeria-scented candle and set it on the counter.

Hubby came home while the tub was filling and decided he needed to use the facilities before my appointed soaking time. As is usual for evenings, my sweet, but rather clumsy and dippy 14-year-old long-haired cat, "Buster", also entered the bathroom, since he enjoys the warmth of the steam.

I was putting something away in the kitchen when I heard my husband screaming, "MOVE, goddamn it!"

When the door opened, he noted, "Well you'll have a new scent to delight you in the bathroom now." I thought he was referring to a particularly pungent excretory experience he had while on the throne but NO!

He clarified his original statement, "Buster was on fire."

Confused, I began my reply, "Wha...? You mean like smoldering or...?"

"No. In FLAMES. On FIRE. Didn't you hear me yelling? He just sat there on the counter oblivious to the fact that he whisked his tail across the candle and it was engulfed in flames! I had to get off the toilet to put it out!"

In fact the cat's hair is so long that it didn't even burn close to his skin, and so we had to take scissors and cut away the melted stubs of hair on part of his otherwise mega-fluffy tail. Of course we checked the little guy and he's just fine but a bit annoyed about the scissors issue.

Do you know how BAD burnt hair smells???

Talk about putting a wrench in my chi...

As a postscript, here is a saccharin-sweet picture of Buster giving his trademark hug, eyes closed, the purring resonating deeply. Clearly he has forgiven any (accidental) wrongdoing, as he was hugging and nuzzling me just moments ago. I have had this fuzzy guy since he was 5 months old - and that was back in 1991!

Posted at 04:47 pm by brandy101

	Posted by Kat @ 01/26/2005 03:14 PM PST
	OMG! That is absolutely hysterical! I could so see something like that happening to my dear kitty, who, by the way, looks very much like Buster. I love the huggy thing. How sweet!

	Posted by Gigglesbee @ 01/25/2005 10:37 AM PST
	I want a huggy kitty!!! My cats never wanted to hug. All they wanted to do was lay on my head when I was asleep...I think they were secretly trying to suffocate me!! ;)

	Posted by FreudianSlip @ 01/22/2005 09:52 PM PST
	Mm fried cat. Tried that in Korea once.. wasnt bad actually. But as far as your pet.. glad he's ok.

	Posted by brandy101 @ 01/21/2005 04:42 PM PST
	I tried out the yogilates 1 dvd that I borrowed from my library - I sent you an email w. details :)

	Posted by Michelle @ 01/21/2005 04:02 PM PST
	OMG that is so something that would happen in my house with my dog. If it makes you feel any better I once shut the back window on the poor thing's head while she had her head out the window. As with Buster she was fine and I was left feeling terrible. Yogilates...read about it in yoga journal yesteday. Do you do all this at home or a studio?

	Posted by Adam @ 01/21/2005 03:33 PM PST
	I was going to make an offcolor comment about there being nothing wrong with some hot puss, but I thought better about it... ... oh wait ... Sorry about that. :D (I'm back reading again, I just have to get the motivation to write more now. Stress from Black Christmas still hasn't worn off yet.)

	Posted by RaeJane @ 01/21/2005 03:24 PM PST
	Aw! So cute! I once had a potpourri pot out with melted candle wax in it.. my cats were running about and dumped it over and one stepped on it!! He had blisters all over his paw. Was so sad... I felt horrible and never used a potpourti pot again!

	Posted by mrs. diamond @ 01/21/2005 03:16 PM PST
	We had a curious kitty melt her whiskers because she just HAD to sniff the candle..... I thought cats were smart. snort.

	Posted by Miss Tay @ 01/21/2005 11:08 AM PST
	Aww... I wish I had cat's that lovable and forgiving. My cat's usaully take a nice steaming pile in my bed. :(

	Posted by chrysalis @ 01/21/2005 08:33 AM PST
	And I thought that Halle Berry as Catwoman was the hottest feline around ...

	Posted by princessdeirdre @ 01/21/2005 08:07 AM PST
	Reminds me of... "Goodness gracious, great balls of fire" I'm glad dear kitty is ok. That sounded hilarious but scary. Did hubby recover? :o)

	Posted by ~justme~ @ 01/20/2005 11:17 PM PST
	Awwww, how awful!

	Posted by Sinister Ninja @ 01/20/2005 09:36 PM PST
	Ha! That's hilarious, poor kitty.

	Posted by brandy101 @ 01/20/2005 06:13 PM PST
	buster is happily purring (and drooling) on my pillow as usual... He was really oblivious to the whole thing; aparently he was only mad at being pushed off the counter!

	Posted by Lyly @ 01/20/2005 05:52 PM PST
	Aw don't feel bad, I scorched my (now deceased) cat's whiskers once or twice during weird, non-sober moments involving insence and catnip...

	Posted by Miss Ginger @ 01/20/2005 05:49 PM PST
	Let's see....555-S...P...C.. Hey HEY! Poor Buster. Is he ok now? When he writes his "Cat Memoirs", I'll remind him of today. LOL ;) I hope all's well.

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