Learning the Hard Way

Say Hello to Casper. He's an old man now - by cat standards, at least. Well into his sixteenth year, he - along with his brother Garfield - has been part of our lives for over half of our kids lives. He's an introvert. He hates lots of people, and new people freak him out so much, he's been known to quietly disappear to the shed when visitors arrive, only to return after three or four weeks living on mice and sleeping in the hay when he's sure the intruders have departed. Unlike Garfield, he is NOT fond of cuddles (or BBQ chips, but that's another story for another day), and might choose to come and sit close beside you if it's cold; or, if you're trying to perform a task which is made much more difficult by the appearance of a cat under your arm!

Casper pretty much does his own thing- as is the want of most felines - and provided he is fed frequently (he isn't actually all that good at catching mice) mostly keeps to himself and out of my way. Most of the time...

Which brings me to this:

This is my Peerless Watercolour Palette. See how the left side is all crisp and white looking? And how muddied and watery and splotchy looking it gets towards the left side? I guess it's my own fault, but, is the weird green pond water in my paintbrush water jar really more appealing than the fresh, clean water in your cat bowl, Casper? Apparently. So much more appealing in fact, that he not only drinks out of it, but knocks it over, all over the studio bench, drenching my journal, causing pages to run, and - most alarmingly - drowning my favourite watercolour palette and discharging all that delicious colour. 

As you might have guessed, I was pretty bummed about this. Actually, "bummed' doesn't put near a fine enough point on it, but it's somewhat unladylike and undignified to swear about it and put into print the words I uttered at the time. 

Casper has done this before - numerous times, but, I'd been lucky that nothing got damaged - usually just a puddle of nasty greeny looking water on the bench, and me muttering to myself that I need to learn not to leave the water jar full when I'm done in the studio, before the spill wreaks havoc with something special. 

Sometimes, we seem to have to learn things the hard way. Reminds me of that John Wayne quote. 

"Life is tough. It's tougher if you're stupid."

I'm off right now to empty that bloody brush water jar, before Casper decides he's a feline Michelangelo.