swestrup | Safe on a Technicality.

The situation being what it is,

sucha probably wouldn't have gotten punished if she was in the wrong, but actually she technically had the right to do what she did. You see,

taxlady believes in trying to have the house rules decided upon by all affected house members, including the cats. So it is that the carefully negotiated rule for the supper table is that no cats are allowed on the table while the apes are eating, but the cats are allowed to scrounge any tidbits they want before we put the dishes in the dishwasher.

Well, today we had a guest over, and got distracted after the meal, so when

sucha hopped on the table. she found a piece of roast beef larger than her head. She was completely in her rights to declare it hers, and haul it onto the floor for extended munching. Now, had we noticed what was going on in sufficient time to stop her, we might well have done so, but by the time I noticed, the beef was already pretty thoroughly gnawed upon.

So, all we could do was watch in amusement as she devoured roughly half of the chunk before sauntering off to have a lay down. We've saved what's left for her to have some other time, if she's interested. Normally, she doesn't show much interest in beef, so I'm doubly surprised she went for this large chunk, but maybe tearing off mouthfuls of meat fulfills some atavistic urge inside her. In any case, she seemed quite proud of her catch.

taxlady managed to get a number of pictures, which she'll no doubt post as soon as she's finished driving our guest home.