Feck it

I’ve got five cats now. And as any of you into the activities of felines know, anything past three immediately canonizes me into the realm of “cat man.” But I do not want to wander around in my bathrobe with whiskers drawn on my face and have kids throw rocks at my windows. In fact, only three of the cats are mine; the other two adopted us and live under the house. So while unfair to the three I’ve had for over a decade, I’ve decided the only way to settle this is a game of “Kitty Survivor.”

Each day I hide their food and water somewhere new. The uncreative ones have simply been lollygagging around by where it used to be, drooping under the intense heat and meowing a lot. As if that would sway me. “Cosmo,” while not visibly the brightest of the pack, has shown some encouraging signs; he waits for me to get up in the morning and follows me around till I drop the Friskies and water bowl. He then runs and tells “Jazzy,” who, while still his biological mother, tends to get more affection than a mother should, nuff said on that one. So a team is developing. I will keep you posted on the future of the cats on “Kitty Survivor.”

If you have never seen any of the Shakespeare in the Park productions, you are missing out on what is arguable a more worthy Chico excursion than seeing a Heat game. A big difference is that every ballgame is pretty much the same (Sorry, Chad Abramson). Somebody gets a hit, somebody throws a ball, somebody scratches his nuts, and everybody spits. But in live theater every show is a trip to a new place. The dark comedy The Lonesome West at the Blue Room is a real gut buster filled with remarkable scenes that leave you amazed at the high state of community theater.

It has a fine cast, a good script and great directing by Joe Hilsee, but it is the comic timing and physical derangement of Cal Reese and Jeremy Votava that make this, in my opinion, the best Blue Room production of the year. If I could actually come to your house and get you off the couch, downtown and into the theater, I would. But fer christsakes people, take some initiative and do it yourself.