Several years ago I had a dream that Brian and I had a cat and he was named Dragon. I can't remember anything about what the cat looked like or anything else, but the name stuck in my mind.

I also dreamed that I had a computer named Zircon, and so we named the last several incarnations of my desktop machine Zircon I, Zircon II, etc.

If I keep this up, my kids might end up with some weird names someday.

Last night, after we went to bed, Dragon was doing a considerable amount of crying and whining. He was sitting by the gate that blocks his access to the upstairs. I went down to sit with him for a minute and tried to get him to play or get interested in his dinner, but he just came right back to the gate. We could clearly hear him pawing, scratching, and biting at the cardboard we have over the gate slats (because they're too big and he could walk through otherwise). Brian got up to reinforce one corner where Dragon could poke his head through. Later I heard more scratching and crying. I was listening for his crying when I heard something rattling on my nightstand. I couldn't figure out what could be making that noise. Brian couldn't hear it, but he suggested maybe it was the dishwasher. But my ears know where noises are coming from, and it was coming from my nightstand. All of the sudden I realized it was Dragon purring. I turned on my light and he was down by the side of my bed (next to the nightstand), and had probably been thinking about jumping up on us.

So much for the gate. We knew he'd figure out how to defeat it someday. Now we're closing the bedroom door and he can roam the little bit of hallway upstairs. Besides Brian's allergies, I'm concerned about letting Dragon into our bedroom because he might think piles of clothes are lots of fun (or good places to pee). It took us a while to chase him out from under the bed and decide what we were going to do (fix the gate, close the door, let him roam freely?). After we closed the door he whined for 10 minutes or so and then must have gone downstairs or fallen asleep. He is always happy to see us in the morning, and I didn't see any signs of destruction.

We went to the Taste of Madison on Saturday. It kind of sucked. It was at least half chain restaurants. I don't go to the Taste of Madison to have Little Caesar's, Red Lobster, Abuelo's, and all the other big chains. I go for things like Buraka and Bandung. There was at least one of those state fair style Gyro stands too. Sheesh. At least you don't have to pay except parking if there's nothing you want to eat, you just waste an hour or so of your life.

He's been getting into a lot of trouble. He's mostly just chewing on things he shouldn't (cords, curtains, or hands and feet).



He's very affectionate, although he doesn't seem like a lap cat. I can get him to nap near me if I move him when he's already sleepy. He will let us hold him without any problems.

Boy is it a good thing he's cute. I've stubbed my toes on that damn pet gate twice today.

I promise not to log every day of Dragon's life. Really, I do.

We have discovered that Dragon has a thing for hands and feet - like many kittens. It's a hard job to keep him from biting our bare feet and hands. Any tips?

I was worried about how last night was going to go. We gated him out of the upstairs (after modifying the pet gate with cardboard) to try to give Brian some allergy relief overnight. I expected him to howl or chew through the gate, but he seemed to take this as normal. We did not hear a peep from him all night. I kept worrying that something had happened, but he was fine. Brian checked on him at 6 a.m., and when I went down a little after 7, he rubbed up against my legs and generally acted happy to see me. Until the biting started a few minutes later.

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