Groom from the nose

This morning I thought I had decluttered my brain, I really did. That lasted till I got to the pool, wondering why I felt a draft on my legs when I took off my pants.

Before then I had told Linda I was swimming. I packed a second breakfast (granola in one container, blackberry yogurt in another, plus a banana for on top, in case you're curious) because I was swimming. I even only did up 3 buttons on my shirt because I was swimming. My bag was packed and I took it out to the car because I was swimming. I dropped her off and doubled back to the pool because I was swimming.

The fail was not putting on my swim suit before putting on my pants. Loud fail buzzer. So I swam anyways. Such is the invisibility of middle aged men that nobody complained. Of course I had a back up pair of shorts in my bag. I've done this before.

Maybe I hadn't decluttered as much as I had thought.

Today's swim was good. In the long course pool again, swimming next to high school kids. Except if what they're doing is called swimming, what I'm doing shouldn't be called that. I got passed like I was standing still, even when I busted out several 100 second 100 m. With a rest in between, of course. The 1 K warmup was 19 minutes exactly, so that's good. 5x100 nice and strong. One almost all out in 97 seconds done last. Look down and some drills.

Sunday's swim was lots of fun. Both Michelle and Leana showed up, and said nice things about the advice they got. Michelle has had lots and has improved so much! Leana has a good solid stroke, as you'd expect from someone who's done as many triathlons as she has. Still, like everyone else including me, there are improvements to be made. I'm really enjoying watching people swim, figuring out what the issues are, and suggesting ways to improve.

This is where you start grooming a cat.

I like to start at the nose with a fine toothed metal comb. Let the cat sniff it first. Very gently comb along the jawline. The cat will likely push harder against the comb. Do under the chin and chest. The top of the head. Gently grasp the ears and comb behind them. Do along the jawline again just because. Get the other comb, this one.

Sorry about the Blogger rotation. This comb works great! I like to work down his back and sides. Sometimes I'll comb it into a part along the spine to collect more fur. Tail. Then roll the cat over or stand him up to do the chest and tummy. Curtis loves this, and will often lick one hand while I'm combing with the other. I have sometimes wondered if I could make a living as a cat groomer. Not dogs; they bark at me.

Curtis is walking normally again, perhaps with only the slightest limp on his left paw. The pad is back to the normal colour, but there is a bit of dried scabby material just along the edge of the pad.