I was checking my email when Spodie, Spring's [1] cat, lept up on my desk, like he usually does. Only instead of using it as a launch pad to the top of Spring's monitor, or walking around my monitor to stuff his tail up my nose, he started gnawing on the USB (Universal Serial Bus) cable attached to my webcam. I swatted him, so he decided to use my desk as a launching pad to the top of Spring's monitor. But in doing so, his paw hit the middle button on my mouse.
A bit of a digression is needed here. My primary system runs Linux, [2] which means that I typically run the X Window System. [3] On the X Window System, the middle mouse button will automatically does a paste operation. I also use elm (ELectronic Mail for unix) [4] to read my email. End of digression.
[5] [6] So the upshot is that Spodie sent a barrage of random commands to elm and it started beeping and booping and generally getting locked up tight. I closed the window to kill the application as Spring literally tossed Spodie out of the Comptuer Room and shut the doors (which required some effort on her part as they didn't really want to shut).
No harm happened to my email—it was more annoying than damaging. But keeping the door closed meant the room became an uncomfortable tempurature, as well as keeping Rob [7] out (which we don't really want to do).
Sorry, another digression. Earlier in the day we went food shopping and one of the items we picked up were a dozen lemons for fresh lemonade. Spring likes lemonade, and she made a batch as soon as we got home.
Yet another digression—cat's hate the smell of lemons. It's a natural cat repellent.
So, wanting to keep the doors open, Spring fished out the lemon rinds, stringed them on a cord, and stretched it across the doorway—all to keep Spodie out of the Computer Room.
Somehow, I suspect we may have a bit too much time on our hands.
[4] http://www.instinct.org/elm/
[5] /boston/2001/10/24/lemon.thumb.jpg
[6] /boston/2001/10/24/lemon.jpg
![[5] /boston/2001/10/24/lemon.thumb.jpg](/gemini.conman.org/boston/2001/10/24/lemon.thumb.jpg){kind=link}
![[6] /boston/2001/10/24/lemon.jpg](/gemini.conman.org/boston/2001/10/24/lemon.jpg){kind=link}