Flat Cat Is Flat

They say you can tell the temperature by the length of the cat. On cold days, the cat is curled up in a ball. On hot days, he is flat on the floor, all sprawled out, often without a single body part touching any other body part. He's not actually sprawled out as long as he could be in this shot, but his flatness quotient is off the charts.

We have had a long, cool, rainy spring. But suddenly in the past week, the temperature has heated up. Several days were actually . . . you know . . . TOO HOT. And humid too. I'm a lover of the cold. Send me out at 5 degrees F with my camera, and I am pert and saucy.

But send me out at 85 degrees, and I wilt; it's very sad. In summertime, for my own mental health, I must must MUST swim in ultra-cold water to keep me sane, and I have not done that yet; many of the swimming areas are just opening. It's on the list.

My husband installed a brand new small air conditioner in the bedroom window earlier this week. This weekend, we'll follow it up by placing a larger one in the living room window. In the meantime, it was chilly and comfy in the bedroom (I actually shivered once; it was so delightful!), but a little toasty in other parts of the house.

Dexter, like me, is no fan of the hot weather. This was the look on his face when I spotted him on the floor between the living room and the kitchen. Dare I say that I think he looks a bit . . . overwhelmed and grumpy? Yes, well, I also think he looks sort of . . . how I feel!

In honor of the flatness of this cat, I wanted to include a song with the word Flat in it, and this is what came up. It's one of my favorite Johnny Cash tunes, Tennessee Flat Top Box.

I'm also including his daughter Rosanne's cover of her dad's tune at the tribute concert for her father. This video features a short monologue by Rosanne that I find just delightful, and it reminds me of why I so love Johnny Cash. She says: "I cannot count the times I heard him say, 'Children, you can choose love or hate. I choose love.' " If you want to skip the monologue, the music begins at about 3:04: Rosanne Cash, making her daddy proud, with her very own lovely performance of Tennessee Flat Top Box.