Backyard procrastination

We are having lovely weather these days. I thought that getting up, dressed, and taking my grading out back on the deck right away would be the secret to getting a lot of grading done today. You know, instead of going to the coffeeshop and getting distracted by peoplewatching. Or sitting on the couch and getting sucked into email and/or a nap right away. I was totally wrong.

Soooo much stuff is happening outside today! First of all, it is so beautiful and springlike that I have to stop grading to enjoy the feel of the air and to say, "ahhhh, what a beautiful day." Then there is all the bird song, which is crazy loud and melodic when you are used to city places that have nothing but mockingbirds. Also, I think the birds east of the Rockies are more "songbirds" while California/desert birds tend to just make a single piercing cry. Plus, there are two cardinals hanging out in the trees beyond my back deck and they are so bright red it is crazy!

Furthermore, no sooner was I out there than a little kitten --- or maybe adolescent cat --- came over to say "dude, how's it hangin'?"

He made a little chirruping noise and hopped right up on my table, rubbed his head against my hand and then hopped onto my lap. Not afraid at all. I didn't notice at first but he also left wet pawprints on the paper I was grading. Oops.

So of course I fed him, as you can see. And he scarfed that stuff up like it was candy and then licked the plate immaculately clean several times. My cats saw him through the window and they puffed up and meowed. He started growling and making moaning noises, which I thought was funny considering he seems to have no fear of humans. He hung out with me for quite a while before traipsing off to find another adventure. 

And the pest maintenance people came by at the same time, and said they have started to see him around, over by this part of the complex, and that pat of the complex. They said it was nice that I was feeding him, but they also mentioned that another woman over that way has been feeding him the past few days. Not sure I need to contribute to our area's abandoned cat problem, but I've become trained to feed cute cats when they come up and meow at me. No clue where that pattern came from, heh.

I still have 2 more big essays to grade to hit my quota for the day, a big stack of homeworks from another class, and finishing class prep for two out of three classes (showing a depressing documentary in the third). Ugh. It's still a beautiful day out ---- but maybe driving out to the coffeeshop is a smarter idea.