I woke up this morning to cats jumping on my head along with the alarm clock... It occurs to me that i ritually get up, feed cats, then go to the bathroom every morning, and that chain of events always starts with the "beep...beep...beep..." of my alarm clock. I'm pretty sure the cats have developed a Pavlovian response to that noise, 'cause whenever I wake up on my own, they seem to be mellow, but after one or two smacks of the snooze-bar, they team up to nose me out of bed... I'm sure they're not that concerned that I'll be late for work. It's purely kibble-greed that motivates them.

Going into the kitchen this morning, I heard something that reminded me of the noise my toilet's been making recently, that being a hiss, 'cause the toilet pretty much runs (slightly) all the time. This was the kitchen, though, and the sink was off, and a check under the sink revealed no drips. However, bending down to make that check made it clear what the problem was: the lower three feet of my kitchen smelled like a fart.

Natural gas, you see, is heavier than air, and I had a propane leak in my stove. Fortunately, the window in the kitchen was open, so I didn't get gassed out or blown up. I pulled out the stove and turned off the valve quickly (i'm glad i poked around back there a couple years ago and knew where it was)... after the fact, I noticed that a knob was turned, so maybe an overly bouncy cat turned it as he/she dismounted from the PLACE I PREPARE FOOD (little sons-of-bitches) and inadvertantly got us all high. I didn't feel like hanging around there, though, so I opened all the windows with screens (so the cats don't go squirrel hunting while i'm out) and went out for breakfast. I came back a little later and all seemed still ok, so I headed to the office.

I guess it's time for a little apartment maintenance. The toilet thing still bothers me more, though, I think. I don't NEED to cook. However, when you consider the volume of Diet Coke I consume daily, though, turning off the valve behind the john is not an option.