Ever since our dog Bean got bitten by a baby rattlesnake a few months ago (he’s fine now, after a course of antivenin, an overnight hospital stay, and of course a couple thousand dollars in vet bills), he and his sister Lulu have not been allowed outside unsupervised. This situation is likely to continue until rattlesnake season is over, especially given that we subsequently caught Bean investigating another baby rattlesnake, although at least this time he was keeping a healthy (seven feet or so) distance. Of course, this means that when they go out for their morning ablutions, somebody has to go with them, and because I’m the early bird around here, that someone is usually me. And speaking of early birds, lately I’ve been bringing the phone with me and running the Merlin app from Cornell University, because it’s interesting to see what birds have been hanging around. Surely this information is of interest to the cats.