If any of you were wondering how I come up with ideas for my ChessLectures, this photo might clarify how the process works.
I tell you really good move. You play on computer.
It really is true that I was preparing a ChessLecture when my wife took this picture!
This kitten’s name is Teddy. He is actually just a short-term visitor. Since our late lamented cats died a couple years ago, we have become regular foster parents for the Santa Cruz animal shelter. They often get kittens that are still considered too young to adopt — four, five, six weeks old. The job of the foster parents is to get them used to a home environment and fatten them up to 2 pounds, the “magic number” at which they are considered ready to have their spay/neuter surgery and go up for adoption.
So far Kay and I have fostered 19 kittens over two summers, and every last one of them has found a home! I’d like to think that is because we do such an excellent job of teaching them manners at the Mackenzie Finishing School for Felines. Actually, of course, cute little kittens will always find a way.
Teddy and his two brothers graduated from Finishing School this morning. I took them back to the shelter, and they should be ready for adoption beginning on Tuesday, August 30 (the shelter is closed on Mondays). So if any of you live in the Santa Cruz area and need a very cute kitten to whisper in your ear, come on down and ask for Teddy, the chess-playing cat! (Or his brothers, Grady and Finley.)
