I woke up about 5 this a.m. to the sound and fury of 6 high speed animals tearing thru the house. 5 of them live here.

Apparently the Mighty Meepers, the 28lb. Maine Coon, had brought us a new live critter, his polite way of reminding us that the crunchies bowl is empty, and his 30lb. sister Aggie, the 10lb halloween calico Sassy, the 4lb grand dame Ashley, and one very high speed 7lb minipin Mille were in full pursuit of one very nervous chipmunk, who was in close approach to Mach1. Millie was in the lead. Ashley (age 19) was running a close second, Sassy running 3rd, Aggie was rumbling along in 4th, and Meepers, who was hit by a car and is missing the upper 3/4" of one of his rear femurs, along with the leg portion of the hip joint, was coming in a distant 5th. I swear, half of the trajectories were at least 4' up on the walls. They made at least 3 passes over the bed (I've got the puncture wounds to prove it) before I could even get untangled from the sheets. I spent at least 20 minutes tracking down the critter and getting it herded out a door, with the enthusiastic help of Millie. The cats (smarter than a dog), all took a break and sat on high watching the stupid man and the silly dog, with prominent cat grins in evidence.

I made damn sure the crunchies bowl was full, and took the opp to take Millie out for a one-two break, and damn it if the local deer weren't out there, and off the pack goes in hot pursuit (all but Ashley, who thinks deer are probably not good to eat, or not worth the trouble, or something), and it took me another 30 minutes to catch the stupid dog and get here back in. In 30* weather. In the dark. Wearing my dashing boxer shorts and untied work boots and my 1994 "It's Atlanta!" Olympic tee shirt. The deputy was highly amused, too...