It's been a while since I ranted about the End of The World. Fortunately for you, it'll be at least another month before I do it again. Well, more or less.

Today, while I sat in here trying to catch up on my email, I saw my cat Shechina lunge out through the open door. Those of you who know her will all be astounded and astonished to hear that she managed to catch a little bird. It was shockingly fast and sudden -- without a soundtrack to let you know something's about to happen, catastrophic violence in the real world is that much more disconcerting. By the time I got there, I thought it was over. It looked like the world was now short one chickadee.

Five minutes later, to my surprise, the bird fluttered away, and managed to fly up to the roof. Shechina meowed, and paced back and forth for a while, her eyes never leaving her near-victim. But the bird was clearly out of her reach, and she eventually came back in, and went back to sleep.

Half an hour later, there was a raucous chorus of bluejays. There, on the roof, was a bluejay attacking the poor chickadee, while other chickadees bravely flew in close to try to distract it. When I went out to look, the bluejay flew off, but it looked pretty bad for the chickadee. It lay, crumpled up and motionless in the gutter along the roof. Yet, an hour later, there it was, standing on the edge of the roof, looking somewhat the worse for wear, but still alive. Another hour later, it was gone. I hope it managed to fly off somewhere to recover.

Some simple lessons: be careful, it's a dangerous world out there! Look out for each other. And never give up!

Phone in comments to 310.210.3347, meil 'em to the postal address skillfully concealed elsewhere on this page, or email 'em to samuelg@themeander.org

• "A Dog Joke" by unknown from a collection by internet
• excerpts from Surrender the Pink by Carrie Fisher
• excerpts from The Making of the Life of Brian by David Morgan from Monty Python Speaks!
• excerpts from My American Journey by Colin Powell
• excerpts from Poppycock by Jim Hogshire from You Are Being Lied To by Russ Kirk
• excerpts from Toad-Licking Blues by Thomas Lyttle from You Are Being Lied To by Russ Kirk

All misspellings, misattributions, omissions or errors in naming should be construed as Acts of God, directed through yours truly (for reasons at which we as mere mortals may only guess...)