Titus. Is. Bad.

There really is no other way to say it, Titus is BAD. Period. End of discussion.

A couple of days ago, I was loading the felted mouse pictures onto my computer. I was sitting where I am now, at the dining-room table. And the cats were all very curious, even Sophie. Hercules kept walking back and forth across my keyboard, knocking into my face broadside with his body. He does that. It's kind of cute. Even after the mouthful, noseful, and eyeful of fur.

Well not to be outdone for attention, entered Squinty McFootball Head, his tail up in the usual curious, question-mark stance. He jumped up onto the server/buffet we have near the window in the dining room. Then he attempted to find his way onto the windowsill, which is something he hasn't tried to do in months. Well, he got confused by the curtains, as cats often do. So he decided to abandon that endeavor and to just situate himself on the buffet, half-way behind this large, ceramic platter I had on display.

"Titus...be good," I cautioned. As if THAT ever worked. Then I returned to my work. A few minutes went by and I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Titus was fidgeting or something. I looked up. "Tiiiitus...what are you dooooing?" Something caught his attention behind the platter. He was pawing at it. "Titus! What could you possibly see back th--- TITUS! NO!"

CRASH.

He knocked the platter off its stand. It careened off the buffet, and it broke upon impact with the floor and, probably more significantly, that damnable camera-dock adaptor that was plugged in. If it didn't hit that, it might have had a chance.


We have a phrase here in South Philly, which is grammatically bizarre, but really fits this situation so I am going to say it: I remained.

Literally, I just stood there agape. I guess I was half-way in shock. Titus also remained. He stood on the buffet, looking from me to the floor and back. Todd came running up from the basement, saw the devastation and said, "Oh no...who did that?" I looked at him and snorted, "Heh, guess?" And I thumbed toward Titus. Todd grabbed the water bottle and sprayed him with it, yelling something like, "BAD! BAD! BAD! NO! NO!" Titus left, temporarily.

So Todd and I had a conversation about "Can you fix it?" "Hell, no." "Can you get another one?" "No clue. I doubt it." "You're taking this rather well." "Well, what can I do about it?"
Etc., etc.

Understand, gentle reader, that I absolutely LOVED this platter. It was an item done by Nina Lyman, who has a line of ceramics called "Cats By Nina." She also has "Dogs By Nina," too. I have several (something like 30 or 40) items from the Cats By Nina line. But this was my favorite. And I would also venture to say that this platter---the Ying-Yang platter---was one of my most favorite things in my entire possession. And I have A LOT of stuff....

So Todd went into the kitchen to get some paper bags for the big pieces, and I went to grab the dustbuster to suck up the shards of my fallen beauty. Titus came back to examine the scene of the crime:


He must have been rather pleased with his handiwork, because he then parked himself smack-dab-in-the-middle of the debris and proceeded to give himself a bath! Herc came by to see the commotion. He started sniffing around Titus and had this look on his face like, "Titus, dude, what the crap? You are in SO much trouble. Get out of the debris, man!"


And he would NOT move! I was shoving him off with both hands and he was still firmly planted in the spot. Finally, Todd grabbed the water bottle again and that seemed to do the trick.

SIGH. So I am on the hunt for this piece again. I got it from e-bay about 4 years ago. So I am doubtful that I will find another. :-( If anyone stumbles on it, either online or in a store, please let me know and I will try to re-purchase it!

I sent an e-mail to the address given on the Cats By Nina website I mentioned above. Lo and behold, I received a response from none other than Nina Lyman herself!

Hi Gina, I am so sorry that happened to you. Those platters are no longer
made but I am trying to track one down. I am having my own manuf [manufacturing]
done now and it will be a long time before I have the selection that was once
available. There are a few things on my new webstore   www.ninasbigstore.com
in the classics area. I assume you looked there. The company that was manuf
really almost ruined me and my brand so I am not renewing with them so
everything will be retired. I have the new Cats In Hats coming out this
month and the beginning  of the Rescue Me-ow series next month. Please keep
checking the webstore for new items. I will keep looking for you and let you
know if I find any. So sorry. I always loved the Eddie Yin Yang platter. It
was one of my earliest and most favorite designs. I hope you enjoy my new
website. Have you seen the pets of the month and Simons blog on it? Let me
know what you think. Keep in touch. Nina

I think it was incredibly nice of her to reply to me so quickly with such a nice e-mail. So I will keep my fingers crossed and my eyes open for another platter.

Oh, and Titus still lives :-)! The End.