The night my grand-cat called her mom

On the nights our daughter, an EMT, works, she doesn’t get off home until after 10 p.m., so I go down about 6:30 p.m. to feed her dogs and cats, and build her fire up so her house is toasty when she gets home. Sometimes, the animals can be over dramatic. 

A few nights ago, I was executing my plan to get everyone fed without anyone eating anyone else’s food and getting the fire going again when a funny thing happened. 

I opted to leave the dogs outside at first, because she has one cat that recently had dental surgery and needs to be fed soft food, and one of the dogs will steal that food before she even touches her own. I got the cat food into the bowls, put it down for the cats, then built the fire. The cats were chowing down and almost done when I went out to bring the dogs in. 

Sophie, the sneaky thief, headed straight for the cat’s dish, but I had already picked it up and put it out of her reach, and called her back to her own food. Her and Blue, the other dog, began munching away.

A friend called, so I chatted for a bit with him and then put my phone down, screen-side up on the desk. I put some more wood and coal in the stove to warm the house up some more, then I rinsed the disposable cat food spoon off to keep them repeating what they’d done night before: chewing the spoon up. When I came back, my phone was ringing. 

It was our daughter. She said I “butt-dialed” her. Now, I can see why she would say that as I actually have done that before, but that was before I got my smart phone and instead had one with a slide out keyboard where the numbers were all on the front. I haven’t done it for years, though. She said when she answered, she could hear me building her fire. She then hung up and called back, which is when I answered. 

After reconstructing the scene, I realized I left my phone not just screen-side up, but unlocked and next to one of her cats. Apparently, the cat walked across the phone and managed to hit the call icon for her mom.

I don’t know if she called to complain about my services or to let her mom know I was doing a great job, but I am glad she hit that icon and not one of the others on the screen. That would have taken more explaining.

Baked Ham with Spicy Mustard Sauce

1x 5-pound smoked ham

1x 18-ounce jar orange marmalade

½ cup stone-ground mustard

2 tablespoons dry mustard

1 clove garlic, minced

½ teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat the oven to 350º. Place ham, fat side up on rack in a roasting pan. Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl until well-blended to make the sauce, then brush ½ of the sauce on the ham. Bake for 2 hours, brushing on more of the reserved sauce about every 15 minutes.