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Thursday, April 6, 2006

Two of our weird cats, and three of our heavy midcentury appliances

Why is our kitten Jarns so obsessed with our nonfunctional 1946 Maytag washing machine?

Perhaps he had one in a past life--maybe in that life he accidentally crushed a digit through its electric ringer (which earned a reputation for regularly breaking shirt buttons)?

Or perhaps he WAS one in a past life?

Relatedly, we often wonder if the 1953 Magic Chef stove* that our friend Anthony has generously loaned us long term has become possessed by our late cat Chubby. Chubby only had three legs, the Magic Chef only has three working burners.... Both the Magic Chef and Chubby are known for making a distinctive, rattling buzzing sound.... I could go on....

At this rate, one wonders what kind of cat anomalies we will witness when we finally get around to cooking our first batch of waffles on the art deco waffle iron I bought Michael for his birthday last year.


*Manufactured in St. Louis, on Kingshighway, in a wonderful building which U-Haul has since bastardized.

3 comments:

Eric said...

Perhaps it's because Jarns is a period 4 metal?

http://is.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A1rn

Claire Nowak-Boyd said...

I had no idea, but that's funny because Jarns is our softest cat, both physically and in terms of personality.

Jarns is also a children's singing group.

tobyweiss.com said...

Wow, that is the exact model stove I had when living in the apartment that is above what is now The Royale. It was in full working order and marvelous. We called the oven The Terminator, because it ran so hot, that if you baked anything for the recommended time, it was toast.
When I moved out in 1999, I told the new owner/tennant that they should keep the stove and cherish it; works better than any new stove you'd buy. I wonder if it's still there... or is that possibly the same stove?