Jack wrote this in June, 2005:
When I was a kid during the ’50s it used to be common for people to have a burlap bag (toe sack) hanging in the barn where they’d put the leavings from the curry comb every day. When the bag got full they’d put it under the saddle, toe sack and all, and pack it tight until the burlap wore away, leaving a pretty fine saddle blanket about a half-inch thick with a texture of felt.
For a number of years I’ve intended to do something similar with cat hair. During the ’80s I used to pick the burrs out of the dead hair when I brushed the cats and stuffed it into a growing mat between the mattress and bedsprings. Had a pretty good mess of it built up before my marriage broke up in ’92, but when I was packing my goods I forgot to retrieve it.
I’ve begun the project several more times during the years since, but I don’t have the stamina and stick-with-itness anymore, I suppose. Those hairballs get a foot or so in diameter and I lose heart, forget it until the stuff ends up discarded, then begin again when the thought returns as a mild enthusiasm.
I’m reminded of this because such a project would be out of question of late. Those cats are determined to bring every burr in the village of Placitas into the house and store them up for hard times.
Maybe they know something they can do with them. Make some sort of basket to lie in and sleep. I dunno.
Jack
So Far From Heaven 