The house runs on cat time. Not the time we pretend to control with clocks and calendars, not the schedules we write on whiteboards or set in our phones, but the quiet, stubborn rhythm the cats decide without ever telling us a thing. Twice a day, the bowls appear. Twice a day, they eat. The litter box gets used, covered, and left cleaner than it was. The water dish gets dipped into, the counter gets walked across, and the windowsill gets claimed. All of it happens when it happens, and we follow because we have to.
This category is for those small, everyday ceremonies that keep the house alive. Feeding. Litter. Cleaning. The little patrols that happen without fanfare or permission. No one announces them. No one needs to. They just occur, same as yesterday, same as tomorrow, because the cats say so. We think we're managing the day. We're not. We're just part of the background while they run the show.
We humans would make this complicated. We'd buy special bowls, timed feeders, scented litter, self-cleaning boxes, and apps that track every scoop and bite. We'd debate dust levels, odor control, and placement in the perfect corner. The cats don't debate. They eat when the bowls are full. They use the box when it's clean enough for their standards. They move on. The ritual is simple because it has to be. Anything more would be our problem, not theirs.
This page contains articles and notes from the notebook that outgrew itself. Pieces that watch these routines unfold, not to explain them, not to improve them, just to notice. The way the fluffy one takes slow, thoughtful bites while the striped one works faster. The way the fluffy one waits outside the box while the striped one finishes. The way the house settles around these small acts like they're the most important thing in the world. Because to the cats, they are.
Stay if you want to remember how simple the day can be. Stay if you want to laugh at yourself for thinking you set the schedule. Stay if you just want to sit quietly with someone else who watches the clockwork no one set.
Hard to tell if the cats know we're following their time. Probably us who need the following more.
That's enough, isn't it? The cats don't need our articles. They have their routines. And we are better for it!
