At 2:40 am this morning (Thursday, 10.21), Katya, our five-month-old kitten, stepped on the power button of our Crux blender, and suddenly the joint was filled with a terrible howling...a raw, bludgeoning jackhammer that would awaken Irish banshees from the depths of a foul and sulfuric hell...”VurraAAGGHHHRRRrrrrt!” I was dreaming sweet dreams, and within two or three seconds I was up and stumbling into the kitchen and trying to turn the damn thing off…I finally just pulled the plug. And then, of course, I was unable to get back to sleep. An hour of just lying there, and so I began reading and making notes. Finally re-crashed at 6:30 am.