Remember a few posts ago, when I mentioned that Captain had lost some enthusiasm for chasing his feather toy on the stairs, after hitting his head on the metal railing?

Well, for whatever reason, last night he had a major case of the Zoomies, barreling all over the house for no discernable reason. (Usually, both cats get the Zoomies simultaneously, and embark on a stampede-fest up and down the stairs, but tonight, Stanley played the role of spectator to his brother's antics.)

When Captain took a sailing leap to the top of the china closet, Just Because He Could, then immediately made yet another excessively dramatic spring OFF the china closet when both Mark and I hollered at him, I figured it was time to try burning of some of that excess energy in a constructive manner. I brought out the feather toy and started trailing it up and down the stairs. In no time flat, I had an orange stripey critter enthusiastically trailing the feather toy, every inch of the way. :o)

See? I knew that Short Attention Span Syndrome would kick in eventually, and he'd forget that he ever conked himself while playing that game. We played "The toy goes UP the stairs and DOWN the stairs" long enough that Captain thoroughly wore himself out. This was good, on multiple levels. He got the Zoomies out of his system, without breaking anything fragile or (worse yet) landing himself in the veterinary ER. The house is still standing, and the cat is sleeping, so all's right with the world. ;o)

Actually, both cats are sleeping, but unlike Captain, Stanley didn't spend any part of last evening bouncing off the walls and ceiling with excess energy.

And sleeping is where *I* need to be. Flyers Training Camp starts on Friday morning, so I'm getting up early if it's the last darn thing I do.