This flu holds on tenaciously, and seemingly everyone around here has it. My wife started her decline late morning. I am three days in and feeling almost as crappy tonight as the first evening. As such, I present another sickly post; something easy before early bedtime overtakes me.
Granted, Christmas is behind us. Ho. Ho. Ho. I neglected to share a special stocking for Rick, who appeared in my “Cat’s of University Heights” series in August 2021. He relocated himself from a home in an alley to a house on the street, where he is treated lavishly by the new owners and garners massive amounts of petting by passersby.
For 2025, besides frequently provided AI-generated Rick stickers, the cat’s caretakers put up a stocking. Unconfirmed rumor has it that somebody put coal in his stocking to match his fur color (not because he is a bad boy, although that designation is disputable).
I used Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra to shoot the Featured Image on Dec. 22, 2025. Vitals: f/1.7, ISO 80, 1/4000 Sec, 23mm (film equivalent); 11:21 a.m. PST. The second shot, taken with same smartphone, is from Nov. 13, 2025. Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 100, 1/800 sec, 70mm (film equivalent); 12: 58 p.m.