"x" marks the spot...

...large ,heavy pieces of cardboard can be so useful when one is in a full-on cleaning/painting mode... J had been using just such a large piece to cover the wood floor in the "hall"[it's really a "box in the middle of my house that leads everywhere and is mostly trim{doors,built-in cupboards,closets}] while spackling, scraping and sanding the old[nasty lead-based painted] wood trim, prior to painting...there are 2 metal grates[furnace return vents] in the floor and since the sunny, warm weather wouldn't be here much longer, I wanted to paint them today,leaving 2 more for tomorrow...so in an effort to keep kitties from an intimate knowledge of the duct system,we decided to cover the whole area with the cardboard, marking 2 boxes where the grates "weren't",and putting a large "x" in each "box", to remind us both NOT to step there...all went well for hours, despite a couple of fancy steps to avoid the "x"s...then, when we were ready to return the now-painted and dry grates to their spots, what did we find , but Gracie, "Cat of Danger", making quite a "hammock" of one of the "boxes" on the cardboard...lucky for her, there was a good border around her box, or she would have been Gracie of the "cat"acombs[ducting system]...she wouldn't move and had to be pushed from her "spot"...now that the grates are back, she keeps eyeing the one that replaced her cardboard hammock...I can't wait to see where she will establish residency next...