So my wife comes home last Saturday from a church picnic and heads for the bathroom. I then hear a scream from her like I'd never heard before!

That was the beginning of two fun-filled days undoing the damage that was wrought by our cat, Tiger.

Understand that Tiger, a lithe Belgian cat, is a jumper -- able to leap onto kitchen counters in a single bound. He's already caused my wife enough heartache by accessing even the most isolated plants in the house and giving them a case of the noms. As a result, she ended up giving away all her plants. Tiger is also a problem drinker; not content with the water bowl we set out for him and Sandy (our chunky ginger tabby), he laps at the kitchen faucet when he has a mind to.

What apparently happened last weekend was that Tiger got into the bathroom and figured out how to work the one-handle control of the bathroom sink. Either that or he rubbed up against it for the sake of rubbing up against it. Anyway, unsupervised running water plus slow drain equals ... you do the math.

Water soaked down through the bathroom floor into the basement and onto a number of boxes and containers. I hauled out the wet-dry vac and eventually set up a box fan pointing at the ceiling to dry out the floorboards while Nancy inventoried the losses. The cardboard boxes which were declared total losses were taken a few days later to a recycling place.

Things are pretty much back to normal now; there's still some sorting and planning to do in the basement. And despite the heartache and headache, we're not getting rid of Tiger.

So I don't know if he's cunning or we're crazy or both.