Observing

The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.
~ Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

- - - - -

I saw a cat walking through our yard the other day. "Oh! A cat!" I said cleverly.

Leslie then saw it and said, "That's not a cat!" 

I said, "Oh, it's a woodchuck!" 

Leslie said, "That's probably what's been getting in the garden! Or maybe it's a groundhog. What's the difference?"

I said, "They're the same thing. They belong to the large ground squirrel family called "marmots" first identified by Carl Linnaeus in 1758. Sometimes they are also called 'whistle pigs.'" 

I weirdly know a lot about woodchucks and groundhogs except I don't know what they look like. They look like funny-shaped sort of drunk-walking cats. (pause) Actually, that's a pretty good description. I guess I do know what they look like.

I also know that they make Leslie scream if they try to come in the screen door. And I know that Leslie screaming makes me scream. 

I know a lot.