The dogs today sent a serious warning to the world's leaders. The threat of complete world domination by cats was outlined in a brief prepared by legal specialist Catbonegnawer. Allegations of witchcraft were made. Claims were made that BigDog had been bewitched in some way and was acting very strange throughout the day. It seemed quizzical to most observers to see Kenny_HA2 shout out "Cats are winning - Hooray!!". A spectator asked "Are you always a dog Kenny?" and to the shock of everyone the answer was a very confusing "Not always". Suspicions were confirmed when Softfire reported hearing him purr as she walked past. There was little doubt that some sort of "shape-shifting" had taken place and that some unfettered cat had assumed the shape of the beloved BigDog. The befuddled dogs, reeling with the uncertainty of "who was really who" found the first round ending with the cats leading 7-5. After soaking the dog bones in catnip in the second round the lead climbed to 15-9 at the end of 2 rounds. Harrietcocker, mathematician extraordinaire, quickly computed the chances of a dog comeback. After factoring in the pixie dust found around the alley it was decided to file the report. It is anticipated that immediate action will not be taken by world leaders. The cats, being part of the Security Council, have veto powers and will presumably block any proposed intervention. The dogs will have to find a way to combat the mystically powered cats until the Council can sort the whole thing out. Advice on how to combat this new development is being solicited by the dogs. Suggestions have already been made to recruit their own witch or maybe even a wizard or warlock. The suggestion of getting a dragon to help balance the dragon power has some merit. Pomfretd is, after all, a friend of the GreenJade one. There are certainly many outside the alley who could add to the new mystical look of the battles. It will be interesting to see if an increased number of pixies, elves and others start joining the fray. One thing for sure, Iain will have the inside track on the Leprechauns. I would also figure that one of our UK friends could probably recruit the Gnomes of Dull-witch. I certainly feel we will be seeing a lot of magical spells and pixie dust flying around in the near future. I just hope nobody turns me into a frog. Final score today was Cats 27 - Dogs 21.

WANTED: Alley Watchman - Part time, one day per month. Lousy pay but great working conditions. All the leftover cat food and dog biscuits you can eat. Excellent training for persons seeking employment as hockey referees, or election coordinators. Must be skilled in ignoring bomb threats. Immunity to physical and mental intimidation would be an asset. Experience in masochism a must.

Successful applicants will join with OldYank and Iain in monitoring the alley one week each month. Training will be provided and extra keys to the alley will be issued to enable you to write and post reports (reports may be e-mailed to me for posting until you feel comfortable).

A number of reasons are prompting this request, not the least of which is freeing up some time to organize some more tournaments with different formats. I would like to try individual tournaments, knock-out pairs, and even a team of 4. These would be tried just for fun to see how they work and if there is enough interest, we could keep going. Some of the tournaments are so simple, we could play them on an impromptu basis. If we had enough people to make up a tournament, we could just start one up. The advanced lounges use this concept and it seems to work very nicely.

The more "directors" we can develop in our lounge, the more fun it can be for the community. Please let me know if you are willing to get involved. [email protected]

Where are they now? Remember the old TV show with that name? It traced the whereabouts of the rich and famous that seemed to disappear from public view. I would like to re-open the show with a slightly different theme. Where are the friends we used to laugh and play with every week? Some of the most wonderful people in the community have virtually disappeared from the alley. Did they go away mad? Have they stopped playing at Yahoo? Gone to another lounge? Too busy? - Where are they now?

Let's make an effort to renew old friendships and find some of our missing cats and dogs. I am going to keep the "where are they now" line in each of the future posts. If you think of someone who we haven't seen for a while, let me know on Saturday and I will add their name to the line. Those who know them well can invite them to return. Here is a start:

Seen on the fire escape: Julie/Borderline, NoseyDuck, Ispuppy, Cave_Draco, Ruff_hi, Chickchester, Dmoen

Welcome new friends: Patdean; Destiny_Designer; Lockupurgirls; Redos2day

Welcome back old friends: Catherine; Joelf

Slams were bid and made by: Tuerchat/Francylou (sub Galeb) - 6H & 6S; Softfire/Rueful_Rabbit - 6S

The trophy for purrrrfect 3-0 game goes to: Tuerchat/Francylou (sub Galeb); Patdean/BjBjr

The Cats were: Tuerchat/Francylou(sub_GaleB); Incognito_uk/Scorpiokirsten; Scaterbrain/lecatsmeow; Golfnldy/Redbird; Ladyvamp/Destiny_Designer; Melkor_Vala/Roblyn; Debb/Dastarly; Nuageman/Nonny; Bobmt/Vern; Patdean/BjBjr; CoolJoew/Arzcxy1; Mickifinn/Cosmarch

The Dogs were: Jean/Xbrorsen; Betty77boop/Nanook; Harrietcocker/Woo7NT; Lockupurgirls/Deltagayl; Pomfretd/Kippers/Borderline; Pob/Sunny_OR; Catbonegnawer/Msrazz; Kenny_HA2/Cathugo; Softfire/Rueful_Rabbit; Catherine/Joelf; Redos2day/Seaweed; Suegloss/glossit