Episode

That Time I Bought a Cat

Podcast
Relatively Stable
Published
Mar 5, 2026
Duration seconds
1069
Processing state
not_requested
Canonical source
https://stableroots.substack.com/p/that-time-i-bought-a-cat
Audio
https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/189319129/de4344d883d8e59ed21c51e163d8863f.mp3
JSON
/v1/public/podcasts/relatively-stable-7026682/episodes/that-time-i-bought-a-cat
Markdown
/podcast/relatively-stable-7026682/that-time-i-bought-a-cat.md

Actions

  • POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/relatively-stable-7026682/episodes/that-time-i-bought-a-cat/transcription-requests
    Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.
  • GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/relatively-stable-7026682/that-time-i-bought-a-cat.md
    Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.

Summary

That Time I Bought a Cat (And Then Purchased Another) In this week’s episode, I’m reading my latest Stable Roots essay — a piece about cats, yes, but also about grief, land, financial contraction, hospice care, and the quiet investments that hold us steady when everything else feels uncertain. The year I bought two Siberian cats was the same year my father entered hospice, we lost the farm we had stewarded for two decades, and Christopher and I signed for a historic property that would become Lavender Hill. I had never purchased a cat before. The decision felt indulgent at the time. It turns out it was something else entirely. This episode explores: - Why the Hermitage Museum has cats guarding its galleries - The difference between rescue and presence - What it means to be responsible for everyone else And why sometimes the smallest purchases anchor us through the largest transitions If you are building something that depends on you — land, family, business, community — this week's essay may resonate with you. Get full access to Stable Roots at stableroots.substack.com/subscribe