Monday January 5, 2004
...............................................................................Greetings and Happy New Year.
Not that I choose to recognize any difference from one year to the next - they're all the same, y'know?
Things got kinda hectic around here this past weekend - the Husband and Wife took it upon themselves to dismantle that tree that had been occupying a considerable portion of the living room. They do this every year - they bring a tree into the house and hang things on it. Lotsa people come over to look at it. Eventually the tree starts shedding needles all over the place and they realize this was not a good idea, and they get rid of it.
After the tree removal, they took a break and went out shopping, returning with bags of goodies that were the by-product of "gift cards" (things used to celebrate holidays, I believe). Pretty soon the living room was cluttered with new dvd's and computer stuff added to the ornaments that had, until that morning, been adorning the aforementioned tree (which now lies on its side out on the deck, awaiting one final inspection for missed ornaments).
They spent the rest of the day sorting the old and the new, finding places for everything.
Yesterday the Wife went to New York City. That's a place about a hundred miles away where they have plays every night that attract humans from everywhere. An interesting concept. I hear they had one about Cats. She went with her sister's family while the Husband stayed home That usually means lots of uninterrupted lap time, but not this time. The Husband was up and down the stairs, storing away boxes of the stuff that had recently been placed on that tree all around the house. Both c.c. and I happily followed along underfoot, nosing our way into a crawl space in the garage where all these boxes will reside until the next time they get the urge to drag a tree into the house.
We did get fed a bit later than usual, but just in time - the Husband was sleeping soundly on the couch shortly thereafter.
I joined him. My kind of new year.
Sunday January 11, 2004
...............................................................................It's cold out. So I don't go there.
c.c. does, but she's odd. Although she doesn't stay long.
The Husband and Wife both go out, but you can tell they don't like it.
It'll get warm again in a couple months.
I can wait.
Saturday January 17, 2004
...........................It snowed again last week. The weather humans on tv knew it was coming and alerted all the other humans to it. But they don't have a cat's instincts for that stuff. They use computer models and prevailing winds and past-performance history and like that. Cats have an in-born, natural sense of change. They don't just know when it's gonna snow, they know how bad it's gonna be. And they find shelter. Humans seem more concerned with how many inches of snow they're gonna have to shovel than how much trouble it's gonna be.
A wet snow is harder to negotiate than a dry snow - this was a very dry snow. We know which it's gonna be. Sometimes we don't know 'til it starts, but we know early enough to make adjustments. We know when and where to find shelter, how far we can travel safely, and, in c.c.'s case, how to play in it
There was lots of snow last year, and c.c. never hesitated to venture out into a fresh snow. This year we've had only one other snow so far, but the ugly cold has kept both c.c. and me indoors. I'm not a kitten any more, but I'll check out the snow when it arrives. And c.c. is no longer a kitten any more either, but I don't know if she realizes that yet. She was out there playing in it briefly, but now she's spending more time indoors lately annoying me (still a kitten at heart).
And I annoy back. We can have fun indoors too.
Friday January 23, 2004
....................There's lots of indoor activities going on here lately (it's too cold to do anything outdoors). Last weekend the Husband and some other humans demolished part of the bathroom. They put new stuff back in its place, but the walls are a mess. And they're gonna do more this weekend.
Then last night a coupla people came over and joined the Wife while they spread large amounts of paper and rubber stamps all over the dining room table and stamped for hours. There was ink and paint and paper scraps everywhere. Another mess.
And tonight some guy is coming over to decide how best to annihilate the kitchen cabinetry. It's just a preliminary thing - he'll come back later with a buncha guys and do a thorough destruction. All with the Wife's blessing - she's even paying them to wreak their particular havoc.
And we get yelled at for scratching at the carpet.
Friday January 30, 2004
...................I've pretty much accepted the fact that we're gonna be housebound felines for the winter. We had more snow last week, which has further impeded our outdoor activities, but I'd gotten pretty tired of it already, and I wasn't going to let it get me down
So yesterday the Husband was out shoveling the driveway, and I joined him. Not as an observer from a sheltered nook, but as a faithful feline, chasing after him in his footsteps, and batting chunks of snow around that he had dislodged with his shovel. He enjoyed my company, and would toss bits of snow into the banks for me to chase. He was amazed that my aging and overweight self could still leap over the banks and dive into the snow.
Of course, once I pounced onto the tossed snow chunk, it disappeared, so I then chased myself around in circles in the snow before barreling headlong into the open garage. Waiting there, not getting her pads chilled by venturing out, was c.c., watching in fascination and amazement. We exchanged looks, then I returned to the snow in a more dignified elder cat style. But only for about a second. Then I jumped back over the bank after a chunk of snow, once more tossed by the Husband.
Normally, c.c. would be filling this role, but I think she was just too surprised by my antics to join in. She's learning that, although older, one can still be a kitten at heart.
And I'm still doing the teaching :)
Thursday February 5, 2004
..............................Greetings to Miss Kitty, the newest foo.
I used to think that the biggest differences between humans and felines was calendars and the human need to celebrate specific days by engaging in predetermined rituals appropriate for the given date (e.g. Super Bowl Sunday - eating and belching while viewing 16 hours of tv devoted to a 3-hour football game. Or birthdays with cakes and candles).
But I was wrong.
Humans collect things. Not to enjoy then discard. Just to have them and keep forever. That's why they live in houses with multiple rooms - so they can have places to keep stuff that accumulates over a lifetime. Unlike we animals, who travel light, accumulating nothing that will slow us down.
The Husband and Wife are planning to build a stairway to the attic, so it'll be easier to carry stuff up to a new level. They're finally running out of room to store things down here :)
Just last week the Wife brought home another car. The two humans in this house now have six cars between them. Why they need six cars I dunno - c.c. and I have no use for them. But they both say they're getting rid of one car each. Soon. Yeah.
They'll probably try to put 'em in the attic.
Tuesday February 17, 2004
...............................Equality.
French humans include it in their national motto. American humans declared it along with their indepence. Humans made equality a political thing, which makes it subject to legal interpretation. Some humans are more equal than others. All men are created equal, said the U.S. founding fathers. But not women or slaves. They later realized that neither exception was a good idea and amended their interpretations so that all humans are considered equal.
How about all mammals are created equal? Are we not all built essentially the same with lungs, a heart and liver, a skeletal structure, two eyes, a nose, a mouth, all positioned relatively the same on our faces? Is it just our actions and appearances that make us unequal? Is a faithful pet or a rescue animal less equal than a human serial killer?
Is Albert Einstein the equal of Joe Millionaire? Humans vary over a broad range. That range could easily be extended to other creatures. Dolphins are considered to have a higher IQ than humans. They reason, plan and care. Are they equal to humans? If equality spread from men to women to slaves, couldn't it progress beyond humans?
In Colorado, humans are a pet's caregivers, not their owners. A smart move, but we've got a long way to go. And we will get there, sometime in the future.
Equality is just a matter of degree.
Monday February 23, 2004
...............................cc. expressions
I really liked having that Christmas tree in our living room recently. It gave me a place to nap that was reminiscent of the outdoors, without the cold and wet. I even shared it willingly with Opie.
But all good things must end, and one day the tree was gone. Or was it?
It ended up out on the deck on the other side of the glass door. Usually the Husband would drag it back to the woods and leave as winter shelter for the woodsy critters. But not this time.
It turns out that one of the Wife's decorations (she has hundreds she would hang on that tree) was missing, and she feared that it might still be somewhere in that tree, so it laid out there until she could go through it, branch by branch, to find that missing decoration.
Except then the snow, rain and freezing temperatures arrived, and it never got the necessary inspection. It laid out there for weeks.
Recently we had a coupla nice days, and I was out on the deck, when a glimmer of something within the tree caught my wary and curious eye. I retrieved it and was batting it around the deck when the Husband noticed me and came out to join me. Who knew I had what he was looking for?
So they have their decoration back, and the tree has been moved to the woods. Does that mean spring is coming soon?
Sunday February 29, 2004
...............................It's leap year day. As a cat, that means nothing to me, except as a point of fascination in my ongoing study of human nature.
Humans go to impossible lengths to support their own conjured-up philosophies. Leap year is the consumate example. Someone figured out that one complete revolution of the sun took 365 days and built a calendar. Someone was wrong; it actually takes a quarter-day longer. So every four years their calendar invention is off by a whole day. No problem; to the arbitrarily-derived calender they arbitrarily added an extra day every four years, and the Great Arbitrary Calender was made right, after three years of increasing inaccuracy.
But wait! That trip around the sun isn't exactly a quarter-day longer; it's actually twelve minutes shy of a quarter-day. So adding a day every four years eventually puts the calendar ahead of the constant, steady, unflinching, unadjusted orbit of the Earth that God and Nature had intended. No problem; every hundred years, mankind just drops one of the leap years to bring things back in line. Yes, calendar-dependent humans, once every hundred years, there is an eight-year stretch between February 29ths. It was determined (again, arbitrarily) that the hundredth year of further adjustment to be stripped of its February 29th would be that year ending in 00.
But wait! Four years ago ended in 00, and it had a February 29th! How can this be? Well, chronology junkies, that deficit in the extra quarter day isn't precisely twelve minutes; it is in actuality 11 minutes, 14.49 seconds (I am NOT making this up!). So every 400 years, another tweak puts back the leap year they took out. So, time-calculators, we are already four years into another 400-year slide to imprecision.
And finally, the atomic scientists (the Keepers of the Holy Calendar) secretly and frequently add leap seconds to the grand scheme of things to cover all the imperfections not covered by the above machinations. They don't tell you because your head would explode.
How cool is that quartz watch now, bunky?
Saturday March 6, 2004
...............................Greetings to Pumpkin, a Cocker Spaniel (a member of the Dog persuasion).
Pumpkin offered some interesting advice regarding the eradication of rodents. She feels that the strategic placement of mint will encourage resident mice to pack up and leave town. It seems her resident human tried that and by the next day they were mouse-free. However, the intense aroma of said mint causes insomnia in humans. But I guess if humans want a simple way to demouse their quarters, losing a little sleep is a small cost to that end.
However, c.c. and I go to a lot of trouble to collect these little critters. Humans are really not very appreciative. We bring 'em in, they chase 'em around for a while (yeah, they'll play with 'em, even though they had nothing to do with their capture) until they get tired, then they just let 'em go. They don't ask if we might want 'em back (we don't - once they're captured, our work is done - but it would be nice if they made the gesture).
It's been a while since either of us has brought home a critter of any species. I've pretty much retired from the activity. Not that my capture skills have been diminished in any way; I just don't enjoy the tedium of finding them like I used to. And while c.c. is no longer a kitten (she's five now), she doesn't realize that. I still watch her snoop endlessly through the undergrowth at the edge of the woods every morning. But it is still winter, and the small woodsy critters have all burrowed in for the duration. The days are getting progressively warmer, however, and it won't be long before they begin venturing out.
And the fun will resume for all :)
Thursday March 18, 2004
...............................As I have noted before, cats are creatures of habit, because there is security in routine. A cat likes to know what to expect. It's one of the reasons we allow humans to experience our presence - they're so predictable. Adapting to new routines means reassessing security levels.
So it gets annoying when they start moving things around. One thing we trust humans with is our daily feedings. These take place in the kitchen. And it's the kitchen they're moving around. We feel displaced. Fortunately we trust these particular humans with our security, so annoyance is as bad as it gets.
So they moved the refrigerator. Normally not a concern, but I have this carefully choreographed routine that allows me to follow the Husband around underfoot at mealtimes. Changing the refrigerator's position means changing his pattern of moving about the kitchen, which means altering my routine so he doesn't trip over me (he almost has twice). Annoying.
And while my food dishes are in the same general location, c.c.'s have moved. That wouldn't bother me, except that they've moved closer to me. We used to eat in opposite corners of the kitchen, but the Wife has added another cabinet to c.c.'s corner, relocating her two feet closer to me. I guess I'll adjust to that too.
And I understand they're going to be putting a whole new floor beneath us - laminated wood - won't have the traction of the vinyl floor.
And we'll adapt to that too. We're cats - it's what we do.
At this point c.c. developed a serious infection requiring surgery and was hospitalized
Sunday April 4, 2004
...............................The Husband and Wife have been kinda preoccupied for the last coupla days, so it is incumbent upon me to update the situation with c.c.
The timeline so far is this:
Wed. 3/31 - c.c. was diagnosed with an infection and given antibiotics.
Fri. 4/2 - Her situation worsened and she was taken to a big animal hospital for emergency surgery. They drained dozens of small but painful abscesses and removed a lot of dead tissue. She came through the surgery okay considering her weak condition, and she was put on intravenous pain killers and antibiotics.
Sat. 4/3 - She hadn't eaten solid food since Wednesday and her blood glucose suddenly dropped, causing her to have a seizure. The medical staff (the Husband and Wife can't say enough nice things about them) were right on top of it, and she is okay in that respect; they added sugar to the iv fluids. But her white blood cells are not rebounding sufficiently to fight off the remaining infection. They are giving her transfusions to help her white cells rebuild. But they were running out of feline plasma.
They found more plasma at a hospital south of us, and the Husband and Wife volunteered to pick up the needed supplies and deliver them. After picking up the plasma (from 25 miles south of here), they drove it to c.c.'s hospital 50 miles north, only to discover they'd been given canine plasma instead of feline plasma.
The doctor was not happy. Neither were the Spouses. The hospital staff began calling every hospital they knew of to find more plasma. The Husband and Wife were permitted back to c.c.'s cage (a roomy affair) for a chat and pet. She was happy to see them and began meowing her appreciation. She had a large protective bandage around her middle and several tubes attached to her front leg. She was still weak, but she was awake and held her head up.
The staff found some feline plasma in Asbury Park (25 miles away and some 70 miles from the first hospital). The Husband and Wife again volunteered to be couriers and made the 50-mile round trip in just over an hour and c.c. was given a fresh transfusion. If the white cells don't begin regenerating soon, they will need to put in a feeding tube to get her strength up. For the moment she is stable.
The Husband and Wife are back home, and the waiting begins again.
I miss the little bonehead. It's been way too quiet around here.
c.c. never recovered. It was too sudden and too final. It was more that a week before updates resumed.
Wednesday April 14, 2004
...............................Cats don't reason. They don't need to know why. They just observe and adapt to a changing situation. So when a cat's best friend one day is no longer there, the cat adapts to the change with each passing day without wondering why. He has no choice. It's a natural course of events, and it applies to all living creatures (although humans do hide it with an overwhelming need to know why).
It's a survival instinct. Dwelling in the past is not healthy for animals (including humans). So the cat adapts to the absence of his friend as a matter of survival. It's a natural progression.
But that doesn't mean it's easy.
Phase Two ended.