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Saturday, February 05, 2005
OU R CAT
Ours has not always been a household where cats were welcomed.
That change is one we have learned about in our later years and it has proved to be a good thing for us - possibly something we ought to have done years ago.
We were not, and never have been "cat haters", of course. We had a number of cats as outdoor members of the larger family, so we have not been cat haters, of course. We had cats - many of them at times - and we valued their presence in the family-farm pattern in which we have lived.
"When the house cat sleeps - all is well." That sentiment could well have been something the Town Crier called out at night. Watch a cat at sleep. They can , and do, actually sleep with their eyes open. The lids are up just a fraction; enough for you to see the pupils of their eyes - always looking right at you, or, "through" you, it seems. The pupils appear to be lifeless; they do not "follow" your movements. It is as if the cat has placed its nerve center on stand-by alert to react accordingly if anything comes within the line of sight which seems to be out of the ordinary. When all is well, that same cat will sprawl across a bed, cushion, table or space on the floor to its full one-yard length, stretch its head out loose and oddly twisted at time and sleep totally with deadly intensity. When they do that you can be sure your home is secure.
Our cat - who answers to the name "Angel" when she is in the mood to do so has what we call "a mind of her own". She lives by a rigid Code
of Conduct which will not vary. She knows who she likes or dislikes; she knows who controls the food supply and can tell when the door of a specific car has been slammed shut in the driveway outside the house, and a bearer of foodstuffs will be entering the the front door. Be there!
We are fortunate, I find, in that our "Angel" is a fastidious feline. There is no "do-nothing time" for her. She is preening, tongue-washing rubbing or re-arranging fur at every lull in activity. She is neat, careful and efficient in her dining room and bathroom areas. She does not beg for, or eat table scraps of any kind. I would say she is a serious cat, but there are times when she want to run and play. She can chase imaginary objects or real ones if available. She enjoys rearranging snarls of oxygen transfer tubing which is common to our floors when she is in a playful mood. This morning, while I was pretending to chase her, she plainly told me:"All work and no play, takes seven of your years away."
A.L.M. February 5, 2005 [c494wds]
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