YE BEASTIESIt is only recently that I attained to that level of knowledge which now permits me to be able fully understand what it means to have a pet cat in the home rather than a pet dog.
They are as different from each other as are night from day; prosperity from debtors prison, even up from down.
I have no reason whatsoever to disparage one or the other. We had a collie named "Dolly" in our family for years,. She became a member of our family on the very night – May 20, 1927 – that Charles Augustus Lindberg - the Lone Eagle - flew the Atlantic Ocean all by himself from New York to Paris... Roosevelt to Le Bourget. My father brought the puppy home in a shoe box on the 9:30 N&W train. He also was the one to tell us that Lindy had landed in France. We would not have known about it until the next day, because we did not have a radio until 1929.
So having grown-up with a collie named "Dolly” we, somehow, never seemed to consider kittens or cat as being indoor pets and cats . They were mouse-catchers and had secret passageways from outside and the back porch to our basement. That concept reversed when
I aged a bit and daughter Barbara came to live with us and look after us. Her cat "Angel” came along. We had been without a dog for some years and the cat filled a big need with us.
She is a personality all her very own as she chooses to be at any given time. Her moods are many and somewhat complex, as well. She can be overtly friendly if her mood is tuned to that particular frequency , yet at another time - even while pretending to be the same cat – she can be a stand-offish as blank wall and sit there looking right through you – as you make useless suggestions.
Some nights she will open our bedroom door – left ajar for her convenience’ feel the bounce she jumps up on the foot end of the bed. Usually she inspects each of us; then settles down along the lower end of bed like a yard-long bolster of white and gray fur with neatly arranged patches of black.
She is, I am sure, an exceptional animal in many ways, I am sure. She listen to all and retains her rights to do as she pleases. To her credit, she does learn. She respects author thy, too and a firm "No!" is usually enough to curb her natural response.
She reacts instantly to strange noises both internal and external...as a good watch cat should.
She as great patience and I feel I have learned a lot to this point.
Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 7-15-06 [c474wds]
