marg

Oh, sorry everyone, I didn't mean to depress things..

errmm..

..my sister's cat (Odbod) used to run out to play with the birds, because he was quite lonely and very friendly, and she actually trained him to 'bite nose' on command, which surprised quite a few people [but made us howl with laughter..]

my cat, Waltzer (after Dire Straits), just used to take repeated flying jumps at the bedroom door to open it, and then wander in nonchalantly, jump on the bed and breathe on my face - a guaranteed instant wake-up !

.. and a kid that worked for me had a mad cat that waited behind the door, and when visitors came in, leapt out and bit them.. but then she was the girl whose tortoises kept leaving home and heading down the street, or walked up and down the attic all night when they were supposed to be hibernating.. or ate pork chops..

Baldur

That was a rather depressing song marg, sorry about that.
I was looking for a losing your cat song but there doesn't seem to be many (or any for that matter) to choose from. All that talk about Aja got Baldur thinking about Seekie.
Seekie used to bite my nose actually, but not on command.
She would jump up on the bed and walk over to Robert and kiss him on the nose. Then she would come up to me very much the way and bite my nose instead of kiss it. Robert would always laugh over this.
Then I would get up and bite the back of her neck much like a mother cat would do when picking up a kitten, except not trying to pick her up.
I'd growl a little, she'd fall and roll over and try to grab me with her paws, purring loudly the whole time. Then she walk away and wash herself.
Some variation of this went on every night.

Qsilv

There was a fashion for "tear-jerker" songs around the turn of the last century... my grandparents used to sing these amazing old tales in lovely harmony while clearing up and washing the dishes together each evening... and I would help wipe dishes and try not to let them see me dripping tears into the linen towel........
; /

marius

Qsilv, that makes me think of what was lost with the modern improvement of dishwashers. Maybe that's why I like hand-washing and hand-drying of dishes. And, promise not to start on the joys of washing dishes by hand ... restraining self.

marius

But, sorry that song hurt, marg. I get that way about some things but figured the song was about Baldur giving a tribute to his beloved Seekie and tributes are so needed. From that view it seemed rather sweet, but perhaps that's cause I was also enjoying the Aja, Zoe/Zoey and other cat and animal stories so much. These little critters do manage to find the deepest recesses of the heart.

Which leads to ... Missouri cat moments:

We've had our 12 year old calico for 9 years. Someone dumped her where I worked when it was zero degrees outside. We eventually figured out she had moved into the barn and was eating mice. I was always the last one to leave work and for about two weeks, that cat would be waiting for me. She'd let me pet her but that was all. We left out food and finally one of the staff persons caught her. Then, oh horrors, it was suggested that I take her in. I had never wanted a cat, but swear that when I peaked in at her, she meowed, "Take me home." We took her in as a foster cat ... meaning we didn't know how it'd work out. (Work out - right! I was besotted in about ten seconds.)

She lived with us in that house for four years and one of her favorite nighttime adventures was watching the couch. The exact second someone would get up to do something, she'd dive into the warmed up place and when you returned, she'd act as if nothing was unusual or different. So, we'd move her to the middle of the couch. She'd act intensely offended to be moved, but then, patiently, she'd wait for the next opportunity. All night long she'd be trying to steal either my place or spouse's. Then we moved to this house. Five years we've lived here and she seemed to have forgotten her penchant for stealing comfortable seating places. Well ... she has remembered!

The entire past week, she just sits around scheming on how to dislodge us from our places so she can steal them. When you go to move her, she somehow manages to increase her mass so that instead of weighing twelve pounds, she feels like she weighs 24 pounds, or even 44! I know all cat lovers must have experienced this magical increasing of weight/mass. (No wonder people feared cats ... it truly is a bit of magic to suddenly make yourself weigh a ton more than normal!) We have been laughing ourselves silly over the return of the place-stealing cat.

We wish she'd return to her tissue-paper days. Those were most entertaining! She adored tissue paper (you know, the flimsy stuff people use in gift bags). I was buying it constantly because she'd nest in it in her special box in the living room. She especially liked sheets of the tissue paper to be placed around the floor so she could hide under them to pounce out at you, or as the mood came or went, to attack the paper and rip it to shreds. We went through mounds and mounds of the stuff.

And I bet AuntieB will appreciate this ... since the cat is the kind with lots of white and big patches of red/brown and black, I had to buy RED tissue paper to "bring out her colors." Dark purple looked nice on her too. : )

marg

oh, what a wonderful cat you've got, Marius.. and Baldur, Seekie just sounds TOOO believable..

mind you, I have to wonder, which century was turning in Qsilv's mind ? ..

Baldur

she + 'd = she'd

Baldur

+same

Baldur really messed up on proofreading

matthew

I personally hate pfoorraeding, but then, I dot'n need to do I...

Baldur

Baldur wishes he were so gifted.

Yesterday I won an auction on eBay, it was for an odd variety of snake plant. Instead of the usually slightly incurved swordlike leaves these are cylindrical. Imagine thick scallions that are solid inside. The exterior looks rather like watermelon skin, lustrous mottled green with an almost waxy polished finish.
My favorite tropical plant greenhouse sells these plants for $29.95 plus shipping $ handling (USD).
There on eBay was a young one with a requested opening bid of $2 plus $6 shipping & handling.
I put in the $2 bid and crossed my fingers. Baldur won the auction at 1:30 yesterday afternoon.
Wonderful, right away I went into Paypal and transferred over an instant payment to the gentleman who happened to live in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
Today at 2pm Ed, my mailman delivers a box.
It's my plant!
Can you beat that?
I checked the label it was sent First Class, not Overnight Express.
Life is good.
Right now it's just been potted up and is already in the foyer of Chez Baldur.

Baldur

- $ + &

Dragon

LOL at the couch watching cat. When I live in Kelowna I once caught the pets couch watching. I came upstairs in the morning to get ready for work and found 1 cat and the dog staring intently at the couch. This couch had very low clearance and you could barley fit a hand under it, so I tried looking under it but saw nothing that could be so interesting to them. After eating my breakfast I returned to the living room to find both cats and the dog were now absolutly intent on the couch. So in an effort to show them there was nothing interesting there I gave the couch a shove and moved it over a few inches. To my surprise something brown, furry and incredibly fast went flying back under the couch to safety. Well, I couldn't just keep pushing the couch around hoping it would stay out long enough to be caught and being home alone meant I had no one but the pets to help me out. So I lifted the couch up and let the cats chase it out from under (it was a chipmunk!). They chased it behind the stereo speaker and decided to play a bit, they were not thrilled with me when I grabbed it up by the scruff and threw it back outside.

Dragon

I've always loved Snake plants but sadly can't seem to keep them alive. I'm afraid I'm a neglectful plant mommy. I wish they would cry when they're hungry like my furry children do.
I've never heard of a cylindrical snake plant before though, sounds intriguing!

Qsilv

Ok, I'm not easily unnerved (oh c'mon, do try to LOOK surprised) but one scene sticks with me -- wandering into my kitchen at o'god-o'clock one morning and finding my two old dogs and two cats sitting upright in a perfect circle, all calmly facing each other about two feet apart... the queen cat was up on a kitchen stool at easy eye level with the dogs, the lesser feline was simply sitting as tall as he could. They all turned slowly and surveyed me... but not a one budged out of position, and after a very few seconds each head turned back to their own ..er... conversation. I got out a cup, a saucer... I made tea... I was the only moving creature for a good 10 minutes... and believe me, I was the one who left first!

Dragon

I think that would be unsettling Qsilv. No one can give that "And just what do you think you're looking at?" stare quite like a cat. I recall a time I was at my mom's place and I had my cat Ozzy with me, he was just an adolescent at the time and hadn't yet grown his gracefulness (actually he's 10 years old now and still has yet to show signs of grace but that's neither here nor there). He tried to jump up into the window not realizing that my mom's windows had very narrow sills and he fell out with a rather undignified thump. So, being a cat, he starts grooming himself in that way that says "I meant to do that" and I laughed at him. He turned to give me a withering stare and he had a huge gob of whipped cream on his nose. It took quite a bit of the 'withering' out of the stare.

marius

What great stories! Can only guess at what Qsilv's animals were discussing. How funny is that! And, marg, forgot to say I loved your cat stories too, however the thing that got me is the turtles who were supposed to be hibernating in the attic! Seems a peculiar place for hibernation.

Dragon, love your cat moments too - the couch story with chipmonk and the withering stare. But how did Ozzy get whipped cream on the nose?

marius

Marius is up late because of the new jigsaw puzzle she got for Christmas. I'm farily puzzled-out for now, but it's been decades since I've worked a puzzle and it was so enjoyable that yawns were ignored and it's now way past the bewitching hour. Must say, I wasn't the only one entertained. And, yes, this is another cat story.

Earlier in the evening I had poured out all the pieces, gathered the edge pieces into a little pile and gone off to tend to laundry when spouse came to alert me that Ms. calico had decided all those little puzzle pieces were mice. He said she had had a hey-day, and oh my - she did!

When I returned to the puzzle, the table cloth was halfway off the table and the piles of puzzle pieces looked worse than when I'd poured them out of the box. There were pieces all over the floor and I have no way of knowing yet if any of them were eaten or carried off.

As of now, I have the edge completed and other small sections put together. Not sure what I'll find in the morning as calico had never seen a puzzle until today and it's clear that she likes puzzles too!

Sweet dreams to all.

Baldur

My cats and I always had differences of opinion when it came to jigsaw puzzles. I've not seen a cat yet who has been indifferent to them.
Some eat them, carry the pieces off, just enjoy scattering everything around with their paws or sprawling across them.
A friend of mine left the open box containing some puzzle pieces on his couch only to walk in the room to find his cat has just finished using it as a litter box. Kitty was in the act of burying her 'deposit'.

Robindcr8l

OK, now, I've known about cats and puzzles for a LONG time, but using one as a litter box???? That is NAUGHTY!

My son LOVES jigsaw puzzles. For Christmas I got him a few puzzles, but I also got him this puzzle table. It is made of the same kind of "pressed wood" that say a pegboard would be made of...thin and sturdy, but kind of reminds me of cardboard. On both ends there are 2 little drawers that slide under the table top. So each of the 4 drawers can have separations of pieces, like if there is a section that is all green, you could put those pieces in one drawer. The table top has a lip, so the puzzle can't be knocked off by the kitties. It's a great invention and well worth the money for cat lovers who happen to be puzzle lovers. (Although it won't keep them from carrying loose pieces off unless you keep them stored in the drawers, too.)

Robindcr8l

OK, i know there's some beautiful and amazing artwork in the gallery. But this one still has me laughing today. Thought it might have been overlooked, so had to share it with you guys. We've all been there...
http://thinkdraw.com/picture.php?pictureId=78468