Spicey 's reading list

Spicey's regular hangout has recently changed to a room where I keep books
that I do not read anymore. I found Spicey meatloafing.

"Hello honey," I said. Spicey looked at me skeptically.

"What'cha reading?" I asked, as I peeked inside the cardboard box beside
her. Ah - various topics that interested me 20 years ago. Fly fishing.
Chess openings. Chaos theory. Quantum electrodynamics. Oh wait, fly
fishing?

"Honey, would you like to play?" Spicey looked at me quizzically now. "I'll
be right back."

I showed Spicey a feather on a stick. I waved it slowly back and forth like
a cat's lazy tail. I wanted to make sure she didn't feel threatened, and
apparently she didn't. She came right up, and followed the feather nose
first, around and around, like a little bloodhound. After a couple of
minutes of following, she seemed to be finished, and walked away and sat
back down.

Next, I brought out the laser. Spicey followed the red dot bug closely with
her eyes, up and down, back and forth, giving it a little swat with a white
and orange mitten each time it scurried past.

Maybe Spicey's interest was mild. But these games did catch her interest. I
don't think you're too dignified to be playful cat, Spicey. I've heard
stories about how you were as a kitten.

Takayuki wrote:

Spicey's regular hangout has recently changed to a room where I keep books
that I do not read anymore. I found Spicey meatloafing.

"Hello honey," I said. Spicey looked at me skeptically.

"What'cha reading?" I asked, as I peeked inside the cardboard box beside
her. Ah - various topics that interested me 20 years ago. Fly fishing.
Chess openings. Chaos theory. Quantum electrodynamics. Oh wait, fly
fishing?

"Honey, would you like to play?" Spicey looked at me quizzically now. "I'll
be right back."

I showed Spicey a feather on a stick. I waved it slowly back and forth like
a cat's lazy tail. I wanted to make sure she didn't feel threatened, and
apparently she didn't. She came right up, and followed the feather nose
first, around and around, like a little bloodhound. After a couple of
minutes of following, she seemed to be finished, and walked away and sat
back down.

Next, I brought out the laser. Spicey followed the red dot bug closely with
her eyes, up and down, back and forth, giving it a little swat with a white
and orange mitten each time it scurried past.

Maybe Spicey's interest was mild. But these games did catch her interest. I
don't think you're too dignified to be playful cat, Spicey. I've heard
stories about how you were as a kitten.

When Licky is nervous, he wouldn't even consider playing. I guess if a
cat feels threatened, predatory activity is put on hold? So maybe as she
starts to feel more relaxed at your place, and with you, she'll start
playing more. Hope so. Suz probably couldn't play with her much, so it
may not be the most familiar activity to her. But she still has the
instinct to track and swat at small moving things, so there's hope for
a reappearance of the playful kitten.

--
Joyce

What I look forward to, is continued immaturity, followed by death.
-- Dave Barry

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
Spicey's regular hangout has recently changed to a room where I keep books
that I do not read anymore. I found Spicey meatloafing.

"Hello honey," I said. Spicey looked at me skeptically.

"What'cha reading?" I asked, as I peeked inside the cardboard box beside
her. Ah - various topics that interested me 20 years ago. Fly fishing.
Chess openings. Chaos theory. Quantum electrodynamics. Oh wait, fly
fishing?

"Honey, would you like to play?" Spicey looked at me quizzically now.
"I'll
be right back."

I showed Spicey a feather on a stick. I waved it slowly back and forth
like
a cat's lazy tail. I wanted to make sure she didn't feel threatened, and
apparently she didn't. She came right up, and followed the feather nose
first, around and around, like a little bloodhound. After a couple of
minutes of following, she seemed to be finished, and walked away and sat
back down.

Next, I brought out the laser. Spicey followed the red dot bug closely
with
her eyes, up and down, back and forth, giving it a little swat with a
white
and orange mitten each time it scurried past.

Maybe Spicey's interest was mild. But these games did catch her interest.
I
don't think you're too dignified to be playful cat, Spicey. I've heard
stories about how you were as a kitten.

I think it's another good start.


--
Joy

Be open to learning new lessons even if they contradict the lessons you
learned yesterday.
-- Ellen DeGeneres

On Tue, 9 Oct 2012 01:20:12 +0000 (UTC), Bastette
wrote:
When Licky is nervous, he wouldn't even consider playing. I guess if a
cat feels threatened, predatory activity is put on hold? So maybe as she
starts to feel more relaxed at your place, and with you, she'll start
playing more. Hope so. Suz probably couldn't play with her much, so it
may not be the most familiar activity to her. But she still has the
instinct to track and swat at small moving things, so there's hope for
a reappearance of the playful kitten.

Ah, Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs - for cats. I like that.

I've never seen as nervous a cat as Licky. Probably that's because they're
all hiding.

Takayuki wrote:

On Tue, 9 Oct 2012 01:20:12 +0000 (UTC), Bastette
wrote:
When Licky is nervous, he wouldn't even consider playing. I guess if a
cat feels threatened, predatory activity is put on hold? So maybe as she
starts to feel more relaxed at your place, and with you, she'll start
playing more. Hope so. Suz probably couldn't play with her much, so it
may not be the most familiar activity to her. But she still has the
instinct to track and swat at small moving things, so there's hope for
a reappearance of the playful kitten.

Ah, Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs - for cats. I like that.

Exactly.

I've never seen as nervous a cat as Licky. Probably that's because they're
all hiding.

I tend to play up his nervousness. It's a cheap laugh. Not that I've
made anything up - all the stories of his suspicion and sudden bolting,
for no reason I can see, are all true. But he has *lots* of relaxed time,
too. He demands petting every single day (loudly and insistently). He's
a big purrbucket when he's being petted. He now has several "safe areas,"
where I'm allowed to touch him, all around the apartment. And when I'm
rubbing his belly, he's a tranced-out, purring, air-biscuit-making fool.

He'll probably always be skittish, but he's definitely learned to enjoy
affection and trust.

--
Joyce

The heck with top and bottom -- I want relationships with strangeness
and charm.

"Takayuki" wrote in message
...
Spicey's regular hangout has recently changed to a room where I keep books
that I do not read anymore. I found Spicey meatloafing.

"Hello honey," I said. Spicey looked at me skeptically.

"What'cha reading?" I asked, as I peeked inside the cardboard box beside
her. Ah - various topics that interested me 20 years ago. Fly fishing.
Chess openings. Chaos theory. Quantum electrodynamics. Oh wait, fly
fishing?

"Honey, would you like to play?" Spicey looked at me quizzically now.
"I'll
be right back."

I showed Spicey a feather on a stick. I waved it slowly back and forth
like
a cat's lazy tail. I wanted to make sure she didn't feel threatened, and
apparently she didn't. She came right up, and followed the feather nose
first, around and around, like a little bloodhound. After a couple of
minutes of following, she seemed to be finished, and walked away and sat
back down.

Next, I brought out the laser. Spicey followed the red dot bug closely
with
her eyes, up and down, back and forth, giving it a little swat with a
white
and orange mitten each time it scurried past.

Maybe Spicey's interest was mild. But these games did catch her interest.
I
don't think you're too dignified to be playful cat, Spicey. I've heard
stories about how you were as a kitten.

Maybe on her reading list should be: Yoga for Cats, subtitled the first
exercise program to reach a higher level of consciousness, y Traudl & Walter
Reiner. At the top of the cover is "The purrfect book for your cat"
By the author's names you can guess that Nüle sent it to me.

She has had quite a few cats and has loved them all, until the one she has
now, she doesn't like him much. It's not like her so I finally got round to
asking why- he scratches her for no reason. In the village where she lived
there was a helpline for unwanted cats and some people thought there was a
facility there to take care of them and started to dump them there.

This is a village of 20 houses, there wasn't and will never be anywhere to
dump a cat, unless one of the 20 take it in.
However, her bulldogs really like him, I have some really nice pics of him
with them in the snow. He is fed well, of course, but there is no love.
He probably doesn't mind.
Of course he wasn't neutered so that was done and paid for by N because she
is a kind soul. So it's just the same in wilds of Germany as elsewhere. Get
a kitten, don't bother to neuter the boy and then dump him (probably when
he starts spraying) in a remote village.
Tweed

On Tue, 9 Oct 2012 18:45:15 +0100, "Christina Websell"
wrote:
She has had quite a few cats and has loved them all, until the one she has
now, she doesn't like him much. It's not like her so I finally got round to
asking why- he scratches her for no reason. In the village where she lived
there was a helpline for unwanted cats and some people thought there was a
facility there to take care of them and started to dump them there.

This is a village of 20 houses, there wasn't and will never be anywhere to
dump a cat, unless one of the 20 take it in.
However, her bulldogs really like him, I have some really nice pics of him
with them in the snow. He is fed well, of course, but there is no love.
He probably doesn't mind.
Of course he wasn't neutered so that was done and paid for by N because she
is a kind soul. So it's just the same in wilds of Germany as elsewhere. Get
a kitten, don't bother to neuter the boy and then dump him (probably when
he starts spraying) in a remote village.
Tweed

Instead of calling the help line, they go to the location and dump cats
there? That's terrible!

It's also unfortunate having a kitty who doesn't love you. But I guess
that's strictly speaking, the natural state for an untamed cat, and at
least he seems to love his home, and that's important too.

Christina Websell wrote:

Maybe on her reading list should be: Yoga for Cats, subtitled the first
exercise program to reach a higher level of consciousness, y Traudl & Walter
Reiner. At the top of the cover is "The purrfect book for your cat"
By the author's names you can guess that N?le sent it to me.

Hmm. Yoga for Cats? Isn't that a bit redundant? A cat could probably
write a book like that. They probably invented yoga.

--
Joyce

When you finish, you have a complete (you hope) set of characters. So you call
it a "character set". And because you're in a funny mood, instead of calling
the numeric identifiers "numeric identifiers", you call them "code points".

-- Steve Ferg, "Unicode Beginners Introduction for Dummies Made Simple"