Bird watching hobby

CJ and Sigmund ange taken up hummingbird watching as hobbies. CJ gets it
right, but Sigmund has it all wrong.

They both have the actual bird watching down perfectly, but then that's
mostly instinct: they sit quietly (quite a challange for noisy Sigmund)
facing the feeder just outside the kitchen window that has the shelf for
the cats on the inside, hunching down and wiggling a bit when a bird
shows up. The difference is in the timing: the hummers come to the feeder
at a rate of about one ever couple of minutes during the early morning and
late afternoon, and no more than one ever five to ten minutes during the
rest of the day. During peak bird times, when CJ is on the shelf, he
sits up and faces outward so he gets to go through the watch routine many
times - the rest of the time, when he's on the shelf, he lies down faces
inside; Sigmund shows up during the slack times and wastes a lot of time
staring out the window at nothing that moves - on those rare occasions
when he's on time, he usually faces inside to watch me.

Now, it could be that Sigmund uses the shelf a a place to meditate and the
birds are interruptions, but I think not - I think he just isn't bright
enough to figure out when to show up (he's not bright enough to staay far
enough from my feet to avoid being kicked and stepped on repeatedly as I
shuffle about).

--
T.E.D. )

oh my god, that made me laugh. Thanks!

Lily & her mama

--
Irulan
from the stars we come
to the stars we return
from now until the end of time.

"Ted Davis" wrote in message
news
CJ and Sigmund ange taken up hummingbird watching as hobbies. CJ gets it
right, but Sigmund has it all wrong.

They both have the actual bird watching down perfectly, but then that's
mostly instinct: they sit quietly (quite a challange for noisy Sigmund)
facing the feeder just outside the kitchen window that has the shelf for
the cats on the inside, hunching down and wiggling a bit when a bird
shows up. The difference is in the timing: the hummers come to the feeder
at a rate of about one ever couple of minutes during the early morning and
late afternoon, and no more than one ever five to ten minutes during the
rest of the day. During peak bird times, when CJ is on the shelf, he
sits up and faces outward so he gets to go through the watch routine many
times - the rest of the time, when he's on the shelf, he lies down faces
inside; Sigmund shows up during the slack times and wastes a lot of time
staring out the window at nothing that moves - on those rare occasions
when he's on time, he usually faces inside to watch me.

Now, it could be that Sigmund uses the shelf a a place to meditate and the
birds are interruptions, but I think not - I think he just isn't bright
enough to figure out when to show up (he's not bright enough to staay far
enough from my feet to avoid being kicked and stepped on repeatedly as I
shuffle about).

--
T.E.D. )

On Sun, 26 Aug 2007 14:22:45 -0400, Irulan wrote:

oh my god, that made me laugh. Thanks!

Sigmund had an opportunity to watch two hummers compete over the feeder:
he was on the shelf when they were at the feeder, and he was facing the
right direction. But he was curled up asleep. I though it was an
intersting encounter, but he slept through it. Of course, the double
glass window stops most of the sound, and the dishwasher probably drowned
out the rest, so there was no sound to wake him up.

--
T.E.D. )

Why do you think your cat is stupid? Sigmund might simply enjoy
looking out the window rather than at the walls. There is a lot more
out there other than birds for a cat to watch.

My kitties spend hours laying in various windows. They like the
sunshine, fresh air if the window is open, watching bugs flying around
and the wind move the grass and trees, watching people walking or cars
roll by on the street, and watching neighborhood cats and dogs wander
through our yard. The local wildlife they can see from the windows
includes deer, rabbit, squirrels, woodchucks, opossum, skunk, raccoon,
frogs, toads, mice, terrapins, and possibly even a wandering garter
snake. Our cats also seem to enjoy watching DH or I working out in
the yard. It gives them yet another chance to sit and look superior.
Debra in VA
See my quilts at
http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere

On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:10:50 -0400, Debra wrote:

Why do you think your cat is stupid? Sigmund might simply enjoy
looking out the window rather than at the walls. There is a lot more
out there other than birds for a cat to watch.

He's not bright enough to keep his mouth shut when hunting: he meows
continually. He has two sisters who are successful - only one of them is
somewhat less noisy, and she shuts up when hunting (the other is mostly
silent).

He gets kicked and stepped on repeatedly because he isn't bright enough to
avoid tripping me (the other underfoot cats learned that at a much younger
age, as have his sisters).

Usually, when he want to look out, he uses the picture window in the mud
room, or sits on the shelf outside the cat flap (that's a poular place
with most of my cats).

--
T.E.D. )

On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:07:04 -0500, Ted Davis wrote:

On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 15:10:50 -0400, Debra wrote:

Why do you think your cat is stupid? Sigmund might simply enjoy
looking out the window rather than at the walls. There is a lot more
out there other than birds for a cat to watch.

He's not bright enough to keep his mouth shut when hunting: he meows
continually. He has two sisters who are successful - only one of them is
somewhat less noisy, and she shuts up when hunting (the other is mostly
silent).

He gets kicked and stepped on repeatedly because he isn't bright enough to
avoid tripping me (the other underfoot cats learned that at a much younger
age, as have his sisters).

Usually, when he want to look out, he uses the picture window in the mud
room, or sits on the shelf outside the cat flap (that's a poular place
with most of my cats).

Would you say that you can see vacancy signs flashing somewhere in the
recesses of his eyes? Our Trouble has that. Other signs of her
stupidity include that she lands on her side if she falls off of
something, her treats must be put into her bowl before she will
consider them a food, and she doesn't understand when the other cats
want her to play with them. She was even worse when she was younger.
Debra in VA
See my quilts at
http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere

On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:45:32 -0400, Debra wrote:
snip
Would you say that you can see vacancy signs flashing somewhere in the
recesses of his eyes? Our Trouble has that. Other signs of her
stupidity include that she lands on her side if she falls off of
something, her treats must be put into her bowl before she will
consider them a food, and she doesn't understand when the other cats
want her to play with them. She was even worse when she was younger.

No, not vacancy signs, just pure golden eyes (golden eyed red tabbies are
beautiful, but I'm afraid this litter is rather heavily inbred - I'm
pretty sure their father and grandfather on their mother's side are the
same tom (I'm told there is only one (old) red tabby tom in the
neighborhood and everybody involved with this litter: mother, father, and
all five kittens are golden eyed red tabbies)).

My Spooky falls on his side when he jumps down, but it's because he's
very old (~20), and quite feeble and unsteady on his feet.

Sigmund was on the shelf looking out this morning around sunrise, but
clearly not bird watching: he was meatloafed so his line of sight was
under the feeder and he was swiveling his head back and forth to scan the
back yard. He did see at least three hummers, but he showed little
interest in two of them.

--
T.E.D. )

I have little doubt that Trouble is inbred too. She has two-tone
eyes, is polydactyl (specifically 1 extra complete toe per foot), ugly
as ET, and is very stupid. Until she was 4 she was positive that she
was less than 2 inches wide, which got her into all sorts of weird
predicaments since she was actually about 4 inches wide. At the ripe
ole age of six she is finally beginning to do those "gravity checks"
other kitties do their whole lives. One can only assume the
mothership did not trust her to do those checks properly until now.
Debra in VA
See my quilts at
http://community.webshots.com/user/debplayshere

hummingbirdz iz funfun to wachz. We has about 20-70 effery summertimez. We
gotted five feederz and dey all getz filled effer day. Dey all left uses
and went soufgh, I guess dat is wha Gramby sayz and da feeders are all
kleaned and on da shelfz waitin for nextz yeaz. O. T. missing the exercise
he gets birdwatching and jumping at the window.
"Ted Davis" wrote in message
news
CJ and Sigmund ange taken up hummingbird watching as hobbies. CJ gets it
right, but Sigmund has it all wrong.

They both have the actual bird watching down perfectly, but then that's
mostly instinct: they sit quietly (quite a challange for noisy Sigmund)
facing the feeder just outside the kitchen window that has the shelf for
the cats on the inside, hunching down and wiggling a bit when a bird
shows up. The difference is in the timing: the hummers come to the feeder
at a rate of about one ever couple of minutes during the early morning and
late afternoon, and no more than one ever five to ten minutes during the
rest of the day. During peak bird times, when CJ is on the shelf, he
sits up and faces outward so he gets to go through the watch routine many
times - the rest of the time, when he's on the shelf, he lies down faces
inside; Sigmund shows up during the slack times and wastes a lot of time
staring out the window at nothing that moves - on those rare occasions
when he's on time, he usually faces inside to watch me.

Now, it could be that Sigmund uses the shelf a a place to meditate and the
birds are interruptions, but I think not - I think he just isn't bright
enough to figure out when to show up (he's not bright enough to staay far
enough from my feet to avoid being kicked and stepped on repeatedly as I
shuffle about).

--
T.E.D. )

Glad to see you're still around, I thought you'd gone.

Granby wrote:
hummingbirdz iz funfun to wachz. We has about 20-70 effery
summertimez. We gotted five feederz and dey all getz filled effer
day. Dey all left uses and went soufgh, I guess dat is wha Gramby
sayz and da feeders are all kleaned and on da shelfz waitin for nextz
yeaz. O. T. missing the exercise he gets birdwatching and jumping at
the window.

--
Adrian (Owned by Snoopy & Bagheera)
Cats leave pawprints on your heart
http://community.webshots.com/user/clowderuk