Cats

Democats

It gives me a good feeling to see them clearing the condo of that rat. Let's send them to the White House!

Near Cat Death Experience

Boadicea nearly fell from the loft tonight.

Pushing Back the Clock

Because of this discovery, scientists now date the domestication of human beings to 9500 BC.

Pugnare amamus

We love to fight. Fiona grabs Boadicea by the scruff, pulls her head up.

Fiona Upstages the Freesias

This is a hazard I don't face when I go photographing wildflowers in Whiting.

Fetch

Is that joke too obscure? Did only the Wiccans get it?

The Third is Real

All three of my cats are pacifists except when it comes to eating insects and destroying catnip toys.

Daddy and One of His Girls

Fiona and Boadicea will be a year old this month.

Boadicea and Fiona in Miniature

"The things I have to do for catfood!"

The Shapes of Touches

Everything that Boadicea makes me feel from the press of her body against mine is transparent with a thin black line around it.

A Tabby Coated Watermelon

Fiona looks like a white and tabby striped watermelon with muscular legs, a cat head, and sixteen needles in her white stocking feet.

Tanked

Scalped

Cat claws fascinate me.

Resizing the Cats

They've grown large -- it's hard to hold them as we once did, in our cupped hands. Virginia Mew once again is the smallest cat in the house, though she's not as timid as she was while Tracy and Ambrose were alive.

Spaghetti

They were curious, so I picked out a piece from the pasta pot and offered it to them.

I Have No Explanation....

Imitation is....

When I begin petting one cat in the bedroom, the others hear my coos and come in for their share of the affection.

Utah Travel Diary 1

Looking up the canyon, past the pumpkin colored walls of the lower gorge, is like seeing hot glaciers capping the red rock.

Vile to Write About

I record even that which is vile to think about.

The First Hour

Boadicea comes to lie on me, but whenever I cough, she jumps off. She doesn't know that a cough isn't a scolding, I think.

Mews: Of Prophetesses and Sheets

Virginia now licks Fiona as if she were annointing a prophetess.

Catskin Rug

It's the threat I use when one of our beasts has done the unpardonable. I set myself up for her interference by leaving an important print job running while I took a shower.

Today's Mews

Damn! If you've got to use that flashy thing every time we see an alien, how are we going to remember where the litter box is?

The Audience

Fiona loves the music of the toilet.

Going to Bed

Every night, Lynn goes to bed before I do.

Death Wish

Temple and Laboratory

Bat in Belfry

Lynn nearly walked into it, a three inch long fur blimp with eight inch wings.

Pig's Ear 2

Its power weakens, however, at feeding times when Boadicea feels obligated to give me several little bites around the knuckles.

A Pig's Ear

Bowie is in the teething stage and needs to chew. So is Fiona. The material that does the most to relieve their urge to gnaw, unfortunately, is the skin around our knuckles.

Mews from the Front Room

When we leave the front door open to allow air to blow through the screen door, Bowie sits there, catching the breeze and pouncing at the moths and the June bugs which are attracted to the light. Virginia comes up behind her and gives her a toss.

Tasting the Territory

There can't be more than four square inches of skin on my toe. Almost sounds like Fortinbras fighting for less than an acre of land

Blurring and Purring

A blurred rush to the floor, like the breaking of a bulb of a themometer and the spilling of the mercury.

Your Catfood or Your Life!
Thanks to John Lettiere. Looks like one of those pictures in Goya's "Horrors of War" series, except that the...

Cat-nasta

"I see that as he moves those extended claws of his over the touchpad and taps at the button, the cards on the screen move. Let me try."

The Cat Woman

I had an online friend -- lost now in a history that got trashed in a hard disk crash about seven years ago when the net was young and people didn't blog -- who slept with seven cats every night.

The Warrior Queen and Her Consort

Boadicea is named for a warrior queen who rebelled against Roman rule.

Voice of the Body

I got to thinking how I, at age forty five, am like that old cat.

Vital Statistics

Bowie Goes to the Vet

We're not sure what is going on yet -- the vet couldn't find any scratches or ulcers -- but there's a good chance that Fiona scratched her in the eye. (Herpes is also a possibility -- anyone ever dealt with this in a cat?)

The Weekly(?) Mews Report

The unthinkable happened last night: Virginia Mew and Boadicea stood nose to nose and didn't hiss at each other.

More Family Photos

Ain't that the darndest thing, Boadicea?

Uppity Kittens

The scarey part isn't when she walks out beyond the rail and trots back and forth. It's when Boadicea starts to play with a rattly thing down in the living room and Fiona leans over the edge, trying to decide if she should jump down to join us.

Sharp Little Kitten Claws

I intervene and she thanks me with pricks from her needle sharp little kitten claws. All four paws. Mewing pathetically until I lay her gently on the floor.

Family Photos

    

Ms. Mew Meets the Kids

Fiona Phosphor and Boadicea "She-Who-Stands-Up-To-Dogs" came home this afternoon in a cat carrier that stank of Ambrose and Virginia.

F-f-f-f

Fergus is a girl.

Kitty Buffalo

"Where are they? I've been so bored!"

A Visit to the Future Family

Grinning Cheshirely

But when you need them, cats are there with an impertinent bit of advice or an observation which will have you thinking from the back side of your brain, your eyes staring at the inside of your skull and noticing that it's criss-crossed with craters and cracks like the moon.

Virginia Mews
Virginia sits in the hallway. Mews. Just once. A single soft-spoken, terse call. I ask her what she wants and...

Virginia Mew Goes to the Vet

She forgave me for all that she suffered.

The Courage of a Cat

As my wife crouched for the snatch of the cat, Virginia mewed and whimpered. "How," she asked in her feline tongue, "how can you make me eat that stuff?"

Virginia Mew

She's a changed cat in the small particulars.

Tracy Comes Home

Tracy came home yesterday, via UPS.

Tracy's Bum

"Tracy!", I'd hear them cry as if I'd committed a heinious offense such as blowing in their face, "I'm not going to clean your bum!"

Beggar Queen

Virginia Mew is still getting over the shock of becoming Top Cat after being Bottom Cat ever since she moved into this household as a pocket-sized kitten.

Crematory

"Oh, my poor baby!" I cried, as if she could still feel it. "I'm so sorry!"

Thanks

Thank you to everyone who responded so quickly to my news of Tracy's death last night. And thank you to those who will offer their comfort.

Tracy Tu Tu Wa Wa (1986 to 2003)

She died as I said, in my lap, crying only once, near the end.

Death Watch

I don't know what is passing through her eyes as she lays there.

Decision

If Tracy lives out the week, I will be surprised.

The Tracy Dilemna

I kneel next to her and ask "Is it time? Is it time, little cat? Or should I let you choose the time?"

Aging

She's gone bow-legged from the weight of her belly and she uses her claws to climb up on the couch and the bed.

Tracy Climbs the Stairs

I keep wondering when this cat is going to die. Maybe it's not such a smart thing.

Mom Says "Kill the Cat"

Can't be too prepared when the old beast does her Hindenberg routine.

Wedding Ring 3

Cats just don't pick random things up in their mouths and move them off to a personal treasure chamber like that.

Do Not Disturb

She bent her body into a question mark and Tracy made herself the period.

From the Scarlet Hermitage

The main thing keeping me home isn't pain, but the fact that if I go charging around town, pumping my heart, the wound in my mouth is about to bust.

Feline Editorial Additions

Tracy or Teeny (Virginia) pulled the keyboard down from the desk and onto the floor.

From Uplifted to Hyperactive to Jumpy

I was psyched after my court appearance. I did well.

Jaguar Gods?

Tracy must have been under the special protection of the were jaguars because she was alive when we arrived home last night.

Senile Dementia

Tracy sat down next to my ear while I was sleeping and began to howl for no apparent reason. Her "spells" seem to be getting worse: she will trot in the room, claw her way onto the bed, and not recognize where she is. "Where am I?" she howls.

The Death of Ambrose: An Exorcism

I knew that putting him down was the right thing under the circumstances. That decision was clear. I needed the break mostly for myself. Not to sooth my feelings, but to throw something in the face of God.

The Spectre Leaves A Note

I see the spectre and yet I also see the man.

Ambrose Comes Home

"Hmmm," I thought as I balanced it in my hand. "You haven't lost much weight after all they did to you."

Aaaaaaaaaargh!

I do not believe that I live in a universe run by Descartes' demon. Nor do I feel that God is punishing me.

Coming in the Door

Coming in the door, I caught myself. "Hi Handsome!" I almost called out.

A Christmas Grief Observed

Had Ambrose died at a more advanced age or if I had seen this sickness coming some months ago, I would not be as devastated.

When the Sadness Hits Me

I think that will put in an appearance at the family Christmas gathering tomorrow, if not for my own cheer, then for the cheer of others.

Wrought and Wrecked by Grief

I'd weep: "I don't deserve this!" And he'd say "Daddies, its nots abouts deservingses. It's abouts lovingses."

Ambrose B. Ambrogo 1993 to 2002

My poor boy. My poor little boy.

Near CATastrophe

For less than a second, her full weight hung from a bit of tender skin.

She Knows

"OK, I've been good and let you write uninterrupted," Tracy signifies through mews and by jumping into my lap.

For the Record....

Anorexia plus a senility which denies her memory of where her food bowl is afflict her now.

Cat Crash

She walked to my knee and tipped off, landing on her face next to a spare keyboard.

Slave Rebellion
Tracy lurks next to the computer these days, always convinced that I have something that she wants to eat. She...

A Clockwork Kitty

Tracy's at my feet, belching mews like a ticking clock.

Cries

Tracy has taken to entering a random room of the house and crying.

Man's Best Friend...

Ambrose leaped atop the two mattresses, approached me noiselessly, and placed his piebald face close to mine.

In your face

Old age has worked its wispy magic on the old cat's mind.

Cat Box

Did Orwell hate cats?

The Key to a Cipher

A grizzled chin betrays the dotage of a dog. The hair of a cat keeps the secret of its age.

Refugee

This is a spoiled cat. Her frame is no larger than that of Tracy, but I think I can make out the letters "Goodyear" hidden among the stripes on her convexly distended sides.

Family Pictures

Crumpled Cats

I thought "Oh no! Has she broken her leg? Did I smash it myself while gadding about in my tiger-striped walking shoes?"

Geriatric

"Daddy? You know when I am as old as you are, I'll be dead."

CATechism

I have been informed by the best of all possible authorities....that humans greatly misunderstand the reverence that cats bestow on themselves.

Flattery from a cat

Ambrose dips his paws in the water and sucks them dry.