Thu 31 Jan 2008
Posted in Cats, Lizzie, Thursday Thirteen
at 0:05
Continuing this week’s salute to Elizabeth Bennet Cat, here are 13 pictures from the January 1996 videotape of the day we adopted Lizzie from Animals In Distress and brought her home.
First, Pat completes the adoption paperwork at AID.
Our new cat peers out anxiously from her carrier…
…and meets her new big brother Kelly, both in the carrier…
…and out, on the lap of her new human Pat.
We gave Lizzie her own room — the spare bedroom — for the first week with us, to get her used to her new home. For the first day and a half, she hid in the box spring of the bed, in the area illuminated here by the flashlight.
Pat patiently visited Lizzie often, and before long, the little torbie cat began to explore the room outside the box spring.
A toy mouse lies on a bit of fleece. Lizzie looks, then attacks, and finally carries off her prey.
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Wed 30 Jan 2008
Posted in Cats
at 21:15
At Petfinder, the description reads this way:
“Onyx is solid black with beautiful golden eyes. She’s approx. 2 yrs. old, spayed, current on vaccines, and has tested negative for FIV and FeLV. You must meet Onyx to really appreciate her loving personality. She can be seen at PetSmart in Whitehall.”
I saw Onyx tonight in her little enclosure at PetSmart, and will add that she’s a small cat, very alert, very lively and probably pretty intelligent too. She looked as though she’d love to play and get lots of attention from people. She’s being fostered by The Cat Shack, and they (and I) hope someone gives her a loving forever home soon.
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Posted in Nana's Corner
at 12:00
And now, it’s Pat’s turn to post:
One day I was taking care of Diana, and she was playing with fingerpaints. She made some colorful pictures (of course they went on the refrigerator) and she made a fine mess on her hands.
Her father Jack was on his way to pick her up after work, so I told Diana, “Let’s go scrub your hands now.”
“NO!” she yelled.
Oh, great. Her father’s going to be here soon, Diana’s a mess, and she doesn’t want to get cleaned up.
Or does she? I thought about it for a few seconds, and then tried saying it to her another way. I told her, “Let’s go wash your hands, just like you always do.”
Her face brightened, and she said, “OK!” And she ran off to the bathroom.
Conclusion: With people, regardless of their age, sometimes it’s just a matter of saying things the right way.
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Tue 29 Jan 2008
Posted in Cats, Lizzie, What is a Good Cat?
at 0:05
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”She…sat me on her lap and began talking to me — ‘What a good cat you are…‘ — and other such nonsense.
”There are human beings, my mother had said, who will do anything to get you into their stew pot. You must watch carefully. Sometimes a human friend is only a patient woman with an excellent recipe for fried cat.
”Fried cat!”
— Susan Fromberg Schaeffer, “The Autobiography of Foudini M. Cat.”
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It’s impossible for us to thoroughly understand why Lizzie is still a classic fraidy-cat. After living with us for so many years, does she really think we might put her in a stew pot?
Lizzie lived through some hard times in the months before we adopted her. But, setting aside the points of view of nature-versus-nurture, maybe the simplest answer is the best one. Now honestly, if you were living with beings 10 times your size, wouldn’t you be at least a wee bit nervous when they were around? Perhaps a more reasonable question would be why our other 3 cats are so calm and nonchalant when we walk by.
However, we’ve also learned that our easily-frightened (but sweet-tempered) little cat has in her more than a trace of a drama queen. Other cats demand food from us in a straightforward way; Lizzie seems to prefer to make a small production out of her desire.
More than once, Pat has watched Lizzie look down into her empty food dish, touch it gently, then sniff it and lick it slowly, as if she were sadly searching for any remaining molecules of sustenance. You can just imagine her plaintive claim: “No, don’t mind me…I’ll be all right. There must be one or two crumbs left.”
Her efforts have led the two observers at our house to review her portrayal of a poor pitiful starving cat: “A heart-rending performance…sure to crack anyone’s resolve. Two thumbs up!”
And yes, one food dish filled up.
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Mon 28 Jan 2008
Posted in Cats, Lizzie
at 0:05
Lizzie came home with us from Animals In Distress on the 28th of January 1996, and to celebrate her Gotcha Day, beginning today some of our favorite photos of her will be featured this week at It’s all Good.
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Sun 27 Jan 2008
Posted in Easy Like Sunday
at 0:05
As water from an aerating fountain splashes over and around it,
a swan glides across a pond at the
Lehigh Valley Zoo.
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