Tag Archives: cats

Chica plays with electric razor

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Chica likes playing with my electric razor, which I really don’t use because I shave with a blade.

Actually, I think she has a love/hate relationship with the machine because she seems to want to discipline it with vigorous swats when I turn it on and put it on the floor.  I think the hair between her paw pads, which is fairly long, also gets a trim when she touches the razor before giving it a good pounding.

I’m not sure how to interpret her striking attitude toward razor except maybe there’s a little anti-luddite reproach happening?

chica and the electric razor

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One of Chica’s favorite toys is my rechargeable neck trimmer.  I didn’t offer it to her on this occasion so she didn’t seem very interested in the electric razor.  But it was, perhaps, an interesting “existential” moment.  I’m not sure if she WAS contemplating anything except maybe why her “human” couldn’t do a better job of satisfying her play needs!

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Inscrutability, felines and heroes

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As a cat lover, critic of heroic mythologies, and observer of masculinity in general, I have a few thoughts to air prior to Tiger Woods’ unscripted press conference today at 2:00 pm ET at the site of the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia.

One of the characteristics that highlight the feline personality in a somewhat stereotypical way is the seeming inscrutability of the animal. The relative lack of facial expression, compared to other domestic animals like dogs, that might expose the physical or emotional or psychological state of the creature that is relied on in the evolutionary struggle for survival might be a key to the animal’s predatory success especially in more “wild” natural settings where signs of weakness and vulnerability can be especially dangerous. Continue reading →

They saw it and it was good…

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I didn’t do much work in the yard last year. Mostly mowed the lawn. Didn’t trim bushes or prune trees. But pruning and trimming were activities I contemplated off and on during the winter because trees were gradually transgressing, going beyond their limits.

They were overhanging onto neighboring roofs, encroaching other trees’ reach, scraping the top of my 5′ 7″ height when I would walk underneath them.

So I took the plunge in order to make the work as easy as possible.

I purchased a telescoping tree pruner with saw and limb cutter. And I went to work and couldn’t stop until I’d fully addressed the sins of my trees! Continue reading →

“Gloom and Doom”

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Maybe I should adopt my father’s “gloom and doom” perspective on life after all, after Baldo failed to perform his part of my bathroom ritual this morning.

After brushing my teeth and shaving I did my due diligence by gradually closing the bathroom door without securing it shut so that he could push it open with his head just enough to squeeze through and enter while I sat on the toilet.  I enjoy his part of the ritual: his growling, purring, and whining, an insistence that he be petted and groomed by his “human” beguile and distract me even as I attempt to take care of my “business.” (Yes, we are all multitaskers even though I do not bring my mobile phone into the bathroom with me.)

I waited and waited and waited for Baldo to enter while I sat there letting thoughts run through my mind, but he never poked his head through the door. Continue reading →

Chica in the “Bite” box

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Cats, at least my cats, really like boxes.  I don’t know if it’s the scent, a certain pliability when they lie in them, or the fact they can chew them up and spit them out.  They’re part toy, part comfort zone when they snuggle up inside.

Whatever it is, I’m careful to keep boxes they might like to sniff and make home.  The “Bite” box that once held fly fishing wading boots now is home to both Chica and Baldo.  In this rough looking episode, Chica’s well protected from Baldo’s intrusive presence and desire, but eventually she wants out.

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Baldo plays…

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Baldo and Chica like to chase twigs, leaves, feathers, toy mice; any item I can tie to the end of some string, twine, or, especially, fly line.  I have cut about fifteen feet of weight forward floating fly line–it’s actually easy to manuever, to give movement to whatever I’ve tied to the end of the line for play time–just for this purpose.

The following video shows me playing thusly with Baldo.  I think I have  a 4-5 inch twig attached.  Hopefully, despite the shadows, you’ll see Baldo chase it as I turn in a circle after tempting him by pulling it through the grass.

Actually, it’s a lot like fly fishing.  I’m trolling for the big catch!

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My new friends

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Here are my two newest friends.  They live across the street.  Their owners didn’t take much care of them during the first couple of weeks they were in the neighborhood.  They would regularly cross the street and hang out here.

I was worried they weren’t getting fed nor, especially, affection.   Lately, though, they seem to be inside most of the time.  While I miss seeing them, I think they’re safer now.

They’re very cute little gatitos! Continue reading →