It has become increasingly difficult to get Simon to come in at night. We call and call but he stays where he is, hidden in the garden or visiting the neighbors.
We've learned that Simon frequently (as in: every day) visits the backyard neighbors diagonal from us. They love him. He scales the fence to join them in their yard. He lounges on their patio, and he even spends time in their house.
Slut.
We don't mind too much, as long as he's happy, although it is a bother to get him inside at night. He's on a special diet, though, and can't have much (any) food other than that which has been prescribed for him. The neighbors say they're not feeding him, so that allays one fear.
Meanwhile, Kris is a bit forlorn. She needs a loving cat, a lap cat, a cat that craves affection. Since Tintin died — 02 August 2001 — she hasn't had that.
Toto gives her some love, but it's not the same. First of all, Toto is psycho. Second, Toto is my cat, and her true bond is with me.
Toto's getting old, and I've suggested that we get a new cat (or, in my vernacular, a "replacement cat") sooner rather than later in order to ease its transition into the household. Simon, while he's still young, is going to be more receptive to a new addition. Toto will complain, it's true, but we can try to forge a Simon-New Cat bond before introducing the new cat to Toto.
Kris objected to a new cat until Sunday when she announced, apropos of nothing, that I could now bring home a new family member. So, we're in the market for a cat. If you know of any that are available, drop me a line.
Our ideal cat is a kitten (8-12 weeks), a male, has short hair, has Siamese-like markings, and is affectionate. (Also, it cannot be timid, not in this house.)
I stopped by a pet store today to look at the selection. There were some cute kittens, it's true, but none that really struck my fancy. We needn't get a cat immediately; we can be patient until the right one comes along.
From my Aunt Virginia (and the secret Roth Family Forum) comes another cat-related item. The Sly Fox Farm to which she refers belongs to my cousin Laurie. Laurie and Jake and their eleven children live on a centuries-old dairy farm in Hagerstown, Maryland.
July 5th
Sly Fox Farm is suffering from low milk prices at this time, and to subsidize there is an abundance of farm animals for sale. The mini storage units seem to be keeping the farm in operation. [Editor's note: Jake and Laurie buy abandoned mini-storage units and then salvage their contents for resale.]In one of the mini units Laurie found a reader board and decided to have some fun with it. She advertised some animals for sale and one was a kitten for $10.00.
Anyone knows that a dairy is overrun with either mice or cats and sometimes both. On Sly Fox Farm, there is great number of cats, some healthy and some not so healthy.
Some dear lady stopped and wanted a kitten. So there was great haste made to round up a cat. It needed to be only half grown and those kind aren't hard to find. The lady paid her $10.00 and went away happy.
Laurie is chuckling like only Laurie can, (in fact she is laughing with glee) because you see down the road a ways there are FREE kittens, and they are probably nice little house cats instead of half-wild barn cats.
July 29th
Sly Fox Farm sold their last $10.00 kitten and the boys are thinking about rounding up the FREE kittens around the neighborhood and selling them. Sunday a lady stopped and wanted to buy a kitten and the little seven-year-old boy (Leland) said "We don't sell kittens on Sunday — we're Christians."The last kitten sold tonight, along with a chick and a small amount of cat food for $17.00. I wonder which the kitten will eat first: the cat food or the chick.
I'd happily pay $10 for a Sly Fox Farm kitten, though Laurie and her family would laugh at me. (I'd even buy the kitten on Sunday if they'd let me.) The kittens at the pet store yesterday cost $90. It's kind of hard to justify $90 on a kitten when I have several thousand dollars in medical bills.
Maybe I'll have to content myself with a FREE kitten.
On this day at foldedspace.org
2005 — You Are What You Eat It might seem absurd, but eating is a political act. Connect with your food. Eat deliberately.
2004 — Out of Many, One Here is a partial transcript of Barack Obama's speech before the Democratic National Convention.
Because Movable Type seems so reluctant to let me post links to external media sources, here's a bit that I had to edit from the above entry:
Two of my favorite cat movies from the internet:
- Teasing Cat [~1.5mb mpeg] here, here, or here
- Funny Cats [~2.5mb wmv] here, here, or here
Funny stuff, especially that second one.