Cats I Have Known

At the moment, I am cat-sitting. Olive, the cat, is hiding somewhere in my house, I know not where. She comes out to eat in the middle of the night when she is perfectly sure I am in dreamland. She is a beautiful cat, and I want us to be friends, but so far, no deal. But she hasn't been here even one day as yet. So there is hope.

She's so different from my last cat. Angelique couldn't get enough of me. She drove me nuts because she wanted to be my Siamese twin, but she was not a Siamese cat and I wasn't either, of course.

But I did have a Siamese cat once. I remember standing at the sink washing dishes and Serena with the beautiful blue eyes would climb right up my back. It's better to avoid cat's claws if possible. Olive has been de-clawed, so I don't have to worry about her climbing up my back. Besides, I doubt if she'll ever feel that friendly towards me.

Another cat I owned was named Tootsie. They say cats get more attached to the property owned by their masters than they do to their masters. Tootsie was a good example of that. When we moved to this town, 60 miles south of our native stamping grounds, Tootsie wasn't happy at all. So she left. Ten days later she had found her way back to our new residence. I heard her meowing at the door one day and I was happily shocked to see Tootsie there. But heaven only knows what she had suffered as she tried to get back to her old home and then realizing that she had to come back to the new house. She was like a shell-shocked veteran of a terrible war. I have never known a shell-shocked person, but I have a pretty good idea thanks to Tootsie.

Back at the old place I had a neighbor who owned a cat named Mujer (cat talk for Mother). Mujer wanted to live with us, not with the neighbor, so Mujer was visiting us all the time. Don't for a minute think that cats can't read your thoughts. They can.
One day my youngest daughter was sobbing away on my bed, I have forgotten why, and Mujer was trying to comfort her.
We were amazed! So we decided to test this sympathetic cat. Later, my daughter laid across my bed and pretended to cry her
heart out. Mujer was not moved at all. She was wise to our foolish antics.

I only wish Olive would come out of her hiding place and be my friend today!

The Three Humans

Once upon a time there were three humans that lived in a forest in Northern Minnesota. Papa Human had built a cabin on a little stream in order to get away from civilization for the summer months when little Baby Human didn't have to go to school.

One day Mama Human was putting breakfast on the table for her family, when Papa Human said, "Let's go for a walk down the edge of the stream this morning and enjoy listening to the birds sing, and the frogs croak and all that good stuff".

So Mama Human left three bowls of blueberries in cream on the table and took little Baby Human by the hand and off they went to enjoy nature at her finest.

In the meantime a little baby bear cub had lost her mother in these Minnesota wilds and was wandering around looking desperately for something to eat.

This baby bear was given the name "Hope" by some other humans that wanted to study her and her mother, Lily. even before little baby Hope was born in a cave.

All of a sudden Hope came upon the little cabin by the stream. She smelled the blueberries through the open window, and decided to have breakfast right then and there. So she peeked in the window and didn't see any humans, so she entered the cozy kitchen and examined the bowls of blueberries. Well, she was so hungry that she ate all three bowls of berries. But now little Hope was tired after all that wandering around looking for her mother, so she fell asleep in little Baby Human's bed.

The three Humans came back from their walk eager to eat their blueberries and cream, but were shocked to find that someone
had beaten them to it.

They looked all over the cabin for clues and then came upon an amazing sight. A great big MaMa Bear curled up in the Papa Human's bed with her little baby. So Lily and Hope were reunited and lived happily ever after.

You can see Lily and Hope in action on YouTube.com.

Long Livers and Big Hearts

I was just sitting here thinking about Noah. I don't know if he had a last name, but I guess in those days, people didn't have last names. My little great-grandson is named Noah, but my Noah has a last name. But I hope he doesn't live as long as the Biblical Noah lived.

The original Noah lived for a very long time. In fact, Noah lived for nine-hundred and fifty years! Can you imagine writing in your diary for nine-hundred and fifty years? Without a diary, it would be hard to remember what happened five hundred years in the past. Or even two-hundred years in the past when you were seven-hundred and fifty years old. Can you imagine getting all those birthday presents through the years?

My mother only lived to be ninety-seven. My father only saw ninety years of earth-life. That was pretty good for these days.

I went to a style show last week. This was a production put on for us old ladies. One of the models was one-hundred years old! She walked around our tables ( where we sat munching on decadent goodies), showing off her lovely outfit. She didn't look a day over ninety! Truthfully, she really looked awfully good! I can only imagine what Mrs. Noah must have looked like.

But Noah must have had a very big heart, and loved her all through those years, I suppose. But I think she might have raised a little Cain herself when Noah imbibed the homemade wine and staggered off to bed. Well, nobody's perfect, I always say.

I've always said that if I was a Sunday School teacher, I wouldn't even last one Sunday.