Archive for October, 2007

31
Oct
2007

Local Cat Claims Alien Abduction

By Marcus 3 Comments
Categories: Cats

Momma Cat

NOTE: I recently trapped Shadow’s Mom and took her to the Washington Humane Society to be spayed. The trapping proved a lot harder than I had anticipated, and I was going to describe the whole arduous process here… until I discovered that MommaCat had already contacted the media with her side of the story! Here’s the transcript of her interview with The Cat Tattler…

Cat Tattler: MommaCat, your kittens reported you missing five days ago. Tell us, in your own words, where you’ve been.

MommaCat: I was kidnapped by aliens. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s true. The Tall Ones are very clever. They set a trap for me, put some really good meat in it, and waited for me to walk right in. But I’m pretty clever too. I went in, but I stepped carefully and ate the meat without stepping on that ridiculous bar on the floor. Then I backed out.

Cat Tattler: So how did they catch you?

Cats and Trap

MommaCat: Well, they changed the setup, added some kind of stick, and a string too. A Tall One put more meat in the trap, and hid behind a tree. I guess he thought we couldn’t see him, but he was so obvious! At first my kitts kept running into the trap to eat the meat and the Tall One ran out yelping and squirting the kitts with water from an alien weapon. Then he fed them so much that they lost interest in the trap and wandered away. I thought the whole thing looked fishy… but it smelled fishy too! Quite irresistible actually.

Cat Tattler: So you went back in?

MommaCat: Big mistake. I thought it was safe: the Tall One disappeared into his giant den. But as soon as I reached the fish, BAM! The stick flew off and a door slammed down! And the aliens took me away.

Cat Tattler: What did they do to you?

MommaCat: Well, they stuck horrible things into my body, I know that. They cast a spell on me and made me sleep so deep! And when I woke up, I could tell they had done, well, nasty things to me. They shaved my, uh, you know– and, let’s just say I’ve been very sore down there…

Cat Tattler: !!!

MommaCat: And I think one of them tried to eat me while I was asleep.

Cat Tattler: Really?

Ear Tipped

MommaCat: Oh yes. See? They bit off part of my ear!

UPDATE: After a night of recuperation in our laundry room, MommaCat was returned to the woodpile behind the house. As soon as I opened the trap she bolted for the adjacent woods, propelled almost completely by her front legs, dragging her sore hind legs behind her. Three days later she reappeared, hungry and rather testy with her kitts. But she’s accepting food and letting me sit with her as she eats. She still doesn’t trust us aliens, but she likes our food…

OH AND: The “ear tipping” is done on feral cats who have been neutered as a signal to help prevent them from being retrapped and possibly euthanized.

24
Oct
2007

The Dalai Lama on Animals and Compassion

By Marcus 2 Comments
Categories: Cats

His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama
Tenzin Gyatso 59, Dharamsala, India
photo: ©Phil Borges from his book Tibetan Portrait – All Rights Reserved

I have been working with some fantastic people at the Washington Humane Society. Bridget, the director of CatNipp, a popular Trap-Neuter-Release program, has helped me in my quest to capture and spay Shadow’s Momma, who still lives in my backyard woodpile raising another bunch of adorable kittens (please adopt one!)

Bridget and some of her colleagues were honored to be included in an intimate audience with His Holiness the Lalai Lama during his recent visit to Washington to accept the Congressional Gold Medal. The video of HH’s remarks is, well, amazing. Please take a look at it, I guarantee you’ll be moved and inspired. With disarming giggles and self-effacing humor he conveys a tightly packed bundle of wisdom about the importance and holiness of all sentient life.

The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetan people, with fans and followers around the world, always describes himself as “a simple monk.” But in his remarks to the Humane Society and a coalition for the homeless, he said “I myself am also homeless.” For most of his life he has been in exile from Tibet, having escaped from a harsh Communist Chinese occupation in a daring trek over the Himalayans in 1959. Since then he has traveled the world tirelessly making the case for compassion, religious tolerance, and autonomy for Tibet.

His remarks the other day were especially poignant for animal lovers – and fairly mind-blowing for on-again-off-again vegetarians like me. With few words and a simple gesture he conjured a vivid image of the misery of farm animals that we “regard as vegetables.” To the Dalai Lama, a plate of shrimp is not a feast, but a tragedy: “Too many lives, too many lives.” Whew. And I had just suggested to Brett that we check out the “ShrimpFest” at Red Lobster… I’m seeing things with new eyes.

His Holiness noted that even his adopted home, India, has been turning away from its traditional vegetarianism “in the name of progress.” He decried the industrial-scale production of animals for consumption:

“We human beings forgot their right … all lives, all descended beings basically have same sense of being. They also have feelings, experiences. Therefore they also have same right to live peacefully, happily.”

These words, coming at a time when I find myself becoming more involved with stray animal advocacy groups, are not only inspiring, but energizing. “All actions out of compassionate motivation become constructive and meaningful.”

Over the course of his amazing life the Dalai Lama, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, has become one of the world’s most effective communicators. This is perhaps why the Chinese have their knickers in a twist over the honors the U.S. and other nations have bestowed upon him. Check out this piece he wrote for the Washington Post while he was in town: with laser-like precision and an elegant economy of words he hones right in on the most important issues facing humanity: aggression, compassion, tolerance.

Find out more about the Dalai Lama at his official website, and at the Campaign for Tibet.

17
Oct
2007

Never Teach Your Cat to Use the Computer

By Marcus 2 Comments
Categories: Cats

shadow_computer1

OK, I thought letting Shadow watch bird videos on YouTube was kinda fun for both of us. And it was really cute when he took an occasional poke at the keys and managed to stop and start the movie. Sometime I’d be writing an email with the furry critter splayed out on my lap and he would reach over and add a few comments, like”fjhguiekcg2y8fdx” or “cccccccccccccddss.”

My friend Brett was not amused. “You’ve gotta be crazy letting that cat near your computer! That is so wrong!” Brett was so right.

trashed_keyboard

I just stepped away for 5 minutes to make a cup of tea, and I returned to find my laptop’s keyboard torn up; Shadow had picked the keys right off with his strong little nails. I growled, and spotted his orange-yellow eyes peering at me from a shadowy corner across the room. He had that “Wha, you got a problem?” look that cats are famous for. Dogs know they’ve done wrong, and hang their heads or skulk away guiltily. But cats remain aloof. If they acknowledge your agitation it is with mild bemusement, mixed with a look of concern that you may be unstable.

These laptop keys are much more intricate than desktop keyboard keys: lots of interlocking parts and tiny hinges. It took almost an hour of study and microsurgery to get everything put back together. I vowed to never leave the computer open and unattended again, but of course I forgot and he did it again, this time leaving a clean gash through part of the “R” key. A kind (cat-loving) Genius at the Apple Store found me a new one.

But I forgot again, and this time Shadow somehow hit just the right combination of keys to delete an iCalendar file that I use to track my time and bill clients. Physical damage is one thing, but lost data is a real crisis, and I got that sick, sinking feeling when I realized that the iCalendar program doesn’t automatically back up those files.

I had been about to do my monthly invoices, and recreating the project charges would take forever (if it could be done at all). I looked everywhere for the deleted file, to no avail. Shadow jumped up into my lap, like “Hey, how about some squirrel videos?” And, through my panic, I had to smile. How could I stay mad at this cute little devil?

YouTube Shadow

Happy ending: iCalendar does have multiple undo’s, and I was able to reverse the kitten’s mischief. Now I back up my iCalendar manually every day, and close the laptop every time I step away. It’s a hassle. And I probably could retrain him to eschew all computers. But I still love surfing the web and watching crazy YouTube videos with my Shadow.