This is a picture of me trying to nap on the sofa many several years ago.
To say I love cats does not at all describe how I feel about them. More to the point it could almost be said I am feral myself. I share this photo and these thoughts with you because it is who I am and have been, but I know all to well the horror many people would experience even thinking about lying on a bed amongst a dozen hairy cats grooming and being groomed, purring, playing and snuggling.
However, it was the work required to care and clean up after two dozen cats that did my back in...one of the things anyway. I won't go into that chapter of the story, but I will say that leaving the cats bout ripped my soul out and I still cry over it three years later.
I've let some people into my heart and head, and no matter what, end up getting hurt; and I accept that about humans. The only time a feline has ever hurt me was when they left this earthly life or were suffering. There is no malice in a cat. Yes, they are vicious. They are killers. They are cruel, but not maliciously...it's just who they are and they have no awareness of it. Naturally that is the most difficult part of cats to accept, but observing their nature and all has taught me some important lessons...like how dedicated and self-sacrificing a mother cat can be not only for her own kittens, but for foundlings as well.
But enough about me...here are a couple more photos of just a few of the cats in my life right now....

The latest picture of the Wacket


And here is a picture of my niece Chelsea with one of my kittens they adopted. He was originally named Bob Murphy, but now he is Maxwell. As you can see, he's rather large. At 5 years old, Max's favorite pasttimes are eating, sleeping and allowing my other niece Meredith to fawn over him like the prince of the palace he is certain he is. Most cats will lead you where they want you to go...to the food dish, to the door, to their toys; but Max just likes to make you go. He walks a little, turns around an looks at you pleadingly, makes a silent meow and leads on, the human dutifully following behind, intent on performing whatever duty the cat seems to think is necessary at that moment..however, Max leads you nowhere. He just meanders around the house, quite content to be followed by a confused human. I was an uninformed participant in this cat game recently when I asked Chelsea, who was sitting at the computer of course, what was it Max wanted...that I'd been to the kitchen, the bedroom and now we were just sort of wandering around the living room together. She looked up rather mindlessly as kids do when computerized and said, "oh, we never know...eventually we just get tired of following him." Hmmm...

some well trained humans here I see.

There have been many many cats in my life beginning with Merlin in 1968. I smuggled her into the household knowing full well I'd never receive permission to keep her. My parents' reply was always "5 kids are enough like animals, we don't need more". Being wondrous in my devious ways, Merlin stayed, even after I left!
But my love does not end with cats. There isn't a critter I can't love..well, probably. I've had experience with just about all farm and domesticated critters..not too many wild, a few; but I always have an urge to reach out and hug even if they have great snarling teeth and bad breath.
No one has been able to keep me out of the barnyard since I was able to walk and it always seemed to me that those people..the ones with four legs, or wings or fins, accepted me into their flocks much easier than most of the two leggeds I encountered.
My life has changed drastically in the past ten years, but there was a time when I always had to remove my boots before entering due to the muck and hay stuck to them from my ramblings in the pasture.
I miss that. If there is a heaven, and I make it there, you'll no doubt find me taking a snooze atop some holy haybails, surrounded by lumps and bumps of fur and fuzz, happily purring along with the rest of the pride.

barbarian
Part of Speech: adjective
Definition: savage
Synonyms: barbaric, barbarous, boorish, brutal, coarse, crude, cruel, inhuman, lowbrow, merciless, philistine, primitive, rough, rude, uncivil, uncivilized, uncouth, uncultivated, unlcultured, unsophisticated, untamed, vicious, vulgar, wild

This description fits Saddam Hussein.
This description fits the act of capital punishment; particularly hanging. It is cruel, inhuman, merciless, primitive, and vicious.

Will the real barbarians please stand up?

First I want to thank "NW Matters" for her post "Great Adventures" which inspired me to pay tribute to my own furry friends.

As you might know, the real Pyewacket is the feline that adopted me and now shares my life.




Before she arrived I lived alone in my apartment, but I'd made immediate friends with two cats (and their human friends) upon moving in. Bob was the first felion I met, who lives across the hall with his person Ara. It always cracks me up when she says "Robert!" sternly when he crosses the boundaries of human/cat relations.

THE BOB


I snapped this photo of him one morning because he frequently pushes my back door open and let's himself in if the weather turns ugly. I'll wake up and come out into my living room, and there will Bob be, sprawled out on my sofa without a hint of discomfort over being in territory other than his own. Well, of course, that's my take on it. I'm certain in Bob's mind, this whole end of the building is his.

Shortly after I moved in, the apartment next door to me was taken up by Carol, a single woman who also raised her daughter alone, as did both Ara and myself. I thought Carol was a kid when I first met her. She's about 15 years younger than I am, but I thought she was in early 30's or late 20's.
She carried a bundle of tigered fur into her apartment one night who later became known as Oscar. He was a feral barn cat, who's mother would bring the litter over to the Youth Home Carol works at. The staff there always made sure there was a bowl of food for the barn cat population so prevelent in these parts, and Carol rescued the kitten one night when he was found huddled under the hood of one of the cars.

OSCAR



I quickly began the "den mother" for Bob and Oscar, who visited regularly for a good scritching and a handful of treats. About a year later, Pyewacket made her entrance.
Bob and Oscar weren't at all sure of what to do with the small rocket of fuzz that seemed to bounce around the room like a ping pong ball. From my perspective, it seemed they wanted to take control of the situation, but rapidly realized Pye was not a girl to be directed. Bob and Oscar seemed to resign themselves to that fact as she'd hop across the floor sideways and launch her body onto the top of their heads and start gnawing.





Then last Christmas came the castle.....



My daughters boyfriend Jeremy designed and built Pyewacket's castle together with his brother Justin, just for me and my girl. This quickly added to the mystique of the only girl around and Oscar especially loves to come and play with Pye on a regular basis.







I am not quite finished with this yet, but my sister is coming to pick me up for a game of Scrabble and a steak dinner! See y'all on the flip side.

I finished up the piece I did in wool to give to my mom. It turned out really great for an experiment! You can't really see the three dimensionality of it in the straight on view, but some of the leaves and critters come right off the canvas and actually drape over the flat parts.

I'm also including a photo of the cake I made for Mom's birthday. It was layers of fudge cake and cherry cake, with fudge filling, cream cheese frosting with chocolate drizzle and of course, cherries. It was really good and so rich you couldn't eat but a sliver..hmmm.

I feel I should say something about what happened in Pyeland the past couple of days, but my brain is not functioning to perimeters due to the return of the "headache", which is being caused by arteritis.

I feel really bad this misunderstanding occurred here and that feelings were hurt and that Lucy was put on the defensive. Hawkeye's reaction was intense and I know I would have felt very bad if it had been directed at me. I do understand why Lucy was hurt and dismayed. The fact Hawkeye responded perhaps too spontaneously in his belief that he was protecting me makes me less inclined to be angry with him over the misunderstanding but no doubt he could have chosen better words.. I don't support abuse. He has apologised profusely to me about his unwise reaction and I accept his apology and I very much hope this unfortunate incident can be forgotten.

There are a couple of things I'd like to say about it.
For those of you who know nothing about astrology, mercury is in a retrograde position at the moment. Without explaining the science behind that, I'd like to point out the effects of it. Mercury pulls this little stunt several times a year, and what it does is send communication in haywire directions. Communications get lost, are misinterpreted, mistimed...etc. What happened here is a perfect example of retrograde Mercury. I've found that knowing when Merc goes retrograde (which lasts about three weeks) helps me take things more instride. Already being aware that things may work crookedly in a sense, can help us remain calm when they do go askew.

Secondly, this situation also illustrates for me the very large amount of anger people are feeling in our society today...I can't help but feel the polarization here between Pagan and Christian. I found myself asking questions about the situation based on the beliefs of the individuals, rather than the individuals themselves..and that's where I believe the problem is.
We have come to think of ourselves as this label or that label, when in reality, we are all people. "I am a Christian - you are a Pagan, therefore we can find no common ground and must be in a defensive position with each other". Whatever created us...whether it be named Jehovah, or Allah, or Mrs. Merryweather, did not create these divisions...we have...and by the admission of virtually all religions, this is not the way it's "s'pose" to be.
It doesn't matter to God...as long as what you believe in your heart is LOVE and leads you to treat your fellow humans with compassion and respect and acceptance.
Please understand I am judging no one's behavior or beliefs here. I specifically cannot take a "side" because there is no side...there is only us, and we can work this out...we must. The only way to end the anger and the mistrust and the antagonism..is to stop. How can we expect a world to stop warring, if we cannot come to agreements between even three people? OK? Forgiveness...an easy concept, a difficult choice.
As I am finding, the stream is kind of a social experiment...people overcome with a new freedom to express themselves openly sometimes go a little too far..it's easy to do when we are not face to face...we get swept up in the passion of the moment and wow can that have affects. The thing is...we're almost relearning how to communicate here. Let's face it...there is not a whole lot of truth telling going on in the real world...conversations are seldom about people's real feelings. I hear in the stream that people hunger for truth...and I think everyone feels a sort of duty to share their unique truth and point of view here...there are bound to be disagreements...for every single person, there's another point of view..some of them are going to be complete opposites. We have to learn to live with that. Respect is always a good place to begin.
Please everyone..renew your committment right now to respect and acceptance of everyone else here. It's good to take a stand if you feel you must, but do it respectfully. I'm sorry I sound like Beaver's mom, Mrs. Cleaver...I just don't want to be the center of controversy...I want everyone to get along and like each other, which I know is impossible..but I'm an idealist! ("You may say I'm a dreamer...but I'm not the only one")