Monday Musings

This is going to be a mishmash of ideas all thrown together. Hope you can jump with me from one adventure of the next.

REAL HOUSECATS ON TOUR!

Yes, TW has been using her Real Housecats tote bag and bringing us with her wherever she goes. Last Caturday, in fact, we got to go to NY Yankee Stadium. The food was delicious, but the game … not so much. Then we took the subway back to 42nd Street.

The other day, she took us to Rite Aid. A woman commented on how much she liked the cats on the bag. TW responded by pointing me out and saying, "This is my cat." The woman looked over the cats, pointed to Mario and said "This is MY cat!"  Now I would've told M how happy I was to meet her, but TW told her "You don't understand, that really IS my cat! She's on an internet TV show!" Pop thought the tale was hysterical.

I WAS A PART OF HISTORY

Friday morning, I heard a lot of Airplane- and Helicopter-TV so I looked out the window. I was all alone because TW had abandoned me, saying there was something she had to see. Hearing the hubbub, I ran to my window to see what was the matter. No, I didn't see a sleigh and either tiny reindeer. I saw a plane riding on the top of another larger plane. TW told me that was the space shuttle The Enterprise making it's final journey. Technically, since it never was sent into space, this was probably it's ONLY journey. It's going to take up residence on the U.S.S. Intrepid in NYC. TW took a little video to document what she saw. It would've been longer but it was bright outside and she couldn't see into the viewfinder. You know how old she is. BTW, it didn't fly into our building, it just looks that way in the video. The peeps said it was historic. What would be really historic would be if TW cleaned my litter box right after I used it.

SENILE SATURDAY

I'm thinking of starting a new blog feature called Senile Saturday, where the little old peeps could have their say. As you know, I won't let my human post anything on my blog so this might shut her up. Maybe you could join me and we could make a Senile Saturday blog hop. A little bird told me that many of my furrends have humans almost as old as mine. The bird then met an untimely death. It was yummy. I mean, I'm innocent until proven guilty!

PLAYTIME

I'm happy to report that I've just about killed that tissue paper that I received as my present from Crème de la Cat  last week. I may be able to start sniffing around the toys sooner rather than later.

I'm also still guarding my Silvervine pillow. I double dare TW to try and take it away from me!

MAY CALENDAR

Book Review: Trouble the Cat

I was gonna make "Trouble" the Wednesday Word of the Day so you'd think I was in trouble yet again. But this isn't another post about CK getting in trouble for attacking one of her peeps. Ho-hum. Nope, this is different. Today I'm doing a review of the book Trouble the Cat by award-winning author PM Griffin.

I laid on the bed and made myself comfy as TW read this book to me. Once she started reading it, she couldn't put it down and I couldn't stop listening. At first I thought she read it straight through because it was the first e-book she ever bought and she didn't know how to save it and get back to it. I'm happy to report that she does know how to close and open the book and that we loved all of the 15,683 words.

We liked it because it moved quickly and had good plot and character development. We enjoyed the interaction between the main characters, both human and feline. My favorite characters were Trouble and Jasmine, two smart and other-worldly cats. I only wish TW had the power to understand me when I talk to her, like Dory and Martin could understand the two cat in the story. TW then explained to me that this book was fantasy and not a true story. I think she just doesn't want to admit that cats are smarter than humans.

Since this is our first try at a book review, we're gonna quote the publisher, Musa, so we don't give the entire plot away. The boldface is my own doing.

Can a fugitive budding sorceress and her brilliant cat escape the enraged mob pursuing them?An outburst of her newly awakened, uncontrolled sorcery talent made twelve-year-old Dory a fugitive.  Trouble, her indomitable cat, led her into a walled garden minutes ahead of the mob pursuing her. There they encountered the owner, Martin, a powerful sorcerer.  He listened to their story in growing excitement and offered to teach and conceal his guest – but the price would be high.

This book is a fun read. My ony complaint is that the book at dedicated to TW and not to myself, which would be more fitting.

You can buy Trouble the Cat for the low price of $2.99 from Amazon.com or from Musa Publishing, where you can download it in 4 different formats. You can also find these links on the author's website http://www.pmgriffin.com/

If you like fantasy, or just believe cats are magical, this book is for you. Those who become fans of Trouble the Cat and his human, Dory, will be happy to know that a novel of their further adventures is in the works.

Innerview with the Author: PM Griffin

Did any of your cats serve as the inspiration for Trouble and/or Jasmine

My tuxedo cat Cougar was the physical model for Trouble but not for his personality. Cougar was a huge cat and totally a gentle, timid giant. (Shamrock who came to me years later would be more the personality type.) Jasmine's personality is somewhat like that of my first cat, Daiquiri. She was shy, retiring, dainty, and very loving.

Can you tell my readers a little bit about your cats?

Three furry companions currently share my apartment with me. Being cats, they doubtless do have magic powers, but they follow the command of the feline deity Bastet and don't reveal them to humans.

Jinx, 13, is a standard brown tabby and came to me as a half-grown kitten who had been rescued from the outside world by my friend Maria. He spent the first fourmonths of his residence here living under my bed, mostly within the boxspring. He had first shredded the bottom fabric and removed the batting to enter it, of course. The sound of a ball or a toy mouse being batted around among the springs in the middle of the night is quite unique. He still retires there when anyone else comes in the house and has acquired the title of "The Cat Who Doesn't Exist." Jinxie does come out when my brother is here. Neil visits and feeds the three cats (plus the fish) whenever I am away.

Katie, 12, is a Singapura. She is tiny and very pretty, and she rules her domain with velvet-sheathed paws. Katie is total kitty Velcro, a furry little appendage who wants to be in my arms, in my lap, or in my bed. When none of the three are available, she sits in a sunny spot or on top of the aquarium lights, which are nice and warm.

Nickolette

Nickolette, 10, is another rescue, coming to me as an adult cat from Maria's daughter-in-law, who had found her wandering around. She is a beauty, a dilute tortoiseshell-and-white with incredible green eyes. Unfortunately, her front feet had been declawed. Nickie is a large cat and is very loving.

Have you always known cats have magic powers? 

Of course. As you well know, cats, by their very nature, are magical beings of the highest order.

My readers may not know you're an award-winning writer. Tell a bit about your accomplishments, past and present.

The novel GIFT OF MAGIC featuring Trouble and his friends is currently in edit. After that, another anthology of three more cat tales is scheduled for publication. Two of these won the coveted Muse Medallion Award and the third was a finalist. This award is from the Cat Writers' Association, and is the Oscar of the feline writing world.

My 12-novel science fiction series Star Commandos is also in the process of being released in electronic format with the first book, STAR COMMANDOS, already published and the second in edit.

Besides these, I have had four novels set in several of Andre Norton's universes published along with a number of other short stories.

TW said you also have had articles published in Cat Fancy magazine. Is this true? 

I had one nonfiction article called "Daddy's Patient" printed in the magazine. It told how my father saved Daiquiri when she was a tiny kitten, not yet even weaned. There were some shorter paragraphs as well, the result of my responses to some surveys run by CAT FANCY.

Also on the nonfiction front, I have had three articles in the Brooklyn Aquarium Society's magazine AQUATICA.

Thank you, Aunt Pauline. (I did ax her if she'd give us a hint about Trouble's next adventure, but she was on to this kitteh and politely declined.)
                                                                                                                                                             Disclosure: TW and PM Griffin are BFFs. Even though their personalities are very different, the common bond between them has always been their love of cats. But, no, their friendship doesn't play into my review. While we do want to publicize the book to a readership that we think will enjoy it, this cat's integrity comes before everything, including friendship. I always keep it real. I'll also disclose that we paid for the book and were not compensated for this review in any way.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

What could this stunning little ghetto cat be thinking??

Important news bulletin! 

We just got this in our e-mail box from Help for Hempstead Shelter. Please spread the word. We cannot allow this to happen! 

Action alert!

KILLER "KATE" IS AT IT AGAIN! ANIMAL LOVERS and ADVOCATES PLEASE UNITE! TOWN OF HEMPSTEAD IS USING OUR HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS TO DESTROY A WELL MAINTAINED FERAL CAT COLONY that has been in peaceful existence for 12 YEARS! THIS HORRIFIC ACTION WILL BEGIN MAY 1st WE CANNOT ALLOW HEMPSTEAD TO DO THIS! THIS WILL OPEN THE DOOR FOR OTHER TOWNS ON LONG ISLAND TO DO THE SAME! COME SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! JOIN US THIS SUNDAY, APRIL 29th from 12:00 - 3:00 on the corner of Sunrise Hwy & Newbridge Road in Bellmore (for GPS use 2428 Sunrise Hwy - Bellmore) PLEASE BE SURE TO GET OUT and SHOW YOUR SUPPORT! Come alone or bring your neighbors, friends, family member & Pets! If you can, bring SIGNS! Please spread the word and post this message far and wide! PLEASE HELP SAVE & PROTECT OUR FERAL CAT COLONIES!

Mancat Monday—P Kitty

The Woman is smitten by a kitten. OK, those words aren't strong enough. TW is in LOVE with a grown cat, whose initials aren't CK. His name is Buster, but in the Alleys, we called him P Kitty Chuang. He's another member of my posse, along with Jamal Jonez, who you met a few weeks ago. When TW first saw P Kitty, she thought he was a homeless stray. He was so fat, she thought he was a she and she was preggers. She'd bring him food and pet him. Then she found out, he lived in the deli, which is owned by Chinese or Korean people and he started wearing his collar. He's also shed his kitten fat and is now svelte. To say P Kitty is a lover is an understatement. He's not stand-offish like Jamal. You could say he's an attention whore.

TW goes out of her way to pass the deli when she goes out in hopes of seeing P Kitty. She's even mentioned a few times that if the deli owners spoke a little more English, she'd ax them if they wanted to trade cats. Now how rude and inconsiderate is THAT! That's what I have to put up with and I'm not happy about it.

For the first photo shoot, he had just come around the corner, on his way to hang with Jamal, when TW spied him. She called and he came running down the block. You can see him running to her in the last photo. In the third photo, you can see her giving him scritches. Yes, this little ghetto cat is up in arms about it. Then TW realized he had to cross the street to get from his store to Jamal's place so she got worried. Now she's all nervous that he's gonna get hit by a car but P Kitty can take care of himself.

The many faces of P Kitty. He's a real sweetie who's wooed TW.

Poor P Kitty has hairball issues. Yes, you could say he needs a P Kitty Comb[ing]. HAH! Every time he lays on his back so TW can give him belly rubs—I know, how disgusting is THAT!—he starts coughing. Yeah, TW giving him belly rubs is enough to make ME toss my cookies too. At first she was ascared to give him belly rubs cos she thought he'd bite her like a certain other kitteh she has. She keeps threatening to bring one of MY combs with her so she can get rid of his loose fur. She mentioned today he felt soft and silky so someone not named TW must've brushed him.

She also wonders about whether he's been fixed or not. When she first saw him, the alley near the deli certainly had the strong perfume of Eau de Male Cat. Today, she got a look at his "male parts" and was surprised and delighted to notice that he's been all taken care of. It had occurred to her that she couldn't very well talk to the owners about it. She didn't know if their culture believe in spaying and neutering but now she doesn't have to worry about little P Kitties running around homeless.

All this brings me to a story. When TW was younger, she catnapped two of her then upstair's neighbors' cats because he wouldn't have them fixed. She and her friend took them to be neutered. She figured the neighbor wouldn't be the wiser since they often stayed out all night, looking for a hot date. She also knew the v-e-t who was going to perform the surgery because he'd performed it on Gramma's Nicky. Nicky wasn't shaved so she figured he'd do the same with Tippy and Freddy. Unfortunately, they were black tuxies and they were shaved "from stem to stern," as the story goes. The neighbor was on to them as soon as he saw his cats but forgave them since they saved him money. Years later, he eventually had Rusty and Hope neutered too.

I hope my furrends enjoyed meeting P Kitty. I'll bet he's the best mouser that deli ever had!

Happy Earth Day (but what does that have to do with the cat)

The Woman says that it's Earth Day and I should tell my furrends how I help save trees and stuff. What she means is that we have this great litter scoop that she bought years ago. Originally, it came with plastic poo bags to attach to the end so she could just scoop and the poo goes right into the bag. No muss; no fuss. No smelly garbage bags. Hey, Woman, what do you mean by that? I'll have you know, my poos don't smell! You know, you don't smell like roses! She then takes the bag filled with my pees and poos out and dumps it down the garbage shoot and it's gone. The part that makes it so cool is we don't buy bags. We use those plastic bags that our morning paper comes in. It's a great way to use those unnecessary bags. She says it's one of the great inventions of our time. HAH! That's just one of the ways our carbon footprint is tiny.

I'm gonna leave you with one of Pop's favorite songs ever. It's also one of the best songs about the environment we've ever heard. It's Don McLean's Tapestry. Even though he wrote the song over 30 years ago, it's truer today than ever.

Tapestry

Every thread of creation is held in position
by still other strands of things living.
In an earthly tapestry hung from the skyline
of smouldering cities so gray and so vulgar,
as not to be satisfied with their own negativity
but needing to touch all the living as well.

Every breeze that blows kindly is one crystal breath
we exhale on the blue diamond heaven.
As gentle to touch as the hands of the healer.
As soft as farewells whispered over the coffin.
We're poisoned by venom with each breath we take,
from the brown sulphur chimney and the black highway snake.

Every dawn that breaks golden is held in suspension
like the yoke of the egg in albumen.
Where the birth and the death of unseen generations
are interdependent in vast orchestration
and painted in colors of tapestry thread.
When the dying are born and the living are dead.

Every pulse of your heartbeat is one liquid moment
that flows through the veins of your being.
Like a river of life flowing on since creation.
Approaching the sea with each new generation.
You're now just a stagnant and rancid disgrace
that is rapidly drowning the whole human race.

Every fish that swims silent, every bird that flies freely,
every doe that steps softly.
Every crisp leaf that falls, all the flowers that grow
on this colourful tapestry, somehow they know.
That if man is allowed to destroy all they need.
He will soon have to pay with his life, for his greed.