Monthly Archives: May 2009

The Long Arm of the Paw

Our cat Sam asleep in my lap

Little Sam likes to sleep tucked down in crevices. The other morning when I woke on my back with my left arm kinked by my side, Sam was snuggled in tight between my arm and chest. If I’m on my side he’ll tuck in behind my knees, and if I roll over slowly enough he’ll move with me in real-time, tucked in tight.

When I’m sitting in my comfy chair, I usually drape a blanket over my legs so he can hang down between them (as in this picture). This has been a favorite spot of his ever since we brought him home as a little kitten. He likes to sleep on my chest too, but since this is Scout’s favorite spot, it’s a good thing he doesn’t mind snuggling up elsewhere.

It’s led to many an evening where I’m laying in my chair with Scout asleep on my chest and Sam asleep on my legs, the two stretched out nose-to-tail, me covered in kittens. Since I can’t get up, I make my wife bring me my food and refill my glass. It’s not that I enjoy being waited on, but what else can I do? Wake them?

Could you?

Queen of Scoutland

Our cat Scout in a heated bed

I told you the ways of Emma were spreading. Scout usually circle sleeps in the warm beds but couldn’t resist poking her head out to watch the animal circus that was milling about my office.

Her favorite game is to be chased, Templeton was always good about it but with me she has to stop periodically and wait for me to catch up before sprinting away again. In general though Scout’s more lover than fighter and prefers snuggling to roughhousing. She used to play with Templeton but just as often enjoyed watching the two of us play.

But maybe her youthful companions are rubbing off on her as lately Sam and Emma aren’t the only ones enjoying a rousing game of String. It started a few weeks back with a half-hearted attempt to catch the string then suddenly Scout was all claws and motion, rolling across the hardwood with arms flailing in pursuit.

The other night I was working in my office when I heard Emma running helter skelter in the next room, tossing her furry mice across the room and then pouncing in full fury. I got up to watch her and was surprised to see her sleeping in one of the warm beds. I crept into the hallway and peered around the corner and witnessed Scout in zealous fervor waging war on the infidels. Over the weekend she joined Sam and I in a game of mouse-on-a-wire, she’s watched us many a time but this was her first time leaving the sidelines and joining the fray.

And I’ve noticed a few times lately a cat cabal cruising the midnight hours with Scout on point. But her admirers aren’t limited to the likes of cats and men. The other night when I crawled into bed, our dog Ellie curled up against my legs and laid her head across my knees. When Scout took her usual spot on my chest, Ellie crept up in the darkness and laid her head beside Scout.

It was such a sweet moment that I lay awake for a while listening to them breathing inches apart. I slowly drifted into sleep until I woke when Scout hopped off me and ran off to play with Sam. My feelings were only slightly hurt when Ellie immediately inched back down and lay across my knees.

It’s hard to compete with the Queen of Scoutland.

Please Sir, I Want Some More (To Read)

After reading a majority of women authors last year, this year I’ve exclusively read books by men. Englishmen at that. I didn’t plan it this way, but after finishing up the last two books of the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the umpteenth time (by umpteenth, I mean third), I read A Clockwork Orange and then settled into some Dickens.

I had only read one of his books before, decades before, when I read A Tale of Two Cities in high school. This time I started with Oliver Twist, next Great Expectations, and just finished David Copperfield. That’s Copperfield with two p’s, not David Coperfield by Edmund Wells, and certainly not Rarnaby Rudge by Charles Dikkens, the well known Dutch author.

I enjoyed all three Dickens books with Copperfield my clear favorite, it’s jumped into my echelon of favorite novels. Based on the other Dickens books, before turning a page I knew it would be a story about a young boy born into a loving and caring middleclass family and whose mother most certainly would not die in childbirth. Copperfield is a weighty book, something I realized the moment I slid it into my laptop bag and slung it over my shoulders, and left me pining for a future of electronic books.

Nevertheless it’s a great book and I highly recommend it in either weighty or weightless form.

Skunked and Not Skunked

A skunk cabbage blossoms in Prairie Creek Redwood State Park

I went to more trouble than anyone in the history of the world has ever gone to photograph skunk cabbage.

I love the look of skunk cabbage but I’m also thankful I have such a poor sense of smell — they don’t come by their name by accident. There is a small patch along the Oaks-to-Wetlands Trail at Ridgefield but it’s a bit overrun and despite my best efforts I’ve never been able to get a decent picture.

While hiking in the redwoods, I came across a couple of small patches of skunk cabbage when the trail approached a large meadow. One flower in particular caught my fancy and I knew I had my chance to finally get a decent picture. I took some pictures with the lenses I had with me but since the flower was away from the trail, I wanted to return the next day with the big lens.

After hiking throughout the following morning and into the afternooon, I had a short window to revisit the cabbage before heading down to hike to a small waterfall. The cabbage turned out to be near a trailhead so I took the short route up. But each turn of the bend revealed no cabbage, the patch farther away in reality than memory.

I nearly turned back with each disappointing bend in the trail, worried I wouldn’t have enough time for the next hike. With the heavy lens and the bright sun and the light breeze I wasn’t sure the cabbage would be worth the effort anyway, nevermind the nagging suspicion that there would be a lot of cabbage near the stream from the waterfall that would be better subjects than these.

I did continue on and find the particular patch and the particular flower I was looking for. The leaves had shifted so it made an even more compelling scene than my previous visit and the forest canopy kindly shaded my chosen flower. To top it off, even more of the flower was in bloom. The breeze was moving the plants around so I waited for those brief seconds when all was still.

As it turns out there was a bunch of skunk cabbage on the trail to the waterfall, sitting right beside the trail with no big lens required, but I never found another that was as photogenic as this one. To be honest part of me didn’t want to find one, after going to the trouble to photograph the other, but I looked just the same.

That might not sound like I went to a lot of trouble, and in truth I didn’t, but I’d wager it’s still more trouble than anyone has ever gone to photograph skunk cabbage.

And I’m glad I did.

A skunk cabbage blossoms in Prairie Creek Redwood State Park

Put Your Dog On My Shoulder

A couple of times recently, Ellie has curled up next to me in bed and put her head under mine. What a sweet girl!

There is other good news on the Ellie front. My wife took her in to get her weighed the other day and she’s right at her target weight of 70 pounds! This despite her continuing dietary adventures (her latest: a sealed tub of pistachios, a few slices of bread, and an unsuccessful attempt at a tub of mini wheats).

The vet was pleased and suggested we up her meals from one cup of dry food to a cup and a half. Ellie was so happy she spent the entire day running around singing “Victory in Jesus”. A bit over the top I thought but our girl does love her food.