Friends

I looked out this morning and saw 3 of the cats eating breakfast, just like a family would. Recruiter had two others--the little grey one and the solid black one.

Then this evening Recuiter came up to the door with soaking wet head and neck. I wonder where he'd been.

Ways of cats

"I do not believe that it is possible to teach a cat to obey; that is contrary
to his nature. Your cat will quickly get to know from the sound of your voice and your obvious displeasure which activities are forbidden, such as tearing up the furniture, stealing food, or knocking small objects off themantelpiece. However, the fact that he knows these things to be wrong does not necessarily prevent him from doing them." (Moyes, 1978, p. 24)

Perhaps this explains why Leo or Anya insist on sitting right in front of the computer screen, even though I gently remove them each time. Do they know I'm unhappy with them, and don't care? Or, do they want to be right next to me so that they can get the attention?

Tia's Story

Hi., Mom asked me to tell you about me today, So here goes.

I'm Tia. Tia means "aunt" in Spanish. I'm not anyone's aunt. Mom just likes the name.

Mom thinks I was born in May, 2003, but she's not sure. I lived on the streets and was fed by a really nice woman most of the summer. I didn't let her pick me up, but I liked her to rub my tummy.

When it got cold, I came to live with Mom. I didn't want to leave my old house. I howled and hissed when I had to ride in the car. But once I was in the new house, I was glad to be there. There was food and I was warm at night. And I never wanted to go outside again.

I live with 7 other cats, but I don't don't spend much time with them. Sometimes I'll sleep on the same chair as Sassy.

Even though I've lived with Mom about 3 1/2 years, I wouldn't sit on her lap until just recently. I love to rub up against her legs when she's working. Mom thinks I'm funny when I rub against something.

Something else about me that you probably don't know. When Mom feeds us, I always clean the cans out. I'm the last one finished because I want every scrap.

Well, I'm off to find my quiet place on top of the freezer. It's time for a nap again. See you later.

And then there were six . .

There are now 6 stray cats eating on my porch:

• Recruiter--a big, beautiful black longhaired, mix with Maine Coon. He walks to greet me when I come home.


• Boots--A short-haired black kitten with white paws kitten from next door. She has a yellow collar. Her humans have two dogs who live inside, but she can't go inside. She's very friendly and seems to want me to pet her.


• An all black cat about the same size as Boots. He comes rather infrequently, but usually with Boots.


• A beautiful grey calico who seems to enjoy being around Recruiter. She's small, probably only 3 months, and a little skittish. I think before the winter's over, she'll let me pet her.


• A beautiful long-haired mottled Maine Coon who will look at me through the window, but runs whenever I move towards the door. I would guess that he's about 2 or 3.


• And, a beautiful silver and black tortise cat. He comes very infrequently, and runs whenever he sees me.

I've decided that if any of these get pregnant, I'm taking the mother and babies to the Animal Shelter. The babies won't survive in this weather. It's bad enough that the mothers have to be out in the cold.

Friendship with cats

"The most important thing for any cat owner to realize is the deep need that cats have for human friendship and communication" (Moyes, 1978, p. 6).

This quote, taken from Patricia Moyes, How to Talk to Your Cat is, in my house, very accurate. It is infreqent that I do not have at least one cat beside me.

For example:
Here's Anya surveying my work from the window sill. I hope she was satisfied.

The cat blogs

The following quote struck me as I was reading:

• "It is not important that you know exactly what you are going when you begin writing your weblog, but you must have at least a loosely defined purpose for your site. . . " (Blood, p. 60).

So here's a blog with a definite purpose: I'm a Cat and I Blog.

Muddy, the blogger, is journalling his daily life. Although not stated, it appears that he began when only 8 weeks old--sometime in 2003. Wow--how many days is that? His likes, dislikes, and pictures of activites are all present. When I played the audio clip, Nizhoni looked up, and ran. She, of course, thought I'd brought in a new cat.

Blood suggests that our first writings may not be very good, but that we can't get better unless we blog often. She further suggests that archiving our writing allows us to see changes in writing. This blog does just that. The first few entries are adequate, but not funny. They provide a record of the daily event, but without telling a story. The last few entries have character, humor, and definite cat personality. The reader is drawn to look at more of Muddy because he is an interesting character. Muddy is now more than just "living with other cats" but interpreting their viewpoint from his perspective. He's finding ways to deal with irrational human behavior. And those of us who are part cat understand his moods and thinking.

Visit the site.

Deviating from my topic

As with all activities, I have a need to figure out whether a given activity can be applied to my profession, my life activities, and my interests. So, in my beginning understandings of blogs, I have begun to think about how the activity can be applied to teaching. Can my students use blogging as a means of thinking through their profession? Will this media allow them to connect with other special educators or teachers?

One of the disadvantages of special educators is that we often don't see any quick results in the work we do with our students. Learning comes slowly to our students. And we rejoice in the smallest gains of our children/students. Special educators frequently feel isolated once they have left higher education and are working with students with special needs.

But there is hope. Blood, on page 10 stated, "In the weblong universe, everyone can say his piece. Produced without gatekeepers, weblogs focus on whatever topic is of interest to its maintainer." This seems, to me a way for special educators to begin to connect with each other.

A blog worth looking at is Special Education Teacher in Washington, D.C. What struck me first was the new posting about a deaf educator who has earned her National Board Certification. For those of you who don't know, this certification is equivalent to being Board Certified in the Medical World. It's a big deal. (I am not board certified). And this is not the only positive posting. There are many others. There are also postings related to bilingual education, technology, and talking to one's child about the better things of life.

It appears that this blog may provide special education teachers with an outlet to celebrate the victorys we have when working with our children, as well as create a sense of enjoyment in knowing that we belong to a wonderful discipline. This was fun--and it is a blog I will return to over and over.

Surrounded by cats

Well, it's now 7:01 A.M.--late for me. Leo's on top of the Computer, looking as though he's bored. Anay is lying quietly on the floor to my left. Pippin, behind Anya, has just gotten up from the floor. He looks sleepy. Nizhoni, to my right and just having smelled the floor, is rubbing her paws up and down on the box next to her. She has a tendency to do this with windows--I don't have a word for it. And Koko is settled in behind me. And then, the talker (Sassy) is suggesting strongly that he's ready for breakfast.

I wonder where the others are.

So I'm off to feed the guys and gals, and then off to work.

Blog Surfing

How many other blogs are dedicated to felines? 1? 2? A search in http://del.icio.us/ shows 664 websites, not necessarily blogs. Guess I have some serious surfing to do.

Need a laugh? Stressed out day? Go to Stuff on My Cat (http://www.stuffonmycat.com/) to see lots of cute cat pictures. I'll have to visit this more frequently.

The Infinite Cat Site http://www.infinitecat.com/index.html, has some great pictures of cats looking at other cats on monitors, who are then looking back at them. Great pictures. Last posting, however, was in 2004. In moments of free time (not a luxury right now), this will be a site to explore.

A New Visitor

It amazes me how people can think that small animals can live outdoors in the cold.

I have a new visitor--a beautiful grey kitten. She can't be over 3 months old. (Yes, I think she's a she--but I haven't gotten close enough to examine her.)

Recruiter was here this morning.

I haven't see the others for a couple of days.