Catty Tails

Friends

2006-02-10T17:36:00.000-08:00

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

2006-02-05T14:32:00.000-08:00

"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

2006-02-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

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 . .

2006-01-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-28T15:13:00.000-08:00

"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

2006-01-26T18:38:00.001-08:00

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

2006-01-26T18:14:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-26T05:00:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-26T04:21:00.000-08:00

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

2006-01-21T12:04:00.000-08:00

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.

A Myth Debunked (I think)

2006-01-19T04:46:00.000-08:00

It is said that cats are independent, that they don' need much attention. Well . .

Here's Pippin, or PippinSqueak, as I sometimes call him.
Born March 11, 2004, and almost 2 years old.

3:30 A.M. and Pippin wants some attention. This means

Pippin gets under my covers
stands on top of me
bangs his head into my hand so that he can get my attention
wants his eyes covered with my hands in a somewhat rough manner
uses his front paws in a kneading motion on my chest (luckily he doesn't have claws)

Needless to say, last night was a short night.

I must hasten to add, though, that at the right moment (not 3:30 A.M.) Pippin gets lots of attention.

Who owns whom?

2006-01-17T20:53:00.000-08:00

I was reminded tonight by one of my online students that I introduce myself as being owned by 8 cats. Oh--I never told you how many I have. . . Well, now you know.

Here's an example of how they own me: I came home tonight, very late (6:36 p.m.) and needed to leave immediately for another outing. The cats were ready to eat (having not eaten since 7:30 that morning) and several of them "batted" at me as I walked through the kitchen. There's always dry food for them, and they are NOT starving, but I think they thought it was feeding time since I was home.

Of course they didn't get fed until I came home 2 hours later.

That's the catty news of the day. Not very exciting, but. . .

Cats left outside for the winter

2006-01-16T06:37:00.000-08:00

Sassy (the one on the left who is all black) is my only outdoor cat. On his way outside last night, he was greeted by 3 other black cats. That surprised him a bit, but, undaunted, he went out.

I looked for him later, and saw a 4th cat, a beautiful striped Maine Coon. He doesn't come much.

I look for the outside cats regularly, because I'm concerned about their ability to stay alive in winter weather. While the weather is mild this year and the cats don't seem to be suffering, what might happen to them if it were cold?

My point is that if someone owns a cat, they have the responsibility of taking care of that cat. That includes spaying or neutering. I feel strongly that not doing this is a form of animal cruelty.

Feeding Time--or Almost

2006-01-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

Tia, Nizhoni, and Leo

I'd like to introduce you to some of my family. These three are the middle cats. Leo (the black and white one) is 4-5 years old. He's my favorite. He has no claws in either front or back. His favorite thing is to snuggle OR watch the birds out my back window.

Tia, the one on the right, is aloof most of the time. She's been with me since abou 2002, but took almost 2 years to let me hold her. Most people don't see her.

Nizhoni (Navajo for You are Beautiful) is on the left. She's been with me since 1999 when she was only 8 weeks old. You'll see her brother in another picture. She loves to sit on my lap, but rarely has much to do with anyone else.

Another day

2006-01-14T06:51:00.000-08:00

When I got home last night, there was another older cat, a beautiful tortoise colored Maine Coon, eating from the outside bowl. He's scared of me--so ran when I came up to the porch. I only see him about once a week. I wonder whose feeding him?

"Homeless"

2006-01-13T08:25:00.000-08:00

Today, as I was leaving home, I saw 2 (not 1) of my "homeless" cats on the porch waiting for their daily food. I wish someone would claim them. It's cold outside, and I feel sorry for them.

These two are solid black. One is about 1 year old; the other is about 2 years old. The long haired cat I've named Recruiter, because he "recruits" other cats to come get the food I leave out for them.