Tag: Cat

Sunday’s Theme Music

We rose to a sky rich with sunshine. It’s Sunday, January 8, 2023. The sunshine is welcome. It’s in the forties here but the cats and wife agree, it feels colder than that. I was out at midnight last night, delivering used kitty litter to a trash can, and paused to check out the night. It smelled like winter to me, if you know what I mean. That sort of element has been missing for this winter except for a few days.

Sunrise finally moved off of 7:40 AM. At last we’ve begun moving toward an earlier sunrise, with the sun sneaking up on us a full minute earlier. Friggin’ rejoice. Sunset is all the way back to 4:56 this evening. By next week, it’ll be setting after 5 PM. I’m looking forward to a longer day. A cougar prowling the town after sunset reduces my willingness to go out there. I don’t think the big cat will attack me, but I really don’t need to test that theory.

Today’s song is by a group called Montrose. The name comes from Ronnie Montrose, the lead guitarist and band founder. Sammy Hagar was the lead singer. The song in the morning mental music stream is “I’ve Got the Fire”. Watching the video and listening, it’s interesting how much Sammy’s voice stayed the same through the decades. Anyway, the song came out in 1974. I didn’t know about it at the time. I entered the military in October of 1974 and the album was released a little later. When in basic, we had little outside contact. This was before the net, personal computers, and cell phones. For people to reach us, they had to contact the squadron office and leave a message. We weren’t permitted to hear radios or watch televisions. Riding in motorized vehicles were off limits until the final week. We had to earn the right to visit the base exchange after several weeks. Funny in retrospect, but we knew little going on outside of our unit. We were allowed to line up and use the pay phone to call home after three or four weeks, if you and your unit were making satisfactory progress.

Anyway, after finishing basic and listening to music again, I discovered the new Montrose album. Montrose was another band that my high school friends didn’t appreciate, except for Scott and Rick. The three of us were considered strange, but we had fun.

The song is in mind today because of ginger cat, Papi. It was pouring rain last night. The wind at one point growled like a large, angry giant, and then slammed the house’s side like it was really pissed off. Of course, Papi doesn’t care about that. Doesn’t care about cougars, either. Just, let me out!

I was going to use an audio only file, but I couldn’t resist this Midnight Special video. “Paper Money” leads off. “I Got the Fire” starts at 4:56 in if you want to cut to it.

I finally did after stern words and ignoring him was ignored. A while later, he banged on the door to get back in. Yeah, he was cold and soaked. I mentioned, “Come in to the heat. We got the fire.” Then I helped him dry off. Meanwhile, The Neurons started several fire songs. I foolishly let my mind wander into the pickets of music I’ve heard in my life, focusing on all the songs that mentioned fire. There are a lot. Somehow, The Neurons dug out this lesser known 1974 song. Voila, it’s our theme music for today.

Stay pos and test neg. I’m off for a cup of coffee, hear what I’m saying. Hope your Sunday trends in a positive way. Cheers

1

Wednesday’s Wandering Thought

The little cat, who isn’t little any longer, but is younger than the household’s alpha floof, is called Papi. He’s a ginger character, sweet but quick to put up his claws. He enjoys spiriting out to guard the yard every night. I say night, but he likes going out about 3 AM. Technically it’s still dark morning in my realm. The thing is, he returns every morning at exactly 6:37 AM, rapping on the door to get back in. His punctuality is admirable, but it makes me wonder, is the cat going off to a duty or paid position somewhere, finishing his shift at 6:30 and then returning home?

It seems reasonable…doesn’t it?

3

Sunday’s Theme Music

It’s an auspicious Sunday morning. Fox Sports viewers are still reeling from an extreme closeup of Michigan’s Coach, Jim Harbaugh, delivered by a ref cam on television yesterday. Oh, the humanity!

December 4th has its hands around us. Mild weather in our valley is putting on airs. 40 F now, we anticipate a high that exceeds (or not) 49 F. Mostly cloudy, with the sun playing peek-a-boo with us, the ground is wet from nocturnal rain, and those clouds are saying, “Seriously, we might let loose with some water again. Don’t laugh. We mean it.”

DIY plans have gone awry. The microwave went out again last week. New parts were ordered. They arrived yesterday. Soon as I picked up that box, I knew the right parts weren’t within. The box weighed about eight pounds, which seems heavy for a door microswitch and a plastic switch holder. Emails were sent. Replies are awaited. The cats are watching the skies for carrier pigeons from customer service.

Other DIY plans are going well as new interior seals are put on the windows. Tiny measures like that make a huge difference. The house feels so much snugger and cozier. Yes, I did procrastinate on getting that done. It was overdue. I blame the cats for that.

With a weather break and the winds dissipated, both cats are out on sentry, one each covering the front and back approaches. News of a local cougar killing a pet cat has us on edge. Previous reports were out but this time, cyclists witnessed the cougar with the cat in mouth. That seems pretty accurate.

The Neurons have “Let It Roll” by Little Feat (1988) pumping through the morning mental music stream. It’s funny that this is the song that ended up there. Yes, funny, ha, ha. I was thinking of my novel in progress, pondering where the muses were going to take me. I feel like I have a blindfold on. They’re standing around me, giggling and smothering their laugher, telling me what to do. My response is, yeah, let it roll. Let’s see how it rolls out. But a number of artists come to mind when the song lyrics ‘let it roll’ go by. Foremost is usually BTO — yeah, Bachman Turner Overdrive for the uninitiated — urging, “Let it roll! Down the highway. Roll. Roll.” I speculate that the weather has The Neurons in a Germany state of mind. I was stationed in Germany for a few years in the late eighties. Weather there was often overcast. Seeing this weather reminded me of those German days. That’s when this Little Feat song came out.

Coffee time! Stay positive and test negative. Mask up as needed. Be smart about it. I know most are beyond weary. I understand. The vulnerable remain vulnerable, though. Sure, that’s their problem, right? Uh, huh. Sure.

Wait, the cats are clamoring for re-entry. Yep, the clouds came through. Light rain falls.

Here’s the tune. Enjoy. Cheers

0

Saturday’s Theme Music

Yippee. December’s first Saturday has arrived. Per family tradition, I get to eat like a kid all day, play games, and goof off. Not much different from most of my days.

Only four Saturdays remain of 2022. It’s so exciting to watch each Saturday overtake us and unfold like a rare flower. Today is already December 3. The heat is running, the sun is shining, but a cold northy wind is beating us like a drum. It’s 46 F and it feels like 36. Today’s high will be a rousing 51. The winds are expected to dip and the sun has issued promises that sunshine is here for the day. Speaking of the sun, its rise was 7:22 AM. Only a few weeks until the sun’s arrival starts moving back the other day, spreading daylight longer through the day. The sun’s endpoint will be at 4:39 PM. Daylight will fade shortly after.

I was singing to one of my floofmates last night. Papi, the ginger wonder, had an attitude going on. Just like sitting back, surveying the scene, a disdainful observer too cool to be involved. The way he reclined and surveyed prompted both a laugh from me and a proclamation that he was a soul cat. I then improvised lyrics to the song “Soul Man” for his listening delight. He deigned to be delighted.

Taking notice of all this, The Neurons delivered “Soul Man” to the morning mental music stream. The song, written by Isaac Hayes and Dave Porter, was a hit by Sam and Dave in 1967. That’s the song I knew and grew up with. But I must admit, The Blues Brothers version delighted me because of the characters Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi brought to stage in 1978. I’m going with the latter for today’s theme music.

Stay positive and test negative. Enjoy December’s First Friday. I’m gonna start with a hot cup of the black brew known as coffee. Here’s the music. Hope you like it more than Papi. Of course, that may have been my mocking or singing putting the cat off.

Cheers

3

Sunday’s Theme Music

Well, I did my duty. I popped the time back. I initially screwed up, though, setting it back a thousand years because it was two in the morning, I was cat tired, and had been out bringing a cat in and looking at the moon when a BIG bear ambled through the neighbor’s yard. Suddenly, getting the cat into the house wasn’t a problem. By the time the bear’s sound registered and I looked and saw the bear, the cat had looked, seen the bear, told me, “See you,” and was back at the door, ready to go in. So my mind wasn’t all in on the attention needed to set time back. A few wrong buttons were pressed. No harm, though, I caught it as soon as I stepped out of the time booth and discovered I was outside because the house didn’t exist here back then. Back into the booth I went, hissing to myself, “Oh crap oh crap oh crap,” as I saw in my mind’s memory that I’d done centuries instead of hours. Thank Dogs I only pressed the one instead of the four or nine below.

A heck of a morning. How is your day going?

Today is November 6, 2022, a Sunday. It’s 36 F and sunny outside, a real treat of a fall morning. Rain is forecast for later, when the temperature is 51 F. Then the temp will drop and the rain will turn to snow, 8 – 14 inches in some places, but not mine. Sunrise bulldozed out the darkness at 6:50 AM and the day night shift will begin changover at sunset, 4:58 PM.

In my little morning tale, the part about setting the clock back was my imagination having fun. The bear and cat part were true. I went to the door to see if Papi wanted in. He was sitting there awaiting moment but was clearly interested in something going on out there. Asking him what he was looking at, I noticed the fantastic almost full moon, which was taken advantage of the clouds’ absence to spill light everywhere. Between that moonlight and the cold but fresh night air, I was entranced and went out onto the walk to take full advantage of it. That’s when the bear made their noises and picked up and slammed down a trash can. Fascinating as this was, I thought, oh my, is that the time? Papi and I went in as the bear headed on down the road. I think the bear was really showing off for my benefit, you know?

A 1972 EOL song is in the morning mental music stream. I first heard “10538” when I was sixteen years old. A crazy song, I wasn’t sure what it was about, doing some careful listening before some radio DJ finally illuminated that the song was about an escaped prisoner. My dream wasn’t about being a prisoner, yet this was the song that ended up invading my head when I was thinking about the dream this morning. The Neurons had to drill really deeply into the memory banks to find it.

Remain positive in your attitude and keep testing negative. If you do test negative, take appropriate measures. You know what that stuff is, right? Not like the whole COVID started yesterday. Not unless you’ve been time-traveling.

Here’s the tune. Got my coffee and going outside to enjoy some sunshine and liquid gold. Cheers

0

The Morning Mouse

He has his routines. After eating his wet food and his kibble, he heads for the desk. His guy is seated behind it, on the computer. There, on the right, is the man’s mouse, used for his computer, his hand resting on it. Eyeing it, he walks around the computer to the mouse hand, and puts his nose down and starts rubbing on his human’s hand. He usually only wants about two to three minutes of rubbing on the mouse hand before settling down for a nap, using the mouse hand as a pillow. That rarely works because the hand and mouse moves, eventually causing him to jump down to find another napping location. But all is well.

He’s had his morning mouse. It’ll suffice until after dinner. Then he’ll have his evening mouse.

0

Wednesday’s Theme Music

Entering our consciousness just after midnight, Wednesday, October 26, 2022, sailed in under a gray curtain of rain and trumpets of gusty winds. Sunlight’s arrival at 7:36 AM brought up pre-winter conditions. Frost advisories have been kicked out. Temperatures are dropping. Lovely rain extended its visitation rights. Streams and creeks grow swollen with contributions out of mountains, gutters, and drain systems.

It’s 5 degrees C right now. We’re told — and they’re usually pretty close on these things — 51 F will be seen by the afternoon. The sun’s departure at 6:13 PM will kick the temperature back down the stairs toward the lower thirties.

We were reflecting on Halloween’s approach. Until last week, it felt like summer here. Trees hadn’t turned, temperatures remained in the eighties, sunshine and blue skies lorded over the valley. Summer, right? Then a cosmic meteorological switch was turned and autumn crashed down. Suddenly, summer was gone and, hello, it’s Halloween? What? Seriously?

And now October is finalizing its last day plans. Enjoy it while you can. I don’t want to be a spoiler, but I can tell you that there will be a change next Tuesday.

A cat inspired The Neurons for today’s music. Papi, energetic from being housebound when the rains and temperatures dropped suddenly declared last night, “Enough of this! I want out!” Yes, I warned him, it’s no longer summer out there. But he’s a cat. Did he listen? Of course he did. But he ignored me. Because he’s a cat and ruler of whatever he thinks he can get away with ruling.

So he went out. And came back in. And wanted back out. No, in! Out! In! Out! Well, yeah, by the fourth time, I refused to play the game. But my wife was awoken by his efforts to get in and did his bidding, only for him to come to me and say, with pleading eyes, “Please, sir, let me out.”

At some point in all this, I told him, “I love you but you’re driving me crazy.” Well, yeah, Der Neurons liked that and fired up some Sammy Hagar in the morning mental music stream. His song, “Your Love Is Driving Me Crazy” (1983), has been playing in my head since serious dark thirty.

Although October may be ending (or maybe not!), keep wearing your positive pants. You know the ones, the ones which you’ve decided brings you good luck because you got a free coffee once when you were wearing them and people compliment you and are nicer, and you were told you got a promotion that one time, and you always get better traffic flow when you have them on, seriously. Also, continue to test negative.

I’m up for coffee. Anyone else? Here’s Sammy. Cheers

3

Biflooflent

Biflooflent (floofinition) – Animals associated in pairs.

In use: “With two dogs, three cats, and a bird, the large male cat and little parakeet were an odd but loyal biflooflent set, always together napping, bathing, peering out windows, and eating. The bird was even with the cat in the litter box.”

0

Blog at WordPress.com.

Up ↑