Mrrrrr Friends,
I hope your human holidays were fun, furry, and relaxing.
Ours were kind of quiet with spurts of busyness. People seem to congregate on human holidays. This is somewhat entertaining for cats like me and Alex. We enjoy smelling what people bring in on their clothes and persons…where they’ve been, what they’ve been eating, what lotion they use, etcetera. We do not enjoy that, when they arrive, they seem bent on sitting on all the cat spots…the couch, the nice chair. After they plump themselves right down, they look at us oddly as we stand in front of them, glaring. Or they take it as a compliment when we go ahead and try to sit on our spot – through them – anyway.
I hope your human holidays were fun, furry, and relaxing.
Ours were kind of quiet with spurts of busyness. People seem to congregate on human holidays. This is somewhat entertaining for cats like me and Alex. We enjoy smelling what people bring in on their clothes and persons…where they’ve been, what they’ve been eating, what lotion they use, etcetera. We do not enjoy that, when they arrive, they seem bent on sitting on all the cat spots…the couch, the nice chair. After they plump themselves right down, they look at us oddly as we stand in front of them, glaring. Or they take it as a compliment when we go ahead and try to sit on our spot – through them – anyway.
Ah well. Our people smile at our minor tribulations when we have company. They reprimand inappropriate shooshing of cats when we are comfortably ensconced on a favorite resting spot, but they do believe in first come, first serve. That’s okay by us. If you leave your seat to eat or pee, for example, and someone takes your spot….that’s life. It’s a two-way street here at our house…humans can lose their seats as easily as cats.
Anyway, it was nice to see some different faces, listen to stories, and watch the fire.
It put me in a contemplative mood.
For a long time now, I’ve been sensing a need for change. While I love the back yard at the little house, I’m feeling a bit cramped and I think I’m gaining weight. I miss the open spaces and deep snow of Wisconsin and, while I am not in a hurry to move back home, I yearn for a little freshwater stream to fish in, some new trees to climb, and a greater variety of critters whose antics I can follow.
Of course, as soon as I say that, I think about how much I love my climbing trees here, my neighbor pal David, and being close to my son Rotor. But cats do move on.
Given my slightly rounder than usual girth – my winter cat suit was a bit tight – I think some stairways are needed. Nothing like running up and down stairs chasing a wide variety of cat toys and, better yet, chasing Alex, to get a fellow into fit shape for spring-time tree climbing. Speaking of which…I’m considering a shift to conifers. Not that I don’t enjoy Acer saccharum and Prunus serotina – my favorites here at the little house – but I need to expand my horizons. I’m thinking Balsam Fir, Black Spruce, and, for variety, perhaps some Quaking Aspen.
The holidays can often be about mayhem, but they can also provide some quality quiet time that allows deep held thoughts to percolate and brew…if you let them. I’ve been feeling this way for some months now…but now I know I’m thinking in the right direction.
I hope you can take some time to relax and think this holiday…let your mind go off the leash and just roam about sniffing for hopes and dreams. Cats are good at this. If you know a cat, you might want to snuggle up with them and ask their help in unleashing your brain.
Me, I’m already working on making my dreams reality.
