People need fur. I’ve observed this on more than one occasion, but it has really become evident to me of late.
My perambulations around my property are accomplished with my person at my side or nearby. It is a matter of friendship, but also safety. A furry adventurer like me, left on my own, might let his curiosity get the better of him, she insists, and in this slightly wilder, more biodiverse neighborhood, might meet with misfortune in the guise of a wild four-legged.
So almost every morning, and sometimes afternoons too, we head off into the yard for wonderful adventures. We have this lovely brook at the back of the yard, nice marshland with frogs (we had a very nice meeting with a Leopard Frog, Rana pipiens to you, just the other day) and a wetland with ferns and sedges and many more things that we are learning about.A few samples:
Sweet Joe Pye Weed, Eupatorium purpureum and, one of my favorites, Turtlehead, Chelone glabra
One of our many resident hummingbirds' favorites (they are all Archilochus colubris of course) Touch-Me-Not, Impatiens pallida, and one of my peoples' favorites, part of our huge Blackberry bush, Rubrus rubrus - which many species of birds love too!
Humans are pretty practical, so, oftentimes, when my people are out with me, they start doing little yard chores. One thing leads to another and, as often as not, they end up on some big project. Cutting the lawn, pruning trees, pulling weeds.
As a cat, I find this stuff pretty boring, so I usually sit and wait patiently, staring at bugs, mapping new ways to sleep on my people at night, working out a few eigenvalue algorithms in my head, or else thinking about kibble.All this is fine. But then, mysteriously, a few days later, my folks start itching. There’s this odd three-leaved plant in the yard…with little white berries at the center.
And here’s where I get back to the fur thing. I really think people need fur. Catsuits (please see “labels” to the right to learn more about catsuits) are not a practical alternative. People are too big and they don’t have tails or paw pads on all fours…and then there are those dumb thumbs to deal with…too much trouble.
Why has evolution led them to a furless state so they are so easily plagued by poison ivy and such? Even my female person – who has never been sensitive to the leaves of three in the past – got the nasty bubbly itchies this year. Turns out exposure to urushiol is cumulative. My male person has legendary abilities in this area, having reached a threshold level of exposure in infancy. Now, all he has to do is look at the stuff and he breaks out rhythmically for weeks. Only problem is, he can’t seem to recognize the stuff. That’s why I’m here to point it out, sniffing it out dutifully, bringing in little samples for him to inspect.
I feel for them, I do, though it is difficult to watch them go through it…and they do complain an awful lot…though I guess that’s par for the course with being human.
Here’s the biggest problem though. At some point – it is inevitable – they start looking at me funny and sure enough, the next thing I know I’m in the tub getting the Johnson’s Baby Shampoo treatment.
Yeah, right, blame the cat. (But the womenfolk sure do love my sweet smell after a bath…)
