Let an Elephant Run

"When you have got an elephant by the hind legs

and he is trying to run away,

it's best to let him run."

--Abraham Lincoln

Work

"My father taught me to work;

he did not teach me to love it."

--Abraham Lincoln

A Kitten Named Godot

This is a cropped photo of the one my brother-in-law took the day my family met Godot, which was about a week or so after I brought my tuxedo kitten home from the shelter. Godot was approximately two months old at the time. I had gone to the shelter armed with a long list of names for my future kitten or cat. That is, I had decided I would name a white feline Emily, if female, a black-and-white tuxedo feline Godot, if male, etc. I don't remember the rest of the names, because it was eight-and-a-half years ago, but I am sure I have used some of the other names since then. Anyway, there were lots of kittens at the shelter that day, but only one tuxedo kitten, who was alone in a cage. Since the litters were kept together, I thought that perhaps Godot had been an only child. I inquired, but I was told that information was confidential, which did not make sense to me. After all, I merely wanted to know the circumstances of his birth, that is, whether or not he had siblings. Well, I spent forty minutes observing people admiring the two adult tuxedo cats, whom I had considered, but nobody even glanced at Godot, who was the handsomest kitten at the shelter, in my humble opinion. It was as if he were invisible to everyone but me. In my heart, I knew Godot was the one, even before I spent some time with him in a room designated for prospective pet owners. Oh, just for comparison's sake, I first asked to see another kitten, since I am fond of tortoiseshells, but she hightailed it out of the room immediately, and I was somewhat relieved. Godot was a little purring machine, who was very happy to be with me in that little room. And the rest is history.

Striking First

The man who strikes first

admits that his ideas have given out.

--Chinese Proverb

Jokes or Facts

"I don't make jokes;

I just watch the government and report the facts."

--Will Rogers

The Civilized World

"The civilized world represents

the victory of persuasion over force."

--Plato

The Smallest Idea

"He can compress the most words

into the smallest idea of any man I ever met."

--Abraham Lincoln

Nature's Comb

Experience is the comb that Nature gives us when we are bald.

--Russian Proverb

Sleep Police

Instead of watching Letterman last night, I watched Conan's last show, followed by part of Craig Ferguson's program. When I woke up a few hours later, I was wide awake. But instead of getting up and doing something constructive, like cleaning my house or choosing quotations and photos for this blog, I decided to torture myself for several hours, futilely attempting to fall asleep again. Therefore, I decided to watch television; I got to choose from a different infomercial on every channel or C-SPAN. I chose the latter, and I watched it for hours. Finally, sleep happened. As a result, I got up very late. In hindsight, I wish I had gotten out of bed and done something useful. Not that it really mattered. After all, today is Saturday, and I have nowhere I need to go, except maybe to the mailbox. But even that is not happening today, since I saw an abandoned SUV on the side of the icy road here. So, why did I feel compelled to force myself to stay in bed and try to sleep, even though my insomnia had kicked-in? I suppose I feel I should be asleep in bed in the middle of the night, as if there is some unwritten law. As if the Sleep Police are going to knock on my door and give me a ticket if I do not comply. "But Officer, I did use the 'sleep' button on my TV remote. Honest, I did, but...."

When Simon Thatched the Roof

When I was a child, I recall hearing the expression when Simon thatched the roof. Now, I have a lot of when Simon thatched the roof moments, as I call them, since many times I don't remember the exact day something occurred, but I can relate it to an event. For example, I don't remember the day of the week, or how many weeks ago (guessing, somewhere between 2-4 weeks), I realized that it would have been a good idea if I had shovelled a path for the propane gas delivery guy. But I do recall it was the day Rebel alerted me to the fact that the propane gas truck was stuck at the bottom of our neighbor's unplowed driveway across the road. And then I realized, that although our driveway had been cleared sufficiently for the truck to make its way to our house, there were huge mounds of snow lining the driveway, which would mean the delivery guy would have to climb over our mini-snow mountains in order to get to the propane gas tank. Well, after his unsuccessful delivery attempt across the road that day when Simon thatched the roof, so to speak, either my house wasn't on the delivery schedule or else the delivery guy had decided to wait until the mounds of snow had nearly disappeared, because I didn't see him again until yesterday. He got here in the nick of time, because my propane gas tank was low and last night we had more wintry precipitation. Once again, my yard is a winter wonderland. However, if I need to recall the day that we had our most recent propane gas delivery, my when Simon thatched the roof point of reference would be the day our evening wintry mix prevented my family from taking the hour's drive here in order to take me out for dinner. Actually, I would have two references, because my second when Simon thatched the roof would also be the day when I placed the tree with the lopsided root ball into a Styrofoam tub, which was too small.

All's Well That Ends Well

Rebel and I would like to thank everyone who phoned and e-mailed us regarding the incident that occurred last Friday. We greatly appreciate your concern and good wishes. We are happy to report that all is well. Rebel was depressed for several days, and he was limping. I knew all would be truly well once Rebel was able to roll over again. And he did, on Tuesday. He's back to his normal, happy, exuberant self, rolling over and over. I'm fine also. I've come to the conclusion that Rebel and I would react the same way again, given the exact same circumstances. But changing just one variable, it would have been (and would be) a different scenario. Oddly enough, I think this was a test of principles for both Rebel and me, if that makes sense (which it probably doesn't because I'm being cryptic). In conclusion, all's well that ends well.

Aunt Toma's Kidney Bean Bourguignon

After seeing the movie Julie and Julia, I was inspired to write my own blog. And having seen that movie and then noticing the old bottle of Merlot in my kitchen, yesterday I decided to make a kidney bean bourguignon in my slow cooker. There were several reasons for choosing to make this particular recipe: I didn't know if that wine was still good or if it had turned to vinegar over the years; I wanted to make something easy, something I could basically just throw into my slow cooker; I am a vegetarian, so I chose beans instead of beef; and I was inspired by Julia Child's Beef Bourguignon in the movie. Incidentally, I just checked, you can find Julia Child's recipe on the Internet. But, for those of you who are willing to experiment, perhaps you will be tempted to try Aunt Toma's Kidney Bean Bourguignon recipe. Oh, I was also inspired by Emeril on the show GMA, since he has created recipes on the spot, and so I looked into my kitchen cabinets and refrigerator, and Aunt Toma's Kidney Bean Bourguignon was created.

Ingredients: approximately 2 Tbsp olive oil; 3 medium yellow onions, quartered and sliced thickly; approximately 1-1/2 tsp ready-to-use chopped garlic; 8 oz baby carrots, cut in half lengthwise; 8-oz carton of sliced mushrooms; approximately 3 Tbsp ketchup; 1 bay leaf; approximately 1/2 tsp ground thyme; 2 drained and rinsed 15.5-oz cans dark red kidney beans; salt and black pepper, to taste; (Trader Joe's) 21 Seasoning Salute, to taste; and last, but not least, 2-1/2 cups Merlot. (I hope I have not left out any ingredients.)

By the way, with the exception of the wine, I did not measure anything. So my measurements are approximate guesses. First, I poured a little olive oil into my slow cooker, and then I added the onions, stirring and cooking them on High for a few minutes. Next, I added all the above-mentioned ingredients and seasoned them to taste. After stirring, I covered the slow cooker and set it on Low. I would check on it, stirring occasionally, out of curiosity more than anything else. I shall say this much, the aroma wafting through my house for the next 6-1/2 hours was wonderful.

Total preparation and cooking time was approximately 7 hours, but most of that was handled by the slow cooker. Level of difficulty: easy. Therefore, I had time to put away all my Christmas decorations, and I had time left over to watch a movie.

And when I finally dished some of my Kidney Bean Bourguignon onto a plate, I added some whole grain bread by LaBrea Bakery. My taste buds were happy. Today, I served the bean dish over some whole grain penne. Tomorrow, it will be either some roasted potatoes or rice, because variety is the spice of life.

This recipe, which should serve 4-6 people, is no fancy Beef Bourguignon, by any means, but it is a good, homey dish, which hits the spot, in my opinion. But then, what do I know? I'm no Emeril, either.

Exercise

Godot says, "Exercise while you sleep. Just stretch."

When I watched Martha Stewart's television program this morning, I decided to try a few of the exercises that were being demonstrated. Since I do not own a samurai sword, I substituted a yardstick. As soon as I reached for it, Yoda's eyes got even bigger than they usually appear; it was obvious that my black cat saw the yardstick as a weapon, but he remained sitting on the floor near me, while observing my poor attempts to follow along with Martha and her guests. But Locksley jumped in. Literally. Locksley stood in front of me and kept jumping up, attempting to grab the yardstick whenever I brought it forward. Needless to say, I was facing forward the entire time, since I was watching the tv. Suddenly, I felt my pretend sword being grabbed from behind. I had to laugh, when I turned around and discovered that Mark Twain had decided to make this a group exercise by jumping onto the coffee table and catching the yardstick. I guess you had to be there, but it was very cute. Now that would have made an interesting video!

Bird Feeders

These are our bird feeders. But now that the rain has washed away the snow on the deck, I have had to prop the tree against the railing, because the root ball is somewhat lopsided. And since Rebel thinks the birdseed cookies are rather tasty, I have to keep an eye on him. I also suspect that either a raccoon or an opossum has been dining at the tree.

Talk to the Paw

Charlotte says, "Talk to the paw."

Godot Hears My Screams

I had hoped to watch Vera Wang on The View yesterday. However, that was not meant to be, since fate had already determined I would be busy, starting at exactly 11 am. Without going into details, let's just say that I found myself unexpectedly screaming for help on my deck. I happened to glance up, and there was Godot, who had been the first one to respond to my screams. Godot was ready to come to my aid, but, unfortunately, he was on the other side of the living room windows. When human help finally did arrive, more than ten minutes later, I asked, "Was I not screaming loud enough?" I was exasperated and on an adrenaline rush, since I had almost given up on anyone showing up. You see, I am quiet by nature. This was the first time I have ever really screamed. Therefore, it felt odd, finding myself in the predicament of being forced to scream at the top of my lungs, especially because it seemed as if I had been screaming for a very long time. And I didn't understand why nobody was yelling back to me that they were coming to assist me. Well, I had been screaming loudly, I was told. In fact, my screams woke up one of the neighbors, but neither one of the two neighbors who showed up could figure out the direction of my screams at first. My screams must have been bouncing off the snowy mountainside. Anyway, I hope I never hear anyone screaming, but if I do, I shall pick up the phone and dial 9-1-1, before trying to figure out the direction of the screams. As for my throat, right now I'm hoarse, but I find that honey helps.

Clutter

The first year that Godot and I lived here, we had plenty of space and no clutter. When Karma joined us a year later, we still had plenty of space and no clutter. The same holds true when we welcomed Rebel into our family, followed by Mark Twain. But somewhere along the line, clutter took over. I am not referring to the pet toys on the floor. Nor am I talking about all the knickknacks that I have received as gifts over the years. Those are neatly placed on my bookshelves. (Perhaps if a personal property tax were imposed on knickknacks, I might be inclined to part with some of my dust collectors--the problem is that I have sentimental value attached to all of them.) I am chuckling as I write this: whenever I tell anyone who has never been to my home that my house is cluttered, I am exaggerating, but I think they have an image of a hoarder, with junk and garbage all over the place. That is not the case at all. Paper clutter is the real topic of this post. You see, I used to be an organized perfectionist. Not anymore, due to the never ending paper stuff that gets delivered via the postal service and, more importantly, a lack of file cabinets. Nevertheless, I do have a system: bills that need to get paid are promptly placed on my desk. But one bill I did not recognize got away from me, so to speak, since I tossed it on the table one day--the day I decided I would organize all my papers, once and for all, and get a head start on next year's taxes. As if that was going to happen in one day's time! However, I did make a good attempt before I got overwhelmed, at which point I left everything neatly stacked until the next day. Then, I discovered that some feline family members had decided to surprise me with their secretarial assistance during the night. And so ended my short-lived determination to get my papers organized. Therefore, my apologies go out to a lab in California for late payment of their bill, which I recently discovered along with the missing health insurance explanation of benefits pertaining to their charges, something I had not recalled receiving. Those papers were right next to my missing holiday greeting cards, under a stack of junk mail. Of course. Thanks go to my feline secretaries. That's right, blame it on the poor cats, who were merely trying to be helpful. The truth is, I have a real abhorrence of organizing papers. Especially since I am short in the file cabinet department. Of course, I know how to get organized--I just don't feel like doing it. It seems like the biggest waste of time and energy. Besides, it is just so much more fun to ransack the house looking for a piece of paper.

A Star

"Hitch your wagon to a star."

--R. W. Emerson

Cats and Kings

A cat may look at a king.--Proverb

The Watching of Birds and Martha Stewart's Show

While I watched Martha Stewart's interesting show about cats on January 11, two of my cats, Mark Twain and Quentin were doing some watching of their own. Only they were bird-watching. The homemade birdseed cookie ornaments I have hanging outside are serving two purposes: providing food for the birds and entertainment for my cats. It's better than watching television, in my cats' opinion. As for myself, I really enjoyed The Cat Show. For those cat lovers who missed Martha's show yesterday, I recommend you visit her website, http://www.marthastewart.com/. The television guests included cat breeders, a pet keeper with some good toy ideas (I intend to make some sock toys), and a veterinarian who talked about "the cat scan" for feline health. Seriously, cat owners, check it out. I think you'll be glad you did.

Rumor Negated on Facebook

"The report of my death was an exaggeration."

--MARK TWAIN

When I recently accepted an invitation to be a high school classmate's friend on Facebook, I decided to check out his home page, where I discovered that someone I had presumed dead for many years is, in fact, alive. I have no recollection of who told me the false rumor. I only know that, for at least a decade or two, it saddened me whenever I recalled that our classmate was no longer alive. You see, he and I had been fourth-grade buddies, because we sat next to each other, and my fondest memories of that class consist of joking with "S" whenever our teacher was distracted by the entrance of the other fourth-grade teacher from the neighboring classroom. Needless to say, rumors can be cruel, but it truly amazes me that people can start a rumor about someone's demise. Therefore, "S", should you ever stumble across this post, let me say that I was very happy to learn that the report of your death was also an exaggeration.

Godot and the Birdseed Cookies

I decided to make birdseed cookies to hang on our live Christmas tree on the deck, since the tree will be there until the spring. Besides, I never replaced the stolen suet cage. So, I found a recipe on the Internet, and I must say the cookies look pretty good. Godot, on the other hand, is fascinated by the ribbons. I am afraid he needs to be kept under strict supervision, whenever there is any string or ribbon in the house, and that is why our Christmas presents are never tied with ribbons and bows.

Ponzo Locks Computer

I do not know how, or why, he did it, but Ponzo locked the computer a few days ago. Unfortunately, neither one of us could remember the correct password. After several unsuccessful attempts to unlock our computer, I simply shut it down. Problem solved!

A Similar Second Chance

History repeats itself. Sometimes we get a second chance or a similar one, even if it is simply the opportunity to do something small over again the right way. Or we get another chance to carry out plans the way we had envisioned them the first time. Such was the case with yesterday's minor snowstorm, which enabled me to live out the plans I had made for myself a couple of weeks ago, when I had intended to sit by the fireplace and watch holiday DVDs. I had even purchased Disney's Babes in Toyland, which reminded me of my childhood because that movie always signalled the beginning of the holiday season for me. But that did not happen this past December because my television died, which meant I also had no working DVD player. Anyway, before yesterday's snowfall, I moved the live Christmas tree on my deck, just as I had when I first placed the newly-purchased tree on the deck right before the start of the blizzard in December. (This time, however, I was moving the tree out of Santa "Bird" Dog's reach.) Opting to stay home instead of accepting a Christmas dinner invitation, I finally watched those holiday DVDs yesterday. And today, as I pushed the two inches of snow from my driveway, I took breaks to sip hot chocolate by the fireplace as I watched Disney's Magical Fireplace. Needless to say, I really like the ambience of a fireplace. Now, if only Old Man Winter would dole out the season's snow two inches at a time instead of dumping two feet all at once, snow removal would be a breeze!

Eastern Orthodox Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS

to everyone who celebrates on January 7

Farewell, Christmas Tree

All of us enjoyed having the Christmas tree in the house. In fact, when I first decorated the tree, Godot added the finishing Christmas touch to the decorations by placing a Santa Mouse in front of it. And when I took down the tree, Godot immediately placed his green Santa Mouse on the spot where the tree had stood. Apparently, Godot was saying that he already missed the tree and wished that it would be returned. However, since it is a live tree, it now stands on our deck, where it awaits the spring thaw for planting.

Bitterly Cold Outside

It took all of two seconds for Godot to realize that he had made a mistake in darting out the front door this morning, because it is still bitterly cold today. When I opened the door to let him inside, our Cat Elder just stood there yelling at Yoda on the other side of the glass door. This went on for about five minutes, until Godot thought a reasonable amount of time had passed for him to return into the house. Godot had to save face, so to speak. Needless to say, being near the warmth of the fireplace is certainly preferable to being outdoors in the cold. (In today's photo, you can see Godot's red Santa Mouse under the Christmas tree.)

Godot, Featured Cat of the Month

Since Godot is our Cat Elder, he is our Santa Cat this holiday season. After all, his favorite toy is a Santa Mouse--he has two of them, a red and a green one--because he carries it as sort of a gift, which he deposits either as a welcome present in front of his chosen recipient or he leaves it on the spot where he would like someone to appear for him. The Santa Mouse is either a token of love or a welcoming gesture. For example, when I was outside during our recent blizzard, I came home to find a Santa Mouse toy in front of the door, which meant that Godot wished me to return home safely and soon. I am not anthropomorphizing; I have had several years' experience observing Godot with his Santa Mouse toys. He is constantly plopping them down in front of his beloved Karma. But he also plopped a Santa Mouse toy in front of a hole in the bathroom doorway wall, when he was welcoming real mice into the house--so that he could catch them and eat them. Therefore, it is not always a gesture of love in the strictest sense of the word, since in welcoming mice into the house, Godot was acknowledging his love of catching them.

Christmas Tree Fragrance

Oprah enjoys the fragrance of our Christmas tree.

Ponzo's New Year's Resolutions

What one does on New Year's Day sets the tone for the rest of the year. Supposedly. At least that's what my mother told me. Just another family superstition. But with that in mind, Ponzo and I spent a lot of time at the computer yesterday. An inordinate amount of time, I might add. The computer spent hours scanning for viruses. Literally. Then, different programs would not respond. It was quite frustrating. So I guess I can expect to continue to be frustrated at the computer throughout the year. And Ponzo and I shall be watching movies on the computer.

Nonetheless, my assistant Ponzo and I came up with a few New Year's resolutions for our blog. (By the way, we were both opposed to making any personal resolutions, such as losing weight or exercising daily.) We shall continue to have at least one blog post per day, and we hope to include a photo with each one. And since we can schedule posts in advance, Ponzo and I feel that it is a realistic resolution, especially since we have been successful at having daily postings thus far. In addition, we have decided to write twelve cat stories, one story per month, about each feline member of our family. Ponzo has informed me that there is no need to have him as the featured cat of the month, since his story has already been told. Anyone can go back to our early posts to read how Ponzo became a member of the family. Actually, one month will have two featured stories, since we feel we need to include our one canine family member, Rebel. In addition, Ponzo thinks it might be interesting to comment on events outside our microcosm. Occasionally. We shall continue to post some of our favorite quotations. In short, we have no plans or goals, other than the featured cat story of the month, but we would like to put a smile on someone's face once in a while.

New Year's Day

Ring out the old and ring in the new--

HAPPY NEW YEAR!