tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post475896094750761622..comments2023-10-31T15:39:09.651+01:00Comments on box elder: Guest Post - CatsLucyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-66383676994651981792009-12-23T03:21:33.735+01:002009-12-23T03:21:33.735+01:00As much as i love dogs--and i really do (i'm &...As much as i love dogs--and i really do (i'm "auntie" to several) i've never known a dog who wasn't needy. You can never leave a pet dog alone for an entire day, let alone several, to be fed and watered by a kind neighbor. i envy their independence...and no need for the pack, but willingness to share. it's why i have a slightly higher respect and affection for cats. Of all the mammals i've come to know, they seem to be the most "grown up" and able to take whatever life tosses at them and still maintain their cool.<br /><br />my cats do seem to get a bit worried when i prepare to leave, but when i return it's "oh. you're back." it breaks my heart a lot less to live with cats.vicki johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05564450760405974595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-34800726815607678952009-12-22T21:06:42.206+01:002009-12-22T21:06:42.206+01:00I'm so glad that you shared this wonderful pie...I'm so glad that you shared this wonderful piece of writing. As someone who lives in the country, and has a cat by semi-choice (and then lots of other strays who are constantly trying to get at the food bowl), I completely identified with it. Country cats really do have to be canny and quick.Beehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02375981493145612394noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-67683880583637053832009-12-21T18:36:45.492+01:002009-12-21T18:36:45.492+01:00Thanks very much on Chris's behalf. He seems ...Thanks very much on Chris's behalf. He seems to be out of earshot at present but no doubt will pass through and appreciate your comments.<br /><br />I read it more as an affectionate but candid respect than antipathy. No doubt they won't be catless for long!Lucyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09764296105901909328noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-29449652657530352472009-12-21T16:27:16.036+01:002009-12-21T16:27:16.036+01:00Bloody hell! I shall view cats with a little more ...Bloody hell! I shall view cats with a little more respect from now on.herhimnbrynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01182397064631016552noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-79154177834049573352009-12-21T07:34:57.145+01:002009-12-21T07:34:57.145+01:00So pleasing to read an affectionate but wry and un...So pleasing to read an affectionate but wry and unsentimental account of coexistence with cats. I've always been more cat than dog inclined, but so much of what gets written anthropomorphises and patronises that most species-specific of creatures. Lucy, your brother must be guided into the light. The blogosphere has need of him!Dickhttp://patteran.typepad.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-911466205527825162009-12-21T00:54:17.103+01:002009-12-21T00:54:17.103+01:00They are amazing creatures. King Harry of Chickade...They are amazing creatures. King Harry of Chickadee Hill hasn't asked to come into the cabin yet, even though he's over 10 now. His queen fell ill and left us several months ago. So he faces the winter alone this year. But he's tough. I learn from him. Your brother has captured something of importance with his words, and I thank you for sharing them with us!Rouchswalwehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01393987883437907945noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-2997406283545870062009-12-21T00:00:44.348+01:002009-12-21T00:00:44.348+01:00For the first time I may use Holy Cow too! We had ...For the first time I may use Holy Cow too! We had many cats in and out of our life sometimes I wonder why I bothered blogged about them..they never stay. But they make beautiful pictures when they're in the kids' hands. You and your brother can really write huh..HLizahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04501423875033391870noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-70813126446199280182009-12-20T17:07:16.278+01:002009-12-20T17:07:16.278+01:00Doesn't do to get too sentimental about semi-w...Doesn't do to get too sentimental about semi-wild animals. They have their own agendas and values, though they sometimes find us useful.Zhoenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03515663141425057088noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-86471012063969618322009-12-20T16:12:16.165+01:002009-12-20T16:12:16.165+01:00That's where cats live. In the corner of the e...That's where cats live. In the corner of the eye. A hit, a palpable hit.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06972049290586377462noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-6872658571001912102009-12-20T15:52:51.389+01:002009-12-20T15:52:51.389+01:00Yeah. Cats. They're not really domesticated,...Yeah. Cats. They're not really domesticated, whatever people say. & I'm always astonished by people who say they're not social animals. They're just not animals that arrange themselves in a stable pecking order. (Hence, to a certain sort of person, "ungrateful," which in this context means, "more like human beings than like dogs.")<br /><br />Exasperating, pig-headed, unpredictable, beautiful creatures. I love how they flow under your hand like water.Dalehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14523194846272870013noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-42510389634992931492009-12-20T15:02:54.602+01:002009-12-20T15:02:54.602+01:00Amazing writing, really stirs up the love-hate! Su...Amazing writing, really stirs up the love-hate! Such a contrast to the saccharine cat stuff that gets sent around the intrawebs. I agree, your brother should be a blogger but how nice to have him as a guest.marja-leenahttp://www.marja-leena-rathje.infonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-43447674945535383732009-12-20T14:40:37.331+01:002009-12-20T14:40:37.331+01:00Make that a third Holy Cow. I've had a number...Make that a third Holy Cow. I've had a number of cats in my lifetime, fewer dogs, but what your brother has written is pretty much the way all my cats have tried to teach me to live with them over the years.<br /><br />Lovely piece of writing, Lucy. Too bad he has this thing about keyboards!<br /><br />:)The Crowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04846997590157958766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-26455970289241121552009-12-20T14:18:05.014+01:002009-12-20T14:18:05.014+01:00And Holy Cow once again. While blogging I too have...And Holy Cow once again. While blogging I too have confined my cat feelings to a closet that is host to many of my secret instincts. But here is an aubade, a savage Stravinskian blast that could free me and allow admission of other antipathies such as ... Well, let's leave them until the weather's warmer. Today, Chris, you have stormed an important mini-Bastille and there will be an unpaid post waiting for you on the Revolutionary Council.Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37070024.post-82350615323813062772009-12-20T13:13:18.804+01:002009-12-20T13:13:18.804+01:00Holy cow! I so completely understand your brother...Holy cow! I so completely understand your brother's vision of the cat world. It is the way I approach it too, though maybe with a whole lot more love added in.<br /><br />There is such an acceptance of the alien way of the the cat in your brother's words. You describe the distance of the humans from the cats in the French countryside and I will add, quite as the cats prefer it, harsh or not. Lovers of cats do them no favors trying to humanize them. Loving a cat properly is to give them easier lives of independence, letting them give back as they choose.<br /><br />Your brother knows cats. I know people who surround them, declaw them, poof them up, try to extend their lives by removing them from the world. What a travesty. <br /><br />My last three have proved the opposite. Two have died at twenty two plus and eighteen plus, and the third, who I thought died has come back home, and is still headed toward nineteen, all three living as adults at the edge of the human world with minimal vet involvement in their adult lives. The one who passed at eighteen was blind and deaf when he left, and had been for a few years.christopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04201537517464996231noreply@blogger.com