meet the rooks!

Rooks are ravens, a larger specie of the crow family. The term rook is used in Britain, and I always wonder what if anything that has to do with chess rooks. I don't know that yet, but I do know that the Tower of London grounds house some whopping rooks. Their wings are trimmed to keep them handy, for there's a legend that if the ravens desert the Tower, England will fall.

Pretty good reason for keeping them as pets, I'd say.

I saw them myself twelve years ago, and they are not exactly hurting for rook chow. They are lovely in their satiny blacker than black way (that color is fuligin, if you're a Gene Wolfe fan). Would you like to learn more about them? Here you go.

time

So it took me over an hour and a half to get home today. Apparently the Fourth of July starts now. But it did give me time to think about yesterday's post and realize that Milne's poem has a bittersweet streak in it. Maybe I needed to get older myself before I could spot such a thing, and watching my own cats get older isn't helping. Zozo is in my lap right now (detect any cat-like typing?), and I know well I am on the cusp of borrowed years with her.

I know it, but I don't like it.

And then, of course we have The Kitten (TM). A whole new entity waiting to be loved, and learning all those crazy things like "poop in the box" and "chew the food".

Anyway, it reminded me of The Private Life of a Cat, a 22-minute movie shot in grainy B&W in the 40's. Recently featured on cuteoverload.com, this film follows the birth (gooey parts) and growing up of 5 kittens. It was shot in humble surroundings, is homely, has some real characters in the cat-cast, and is quite simply charming.

a. a. milne wrote a cat poem

Yes. The author of Winnie the Pooh wrote a cat poem. I had no idea. (By the way? Christopher Robin was based on Milne's own son, with whom he had a fraught relationship. Christopher drowned himself as an adult. All very sad. Sorry 'bout that. P.G. Wodehouse wrote a searing parody of Milne in a couple of his later short stories.)

Upon reading this poem, it becomes evident that only Milne could have written it:

Pinkle Purr

Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr,

A little black nothing of feet and fur;

And by and by, when his eyes came through,

He saw his mother, the big Tattoo.

And all that he learned he learned from her,

"I'll ask my mother," says Pinkle Purr.

Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr,

A ridiculous kitten with silky fur.

And little black Pinkle grew and grew

Till he got as big as the big Tattoo.

And all he did he did with her.

"Two friends together," says Pinkle Purr.

Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr,

An adventurous cat in a coat of fur.

And whenever he thought of a thing to do,

He didn't much bother about Tattoo.

For he knows it's nothing to do with her,

So "See you later," says Pinkle Purr.

Tattoo was the mother of Pinkle Purr,

An enormous leopard with coal-black fur.

A little brown kitten that's nearly new

Is now playing games with its big Tattoo...

And Pink looks lazily down at her:

"Dear little Tat," says Pinkle Purr.

Awwww. Reminds me of the still-nameless, the still-technically-homeless kitten.

why can't you do it? why can't you set your monkey free?

monkey, n.
An arboreal animal which makes itself at home in genealogical trees.
(From Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary)

Personally, I wouldn't have a pet monkey. They're primates, like us -- no wonder they tend to lash out unpredictably. It's like having one of my cousins for a pet. No offense if you do, though, or have one of those cool service capuchins. Here's an interesting historical tale from Answers.com's page on monkeys:

When the British first began to explore Africa, young monkeys were often
captured to provide entertainment during long voyages. Some were later
transferred to domestic zoos, and in fact many modern captive monkeys in the UK
are descended from individuals captured during the Napoleonic and Victorian
eras. Kent still to this day has the largest population of monkeys in the UK.
According to legend, one of the early British captive monkeys was lost at sea
and washed up ashore near Hartlepool, England, where it was mistaken for a
Frenchman and hanged. The people of Hartlepool have since borne the
nickname "monkey hangers."

There's also an entry on monkey-hangers.

monster cat!

Ever wondered why the Japanese prefer their cats with those funny tail-knobs instead of proper waving tails? I have an answer of sorts: folklore has it that if a cat was allowed to keep a long tail, reach a certain age, be kept for a certain number of years, or grow to a certain size, it might attain special powers and become a bake-neko, or monster cat.

That means Puddums will (according to Wikipedia's great article) haunt any household it is kept in, creating ghostly fireballs, menacing sleepers, walking on its hind legs, changing its shape into that of a human, and even devouring its own mistress in order to shapeshift and take her place. Which sounds pretty much like business as usual around here, but they can use their powers for good as well; both sides of the story here. The neko-mata is a related beast and one could make a case for the fabulous Catbus in My Neighbor Totoro as a kindly shapeshifting demon.

cat face

Perhaps you don't even know about the wild, wonderful world of Weebl, who seems to be a Brit with a great deal of 1. graphic talent 2. typically macabre but harmless Brit humor 3. a lot of time on his hands. I first became aware of him through the hysterical Weebl and Bob web cartoons, but he does oh, so much more -- like the has-nothing-to-do-with-reality Kenya, in which you will learn mostly erroneous facts about the native habitat of lions and tigers.

He's a good friend of the b3ta crew, and as I've posted before, those UK geeks love them some cats.

This explains the appearance of the new Weebl character Cat Face, who has a vaguely Continental accent (cats are always a little foreign, aren't they?), a balloon head, and impulses which are charming but not totally successful. Go see. Then watch him not help an old lady. Ah cats: can't live with em, can't live without em.

the human animal

Lack of blog yesterday was caused by an educational trip to the local exhibit of Body Worlds. Turns out it was "Body Worlds 3," which did not include the famed horse and rider. There were many other dramatic specimens, such as "Star Warrior", who had been "peeled" in stripes = layer of flesh, then layer down to the bone, flesh, bone etc. The effect was much like a mummy.

I was struck by the cross sections of an obese individual. Not only did this person have flaps of fat hanging down from their body, but their interior organs too were wrapped and surrounded in fat. I'm mixing in more salads.

At first, I was mindful that I was observing an actual, dead person. As I looked over the first specimen, the man holding his own skin, I saw the fuzz of hair on the scalp and thought, "Oh dear - I wonder if anyone can recognize that." By the end, though, I felt much more sanguine (ha ha) about the show. Desensitized, I guess. They were fascinating, folks were generous to donate their bodies, and that was as intense as my feelings got.

Then I saw the camel.

Yes, they had plastinated a two-hump (Bactrian) camel, and a little baby camel right next to it, as an example of a ruminant digestive system. Camels are huge. Camels are as big as a Hum Vee -- no, they're bigger. Did YOU know that?

3 rabbits. 3 ears

How do you draw three rabbits so that each has two ears, yet there are only three ears total among all rabbits?

And why would you want to?

From 581 AD China to the British isles, the three-hares puzzle has taken several forms. It stretches across several cultures, religions and timeframes. Churches of a certain timeframe in Devon have a plenitude of them. No one knows exactly why. However, in ancient times rabbits were thought to give birth without mates = that is, a virgin birth, which gave them something in common with the Virgin Mary.

Solve the puzzle of the Three Hares! Be sure and visit this site for some lovely examples.

photos of the dog

Those of you who have and love dogs will not be surprised to learn that as long as people could take photos, there have been dog photos. And mind you, this was back in the days when the subject had to sit really still for minutes on end. Imagine what good dogs those must have been.

The American Museum of Photography has a few you can meet. Look for the portrait of three boys -- oh, who's that fourth one? Why, he's not a boy at all, surprise!

There's also photocollages by Mary Wright, who in the 40s and 50s carefully matched dog heads just so to the perfect fit among her collection of old photographs. It's funny how dogs' innate yet comical gravity translates to the stiffer outfits and manners of yesteryear.

kitten update

Two of the kittens went to the same nice family. They will be loved and nurtured by folks who belong to 4-H and know all about little growing babies.

This leaves us with one. A scrappy, glorious beast. We grow attached. She won't go to just anybody.

Well, would YOU give her to just anyone?

one million

Over in Ireland Mary P. O'Connor is intent on seeing an end to the mistreatment of animals, dogs in particular. But how to get people to notice?

How about one million dogs?

I should explain myself: one million dogs' photos. Quite an idea, and plenty of opportunity, as so far you can count 234 dogs. (And one cat at square 10:1.) You can also read the stories for the first one hundred dogs, some of whom have gone through things which make me ashamed to be a homo sapiens.

come hither

You've seen them in import shops and Japanese restaurants: little cat statues, usually white with spots, happily holding a paw up to one ear. They are examples of the maneki neko, the beckoning cat, a common good-luck charm in Japan. Left paw raised = beckoning people closer; right paw raised = attracting wealth. They are always appealing objects, and so popular that you think, well, it might just work. I've had one or two in my time.

Though like most luck charms its origins are obscure, you'll see the most maneki neko figures at Japan's Gotokuji Temple, where a beckoning cat was said to save a feudal lord from mishap and thus brought great fortune to its temple home. Here's a story about that with some commentary! And here is a page from a jolly blog with photos of the temple.

There's all different kinds of maneki nekos: this page, from the absolutely fabulous website of a collector, lays it out for you.

let me entertain you!

If a cat is interested enough in something, it can use its ability to observe and learn to quite surprising effect. This is surely the explanation for Nora, whom you may already have seen on the web. Nora, who lives with a piano teacher and some other (disinterested) cats, has taken to sitting in on piano lessons. She studies her fingering...pawing?...carefully, and has created many brief yet delicate compositions of her own. You may have seen her first webvideo appearance, but here is the equally amazing Nora: The Sequel.

the lamb, continued

Mary had a little lamb. Remember? It followed her to school, and made the children laugh and play. And then what?

Well -- thanks once more to Peter and Iona Opie and The Oxford Book of Children's Verse -- we can read the rest of the story as penned by Sarah Josepha Hale (1788-1879).

And so the teacher turned him out,
But still he lingered near,
And waited patiently about,
Till Mary did appear.
And then he ran to her and laid
His head upon her arm,
As if he said, "I'm not afraid --
You'll shield me from all harm."

"What makes the lamb love Mary so?"
The little children cry;
"Oh, Mary loves the lamb, you know,"
The teacher did reply,
"And you each gentle animal
In confidence may bind,
And make it follow at your call,
If you are always kind."

life during wartime

From the great American food writer, M.F.K. Fisher, and a chapter in her 1942 book How To Cook A Wolf:

There is one eccentric and wealthy old lady in Cornwall, the kind who is
often the victim in mystery stories, who was stoned in 1940 because she had
refused to kill her cat and her terrier. Moreover, she had turned her cellars
and her air-raid shelter into a haven for every pet she could rescue from the
panicky village. That seemed terrible to the people, to feed and protect
brute-beasts while little children were bombed and might be hungry too.
The old lady was most unpopular, in 1940.

But in 1941 she was not. By then the rats and mice were scampering
prolifically and plumply through many another village than hers, and contrary to
centuries of habit, people beamed instead of groaned when they saw an enceinte alley cat, or heard a terrier ratting in the barn. . .

a guy who does good bunny

Recently, on my first trip ever to Port Townsend, WA, I had the pleasure of meeting Richard Jesse Watson at his gallery. Watson is an artist whose work has gotten splendid reviews from no less than Connoisseur and The New York Times. Perhaps it will surprise you to learn that he works primarily in children's books.

But children's books are where a great deal of the most engaging, inventive and technically competent work is happening now. Add to that a real feeling for the four-footed creatures often showing up as protagonists in his work, and you have magic. Look, he even wrote The Magic Rabbit. Go peek, and explore the kind, lovely world of Richard Jesse Watson.

wranglin'

I've been kitten wrangling this afternoon.... so pics instead of a post.

three rescued kittens

And now what do we do with them?

You see that's why I'm late blogging today: three little wiggly kittens, born to the cats an irresponsible neighbor adopted and did not spay/neuter last year. They were born in the dilapidated shed in back of my brother's house, a shed filled with years' worth of previous tenants' garbage and loads of rat crap. It's amazing they are as lovely and healthy as they are.

They were wiggling too much to get a good cellphone-pic. Here they are though. And I'm preaching to the converted

But I'm Going To Say It Again:

Every hour in the United States, more than 2,000 dogs and 3,500 cats are born, compared to 415 humans. The yearly statistics include more than 17 million dogs and 30 million cats.

Each year, around 15 million pets are turned into animal shelters across the country. Only 25 to 30 percent of these animals are reclaimed by their owners or adopted into new homes. The rest, some 11 million dogs, cats, puppies, and kittens, must be put to death because no one wants them.

Let's do the math! 11 mill divided by 365 (days of the year) means 30,137 innocent creatures snuffed daily. That's 1255 an hour, if they do it round the clock.

And a goodly portion of this could have been stopped if people fixed their animals. No money? Let's assume that we can spell and our fingers aren't broken, and we can type out "low cost spay neuter" in (your town). And you might get something like this:

Friends of Animals, 777 Post Rd., Suite 205, Darien, CT 06820 800-321-7387 or 203-656-1522
Friends of Animals will send an order form and a directory of participating veterinarians nationwide.

Spay/USA North Shore Animal League Intl.14 Vanderventer Ave., Suite L-1 Port Washington, NY 10050800-248-SPAY or 516-883-7575
Call Spay/USA for participating vet names, phone numbers, and prices in your area.

Believe me, injecting little terrified creatures with poison isn't free either. I guarantee any vet would rather help you spay and neuter.

And now there's three little babies to look out for among the multitude. Somebody has to. They've been failed once already.

claude

"Cats prefer toys laced with Catnip. 69% of responding cats use Catnip. This points to low moral fiber in cats and general lack of self restraint."

Randy Moravec is being too harsh, but his website on garden-variety cat research is a deft piece of tongue-in-cheekiness, so don't worry. The feline viewpoint is lobbed back by the cat who started it all, Claude:

"Cats reduce human stress. 90% of responding cats engaged their hapless owners in active play, reducing blood pressure and anxiety levels and thus extending human life. We estimate that cats reduce the annual global health care costs of humans by over $480 million US dollars."

Between themselves Claude and Moravec have figured out for you such burning questions as the Percentage of cats having at least 1 toy On a Wire, the Percentage of cats that Like Home Cookin', and (ongoing, and you can help) the amount of total nicknames your cats has acquired throughout its life.

Oh and the total time a cat spends getting into trouble in its life. Answer: 1.71 years.
Go ask Claude.

i had no idea

. . . that the Beatles -- the soundtrack to my childhood from pretty much day one -- had ever recorded a song called "Leave My Kitten Alone."

It was one of their earliest recordings in 1964; there's a bit about it, and the lyrics, on this page about the Sessions / Anthology series.

They didn't write it - that was Little Willie John, Titus Turner, and James McDougal. I was trying to find someplace where you could hear it, but no luck. Do you know? Drop a line and tell me.

I didn't know Jane's Addiction had written THIS:

My cat's name is Maceo,
He's a little man in a cat's body
He yawns just like I do,
He's convinced I won't eat him

. . . rest of lyrics here.

whoawhoaWHOA!

Not a pet. A white tiger in a zoo.

A swimming white tiger.

A most-badass-looking-while-swimming white tiger.

Humor me. He's cool. And a little scary. And he's here.

He was a photo of the week at National Geographic.

Too scary? Here's the baby tiger at Woodland Park Zoo at 3 weeks old.

she of the town, and useless

Egyptians seem to have had a sense of humor when it came to naming their dogs.

In recent decades archaeologists have translated the names of almost eighty
ancient Egyptian dogs, many of them prized for their hunting or working talents,
as indicated by names like Good Herdsman and Reliable. Other names
reflected their appearance, such as Blackie, Ebony, or One Who Is Fashioned as
an Arrow. Some were given numerical designations, such as The Fourth or
The Sixth (similar to the ancient Roman names Quintus and Sextus), possibly
describing their position in the litter. Grabber, Cook-pot, She of the
Town, Useless, and other unusual names were likely inspired by the quirky nature
of an individual animal, and expressed their master's humor or affection.
These names often were prefaced or followed by abu or jwjw --
ancient versions of "bow-wow" and "howler."

Mary Elizabeth Thurston once more in The Lost History of the Canine Race, p. 29.

and another royal title this side of the pond

Little Prince Balazy's the name. Princing it around Chicago is his game.

It's a big job for a wheat-colored poodle type, but he carries it off.

I thought this was an interesting Yankee corollary to the blue blooded Brit bowsers we met yesterday. Think about this: which of us would swan about telling people we were prince, princess, queen, duke, landgravine of anything? But we have no problem, in the main, exalting our non-human housemates.

Heaven knows they've got a much better attitude about class than we do. (Don't worry - link takes you right to His Royal Windy-City Chicago-style Highness!)

the house of the barking lords

as many of you know
it seems that the so called people
have been dominating the net for too long
as a result
we the barking members of our families
have been underestimated
as far as our net's performance is concerned
therefore and with the entire barking community supporting
me
i have decided to create this site
in order to give each and every one of you
the great opportunity to join us
the next generation of web enthuthiasts
the barking lords

What would the web be like if it were run by dogs only? Dogs being dogs, individual and free. Dogs not defined by their breed or owner. Dogs living in their innate dog nobility (and picking their own titles, kinda like a four footed Society of Creative Anachronism).

Picture it. Then go to dogking.com.

arezzo: the cat sanctuary

I was curious about this state-of-the-art cat rescue in Arezzo, so I went looking for it.

It's called the "Rifugio per gatti CINNI", the Cinni Cat Refuge, and it's a great site. Lots of information and pictures. . . unfortunately, the text is all in Italian and there's no English version! I limped through really interesting parts with the godsend of BabelFish translations. However, I warn you those are not going to be anything close to perfect, as you shall see below:

About people dumping their spring kittens:
Italian:
Come ogni primavera si ripresenta il gravissimo problema dell'abbandono dei cuccioli... Il Rifugio Cinni dà accoglienza a tutti i gattini rifiutati, abbandonati o, come spessissimo succede, gettati ancora vivi nel sacco della spazzatura, senza alcuna speranza di salvezza e destinati ad una morte atroce.

BabelFish translation:
Like every spring ripresenta the most serious problem of the abandonment of the cuccioli... The Cinni Shelter gives to acceptance to all the gattini refuses to you, abandons to you or, as thickest it happens, it still throws to you you live in the bag of the trash, without some hope of salvation and assigns you to one dead women atrocious.

Yeah. You see. But you still get the message.

the european tour for you

October 5 - 17, 2007, pack your catnip mice and join likeminded souls on the Friends of Roman Cats Cats & Culture tour! You'll fly into Venice, where you'll see some sights and then visit the DINGO cat sanctuary on the Lido. In Florence you'll go to the Romanesque church of San Miniato al Monte -- one of my favorite places on the face of this earth, BTW - and see the city cat sanctuary there. You'll also go on the rounds with a Boboli Gardens cat-food lady as she feeds about 60 of the little freeloaders. You'll see a cutting-edge cat sanctuary in Arezzo . . . what do you mean, you're not buying tickets yet?

Maybe the itinerary will sway you! Main page of Friends of Roman Cats here.