Ping Pong in the Night

Not as sulky as he looks - Tim the Cat doesn't like the flash on the camera.

I was in bed reading last night when I suddenly heard a dashing and rumbling plus a click, click, clicketty, clicketty, click, click, click. Tim the Cat was playing with one of his ping pong balls. I kept thinking that any minute he would get it stuck under some piece of furniture and the noise would be over but it kept going on and on. I finally realized he had somehow gotten a ping pong ball up, over, and INTO the bathtub.

I try to be considerate of my downstairs neighbor and I am sure a roudy game of ping pong ball, played by a thundering cat, in the bathtub, at 11 pm, is bound to be audible to someone trying to sleep downstairs so finally I got up and took the ping pong ball away from Tim. You should have seen his face peering over the rim of the tub. He looked both cute and forlorn at the same time.

I probably shouldn't talk about my cat so much, but I have to admit that he is one of my chief forms of live entertainment.

Stray Cat at Dawn

At 6:30 I was near my front door putting my shoes on when I heard an ever-so-gentle tap-tap on my front door. My hands stopped their movement of tying shoes. I thought "What in the world?" and was immediately conflicted about opening the door. Was it my downstairs neighbor for some reason? Was it someone bad who would hurt me? The soft tap-tap sounded again.

Gingerly, I opened the front door a crack and there, hanging on the screen, was a small cat. It had reached through the place on the edge of the screen that was loose and was gently pawing the curtain of clear red plastic hearts currently hanging on the door. The curtain of hearts was still gently swinging. The cat froze in place. I froze in place. And then the cat yanked its paw back through the screen, disengaged its claws, dropped to the porch and streaked off.

I stepped out onto the door mat. The cat halted at the top of the lower staircase and turned. It was so cold out, predawn, cold breeze in the darkness. I felt sorry for this cat out in the cold. "Kitty, Kitty, Kitty?" I called, wondering what in the world I would do if it came. It didn't. It delicately walked through the snow and sprayed my little pine tree and then returned to take one more good look at me from the top of the stairs before descending to the sidewalk and disappearing around the curve.

I went back into the house and shut the door. I looked down at Tim the cat, sitting in the center of the living room rug, remembering the time when he was a stray cat, so terribly skinny, and lost out in the cold. "Aren't you a lucky cat," I told him. "Is there a possibility of more breakfast?" he asked with his eyes.

As I drove out of the parking lot of the church later after meditation, two homeless men were standing behind the church in the lea out of the wind. I raised my hand to them as I passed and they raised their hands to me. One of them had his hands wrapped around a steaming paper cup of coffee.

Another of the long-time shops on Pearl Street had "Going Out Of Business" signs in its windows this morning.

Its cold in the world right now. Really cold. In the early morning, unexpected tapping on the door sounds like danger arriving at my house. I wish the recession would stay a story on television rather than standing as a "going out of business" sign in the windows of yet another familiar, neighborhood shop.

Smilebox Picture Show

Here are a few pictures I sent to my adopted neices and nephews of meditation in the morning, my weekend up in the mountains at the women's retreat, the Prayer Box I made at the retreat, and, of course Tim the Cat and his thoughts about my being gone a whole weekend!

Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Up in the Mountains Over the Weekend

I spent the weekend at First Congregation's annual women's retreat at the St. Malo conference Center in Allenspark, CO. It is just 10-15 minutes south of Rocky Mountain National Park. Ever since I first saw it I have loved the 'Chapel On The Rock' which graces the entrance to the center and which I could see, bathed in morning light, from the balcony of my room. What a magestic view!

Tim the Cat had to stay at home but he was well looked after by my twin neighbor girls across the street. They obviously spent some time playing with him (for which I am very grateful!) because his basket of ping pong balls and stuffed mice was pulled out into the center of the rug and there were balls and mice everywhere when I got home.

It is good to go on retreat now and again. I hadn't spent time laughing, crying, dancing, sharing and reflecting with other women for a long time and it was good!

World's Dirtiest Cat!

Timothy Ming, my good friend and companion, commented this morning, "I was never the one that thought being the cleanest cat in the world was a virtue. Remember that you were the one that wrote that title into the blog. I said, even that day, that I would take a dust bath as soon as I had the opportunity. You know I did!"

Good as his word, Tim the Cat DID have a dust bath yesterday... a fine day of brilliant Colorado sun and balmy temperatures. He came into the house absolutely brown on gray and I bribed him back outside where I took a spare hairbrush to him. My neighbor, Doug, was on his balcony maintaining his bicycle. A newly brushed cat will not last nearly as long as a newly cleaned and greased bicycle chain. In fact I hadn't made it back into the house before Doug burst into laughter and called me back.

There was Timothy Ming on his back in the warm dust, pleasurably wiggling back and forth. Even 24 hours hence, you can still pat him vigorously and see the dust fly!

World's Cleanest Cat!

The world's cleanest cat was found today to be residing in Boulder, CO. When asked how he had attained such a supreme level of cleanliness, Mr. Timothy Ming of West Pearl in Boulder, CO replied, "It is all due to the weather. For the past three days it has been just too cold to go outside. My companion, Dhyan, has very kindly opened the door each morning to allow me to inspect the weather for myself and each time I have opted to turn and go back inside. Since I really have nothing to do indoors except eat, sleep, bother Dhyan when she is at the computer, let her know when it is time to feed me again, look out the window, change sleeping locations, and play with ping pong balls... I have to do something with my time. I choose to wash. My specialty is 'between the toes' and 'behind the back legs.'"

Tim the Cat is certainly sparklingly white these days on his white parts and very soft and silky on his gray parts. But as he reminds us, "The first sunny day, you know, I will alternate my methods and take a dust bath. Then, of course, I will be more light brown on gray instead of white on gray."

Stay tuned.

Happy Day!

After days of protecting myself from the cold seeping in through the glass of the seven big picture windows in my house I woke up this morning to warm sun pouring through the windows. It is so warm out that I went out in my bare feet to put a handful of raw peanuts into the feeder for the squirrels. (And they call this winter!)

After days of not wanting to go outside, Tim is out cat-ing around in the sunlight. ("To Cat Around" - yes, it is a proper verb: I cat around, You cat around, He/She/It cats around, we cat around, etc. ... Now you can use it too!)

Yesterday I saw no fewer than five squirrels chasing around the trees and jockeying for position at the feeder.

This picture is for my friend, Annie, who tells me there are no squirrels in Australia. I wouldn't trade them for a kangaroo! : )

And, oh yes, I almost forgot - I finished my new website last night (at midnight!) Go take a look! http://www.thefiveessentialskills.com/ Another good reason to be happy this morning.

The Advantages of Living With A Human

"The main difference between cats and humans is that we, very sensibly, have paws, and they have these finger-things sticking off the end of their front legs. They are very clever with these fingers but their best use, in my opinion, is for the scratching of cats. Dhyan, over the years, has found the right places to apply these fingers (helped along by ample clues from myself such as purring loudly when she gets to the right spot.) She has become very good at scratching the places under my collar which are difficult to reach on my own and I have to admit that a good skritch up and down the back of the neck, around the ears, across the top of the head and under the chin is just about as good as you can get in life. I intend to keep her. Any cats reading this need not apply for a position in this house."

Timothy Ming
Owner and Companion of Dhyan