halfway house

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

21 Jun 2025 - A cat's hearing is quite good... it has to be, since out in the world, we live by our wits.  But the ears catch far more if they are unmuffled.  I can get very toasty beneath this pillow, but if I need to be on high alert, then the head, alas, needs to be out.  It isn't revelatory to state that life is a compromise:  yes to being warm, no to being vulnerable/trapped.  I say "trapped", but this hide-away does in fact have a handy back door, should it be needed.

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Goals can conflict.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

phrase of the day - meowdle ground, an area of purrsible agreement between two extremes

plucky me

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

20 Jun 2025 - It may look as if I'm patrolling the great outdoors, but my beat has definite perimeters... beyond that I can only glare and report back to my peeps.  For example just now a very large deep bounded through the yard, and all I could do was note its passage.  Other than chewing on some of the greenery, it had no obvious destructive ambitions.  I did notice that, despite its hulking size, it bolted without much provocation.  Big doesn't necessarily equate to bold (not that I'm intimate with that feeling).

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Derring-do is mostly

an affliction of youth.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - venpurrsome, willing to embark on difficult courses of action (although I should read my contract's fine print)

easy does it

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

19 Jun 2025 - My managerial style is basically paws-off... which isn't to suggest that I don't oversee the work.  I make it my point to periodically drop by to gauge employee morale, to determine what I can do to make things flow more smoothly.  My charming presence seems to be all that is required to keep the peeps happy and smiling (don't I have a cushy job!).  Of course this arrangement only works because my staff was so thoroughly vetted beforehand, but now we are a seamless unit, humming along (well, some of us purr).

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Choose your friends

for the long haul.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - compurrnion, a sidekick with whom one spends a lot of time with (and we still like each other)

dazzled

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

18 Jun 2025 - If you want/need to know where Mr. Sol hangs out, just follow me.  Of course he doesn't stay in one place very long (concerned about singeing the favored spot?), but I can sprawl in the hot pool sufficiently long to remain toasty hours after his departure.  There is something about my mostly black coat that soaks up the heat... an unasked for bonus to being a tuxedo.  It may seem that I'm self-sufficient, but even the solitaire that I am enjoys a bit of company, and the laps that accompany.

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Not everyone can

handle the spotlight.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - lumeownescent, emitting brightness (and also feline charm)

many-sided

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

17 Jun 2025 - It may not be my best hiding spot (certainly sufficient for fooling tiny brains), but it is close to where the peeps sit and holds my body heat quite well.  Getting ideally situated beneath the pillow is tricky... my efforts occasionally trigger a landslide, completely undoing my imagined lair.  But the more typical outcome, especially if assisted by the shorter peep, is this ideal lean-to effect where I can curl up and snooze.  As I have discovered, pillows are great for climbing upon or climbing under.

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Things with multiple purposes

are good to have around.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - conpurrtible, able to be changed in form or function (to better suit a cat)

fallback position

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

16 Jun 2025 - We three are settling into our familiar hinterland groove.  I have recalled all the comfy spots for napping, and duly broken them in.  Unlike the southerly domicile, here I have two "exterior" spaces that face onto different flanks of the yard/woods.  So my patrol routes aren't as lengthy, and no flights of stairs to trot up and down, yet I bounce between these two choices, first thing to the deck and then later to the sun room, where Mr. Sol can truly be appreciated... and then back and forth.

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Consider the alternatives,

and be happy.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - surrogato, a substitute acceptable to a cat (but we can be picky)

top form

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

16 Jun 2025 - Such a warm, inviting spot for my top-of-the-morning meal!  I can't truthfully call it a break-the-fast meal as I have a bowl of kibble that I nosh on overnight.  But for the shorter peep, hers is the first food in hours and hours.  So together we start our day, refueled and ready to tick off items on the agenda.  My goals are the same as yesterday's:  walk my patrol, ward off interlopers.  To date I've seen surprisingly no four-legged warm-blooded examples.  The only animal in relative abundance arrives by wing... and has discovered the replenished feeders.

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Aging is easier with

exercise and a healthy diet.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - physicatly fit, in good feline condition