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

wherefore

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

14 Jun 2025 - Some might call it nosy, but I prefer curious.  How else, since I can't read peep squiggles on a page, am I to know the what and why.  This quest was admittedly a bit mundane:  what are my two eating?  I can't recall every discovering an intersection between their food tastes and mine, but today could be the first!  Footnote:  tomorrow could be the first.  However paying a social call isn't a bad idea, even if not on the hunt for answers... and I was rewarded for my thoughtfulness with a head scratch, not a bad trade.  And then I must continue my patrol, to find what is producing unexplained noises in the night.

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

You can spend a lifetime

searching for the cause.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - meowtive, a cat's reason for doing something

the arch of triumph

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

13 Jun 2025 - Nothing feels better, after a nap, than a full-body stretch... and even nicer, out on my personal screened deck.  I didn't know what lay in the cards when we headed south last hinterland visit, but my personal screened porch has been off-limits (and not even screened) for that entire duration.  Having free access (I do have to get a handy peep to open the door) to the outdoors is something I obviously assumed... but now I know better and am lapping up this huge dose of nature.

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Realize what you've got.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - purrship, treat something with apurropriate adoration (but in a subtle way)

finding one's way

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

12 Jun 2025 - I can't tell you how long I've waited for the shorter peep to notice that I'm ready to patrol my personal screened deck... but at least there is a pool of sunshine in which to bide my time.  Mr. Sol showed himself late yesterday morning, and I eagerly greeted my old friend... life would be dreary without him.  So far I have observed several large beeps paddling past and not the first leep (does the hinterland even have them??).  I must set aside my southerly expectations and adapt with the latitude.

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Adaptation is key to survival.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - fameowliar, well known to a cat

in luck

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

11 Jun 2025 - I can hardly believe my good fortune!  How long has it been since I've had access to the outside world... without a wall of glass blocking my way.  Even the absence of Mr. Sol and the drippy skies can't deflate my excitement.  The hinterland is much quieter than what is offered by my southerly screened porch... and after being jangled by day-after-day percussive noises and strange voices, I am soothed by the vast silence.  However if I stay out here very long I will definitely request a heated towel.

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Occasionally good fortunate is yours.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - serendipurrty, a most happy turn of events (thank you, Bastet)

benumbed

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

10 Jun 2025 - Do I look the worse for wear??  I thought the kidnapping would never end, but when I was at my lowest, the noise and jostling ceased and I was released from my traveling jail.  We are at the hinterland domicile!  And looking out the portals, I would also state that we arrived ahead of Mr. Sol.  Fortunately for me our cool-weather routine includes the heating of a towel, so my lips and ear tips and paw pads aren't blue.  I have half-heartedly requested time on my personal screened deck... but wasn't too disappointed when the shorter peep pretended not to understand... maybe when Mr. Sol shows up?

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Surprises can be good;

surprises can be not good.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - ameowzing, to expurrience the unexpected

unsatisfactory

Shamus on view

Me-usings and Me-emories

9 Jun 2025 - Where am I, and why do things smell faintly, ominously familiar?  I almost would have preferred seeing a white-coat through the mesh window of the loathed bag... obviously my first choice would have been never to be whisked away and stuffed at my peeps' feet.  But here I am... wondering what is outside this portal (and do I dare attempt an escape)... and noticing that the temperature is not toasty warm, as it was before the kidnap.  I fear that we are back in the hinterland.

clipped notes

                             Today's Catechism 

                            (for the autodidcat)

Sometimes words are inadequate.

Bring back Bastet

Bastet beckons

Catty Corner

word of the day - purrerless, without defenses and influence (help me, Bastet)