Then what happened? Cooke's cats

 

 'Cats sleep anywhere . . .  

Cooke’s cats

Everyone has heard of Pavlov’s dogs, I’m sure. Well, we have a variation called Cooke’s cats.

Jellicoe has to be fed four times a day, at four-hourly intervals – 8:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, 4:00 p.m. and 8.00 p.m. It is important that these times are adhered to, so Alexa has been utilised to remind the Provider of Food, or Food Servant (me!) of those critical moments.

 . . . Any table, any chair'

Thinking

Jellicoe starts campaigning for food roughly ninety minutes after he’s finished a meal, but understands when I tell him how much longer he has to wait. However, once the klaxon sounds, he starts yelling at me to get a wriggle on and provide his sustenance. His brother, Herschel, also demands to be fed, but he is far less insistent than Jellicoe.

Watching

We use Alexa for many reminders in the house, so she is always issuing orders. Jellicoe and Herschel look alert and interested every time she speaks, but seem to know when she is not indicating meal times. At least, they don’t run around assaulting my ears with their yowls. I think that’s one better than Pavlov’s dogs!

That sounds as though Pavlov’s dogs yowled – I don’t know whether they did. I doubt it, since dogs don’t generally yowl. Howl, yes, though our dogs usually only howl in their dreams. I do recall, however, the late, great Frodo howling for the whole week I was away in New York. Every time Barry ‘phoned me, I could hear Frodo’s melodious voice in the background, poor boy.

Frodo 

On another note, Jellicoe is transmogrifying into a Labrador. He is constantly searching for food, so nothing edible can be left within his reach, and being a cat, his reach is . . . far-reaching. We now have locks on the fridge and the freezer.

Preparing food is a circus, as he leaps onto the work surface to steal what’s on offer. If the pickings are particularly appetising, Herschel joins in as well. We end up dancing round the kitchen, from one work surface to another, attempting to avoid reaching paws and claws and teeth.

Our cats are gentle and don’t bite, except for mild ‘love bites’. Barry is nervous of the teeth, however, and always pulls away, though I advise him not to. On some mornings, when he wakes, he finds two little teeth marks on his arm. Love will find a way!

I am looking forward to Christmas so much. I shall be an expert juggler by the end of it.

 

Microfiction Monday #43

Susan from 'Stony River' organises and hosts this weekly meme. Thank you Susan J She provides a picture and the challenge is to create a story in 140 characters or less – including punctuation! Click here to read more marvels of microfiction – and perhaps join in. It's fun!
Here is this week's picture and my offering.

They hadn't realised New York would have its name writ large like Hollywood. And surely the laser beams would disrupt air traffic?
(131 characters)

Winston’s late August blog

Winston here . . . p'rrrrr, p'rrrrr . . .

Do you like my latest portraits? Mrs Human thinks I'm putting on too much weight but Mr H says I've got a lovely tiger tummy – it swings when I walk and even faster when I run don'tcha know. Anyway Mrs H says she's putting me on a diet. Monty's got a tiger tummy too but she's not putting him on a diet. Well, she started it the other day and Gillian laughed and said I'd turned into Hunter Cat coz I was prowling around by the conservatory door while Monty ate his chicken wings. Then I went in and had mine. It's all right – I mean, I'm not starving – well, not yet, anyway.

Gillian and Mrs H have been fiddling about with small bits of coloured cardboard. Someone must have broken something and they were trying to put it back together again. It takes hours to mend just a little bit. Anyway, they mended one the other day and they were quite pleased 'cept they said there was a piece missing and wasn't that a shame? Looked all right to me and it was nice and warm to sleep on.

Next thing I know Marnie's broken it again. Monty and me thought she'd get into trouble after all the time it took Gillian and Mrs H to put it together but they actually thanked her. Then Mrs H brought in another box of broken bits and they started all over again. There's a special board they put it on and it's just right for stretching my claws, then I curl up on it and watch them till I fall asleep. Monty's a bit of a pest though coz he likes to get in the box with the bits and scrabble around. Gillian's afraid he'll think it's another litter tray coz the bits make a rattling noise like our litter. Sometimes he walks all over the mended bits and pulls them up with his claws. I walk over them too but I don't break them. I only pull up the keys on Mrs H's laptop – only by mistake though.

Everyone's getting excited coz Gareth and Nina's coming at the weekend. They've been in Noo Yawk for two years in a place called Man at'em ever so high up and now they're coming home. There's goin'to be a party coz it's Kiri's birthday on Sunday – she's ever so old don'tcha know – fourteen. It's goin' to be a party for Eve too coz she was eight in July but they were busy packing up to come back so Mr and Mrs H kept her presents here. Don't know if the others are coming. I'll tell you in my next blog.

TTFN