Cats and Fireworks

As we celebrate the 4th of July with parties and fireworks, the festivities can be traumatizing for cats. My neighboring community had a fireworks display last weekend. The municipality where I live will have fireworks on the 4th. Many of my neighbors have backyard celebrations–some of them beginning on the 3rd and continuing for several days. By keeping in mind the following ideas, the best interest of your cat will be served.

First of all, if you have an indoor-outdoor cat, I recommend you keep the cat inside for a couple of days. The main reason for this is to keep the cat from being harmed accidentally or intentionally. Sadly, I have heard too many malicious stories about firecrackers being tied to a cat’s tail. If your cat is outdoor only, I also recommend you find a way to bring the cat inside.

The next consideration is the affect of the loud noises–they will be scary to most cats. I find when I spend time talking to my cat, Lexie Lee, the extra attention is calming to her during the fireworks. We also play longer than usual with her favorite feather toy, and that activity takes her focus off what is happening outside. Playing music helps to muffle the unusual outdoor sounds. You can also set up a safe sanctuary in a quiet part of the house, equipped with the cat’s bed, toys, food, water and litter box.

Finally, if you are having company, it is a good idea to temporarily confine the cat to a room away from the guests–perhaps the sanctuary. That way you do not have to worry about the cat getting scared from all the added commotion and bolting out an open door.

How do you keep your cat calm and safe?

Bountiful Blessings!

Summer Supper

Summer time in the Midwest! I just returned from spending two weeks with my family in Missouri. Of course there were many highlights like taking long walks down country roads, going to local garage sales, and indulging in blackberry malts. The best part was simply being with my ninety- year-old mother. One afternoon we went to a farmer’s market in Quincy, Illinois. We were on the hunt for peas and lettuce. When I grew up on the family farm, I helped tend a large garden to feed a family of six. One of my favorite things to do was pick and eat green peas—right out of the shell, standing in the garden. My mother always told me I would make myself sick, but I did not!

So imagine my delight when the very first vendor I saw had boxes of peas. I quickly scoped out the other vendors and found leaf lettuce, green onions, tomatoes, little red potatoes, and strawberries. That set the menu for our old fashioned summer supper. The menu was simple but oh so yummy: Wilted lettuce, creamed potatoes and peas, sliced tomatoes, baked pork chops and strawberry shortcake. We worked all afternoon preparing each of the dishes, laughing, and reminiscing. It takes a long time to shell enough peas to make a meal, but it is worth the sore thumb.

The April-May 2009 issue of Taste of Home (my favorite cooking magazine) features a recipe for creamed potatoes and peas—using frozen peas if you don’t have fresh ones. I am definitely clipping that recipe to use for future nostalgic meals.

Bountiful Blessings!

Cat Quotations

“I love cats because I enjoy my home; and little by little, they become its visible soul.” Jean Cocteau

I love quotations as you learned last week. One of my popular blog postings for Seattle Post-Intelligencer last year was cat quotations. So since I am on vacation in the peaceful Missouri countryside, here is the post.  A favorite cat book on my shelf is Cat Tales—Snippets on Life from Our Favorite Felines by Charles Wysocki. The book features charming pictures and stories about cats that Wysocki painted during his lifetime.

Who can resist reading about Dudley Wadsworth Catsinbags, Elmer and Loretta, Ethel the Gourmet, Frederick the Literate, Mabel the Stowaway, Maggie the Messmaker, Max in the Adirondacks, and Remington the Horticulturist? What wonderful names for cats!

Besides the “make you smile” stories, the book is chock-full of cat quotations like the one that opened this blog. The following are some of my favorites:

“What greater gift than the love of a cat?”  Charles Dickens

“A cat pours his body on the floor like water. It is restful just to see him.”  William Lyon Phelps

“There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat.”  Tay Hohoff

“The smallest feline is a masterpiece.” Leonardo Da Vinci

And finally this poem, author unknown:

“Gentle eyes that see so much,

paws that have the quiet touch,

Purrs to signal “all is well”

and show more love than words could tell.

Graceful movements touched with pride,

a calming presence by our side

A friendship that takes time to grow

small wonder why we love them so.”

Later a couple of my readers responded with these quotes:  Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

One small cat changes coming home to an empty house to coming home.

What is your favorite cat quotation?

Bountiful Blessings!

Learning by Teaching

One of my favorite pastimes is going to Barnes and Noble and browsing—especially in the clearance section. Last week I discovered a little book entitled The Gift of Teaching for $5.98. I guess it caught my eye since I had been reflecting upon the school year that just ended. It is a gem and is filled with quotations. And that leads me to another pastime—copying down quotations when I read.  I have framed quotations in my university office and in my Tatianna office. So I just had to have the book!

The book is divided into such chapters as Art of Teaching, Partners in Learning, In the Classroom, A Love of Learning, Wisdom and Inspiration, and Rewards of Teaching. Here are a few of my favorites:

Use fewer examinations, fewer quizzes, and more essay assignments. You don’t know anything about a subject until you can put your knowledge into some kind of expression. –Wayne C. Booth, American writer

The teacher is no longer merely the-one-who-teaches, but one who is himself taught in dialogue with the students, who in turn while being taught also teach. –Paulo Freire, Brazilian educator

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.—Charles W. Eliot, American educator

We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it—and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again—and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one any more. –Mark Twain, American humorist

The world is one great university. From the cradle to the grave we are always in God’s great kindergarten—where everything is trying to teach its lesson. –O.S. Marden, American writer

A teacher’s major contribution may pop out anonymously in the life of some ex-student’s grandchild. –Wendell Berry, American poet and teacher

Book Drawing: I invite you to stop by Ingrid King’s blog, Conscious Cat–where I was a guest on June 2. Comment on the interview by June 9 and be entered in a drawing for a complimentary copy of Tatianna–Tales and Teachings of My Feline Friend, autographed of course!  

http://consciouscat.net/

Bountiful Blessings!

The Conscious Cat

I am making a guest interview appearance on The Conscious Cat blog on June 2. Please stop by the blog and make a comment at http://consciouscat.net/

Participants will be entered into a random drawing. You just may be the lucky winner of an autographed hard-cover copy of Tatianna–Tales and Teachings of My Feline Friend!

Many thanks to Ingrid King for inviting me and interviewing me.

Bountiful Blessings!