Tuesday, January 10, 2012

A Dog Drops a Bone, Another Dog Snatches It



We've been told that Stanley and Rose are not purebreds (which is why they were in rescue as young as they were) but are definitely in some large fraction Maine Coons:

Maine Coons develop slowly, and don't achieve their full size until they are three to five years old. Their dispositions remain kittenish throughout their lives; they are big, gentle, good-natured goofs. Even their voices set them apart from other cats; they have a distinctive, chirping trill which they use for everything from courting to cajoling their people into playing with them. (Maine Coons love to play, and many will joyfully retrieve small items.) They rarely meow, and when they do, that soft, tiny voice doesn't fit their size!

While Maine Coons are highly people-oriented cats, they are not overly-dependent. They do not constantly pester you for attention, but prefer to "hang out" with their owners, investigating whatever activity you're involved in and "helping" when they can. They are not, as a general rule, known as "lap cats" but as with any personality trait there are a few Maine Coons that prefer laps. Most Maine Coons will stay close by, probably occupying the chair next to yours instead. Maines will follow you from room to room and wait outside a closed door for you to emerge. A Maine Coon will be your companion, your buddy, your pal, but hardly ever your baby.

Maine Coons are relaxed and easy-going in just about everything they do. The males tend to be the clowns while the females retain more dignity, but both remain playful throughout their lives. They generally get along well with kids and dogs, as well as other cats. They are not as vertically-oriented as some other breeds, prefering to chase objects on the ground and grasping them in their large paws -- no doubt instincts developed as professional mousers. Many Maine Coons will play "fetch" with their owners.

YES! it's like that. Rose is funny, Stanley's hilarious. Neither has meowed though they never stop trilling, it's wonderful. We've learned five and a half indoor cats are too many, so, not counting the inevitable rescue that will be thrust upon us, if these are the last two until they die in twenty years, yay me. Fleabus?




Loves to play with them until she sees us seeing her play with them and then she gets pissy. It's like she's playing POTUS 12 on a blog. O and twooter, look at the twootwhore I am, 500+ twoots in less than two months, what to call twooter angst, it can't be called bleggalgazing (though this guy bleggalgazes his twooter angst). Truth in some small fraction is that twooter makes burying links like acorns for harvesting for next post easy, but still. Twooteroscopy?













SUBURBAN

Peter Cole

Conformity caught here, nobody catches it,
Lawns groomed in prose, with hardly a stutter.
Lloyd hits the ball, and Lorraine fetches it.

Mom hangs the laundry, Fred, Jr., watches it,
Shirts in the clichéd air, all aflutter.
Conformity caught here, nobody catches it.

A dog drops a bone, another dog snatches it.
I dreamed of this life once, Now I shudder
As Lloyd hits the ball and Lorraine fetches it.

A doldrum of leaky roofs, a roofer who patches it,
Lloyd prowls the streets, still clutching his putter.
Conformity caught here, nobody catches it.

The tediumed rake, the retiree who matches it, 
The fall air gone dead with the pure drone of motors
While Lloyd hits the ball, and Lorraine just fetches it.

The door is ajar, then somebody latches it.
Through the hissing of barbecues poets mutter 
Of conformity caught here, where nobody catches it.
Lloyd hits the ball. And damned Lorraine fetches it.

14 comments:

  1. Cats!

    Twoot was tweet? You damn kids keep on changing the lingo.

    ReplyDelete
  2. You should definitely invest effort in making it a meme, Randal. Though I guess that takes a villager. Or something. Fuck the Steelers, hey?

    BFF, as we discussed some little while ago, you're simply crazy fucking cat people. Accept it and proceed. Those of us who love you will do the same.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Trust me, as a person with nearly 11,000 tweets, that 500 seems trivial .. a mere dalliance.

    ReplyDelete
  4. also. every librarian I know shops at MOM. Creepy.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love MOM. Good food, cheap. Great produce. Free coffee when you shop. Faux hippie vibe.

    I love twitter as a link collector, just go check my tweets when I'm writing a new post for links I wanted to share. Beats having to remember. (No, I'm not going to tumblr, you will buy me that pint in July, K.)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am now dealing with the cognitive dissonance of a MOM disposable bag. You sir are no true Scotsman.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Stanley says bring him paper bags, I bring him paper bags. Plus I always forget to take the cloth ones.

    ReplyDelete
  8. We must have 100 of them and I can't remember to bring one.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes, Maine Coons. Have known and loved more than one. One thing: lots o' hair & dander. One we had had so much fur, we had to shave him in the summers here. He was not nearly as large as he looked furry. But it kept him cool. Great guy he was.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Dander indeed. Planet wasn't allergic to cats until Stanley and Rose. Yay Claritin!

    I adore Stanley. I like Rose, but I adore Stanley. Drops toys at my feet when I'm standing, in my lap when I'm sitting. Follows me everywhere, chirping. I've known a lot of cats, never one like Stanley, yes named after Elkin....

    ReplyDelete
  11. Apparently there are tons of youtube vids of Maine Coons, e.g:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7bCBjVahV0

    [Re video link] But I don't get it; isn't telling a cat that she's 'grounded' while cooing over her counterproductive and confusing? That's assuming the concept isn't too abstract for the cat in the 1st place, which I question.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Heh +. That's not us yet, we tell ourselves, and that's not how the cat/human hierarchy works at our house anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I’m not sure how much actual “proselytizing” I did for Gaddis, however. Except of course for practically button-holing friends on street corners.

    Classic Markson!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Funny thing that: Wisdaughter developed cat allergies in last yr HS/1st yr college & is now plowing through shots. We are currently felineless, but eagerly awaiting her ability to tolerate some more. Don't want her taking too many Claritin.

    ReplyDelete