Friday, December 28, 2007

Identity Shift

The shiny black cat pictured with me on this blog, and who I have known for most of my life, got a new name when the Typist sprung us from jail in Seattle more than two human years ago. We both did.
At that time I had been called 'Harley'. I had been identified as having feline ADD/AHD but no one mentioned that to the Typist. Once she changed my name to PD ( sounds like Peetee) I was able to start focusing and stop running all over her apartment including the tables, up the walls with bamboo coverings (good gripping material), across all objects as if they weren't there, and bouncing off the windows which finally stopped my running.
The importance of a correct sounding name for anyone whether a cat, a human, a bird, or even a dog is vital for harmony in nature. Look at the operating instructions God gave to Adam at the dawn of time... name everything.
Anyway, she really understood the need for this identity stipulation. Of course, I was no trouble for her. She just said a few different sounds to me and when she got to my own sound, Peee-Deee, my ears perked up and, to tell the truth, I simply melted. She can get me to do anything by just saying my name to me.

The naming work did not go so well with my big black companion who was adopted at the same time. We could only be released from our double-wide cell in the Humane Society Prison System if we were taken together. As much as the wild running around, scratching wooden surfaces, and breaking things that I did when moving into our really nice, fully carpeted condo, the boy she called Buddy Budd never responded to that name. He was depressed for a long time and would not talk to her. He talked to me, as usual. We have a system of chirps that we developed in prison. After a couple of days in the new home I had taught the translation to the Typist ( I did not know she would come to be called 'Typist' them) and she could chirp with us. This still did not get Buddy to melt at the sound of his name. She just called him that because he refused to respond to any sound. He was angry for a long time about being abandoned into prison with out committing a crime. Angry to know that he was no longer wanted.
But, not long ago she caught him unaware and found his new name. Ready? Horatio, with a long holding of the "o."

Of course, he 's no longer mad about what happened to him, although being a smart cat, he has memories. Yet once he and I accepted the woman who would become Typist into our family we all have settled down a lot. Finding Horatio's true sounding name came by accident. The typist had spent several days watching all of the Horatio Hornblower DVD films. Somehow she said the name out loud and the cat, formerly known as Buddy, just melted next her. And now she only needs to croon "Horatio" to him and he lies down waiting for a total body massage. That's another form of perking up the ears for a cat.

Moral of the story: get your proper and correctly sounding name. True sounds bring about happiness, harmony and cooperation between people and species. As an example: the name of that tiger in the prison at the San Francisco Zoo was Tatania (Too many T's for my nervous system, but that's me). After her first break out or attack on her feeding human (Talk about biting the hand and arm that feeds you!) in 2005 someone should have checked on her response to that name as well as her feelings about being dragged from her other prison home to become a breeder in San Francisco-- talk about slavery!). She was a very angry and unhappy cat, obviously, and with justified cause. Perhaps something as elemental as a properly sounding name, confirming her true identity could have spared her life and the lives of those she hurt.

Just a thought...

Happy New Year

May your life in 2008 be even better than 2007.
This could be good news for everybody no matter how you remember last year.
Personally, I liked it. I grew up a lot... I guess we call that, "matured."
I am less overly reactive and paranoid. I sleep through most nights rather than waking in the dark and worrying that all the toy mice have still not been whipped into silence.
And I have mostly stopped beating any loose throw rugs into piles.

Well, enough about me, how about you? Any signs of maturity?

I have decided, beginning this year, to share a favorite quote on my blog whenever I get the Typist to write for me. I guess I could call it a "resolution." And I want the Typist to resolve to enter my stuff into this space when I want her to. The reason you are not reading more about me and my "trans-species life" is that the Typist keeps writing her own stuff onto the laptop even though I am sitting curled right next to it on her lap ready to transmit.

So, here is a good quote for beginning the New Year. Also, here is my 2008 glorious sunshine portrait for you to enjoy.
Wishing Us all Peace and Wisdom in the coming year.
Your friend, PD Budd


Trust & Commitment:

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back...
the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred...
raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance,
which no man [sic] could have dreamed would have come his [sic] way.
Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it now."

-- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Of health and a New Hobby

Did I mention that the Typist got Cancer a couple of months ago? Her treatment was not a great inconvenience for me and my housemate, Buddy.
She went away for six days to live in a small room all alone, with her new iPod, laptop all the while connected to free, high speed Duke University internet, cable TV, and wretched food. She lost ten pounds but got them back not long after she came home. For us, it was like one of her vacations when we are locked in the house with two big litter pans and all the food the cat-sitter can dish out.
We mostly slept and wrestled, leaving clumps of fur for her to find when she returned home. Not bad for me, but October is one of Buddy’s favorite times to roam the forests. I didn’t mind, but I missed her and our conversations. And there was no one to write for me.
She has-- and at some point may tell me “had”-- an uncommon type of cancer on and under the iris of her right eye. Too advanced to cut out, she opted for a tiny radiation shield to be sewn on for 5 days. It emitted 100% stronger radiation than is shot onto soft tissue tumors. Then, after the days of incredible pain that they do NOT emphasize in the pre-op, they wheeled her back to the surgery bed where the marvelous and personally charming surgeon, P. Mruthenjaya popped the shield off, gave her a variety of eye drops, and sent her home for 4 months before she has a follow-up exam. If she keeps it dust-free and without infection, then after two years the cancer should be mostly gone never to return in her lifetime.
Otherwise, they will pop her eyeball out as a failed attempt.

(Oh, did I mention that I have a congenitally leaky right eye? None of us is perfect...)

According to my Typist as a convenient Cancer this one rates on the level of a bad cold, but not yet gone to pneumonia. There is some vague possibility it could appear somewhere in her lower regions in the future. Not likely.
For myself, my health is good. I have never seen a Vet since moving up here to the mountains. We expect to leave next year, maybe by plane again, ugh! Then we will need all those shots again and a health certificate. I do not look forward to that, but, at least it is not Cancer. I would not want to spend 6 days in the hospital. I cannot run the laptop by myself and the iPod is too small for my paws.


New Hobby!

Just before the Typist went away for her Cancer Holiday she began sewing 9-inch Japanese quilt blocks. They require precision cutting and straight-line sewing. I had no idea I was talented in this area. But, I began to love several parts of the process. Strange that the Typist would pick such a visually challenging hobby to begin when she was going to return home either visually “challenged” during recovery or actually blind. But, that’s her all over….
Since returning home with one good eye and the burned one dark red, seeing in blurred, and in fragmented parts, she has been sewing a lot and swearing a lot in English, too. I have been helping with the sewing as much as possible, and enjoying her new Quilters’ Chair [Product review later] every time she stands up.
Stay tuned for a new PD Budd Block Blog featuring all her creations. So far photos of only 30-plus blocks for her friend’s (Ted, my cat sitter) new bed quilt will appear on the blog, as well as a few, highly attractive, eco-friendly, soft shopping bags. She gives these to her friends so they will stop using plastic or paper bags. The small quilt patches personalize the bags besides making them pretty.
As usual I will continue doing all I can to lay out (on) the fabric, chase the scraps and threads, and sleep on the Chair whenever I can. When my new webpage comes online with the pix you will be the first to read about it here.