Care and Feeding of Tommy Lee Jones
Yesterday I took a long walk up to the point and then around BYU's Hawaii campus. I even went in their "bookstore" which is really pretty much a "Mormon Book Store" rather than a general university book store. It was pretty fascinating. I didn't browse for long, as I have no Mormon credentials and I was worried I'd be identified as An Intruder. For the nature portion of the walk I didn't take my camera, so no pictures today (at least of those wonderful vistas). I wish I would have had the camera for the beaches and the waves breaking on the point. The view at the point is quite incredible and changes with the tides and the position of the sun. I am looking forward to a sunrise walk to the point. There are two stone figures on one of the tiny islands off the point and I would like to see how they look in the morning sun.
My charge for this holiday is Tommy Lee Jones, Lord and Ruler of All He Surveys. He is a very sweet and talkative kitty, who enjoys demanding affection in-between bites of his breakfast. The first morning after M and K left he had no interest in food, me or anything I might have to offer, and rejected his food without even a sniff. By the first evening though, he grudgingly ate a few bites. I did some coaxing to try to get him to eat more but he ignored me, preferring his bed to the food I had on offer. By the next morning, though, he was hungry enough to actually eat his breakfast. Yesterday marked a real turning point and now we have a morning pattern. (This is the second day, so I know I'm stretching the idea of "pattern" since a pattern probably requires more than 2 instances, but work with me here.) He runs up to me first thing in the morning, chatting and dancing around my feet and then falls on his food as though he has been starved for weeks. Then, after inhaling a few bites, he winds himself around me (I usually sit on the stairs and have a cup of iced coffee while he eats), purring loudly and making less demanding but still commanding noises to be petted, RIGHT NOW. After a few strokes, he's off to eat again. This pattern is repeated until the food is nearly depleted. If there are some small clumps of food remaining, he looks up at me and mews piteously until I push the small clumps into a somewhat more bite-sized clump. This pattern also repeats until the food is gone. He cleans his face and flops down beside me for more petting and general love, until such time as he has had enough (or I've had 2 cups of coffee). Then he's off to his "house" or his favorite chair until later, when he hopes he can con me out of a snack. He's got a pretty high success rate, too.
Two nights ago Tommy demonstrated his prowess as a mighty hunter and caught what I think was a small mouse. At first he was excited to show me his treasure but when it appeared to him that I was interested in rescuing his prize, he tossed it as far as he could, ran after it and disappeared. I didn't see Tommy or his toy again that night. He didn't come out for his dinner that night, either. Poor mousie.
He's a very sweet cat, affectionate, too, as long as the forbidden areas, such as the belly, remain unmolested. But if one should accidentally attempt to pet the belly, so tantalizingly offered, one is likely to lose a bit of flesh to Tommy's sharp claws. What deity doesn't demand a little blood offering every now and again?
My charge for this holiday is Tommy Lee Jones, Lord and Ruler of All He Surveys. He is a very sweet and talkative kitty, who enjoys demanding affection in-between bites of his breakfast. The first morning after M and K left he had no interest in food, me or anything I might have to offer, and rejected his food without even a sniff. By the first evening though, he grudgingly ate a few bites. I did some coaxing to try to get him to eat more but he ignored me, preferring his bed to the food I had on offer. By the next morning, though, he was hungry enough to actually eat his breakfast. Yesterday marked a real turning point and now we have a morning pattern. (This is the second day, so I know I'm stretching the idea of "pattern" since a pattern probably requires more than 2 instances, but work with me here.) He runs up to me first thing in the morning, chatting and dancing around my feet and then falls on his food as though he has been starved for weeks. Then, after inhaling a few bites, he winds himself around me (I usually sit on the stairs and have a cup of iced coffee while he eats), purring loudly and making less demanding but still commanding noises to be petted, RIGHT NOW. After a few strokes, he's off to eat again. This pattern is repeated until the food is nearly depleted. If there are some small clumps of food remaining, he looks up at me and mews piteously until I push the small clumps into a somewhat more bite-sized clump. This pattern also repeats until the food is gone. He cleans his face and flops down beside me for more petting and general love, until such time as he has had enough (or I've had 2 cups of coffee). Then he's off to his "house" or his favorite chair until later, when he hopes he can con me out of a snack. He's got a pretty high success rate, too.
Two nights ago Tommy demonstrated his prowess as a mighty hunter and caught what I think was a small mouse. At first he was excited to show me his treasure but when it appeared to him that I was interested in rescuing his prize, he tossed it as far as he could, ran after it and disappeared. I didn't see Tommy or his toy again that night. He didn't come out for his dinner that night, either. Poor mousie.
He's a very sweet cat, affectionate, too, as long as the forbidden areas, such as the belly, remain unmolested. But if one should accidentally attempt to pet the belly, so tantalizingly offered, one is likely to lose a bit of flesh to Tommy's sharp claws. What deity doesn't demand a little blood offering every now and again?