Weekly Wrapup

On the Bank Meltdown: I can't remember who said this, and as a good journalist I should cite my sources, but then again, this isn't the N&O it's only my blog. So I'll just say the speaker was one of the government figures in this financial mess. He said, and I don't quote, because I can't . . . it is a bad idea to cap bank executive's pay and bonuses because the people who did the damage are already gone, and a cap would hinder the ability to hire new executives. I do remember he used the word "mediocre" as in, we would only be able to attract mediocre talent. I guess mediocre talent isn't as good as high-priced talent; like the high-price talent who bought the country to this brink of financial collapse in the first place? Hmmm.

New in Morrisville: Yesterday we looked at the new "urban" flats at Grace Park. The project was originally intended as condominiums, but was switched over to rentals because of the housing slowdown and a problem with obtaining permits to complete a large project in one swoop. As a result, the model suites were very nice, but, you could see where they cut back. For one thing, an elevator shaft is roughed out, but there will be no elevator. Another thing; the agent said they have the new "acid wash concrete" floors, and said it like that was a good thing. To me it was clearly a way to save money on floor covers over the concrete. It was cold, unattractive and caused her high heels to echo. But apparently it's "the latest". So when did they start acid washing concrete instead of jeans?

In Conclusion:
This is why I love my pets. They are my link to nature that I lose in civilization. Even if they understood what the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC say, the news would be meaningless. They don't need to own property and don't care about the latest upscale amenities. They don't get chewed out because they made a political judgement error at work and if they did they wouldn't need an aspirin later at home to fix the headache. Every day when I get home, I'm greeted by the same, happy, natural creatures despite what happened to me during the time I was away. So tonight, let's all drink a toast to our pets, and give them an extra treat for being nature's perfect barometers of what's really important.
(Photo courtesy of Betty France Photography http://www.mwt.net/~bbfrance/)

Revenge of Poochy Boy

Last night I was back to cajoling Poochy Boy to eat his new food. I decided to try putting some on his paw again, and had to lean over to him to get this done. When I got close, he suddenly sprang up and hit me square in the face. I actually tripped and fell over backward with PB on top of me. Then I saw he had a glob of Country Pet wet cat food in his paw. He shoved it towards my mouth and meowed loudly. I was quite disorganized at the moment, but I could swear he said, "You eat it!"

Gotcha. Actually the score is now CoffeeCrispLite: 1, Poochy Boy: 3 which makes us both winners.

The tuna juice-fusion won him over. I mashed it in his wet food. Also, by now PB was tired of getting only 3/4 rations (we had to pick up the dog food because we actually caught PB eating it. And the dogs watched him do it and just sat there.)

Later that night I gave him more without the tuna juice and he finished if off. Hopefully there will be no regressions.

Still Teaching the Cat What Food is

Today's tally:
CCLite: 0
PBoy: 3 (maybe).

At 6am, The Pooch (that's him on the left) gets 1/2 his daily food allotment in familiar dry form. By dinner he's hungry for more and that's when he gets the Country Pet wet, real food slid under his nose.

Last night I heated it up again. Oooh, smell that?

No reaction.

I sprinkled on the Parmesan which Dr. Lisa says cats love. No reaction.

I heated it up again. Cat food lasagna. I think I see Garfield drooling at the window. PB takes one sniff and turns away.

I mashed it some more; into a puree. I put some on his paw again. I dipped a kernel of hard food into it and offered him the chip dip.

Then I went outside and got the grass -- several blades of Grade A, Premium tall fescue -- PB's weakness. I put them on top of the wet food and gently pressed them into the mix. I left the kitchen and peeked in from the living room.

PB went for it. He dug out every blade and in the process, I figured he decided the food was good too. I thought I would cry for joy. But when he was done and I rushed in to check the result, the wet food was still there. That's where the "maybe" from this blog entry's opening paragraph comes in. Maybe he actually ate some of the wet food, or maybe I'm just being optimistic. Afterward he would eat no more.

Later that evening I tried pushing a piece of cooked chicken into the food, and finally dripped tuna juice over the whole concoction. It was still a no-go with PB, but by this time who could blame him since it really was just a microwaved, pureed, grass-stained, fish-smelling, cheese-smothered mess.

Which made a nice bite-size bedtime treat for the dogs.

Teaching the Cat what Food is

Poochy Boy and I faced off this weekend. The tally so far is CoffeeCrispLite: 0, PB: 2.

As I explained in an earlier blog entry, at 11 years old (which is 60 to another cat) I want to change The Pooch over to a healthier, wet cat food. On Saturday I bought home my carefully researched choice: Country Pet, which comes in frozen sausage form.



PB needs to be slowly weaned onto this delightful REAL food product, whose first ingredients are chicken, fish, beef and lamb; not chicken, brewers rice, poultry by-product and corn gluten meal like in Purina One. So for dinner, instead of crunchy crap, PB got ever such a slight serving of moist meat.

He had no idea what it was. For all he knew I had just put mud in his bowel. Which by-the-way, he would eat. He wouldn't eat this.

Veterinarian Lisa A. Pierson, on her web site, says any cat can be weaned onto wet food. You just have to be patient enough. Back at home, I tried heating it up, making a chip dip out of it with his regular food as the chip, mixing his regular food into the new one and mixing the new one into his regular food, none of which worked.

I then put a dab on The Pooch's paw. True to his cat-like powers of keen perception, he didn't even notice what I had done. Then he shook his paw and realized there was something there. He licked it off. He liked it. But when he was done, he lay down next to the bowl of new food and promptly ignored it again.

Tonight I will try Dr. Pierson's "tuna on top" and "Parmesan cheese" tricks. I also have one of my own ruses, sprinkling fresh-picked fescue grass on top -- sort of a California Style Feline Ragout.