Marcel Marceau, Mimes, Milk Crates and Moving Furniture.
I think that Ed D Katz has a little mime in him. He does this thing where he’ll sit silently in front of an object waiting for me to figure out what he wants or needs.
I do think that Marcel Marceau may have been reincarnated and I now care for him by cleaning up his poop, watering and feeding him.
For everyone who may not know, Marceau was a famous mime that came from France. He was fun to watch when you were a kid, but a slight tad creepy when you got older…:o
Today I was sitting a few feet from the Edster trying to figure out why he was looking at me, then glancing at a milk crate I have near the kitchen back door. I do my daily writing and brain cleansing while Ed does all the cat things he loves. He has special nap places and little ceremonies that I watch in between paragraphs, sentences and punctuation.
A typical session goes like this…… I write, Ed sleeps, I make noise, Ed wakes up, stretches and goes to snack.
This set of habits baffle me.
He always wakes up and goes to grab a few bites of kibble, gets a drink, grooms and some times goes over to the plastic milk crate to scratch.
I have a collection of mismatched plastic milk cartons that I have collected over the years. These crates are against the law to own or to take from behind the stores or markets- so if you decide to try this on your own remember, it may not be a legal enterprise to acquire them.
Anyway, This one crate I keep by the door to put shoes in, it's a shoe caddy.
It saves me steps when I go out. It’s standing up on end with the open side facing the wall. It’s a handy kind of strange furniture. I use it to put the mail and magazines on when I walk into the room, When I need a pair of shoes I just spin the open side away from the wall, grab a pair, spin it back and I am all set. Ed picked up the habit of using it as a scratching ‘post’ which is perfect! No carpet threads or strings, no mess-aside from the nails he splinters off his claws and it makes a distinct noise, so I don’t
have to see where he is at.
I used to have a cat scratch post that was reduced to threads, I still have a piece of carpet stapled to the inside of the front door to protect the drywall-that didn’t work. This has worked!
About 10 minutes ago, Marcel…ah, Ed was sitting in front of the crate for the longest time. I’d watch him do that kitty-look-over-the-shoulder-I-need-something look at me and go back to staring at the crate.
Being the cat-whispering person I’d like to think I am, It took me about 5 minutes to figure this one out.
I MOVED THE CRATE AND DIDN’T SPIN IT BACK TO IT’S ORIGINAL POSITION!
Dude had snacked, watered and couldn’t set down for his afternoon nap because he could not sharpen his nails on the bottom of the crate, the side that was now facing the wall! Of course he could have used the sides of the crate, but I had to get over there and spin it 180 degrees to get it right for him.
He did take a step back while I righted my wrong and watched the whole process.
He did give me the stink eye before he started to claw! A minute later he was satisfied and curled up for his afternoon nap.
I now have a better appreciation for mimes, furniture moving and what that milk carton means to a very spoiled, but well manicured cat.
