The Dog Doesn’t Die

I normally don’t celebrate cat birthdays beyond putting out an extra treat, but Priss turned 19 today, and that’s very old for a cat. It’s the equivalent of 92 in people years. And under the circumstances, she’s doing pretty well. Notice I didn’t say “great,” which would not be true. She has a thyroid condition, she’s had a couple of grand mal seizures, her kidneys are borderline, and she’s underweight despite being on two appetite stimulants. But she hangs out on the sofa or on the porch, sits on my lap and purrs, enjoys her food and treats, and generally seems to have a good life for an old lady.

I adopted her from the animal shelter when she was 5 1/2, so I haven’t had her the entire time. She’s a long-haired dilute calico and absolutely gorgeous. When I first saw her, I thought she was almost as beautiful as Rabbit, my Turkish Angora cat who had just died a few weeks before. Later, I came to think she was as beautiful, or moreso, and then I quit comparing. She’s also very affectionate.

I think if you click on her picture it will come up larger. That particular shot is from a few years ago, when she was in her prime.

Or month. Or year.

As you can tell by the name, Avienne is into birds. Big time into birds.

Unfortunately, she is in serious need of some cheering up. So in the comments section below, I have placed a whole bunch of bird-related YouTube links. Some of the birds are funny, and some swear. Maybe she can borrow one of the swearing birds and take it to the people who need to hear what Avienne herself is too polite and sensible to say.

Dune is Safe for animal lovers because it has no pets or livestock in it in the first place. This is stated outright in Appendix 1, where author Frank Herbert writes of the desert planet on which the story takes place, ”Pets were almost unknown, stock animals rare. Some smugglers employed the domesticated desert ass, the kulon, but the water price was high even when the beasts were fitted with modified stillsuits.”

I first read this book, and the next three in the series, many years ago. My book group chose to read Dune for the next session, and it was interesting to pick it up again after 20+ years. I think I liked it better the first time around, when many of the concepts were new to me. I do think it’s a good book, definitely worth the time it takes. I’m not sure everyone in my book group will agree — we seldom agree on a book to begin with, and I know at least one person is having difficulty with Dune.

But this is a sci-fi classic, and it avoids one of the big issues I have with science fiction: silliness. There’s none of this nonsense with five genders or all-knowing catfish or that kind of stuff. This is pretty straightforward sci-fi, and if you’re going to read anything in that genre, Dune is a good place to start.

Back in the 1980s, when I read the first 4 Dune books (and I stopped because I thought the 4th was pretty silly), I also read 2 other books by Herbert: Soul Catcher and The Jesus Incident. (I also might have read The Lazarus Effect — it sounds familiar, but that was a long time ago.) I thought Herbert was one of the better sci-fi storytellers, and I have found no reason to change my mind.

Sometimes a book doesn’t warrant the time it takes to read it. And this is an individual decision we make for ourselves alone. So just because I chose not to finish these books doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try them. I would just let them sit quietly in my book recycling/resale corner and not mention them, but I do think I need to discuss their treatment of animals because I try to get as many books as possible into this blog.

The books I didn’t like enough to finish are Lisa See’s Flower Net, and Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven by Fannie Flagg. Flower Net Might Not Be Safe for animal lovers, because of a plot twist I’ll reveal in the first comment, below. And Can’t Wait to Get to Heaven is Almost Certainly Safe for animal lovers. More on that book below, too.

Now this is more like it! Around the House and in the Garden is a very slight book of essays, the kind of thing to keep by your bed if you read for 10-15 minutes before turning out the lights each night. And Browning seems a tad too helpless at times, but maybe she’s just more honest about her feelings than many of us are. I like her writing voice and her observations of the world around her so much that my mild objection to the admitted helplessness is a mere quibble. Until recently the editor of the now-defunct House and Garden magazine, Browning has written other books, including Paths of Desire, which I absolutely love and reread every spring. I can’t recommend it strongly enough; it is one of my favorite books ever.

Anyway, Around the House and in the Garden is Safe for animal lovers, as is Paths of Desire. I will discuss them more in the second comment, below (the first comment having been hijacked by a “pingback”, which is okay, but still…).

I really hated this book. So why did I finish it? Well, for starters, I had gotten about half-way through another book I didn’t like and stopped reading it, so I wondered if it was my mood. And when I began reading The Inheritance, I liked it quite a bit. But ultimately, I determined that I couldn’t stand any of the characters, and that’s always a deal-killer for me. I especially hated Harry, the patriarch of the family and the inspiration for my posting of Monty Python’s Upper Class Twit sketch, below. Except Harry wasn’t funny. But he was extremely twit-ish. And selfish and clueless and wretched.

As for the animals, if you decide to read this book anyway — and I certainly hope you don’t — it is Mostly Unsafe for animal lovers. More details will be in the first comment, below.

This morning’s Washington Post had an interesting article about how people’s taste buds steer them to prefer different types of wine. Which Wine Drinker Are You? explains how we fall into four categories of wine drinker: sweet, hypersensitive, sensitive, and tolerant. By going to the website of The Budometer and answering a few simple questions, your “profile” emerges.

This is most useful for inexperienced or overwhelmed wine drinkers, because over time and with experience, our tastes tend to broaden. I read the types of wines preferred by members of each category and liked everything except the sweet wines. I thought I would probably fall into the Sensitive category even though, like Tolerants, I have a pretty strong preference for red wine. Most women are Sensitive or Hypersensitive as well. However, the questionnaire establishes me as a solid Tolerant.

This taste-typing is in the early stages, and a more refined questionnaire is in the works. But if you drink wine at all, you’ll probably find The Budometer of interest even in this Beta version.

Enjoy!

I am failing to zip through this week’s book at the usual speed, unfortunately. Right now, I will note that several of the characters make me think of Monty Python’s Upper Class British Twit sketch, only without the humor. And that sketch is brilliant!

So, without further explanation, here is Monty Python’s Upper Class Twit of the Year sketch. Enjoy!

I haven’t read much more than the newspaper lately, so I thought I’d post this, which has been circulating on the Internet for years (and years and years).

To be posted VERY LOW on the refrigerator door - nose height.

Dear Dogs and Cats,
The dishes with the paw print are yours and contain your food. The other dishes are mine and contain my food. Please note, placing a paw print in the middle of my plate of food does not stake a claim for it becoming your food and dish, nor do I find that aesthetically pleasing in the slightest.
 
The stairway was not designed by NASCAR and is not a racetrack. Beating me to the bottom is not the object. Tripping me doesn’t help because I fall faster than you can run.
 
I cannot buy anything bigger than a king sized bed. I am very sorry about this. Do not think I will continue sleeping on the couch to ensure your comfort. Dogs and cats can actually curl up in a ball when they sleep. It is not necessary to sleep perpendicular to each other stretched out to the fullest extent possible. I also know that sticking tails straight out and having tongues hanging out the other end to maximize space is nothing but sarcasm.
 
For the last time, there is not a secret exit from the bathroom. If by some miracle I beat you there and manage to get the door shut, it is not necessary to claw, whine, meow, try to turn the knob, or get your paw under the edge and try to pull the door open. I must exit through the same door I entered. Also, I have been using the bathroom for years — canine or feline attendance is not required.
 
 To pacify you, my dear pets, I have posted the following message on our front door:
 To All Non-Pet Owners Who Visit & Like to Complain About Our Pets:
 1. They live here. You don’t.
 2. If you don’t want their hair on your clothes, stay off the furniture. (That’s why they call it “fur”niture.)
 3. I like my pets a lot better than I like most people.
 4. To you, it’s an animal. To me, he/she is an adopted son/daughter who is short, hairy, walks on all fours, and doesn’t speak clearly.
 
 Remember: In many ways, dogs and cats are better than kids because they:
 1. Eat less.
 2. Don’t ask for money all the time.
 3. Are easier to train.
 4. Normally come when called.
 5. Never ask to drive the car.
 6. Don’t hang out with drug-using friends.
 7. Don’t smoke or drink.
 8. Don’t have to buy the latest fashions.
 9. Don’t want to wear your clothes.
 10. Don’t need a “gazillion” dollars for college.
 And finally,
 11. If they get pregnant, you can sell their children.