Morning light draws from a stately oak shadows that reach toward the water’s edge. Resting at my feet and encircling me like so many streams and tributaries feeding a river of shade, the silhouette arms grasp for that which they can never hold. Yet briefly, and only in the morning, they brush tenderly against an ageless spirit who stands nearer the shore, a fellow Still Watcher eons older. Their communion is sacred and I am honored to share in it.
“Well, why did the Puritans come to this country?” a teacher asked his history class. “To worship in their own way and to make other people do the same” was the reply.
— Frank Zindler
You know how much Kazon likes to open doors—any door. Cabinets aren’t a problem for him, an ability he’s taught to the rest of The Kids. But more intriguing is that regular doors aren’t a problem for him either. Remember the laundry room door he so expertly opened so he and his sister could go inside and play?
What makes this talent so fascinating is this: Kazon’s just not a smart guy. He’s sort of a dumb jock. There are times he doesn’t remember his own ass when he jumps on something, and that usually leaves him dangling precariously with his front end on the target and his back end swinging in the wind.
His lack of intellectual prowess makes his skills with doors all the more mesmerizing—and unusual. Yet he is in every sense of the word an expert when it comes to opening them.
As I explained in the original post about this, “If there’s a doorknob, he understands what it’s for and will try to use it. If there’s a handle, he’ll try to grab it and pull it down. If it’s a cupboard door, he knows to use his front paws to pull it open far enough to get his head inside — followed by the rest of him.” I have been repeatedly amazed by him in this matter. I know he’s learned from watching people that doorknobs open doors and that handles pull down and open doors, and he’s put these observations to use in his own endeavors.
But he’s not always successful. And that brings me to this video.
I was doing laundry one day and he had been in the laundry room with me, but I made him leave when I was ready to close the doors and go about my other chores. What I didn’t realize was that he wasn’t done in there, at least not yet.
The moment I walked away, he proceeded to try his magic. You’ll see him reach for the doorknobs, try to snag the tiny space between the doors, try to reach under them for leverage (which is how he normally opened those particular doors anyway), and basically search for an easy way in. However, he wasn’t particularly serious about getting in there and gave it only half the effort he normally would. Eventually—and let’s be honest: probably because he forgot what he was doing or why he wanted in—he decided it was too much work and gave up.
Check out the canine antics at Weekend Dog Blogging #74.
Carnival of the Cats #153 is practically overflowing with feline goodness. Don’t miss it.
Although this post starts out showing some cool fractals, what’s really compelling is the collection of magnified snow crystal photos at the end.
If you’ve not seen the photos or even heard about it yet, you really should take a look at the giant sinkhole that opened up in Guatemala. Yikes! Regrettably, they’re still finding bodies. When it opened, it swallowed a dozen homes and forced at least 1,000 people to evacuate. When you look at the photos, it almost looks fake—like someone Photoshopped a hole in the middle of a city photograph. Click on the first photo to see a brief gallery.
We’re his only family: When students and faculty at a secondary school discovered their resident stray cat had been critically wounded, what do you think happened? Go read the article to find out. Ambiguous hint: I cried.
I should use this word more often. It’s fun like ‘balderdash’ and deserves equal opportunity.
guttersnipe (gut·ter·snipe): / GUHT er snipe /
noun
(1) a person of the lowest economic or moral stature; someone characteristic of the lowest social class
(2) a street urchin; a homeless vagabond, especially an outcast boy or girl with ragged clothes and rough manners
[Originally used on Wall Street to refer to “streetcorner brokers.” The general meaning stems from the common snipe (Gallinago gallinago), a bird that likes muddy wet conditions, and the idea of street cleaners used in reference to young children seen collecting paper and rags from gutters.]
Usage: After her mother died and her father abandoned her, she was forced to live as a guttersnipe in the city’s slums.