The Cat on the Hat

Other than when following me around everywhere, Tamanya’s two favorite places are:

1. The solid food dish. She’s definitely in solid food stage now.

2. The black winter hat she likes to sleep on.

After eating at location 1, she generally walks over to location 2 for a nap. The photo below is not of the greatest quality, but it does show her curled up on top of the hat in that hollow underside of the bedside table where the lamp is standing. Her eyes are open and she’s looking straight at the camera, but it’s hard to make out from this image.

But you can get a sense for how small she still is compared to my hat size!

like hunting trips

Michelle writes:

“It sounds like she already has you tagged as the food source. I remember reading somewhere that domesticated cats are like perpetual kittens, they act like juvenile cats in a lion pride would, which is wait for the moms to go hunting and bring back the food. So domestic cats regard their human as the moms that go ‘hunting’, which in your case means ‘opening a cupboard and a can of catfood’ and are very attuned to any noises or behaviours that might be linked to this ‘hunting’. I am sure you will find this out. I can confirm that it is true that she will soon be flying around the house wrecking all your furnishings.”

Interesting. I also feel better to think that my long absences might be interpreted as “necessary absences while hunting.”

One weird thing Tamanya does after eating is that she sort of does a weird hop-step walk and seems to be biting her own feet. All I can think of is that little pieces of food might be stuck in her feet and she’s trying to remove them. She tends to stand in the food while eating it, so this would be one possible explanation.

Roger McDowell over the top

Not a bad relief pitcher in his time, but I think he has to be fired as a coach after this:

“Justin Quinn, 33, of Fresno said he was in the stands at AT&T Park in San Francisco during pregame batting practice with his wife and 9-year-old twin daughters when he noticed McDowell hectoring three men and asking them, ‘Are you guys a homo couple or a threesome?’ Quinn said McDowell proceeded to make crude sexual gestures with his hips and a bat.

Quinn, who was down in front of the field, then shouted, ‘Hey, there are kids out here,’ he said during a news conference at the Los Angeles office of noted attorney Gloria Allred. Quinn alleged that the coach replied that kids don’t belong at a baseball park, picked up a bat, walked up to Quinn and asked him, ‘How much are your teeth worth?’

Quinn said he felt threatened and was unsure whether McDowell intended to hit him. ‘My kids are in panic mode … they’re like grabbing onto me,’ Quinn said. ‘I’m talking to him, trying to calm him down and the kids are screaming.'”

Oh man. When you’re in a hole (the homophobic taunts of fans), you’re supposed to stop digging. Then threatening to break the guy’s teeth with a baseball bat with his kids sitting right there, and scaring the kids?

By the way, what exactly are “crude sexual gestures with one’s hips”? I come from the naive fields of Iowa and am unfamiliar with such gestures.

re: New York in September

There will be a number of shifts in titles, days, and possibly a couple of locations for my various talks in New York in September, which are growing in number by the month. Check the “Coming Appearances” link here from time to time if you want to be sure.

a phone call from the maid

My phone’s ringer was off for the meeting. While turning it on later, I noticed a missed call from my maid Negat. Naturally, I was worried it was something about Tamanya.

Here’s what Negat said, however: “I told my daughters, ‘I want to be Dr. Graham’s cat.'” Apparently they were impressed with the kitten facilities I’ve set up.

Also, I discovered her new hiding place. She’s in the nest less often. Instead, she discovered (which I didn’t realize) that inside the hollowed-out bottom half of the bedside table, I had left an old black stocking cap. That’s apparently where she’s sleeping these days– on top of that black winter hat.

Levi returns

Larval Subjects IS BACK, with references to Andy Clark and Tom Sparrow, among others. Most of you know about Andy Clark, but Tom Sparrow is young and not still widely known, though perhaps his book will be published in the near future.

In any case, one can feel the energy level dwindle in this corner of the blogosphere whenever Levi’s away, so I’m glad to see him back.