I can say a lot of things here and pick some influential people who changed life for the better but I’m going to go with someone who makes my life a joy and one who is there from the moment I wake up to the time I turn off the lights and go to sleep.
If I could, I would like to be Chachi, the cat, or rather Little Einstein as he likes to be called. Some might say pick a person but this little furball is a person to me. I would like to see life through his eyes for a change. Sometimes I wonder what he thinks as he looks at me with those big green eyes, I see love but it might be something else altogether! I want to see what is missing in his life and what could be made better.
The little bundle of joy has me wrapped around his paws in more ways than one. I think a cat’s life can’t be beat well I am speaking about HIS! There is nothing to worry about, life is a breeze and now that I’ve removed the big Japanese cherry tree from the kitchen window, Chachi has a wide-screen TV! He spends his days following me around like a second shadow and his needs are taken care of. When he is bored, he sleeps the day away and when he feels like company, it’s Mommy time! Cuddles, hugs, and kisses are all part of his daily existence and he gets plenty of those. So I say, I would like to be Chachi for a day. The laid-back existence is appealing and “no thinking” and “no worries” makes it a life I would like to experience for a day.
Daily writing prompt
If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be, and why?
I’ve got everything laid out on the table along with towels to dry Chachi, the cat’s wet fur after giving him a thorough cleaning. The little rascal is eyeing me suspiciously!
Grooming Your Cat
Although most cats spend their time grooming themselves, they sometimes need some extra help from us. This includes:
Brushing Your Cat
Bathing Your Cat
Brushing Your Cat’s Teeth
Cleaning Your Cat’s Ears
Clipping Your Cat’s Nails
It has been said that cats typically spend between 30 to 50 percent of their day grooming themselves and the rest of the time they sleep! Unbelievable? Mine loves cleaning himself and right before bedtime, he has a ritual that begins from the top of his head to the tips of his paws! The little guy is fastidious as he gives each part of his anatomy the attention it deserves and it’s all done with the help of his hard-working tongue. It must be exhausting so today I’ve decided to give him a little help in that direction.
The little macho is not dumb. He’s been sitting on the stairs watching my every move and each time I head towards him, he dashes up the stairs! We’ve been through this before and he knows exactly what is coming up.
Once I get him on the table, he lets out a loud meow showing disdain and apprehension for the process. It’s his way of saying, “I can do this myself human, I don’t need your help!” I agree but from time to time he needs a little help of the human kind so to speak or even an over-obsessive human going bonkers where he is concerned. Whatever the case maybe, it is happening and he needs to take it like the “sweetheart” he is.
I have to say that Chachi doesn’t put up much of a fight or much of a resistance either and takes it all in stride, even the nail clipping part so long as I coo softly and mumble gibberish. The kisses help as well. When it is all said and done, he looks like he’s been through a wind tunnel, his fur standing on end but smelling wonderful.
To this he says: “I’m a cat and smelling sweet is not in my department!”
Once done, he shoots up the stairs to hide from me in case, I have other ideas. Like rubbing his teeth with a tiny gloved finger to clean them. Today, I’m sparing him that part although I did spray some plaque remover in his mouth, it’s supposed to cut down on the pesky plaque and keep his mouth smelling fresh and minty.
Oh, Lord have mercy! Exactly what he says too!
Cuddling tonight will be a pleasant experience although I love holding him close every night. I really don’t think cats smell bad, perhaps because they know how to keep themselves clean. “Cookie Dough” is back downstairs meowing softly. Perhaps he is saying, “I thought I’m the master and you the slave.” True but once in a while we reverse roles and that is alright too!
It was a night like any other or at least it started out that way. Chachi did his nighttime routine of eating, drinking, using the toilet and cleaning himself. All was calm in this household and I thought I was going to have a quiet and peaceful night. I thought wrong because the guy that wears the pants in this house had other plans!
First, he did the catwalk. Yes, the catwalk where he has this John Wayne stride and the only missing is his holster with the gun in it. I usually find it entertaining but not tonight. It went on and on. He would walk up to me, his back stretched out as he took one long stride after another and once he reached me, he would look me in the eye, rub his face against mine, do a turnaround and head to the other end of the bed. This went on and on and my patience was wearing thin.
Me: Chachi, stop that!
Chachi chuckles or what sounds like it but he wasn’t done yet.
Just as I was about to put him in his bed, he decides it is time for bed and for cuddle time with mommy. He pushes his back up against mine and stretches out for the night. Within minutes he is snoring and I mean SNORING! Cute but just a tad unsettling. I reach over and place a kiss on his head to reassure him that he is safe and he goes quiet.
Great! Time to get some rest. Just as I am dozing off and not three minutes later, Little Chachi decides he has had enough sleep and it’s time to play! He jumps off, goes to his toy basket, picks out the new stuffed bird I got him, the other one that tweets is gone now. At least, he’ll play quietly I thought. Well, I thought wrong. Chachi loves proving me wrong. He gets down on the floor with the poor frightened bird clutched between his paws and goes to town with it. It must be some sort of passive aggressive thing and if that bird had been alive, it wouldn’t have stood a chance against the onslaught. Within minutes, the stuffing was peeking out and he threw it aside as he jumped back on the bed and landed just inches from my face. I don’t know how he does that but he has got that down to a science, missing my face I mean.
ME: Are you ready for bed?
He grunts and plops down pushing his back paws under my back. Again, within minutes he was off in dreamland or wherever cats go in sleep. Half an hour later and having woken me up from sleep with a slight pat of the paws on the back of my head, he sits there staring at me. I swear he was grinning!
You guessed it. It was a very long night to say the least. I am thinking of getting some kind of “calm” spray to get him to settle down. The thing is, the little guy thinks he is king of the castle and he runs the roost and it might well be but I need my beauty sleep even if he doesn’t. He is beautiful enough as he is and did I mention as cute as a button? Well, he is. Now, if I can only get him to settle down and teach him that he’s not the BOSS, all would be well in my world. It will be a painstaking ritual and success might not be in the cards as far as that is concerned because “cuteness” knows it will be a losing battle!
Chachi, the cat, declared “Mutiny on the Bounty,” a night ago and decided to run riot for most of the night with no end in sight. The little “Night Terror” showed me that cats are unpredictable creatures but more than that, they have a mind of their own.
That was then. Today, the little sweetheart is back to his normal self. He is all kisses and is made of snips, snails and puppy-dogs’ tails. We went to bed early last night, lights out at around 8 p.m. and the little furball was pooped and so was I. We slept through the night and most of it was peaceful until I heard the snores. Yes, he snores and loudly at that! I decided that was nothing compared to what he put me through the night before.
If you’re wondering what happened? Read my article, Out of Control” and all will be made clear. I don’t know what that night was about but it was something. It could be that just like “humans” cats have their moments too. Whatever it was, I’m glad he’s decided to reel it back in and is behaving like the lovely thing he is.
However, I did look up about getting some training for him but nothing like that exists for cats. They have plenty of dog training classes but absolutely nothing for cats. I’ve come to the conclusion that cats are highly-evolved creatures and they don’t need training, it’s the other way around!
According to Laurie Fletcher:
Cats are fully aware of their regal and divine attributes and treat their humans accordingly.
Their meetings occur right in front of their subjects if they share a home. That staring contest? Ernest discussion. That burl/trill as they pass one another? A brief report or sharing of data.
Cats don’t do long meetings. They’re firmly in control and bureaucracy cuts into nap time.
AND
According to Margaret Smith, another cat aficionado:
Because dogs have owners and cats have staff.
Because the Ancient Egyptians treated cats as GODS, and cats remember.
That says it all, doesn’t it? Sometimes I do feel like “staff,” where Chachi is concerned. He decides when I get to kiss him, when I get to hold him and when we cuddle. He does expect that he has clean water, loads of delicious food and that his toilet is kept clean at all times! If that isn’t God-like status, I don’t know what is.
Anyway, we made up and royally! He seems calm and is content sitting in his window seat watching the world go by. It could be that he’s found a new-found interest. She’s black as the night with bright green eyes, a beauty no less and they’ve been eyeing each other. I call her the Girl from Ipanema and the neighborhood is her playground in more ways than one! Chachi is way too innocent for that kind of stuff but she doesn’t care. She sits on her perch on a garden hut facing him directly. She seems to be asking, “Wanna play handsome?” Or it’s more like:
He met Marmalade down in old Moulin Rouge
Struttin’ her stuff on the street
She said, “Hello, hey Joe, you wanna give it a go?
Oh, uh-huh
Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, da-da (hey, hey, hey)
Gitchie, gitchie, ya-ya, here (here)
Mocha Chocolate, ya-ya (ooh, yeah)
Creole Lady Marmalade.
ME: Chachi!!!
HIM: What mummy? I’m busy right now!
Me: Get away from the window!
Yes, something new everyday with little furball. If you thought he’s reeled in his rebellion faze, think again. He missed his toilet meaning “IT” landed just short of the toilet! He has never done that before. Perhaps, it’s a message that he’s not done with teaching me a lesson yet. Lord, have mercy!
I woke up early this morning not of my own free will but because Chachi, the cat, wasn’t having it any other way. He had places to go and the “human” had no choice in the matter but to follow.
Dragging myself out of the thick and comfy blankets I was under was really hard. Looking at him with blurry, sleep-filled eyes I noticed he was sitting on the bedside table, his cute face puffed up and his tail thumping. It was a look of impatience and I have seen that look many times before. At times, I think he’s too spoiled for his own good but at other times I embrace it with my whole being. He’s my buddy, my shadow, a mini “me” in a fur coat and my rock when times get tough. Sometimes I think he knows all of this and more hence his power to wield and demand as he sees fit!
A sudden high-shrilled meow pierces the air and it sounds just like mommy! “C’mon mom, let’s move it!” he says as he moves to the door with a backward glance in my direction. Slipping my feet into fur-lined slippers, I move as he wants me to but very very slowly. My day is having a hard time catching up with me.
Once the door is opened, I head to the bathroom but Mr. Impatient lets out a huge sigh and a muffled whatever it means in cat language and waits outside the door giving me this, “God Almighty, can we MOVE it please!” look. There are no snuggles and wet kisses this morning. He’s about himself and what he wants but come to think of it, it is that way most days. I am learning that there is no teaching a cat, just when you think you’ve got them trained, they’ll turn around and show you how wrong you are. It must be all that cuteness that comes in a fur package and those large adoring eyes. He’s got me whipped!
After what seems like minutes to me and I’m sure “hours” to Mr. Impatient, we head down the stairs. He takes off like a bullet and heads to his window seat in the kitchen and peers curiously out the window. It is still dark and there is a strong wind blowing which is sending the last of the leaves hurtling to the ground and it has Chachi’s full attention. That’s what I call, “Action TV!” he says and plops down on the cushion and goes into a trance-like state forgetting the “human” standing behind him. All is right in his world for now.
I head on back upstairs with a hot, steaming cup of coffee and breakfast in hand. Sundays are for relaxing so I turn on the TV, get comfortable in bed and ready to find out what is going on in the world. The news today seems to be full of President Elect Trump and his new cabinet in the making. The names and faces are familiar and there seems to be a common element in all of his picks. Either they are criminals waiting to be charged or they have no experience or qualifications for the positions they are being picked for. All fine and good because Trump has none either so that works perfectly fine. So did I mention that the common link is their loyalty and almost child-like adoration of the man in question? Didn’t Hitler have the same kind of adoration? Just saying.
Moving on….
Just then, Chachi walks back into the room and looks at me with confusion as if to say, “Where did you go?” Sundays are for relaxation BUT mine begins and ends with my little love, Chachi. Time to shake it up a little? I’m still waiting for Mr. Right to walk in but he’s taking all the wrong turns so it will be a while yet before he shows up. Until then, the little furball has my full attention.
“Sunday is a good day to save the world in one’s pyjamas.” Adrienne Posey
It is a gorgeous and sunny day. A perfect backdrop for Mother’s Day. I got greetings from my son this morning and it brought a smile to my face simply because he hadn’t forgotten like he tends to do . He always has something better to do and “Mom” is usually the last thing on his mind unless he needs or wants something. It was a pleasant surprise nonetheless.
Today, I want to talk about my other baby from another mother. This little guy walked into my life in the arms of my then boyfriend almost seven years ago. He was a few weeks old at the time and he was the cutest bundle of fur I had ever seen. Our eyes locked and he meowed reaching one paw out to me. I kept my distance. I wasn’t going to let little furball creep into my heart I decided. I had lost my rescue cat a year ago and I was still in mourning as far as I was concerned. It was too soon to open my heart again but little Chachi had other plans for me.
Truth is, I was lost the moment he reached out to me and his paw hit my arm. I just couldn’t say no and he walked in and took residence like he belonged there. We became inseparable from the get go. A routine has been established or rather he has established one and I follow. I am his puppet and he pulls the strings. My day starts with him waking me up and it ends with cuteness cuddling up next to me, all on his own terms of course. When he has had enough snuggles and kisses, he moves off to his bed with a huff or was that a sigh? Whatever the case maybe, he leads life on his own terms and he has trained me to follow or not to miss a beat.
“I had been told that the training procedure with cats was difficult. It’s not. Mine had me trained in two days.” Bill Dana
So had mine. If he doesn’t like something he shows it. Recently, I got him canned chicken to wean him away from tuna. He loves his tuna. Here comes furball, he walked to his bowl, took a whiff, snorted, turned and shot me a look of disgust and proceeded to bury it with his paws! After that, it was a battle of wills which didn’t last long. He refused to eat and I gave in and he got his tuna. He bolted it down with a look of satisfaction on his face which seemed to say, “Don’t try to change me! I am the way I am.” Sounds like some men I know.
Moving on……I think there is something mysterious about cats. It could be that permanent stare that never changes. They have one look for everything. It could be “bloody murder!” or “I love you,” but that stare never changes. Mine loves me unconditionally this much I know. Or is it the other way around? Today, he is giving me an extra portion of love. It started this morning with lots of snuggles and since then he has been following me around like a second shadow. Does he know it is Mother’s Day? I wouldn’t put past him. Cats are intelligent creatures, at least mine is and he has a mind of his own.
“Dogs come when they’re called; cats take a message and get back to you later.” Mary Bly
Whatever the case maybe, I am thankful for his presence in my life. He teaches me patience when I’m at the end of my rope and showers me with love in the most unexpected ways. A slight brush against my cheek or the “almost kiss” which never takes place. He stops short right before he hits his target, moves up and plants a kiss on my forehead. That is good enough to make my heart melt. He shows me that I am his world but I stop short of showing him that he is mine. I think he knows already because he has me wrapped around his little paw!
This little love of mine is fascinating. He is just a small bundle of fur but there is much love packed within that little space. It has been said, “There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.”
I’ve got the music on and Chachi resting by my side purring softly as he watches the birds at play outside. It’s a PURRFECT DAY!
“There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats.”
He didn’t know at the time just how much truth there is in that one little phrase. My little furry friend walked into my life in the arms of my then boyfriend, in the form of a British short-haired variety and disguised as a birthday gift. Our eyes locked and he meowed his dissatisfaction at being forced to leave everything he knew behind, more specifically the safe haven of his mother’s embrace. He stretched his long neck towards me peering suspiciously at the human before him. I reached out and rubbed one hand over his tiny head and the purring that followed had me hooked from day one.
Out of the corner of my eyes, I see him watching, his big dark eyes trained in my direction. ”What’s my next move to get her out of bed?” he seems to say. He has tried everything from his reservoir of cat arsenal and it hasn’t worked. Jumping on the bed hasn’t worked. Purring in one ear hasn’t worked. Rubbing his face against mine hasn’t worked and running one paw through my hair hasn’t worked either. ”This human is beyond my comprehension!” he meows and not too softly as he sits waiting and not too patiently!
Nothing new here. Our signals are often crossed but one thing is for sure, we love each other and there are no ifs or buts about it.
He’s been there through the thick and thin of life and everything in between. When I lost my friend the same one who had brought this tiny bundle of joy into my life. He was there to tamper the pain and make it lighter. I remember crying into his fur and holding him close. He took it like a champ even though I had soaked his fur with the tears that were running down my face. He was there when I had something to laugh about. He would sit staring out the kitchen window as I moved around explaining what had happened to put that smile on my face and he would look back with that, “I’m happy for you” look or at times he would look at me with that, “I don’t know what you are droning on about but it is alright.” Talking to him has become a daily occurrence and we have an understanding of sorts. He has his world and I have mine but the love we share is of the non-negotiable type. It is there to stay and I can’t see my world without him.
Today as I roll out of bed and head on downstairs to make my first cup of coffee, he takes his spot by the kitchen window staring out at the world before him. At times, he will hear me humming and at times he will hear me whisper his name as I plant a soft kiss on his head and whisper, “I love you.” Everything is right in his world and in mine because his presence in my life is a Godsent and if there is a love never-ending, then this is it.
His name is Chachi and he is my love of a different kind.
“I have felt cats rubbing their faces against mine and touching my cheek with claws carefully sheathed. These things, to me, are expressions of love.” James Herriot
Site Title 