Cat Tail Hour

It is Doreen’s and my custom to enjoy a spiritual libation somewhere after the sun crosses the yardarm (usually around 5 p.m. for you land lubbers.) I’m not sure when it happened but the cats decided to join us for these moments of relaxation.

“Hey clouder mates,” exclaimed Lamont, “I think it is cat tail hour downstairs. We’d better hussle down there and keep our human servants company.”

“Oh good,” replied Patch, “I like cat tail hour.”

“Me too,” added Paw, as they all bounded down the stairs to the great room.

“I see Meugh is in the kitchen preparing their beverages,” said Paw, “and Mewreen is in her recliner giving her drink order.

“It looks like her usual bourbon and water,” said Patch as she skidded around the kitchen corner careening on the island and dashing into the great room. “Not branch water, just filtered water from the fridge. She’s not from the South you know but a Northern Yankee. Why don’t we get filtered water from the fridge, we just get plain old tap water. We may have to lodge a complaint.”

“Hugh’s getting his wine,” said Paw. “I think it is his usual Chateau le Box Shard do Neigh. Rather sharp after taste I believe. From a bouquet standpoint I prefer a good merlot”

“Oh good,” said Lamont already in the living room on the bench beside Mewreen’s chair. “I’m the official “nose” of this group and will do my duty to sniff each drink to see it meet my Sommelier standards. For some reason I don’t understand, I don’t think they like it when I stick my nose in their glasses. Always shooing me away. I don’t drink that stuff, yeack, but I do have the nose. They should appreciate that. I take after Uncle Boozer in that way”

 “Meugh’s in his recliner with his wine glass,” noted Patch. He likes to sniff it too, we all do. He must like to imitate Lamont. Okay, let’s hie to our places. I’m taking the cloth couch today. I see Lamont is stretched out full length on the floor and there you are Paw in a bed under the coffee table. Good, we’re all here enjoying each other’s company. How civilized of us.”

“Yes, here we all are together in this lovely room overlooking the Mississippi River,” said Lamont. “What a wonderful visita to look at, as a matter off fact I think I’ll move to a window ledge and just take it all in. How lovely and serene it is.”

“Oh no,” interjected Paw, “They just turned the blasted TV on to watch the news and a game show. They just shattered the moment. Oh well, they are just humans and apparently don’t know any better.”

“Well, at least we’re all together, we litter mates and our beloved human servants. If we had glasses we’d clink them with the human glasses and give thanks the Bast,” said Lamont. "But a little catnip for us wouldn't hurt."

“Amen,” responded Patchtricia and Pawline.

Crazy via Cat

“Do you think that our human servants, Mewreen and Meugh are acting odd lately,” ask Pawline?

“You mean more weird than the usual picking us up, rubbing their faces in our fur, and saying, ‘kitty, kitty’ periodically for some reason,“ replied Patchtricia?

“How very observant of you my dear sisters,” added Lamont. “They are indeed becoming increasingly, weird or odd, addled, or a bit whacko. Crazy is and crazy does and I know why.”

“Really oh fount of knowledge,” said Paw. “So why pray tell do they seem to be going around the bend?”

“Parasites,” replied Lamont, “tiny little organisms are sneaking into their bodies. And,” Lamont added dramatically, “those parasites come from us. Sisters, it is highly likely we are driving Mewreen and Meugh whacky.”

“Oh my,” commented Patch, “we are driving are dear servants around the bend. How can that possibly be? I would think that we are bringing calm and happiness and a sense of purpose to their lives not making them dingbats.”

“Let me explain,” continued Lamont. “It is normal for we felines to have within us a wee parasite called Toxoploama gondii or T.gondii or Toxo in scientific parlance. Furthermore we poop those little buggers out regularly.”

“Gross,” muttered Paw!

“Perhaps, but it is why some scientific types warn pregnant women to avoid cat litter boxes to avoid being infected. If infected the pregnant women cat pass the disease onto the children resulting in brain damage or even death,” continued Lamont. It was a complicating factor that was recognized at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.

“However, healthy children and adults usually only end up with flu like symptoms. However, those little Toxos lie dormant in the brain.”

“So what’s the problem,” asked Paw?

“Well,” said Lamont warming further to the subject, “there is this guy Jaroslav Flegr. Here’s his picture.”

“He doesn’t look too stable himself,” said Patch.

“He might not be. In fact, he thinks so himself,” continue Lamont. “Ol Jaroslav is a Czech biological scientist. He is your typical absent-minded professor who wears odd clothes, and whose hair looks like a reddish fright wig.

“In the 1990’s Flegr came to the belief that he was indeed having his personality manipulated causing him to act strangely. Being a curious type of dude he came to the conclusion that his odd behavior came from cats, or more precisely the said Toxoplasma gondii; ol Toxo was making him weird.

“Doesn’t look to me as though he had a long drive,” chimed in Paw.

“A lot of folk have looked his theory with similar skepticism likening him to UFO nuts and the like. But he also seems to do pretty solid science,” said Lamont. “A neuroscientist from Stanford, Robert Sapolsky, reviewing Flegr’s science, says it seems quite plausible. Saplosky and some British scientists have concluded that the T. gondii is capable for turning a rat’s aversion to cats to attraction. So, if a rat walks up to you and says ‘eat me’ you can thank the good old Toxo for getting in his brain.

“Another respectable scientist, E. Fuller Torrey who is the director of the Stanley Research Institute in Maryland thinks Flegr is on point. And he is a schizophrenia expert. He find Flegr’s research quite plausible.”

“Holy cat bugs, we really might be driving our human servants schizoid,” said Patch with surprise.

“Indeed, Flegr even had his own blood tested and found that he had the Toxo parasite happily swimming in his blood stream. He looked at parasites that came from all types of animals who have parasites that affect human beings.

“Even with Flegr’s limited budget he discovered that there are lots of infected people. Compared to those who lacked our little Toxo bug there were behavioral differences. For example, those with the Toxo found that the men tend to be messy and sloppy dressers whereas their female counterparts were generally well dressed. Infected men were more hesitant than the uninfected and infected women were more trusting and generally did as they were told.

“Flergr wondered about these gender differences and in consultation with some psychologists figured that women tend to want to be social and be like to be in groups when infected whereas men tend to be loners when their wires get crossed.

“One study found that men with the toxo had higher levels of testosterone and thus more appealing to women.

“I could go on, but that seems enough. This final thought. Have you noticed that the normally dapper Meugh seems downright dowdy these days while Mewreen’s wardrobe is blossoming? It makes you wonder. Though it is Meugh that generally empties our litter boxes. Still it is food for thought,” concluded Lamont.

“Indeed it is,” replied his sisters, as they all lay down and contemplated this information.

After a bit Patch said, “Oh well, whacko or not, as long as they bring on the food and water, and brush and play with us, it’s okay with me.” And with that she trotted off to the nearer litter box to deposit a bit of Toxoplasma gondii.

How to be Aware of What Is Going on in the World: The Development of a Positive Worldview

Upon occasion I would comment to congregations I served that if they really wanted a better understanding of the world that we live in they should stop watching TV News, quit reading newspapers and magazines and spend more time reading the Bible. I still believe that.

I sure we all know news junkies and may even be one ourselves. We just have to watch morning, noon, and evening news shows. We will watch prime time news programs with devotion. We may have favorite stations that we think report the news better than others, or at least what we want to hear more. We think this makes us informed citizens and wise. If your TV is tuned to CNN all day you are a news junkie.

Moderates and liberals may shake their heads at those who watch FOX or listen to shock radio stations and shake their heads in bewilderment seeing those stations as mere radical commentary based upon ideology rather than facts. Conservatives will complain about the liberal media and condemn but still watch it.

But I’m not sure the rest of us are much different. I’ve mentioned before in our household we watch ABC news in the morning and evening. But they have more entertainment value that news value.

My own particular bias is there are only three news programs worth watching. They are: This Week with George Stephanopoulos (ABC), Bill Moyers and Company on PBS, and the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. I would also toss in anything written by Robert Reich. Yeah, the Daily Show is a comedy program but it is amazing how many folk trust it’s reporting over traditional news; I think that is for a good reason. The Pew Research Center released a poll that found that 21% of folk between the ages of 18 and 29 as the place where they learned about presidential campaign news. That was a few years ago, but may remain true in views of trustworthy news.

  

 

I have long lamented that this country has been seized by big money, which has taken control of Congress and has turned us into an Oligarchy, government by the wealthy. Now take a look at the news. Who owns them? Mega wealthy corporations who believe in news for profit own them. Thus they primarily report bad news rather than good or even fact based news because it sells better. They also reflect the mindsets of their owners. We like that stuff. It also warps our opinion of the world and leads us into apathy and lethargy.

The world as reported through these so-called news agencies makes the world seem so bad and the problems so immense they we just throw our hands up and despair and feel there is nothing we can do about it.

Our news is negatively biased and the result in public negativity and a warped understanding of the world in which we live. Again I would suggest that to gain a better perspective of the world that we watch and read a small amounts of news and spend much more time reading scriptures; the Q’uran, Bhagavad Gita, the Bible, the Kojiki, the Teachings of Buddha, the Tao of Pooh or whatever. Also read poetry and look at art.

I think it would be good for folk to set aside the time we spend watching or reading news, or at least an equal amount of time reading those things mentioned above. I believe that if you do, you will have a much more realistic concept of the world and a much more positive outlook on life. In essence we are what we read. So, if you read a lot of negative garbage, you are likely to believe in a lot of negative garbage. If you read that which uplifts the human spirit it will be uplifted.

I also believe with this type of reading regime we also will become much better citizens. If we spend time reflecting on great literature, and great religions and great art, we are likely to become much more reflective and thoughtful about the world. I are more likely to gain a perspective on who we are and our place in that world.

Just think of groups of people doing this and then when they gather together instead of just putting on the TV  and watching the latest game, they spent time in sharing ideas and thoughts they have discovered. They would not have to debate or defend such thoughts just share them and learn from each other and appreciate each others experiences and gain a better sense of community.

Communities such as these they would become more empowered to work together for things that promote the common good; little things and big things. It has happened before, it is also going on right now and it is this type of community that I believe may enable us to recapture democracy and the American and even a worldview of positivity.

Chapter 27: Short Cat Observations

Can you cuddle with a cat if it does not want to cuddle? No!

If you opened a cat masseuse salon what would happen? You would go broke.