PETTY PROBLEMS -- SURVIVAL LAUGHTER

Bringing this topic up with all the very real problems each of us likely have I probably should feel embarrassed.   These "little aggravations" can be the proverbial back-breaking straw that becomes overwhelmingly exasperating -- especially if the problem does not easily respond to resolution.   This is one I had years ago, may have written about here before.   I thought it had been permanently ended.  As my loving brother would have quipped, "We don't pay you to think!"

I manage to cope with the big issues that come up, but then if a bunch of little matters like this one pile on they can reach a point where even one more can break me down.  I find myself wondering if that's just my weakness or if any others have the same experience?

In the realm of annoyances, after several halcyon years I noticed in a dirt area next to my front entrance the soil has again been recently disturbed with obvious digging much like that made by cats in a litter box.  Sure enough, a cat appeared on my back patio one day.

Another day for several hours, every time I peered out my window that same cat sat by a hedge at my front driveway's edge near my garage door.  I don't know if the cat is new to some neighbor since most have dogs or has been dumped here as has occurred in years past.  

This predominately gray cat with flecks of white I've since seen again, appears to be well cared for so may have a local owner.  People must keep their dogs inside and I wish the same was true of cats.  They discourage birds from my yard, not to mention the hazard the outdoor roamers can present to our declining avian population.

We had a neutered male cat his long entire life so I'm not anti-feline, but I just think owners need to be more responsible, especially given the risks to the kitty's nine lives here at the mountains lower foothills edge.  Selfishly, I don't want a cat creating a personal litter box immediately next to my front door, either.  "Go in our own yard, kitty!"

I went through an unwelcome period of time some years ago when that same dirt area by my door was commandeered by some cat as a personal litter box that began to attract even more felines.  Repellent efforts with some commercial deterrents were unsuccessful but eventually the felines permanently seem to disappear.

Those unfortunate cats may have been the victims of wildlife predators that prowl our community for a tasty morsel.  Those hunters come mostly at night, such as coyotes, bobcats, mountain lions and even bears have been known to appear.  Coyotes, reported to have dens in our city, are the only ones I've ever seen, but I do have a coyote whistle our city distributed to residents to carry when out walking.   Owners of small pets, cats and dogs, are cautioned to take care letting their pet outside, especially after dark.  

When I've looked daily at that front-of-my-house area soil I had smoothed over, there has continued to be obvious digging disturbance.  I may try spreading a common hot spice cooking powder suggested as a possible repellent.  Supposedly, sprinkling the red hot pepper powder over the soil will result in the cat getting some on their paws.  They would then lick their paws when bathing after covering their business and find the smell, taste, or other quality totally unacceptable, even offensive to them, and not return.  Furthermore, all other trespassing felines would avoid the area, too, should any appear.  I wonder if anyone else has had success using such seasoning with this approach?  

You can see after reading this, what one of the most immediate pressing petty issues in the scheme of life is in my current daily existence.  This is that proverbial straw exasperating me when I have more important matters on which I need to focus my attention.  

I'll end this now by digressing to a cartoon that tickled my funny bones "borrowed" ...  okay! ...  stolen from my go-to blog for laughs:  Oddball Observations.

BLOGGING -- FINANCIAL INEQUITY NOT FORGOTTEN

Blogging has not been forgotten at "Along The Way," but I have been a bit pre-occupied with family -- all in a most pleasant way I hasten to add. During this time I've taken a month or so away from my part time work, but have agreed to assume some extra assignments when I resume work as a courtesy to those seeing my patients while I'm taking this break. I'll confess that I haven't been visiting any other blogs during this time so will be doing some catch up later. I'll soon return to expounding on a variety of topics I've been intending to write about including a mix of music and whatever else strikes my fancy.

I have had a serious unexpected accident tonight for which I have had heavy guilt feelings the past couple of hours. First, I must give you some background. Present in my household are two personable lively cats with whom I've been discussing their forming Felines Anonymous -- an organization for those cats who jealously guard their privacy but need the support of others to aid in weight loss. We are having a bit of spirited disagreement determining exactly how many steps will be in this program, whether or not we want to insist on weigh-ins and I've insisted small outdoor creatures are not acceptable dues payment.

Morgan is more disciplined, likes to eat small amounts, returning many times to his twice daily meal he parcels independently throughout the day. However, his food must now be provided in a location that Randall cannot access. Randall's problem is that regardless of how little or how much food is presented to him, he will eat it all at one sitting, along with any food Morgan may have foolishly trusted he could leave for later snacking. Furthermore, later in the day, Randall will use his wiles to con more food as many times as is possible.

I guess it's a philosophical difference -- sort of like the petrified politics of the U.S. Congress.

Randall obviously is a 'fat cat' but he wants to greedily take in even more -- no concern for those with whom he should rightfully share. Morgan, more trim but not without excess fat cells, is actually the dominant 'top cat.' He will generously share, but chooses a more equitable distribution of food stuffs. If word gets around about Randall, I wouldn't be surprised at all to awaken one morning to a peaceful gathering of protestors against him -- much like the Occupy Wall Street movement mushrooming across the U. S. and the world.

Both cats spend most daylight hours outdoors enjoying watching winged adventurers in the surrounding woodsy environs that house numerous even more intriguing creeping, crawling and climbing creatures. I suspect Morgan and Randall are mostly observers of the life around them though they often disappear from my sight, but haven't gone far since they respond fairly quickly to calls. They do spend the hours from dusk to dawn indoors which pleases me. Years past I've been awakened too many times to neighbors cats courting under my bedroom window -- making sounds like a baby squalling. Such cat behavior in recent years has ceased. Unfortunately small pets of all kinds -- even those in fenced backyards -- have become victims of a few coyote packs who've moved into our city since our infringement into their wilderness territory.

About the accident, I mentioned -- I was walking down a darkened hallway and suddenly heard a squall that triggered shivers down my spine and sent me leaping -- pretty good jumping for this gal. Rushing into the lighted room was furry black Randall who I had unwittingly stepped on. I felt sick in the pit of my stomach wondering which of his body parts or how seriously he had been harmed. Randall made a hasty retreat to the top carpeted tree perch from which he looks down on all of us. His master quickly moved to comfort him as I soon followed, cautiously, slowly, extending my open hand. Randall's piercing dark eyes looked into mine as I offered soft soothing apologies. I was allowed to slightly caress a leg but faint signs of hair rising on his back admonished me to not persist.

The next two hours Randall let me ponder over the error of my ways and to soak in my guilt. Absent his forgiveness I thought I might absolve myself by writing this. During my writing, I think he may have been reading over my shoulder, because amazingly to me, Randall suddenly deliberately left his perch, resolutely crossed the room, jumped up on the footstool at my feet, stretched out facing me and fixed his gaze on mine. I slowly reached out my hand wondering if I would receive a claw-extended paw in return, or maybe a quick head lunge forward with teeth biting enough to hurt but probably not break the skin. Instead I was allowed to gradually stroke Randall's body, as he eventually purred his forgiveness.

All is right with the world. I can sleep peacefully tonight. We can all hope tomorrow will be a better day.

Spirits & Simple Tech

Earlier this week I was with a group of young to older aged friends, all seated around a table, turn-taking reading aloud as we listened to each individual’s original written prose, poetry, and plays. During that experience we share the broad spectrum of feelings associated with accounts of real life experiences, and fictionalized stories. The reading content ranges from serious drama through ridiculous farce, satire with the humor bringing forth subtle chuckles, broad smiles, and deep stomach-aching laughter.

This particular evening we began to notice a periodic brief faint chiming sound. This erratically repeating tone interspersed with long pauses between the chimes eventually caused us to begin focusing on determining the source. One of our number commented this could be a communication directed to her from a loved one who she discerned entered a different dimension long ago, but has followed her about during the ensuing years.

A small grand piano situated 10to12 feet away from us in an open adjoining room was suggested by another friend to possibly be the communicator’s instrument. We all maintained an open curious mind in deference to anyone present who readily attributes these sort of unusual immediately unexplainable events to more mysterious ethereal causes. We continued our activity with one ear attuned to listening for another chime. Not long after we heard that chime and just as we thought there would be no more an additional faint chime was heard.

Noticing a four-legged furry creature suddenly scurrying about the room there was some speculation this elegant resident and active cat might have ventured into the piano’s interior, possibly flipping it’s tail or using a paw in such a manner as to strum one of the strings. We all agreed the cat could cause the musical sound with that scenario.

This prompted story-telling time as some began relating tales of cat accomplishments including felines learning to use a commode, and actually being able to flush the unit, skills usually reserved for humans. I recalled a delightfully funny video a musician friend sent of a cat perched on a piano stool, reaching out with a paw to play individual white and black piano keys, cocking its head from one side to the other, very aware of cause and effect, quite intrigued with the differing musical sounds being produced.

A short time passed during which the cat in our midst was also in our sight, no where near the piano, and we were aware of exactly what he was doing – throwing his toy into the air and making a flying leap capturing it in flight. Suddenly, the magical tone chimed exonerating the cat, but leaving some of us who were seeking logical scientific explanations even more perplexed. A couple others seemed quite satisfied there likely wasn’t any such explanation.

Our increasing interest in locating the chiming sound source escalated as this mysterious tone persisted. In an afterthought I reached for my purse sitting on the floor by my chair situated closest to the piano room and next to the person who believed her other worldly relative probably was trying to communicate with her. Simultaneously, as I was extracting my relatively new, unfamiliar cell phone from my purses exterior side pocket the little black rectangle cried out a now familiar chime signaling the battery was low. We all experienced and “Aha!” moment, perhaps feeling a mixture of relief, reassurance and maybe even a little disappointment there actually had been a logical explanation accounting for this mysterious sound.

I cradled my dear little possession in my hands, promised I would reinvigorate it’s life when we returned home if only it would quiet. I gently handed it across the table to the middle aged male tech-employed expert who took one short look, punched a key or two, handed the crying phone back saying he didn’t know how to turn it off. Once again in my grasp, I just kept pushing that “End” button and suddenly with one loud musical gasp the screen went black, the musical spirit to temporary sleep.

I guess I’m long overdue to take time to read the complex operational “quick” book and even the much longer master guide. I always used to religiously read operational books and instructions for everything I purchased. In the beginning with the advent of digital I continued to do so with clocks, radios, portable phones, answering machines, coffeemakers, microwave ovens, CD players, VCR and DVD players.

I wonder if the day will ever come when there will be more standardization in the digital tech world, or maybe we’ll all prefer there not be and we’ll each have a broad choice of same but different items from which we can select.

In recent years I’ve been challenged by our old sprinkler watering systems -- two-same-but-different ones. Then I’ve begun to notice with the washing machine, dryer, regular/convection oven, digital camera, old cell phone and even more so this new cell phone, the greater complexity and size of these “how to use” instructional books. They come close to being epistle length, are often not that clearly written, are either too concise or not specific enough, and skip some of the very basic basics for newbie users like me. Some may have contradictory directions and use language often subject to different interpretations, much like that about which many groups argue over politics, religion and philosophy.

My approach to using some of this technology has frequently become one of resorting to personal operational trial and error. I combine my actions with referencing these technical bibles for a specific answer needed at the time, instead of trying to understand and be able perform every function before I use the item. Integrating the myriad functions gradually into my knowledge base seems to work best for my “how to” retention.

Soon after I began using the computer a few years ago and shortly after my husband’s death a tech friend of his/ours recommended to me a book titled “The Laws of Simplicity.” He had come in contact with the author described in this Harvard Book Store “Scholarly Highlights” interview feature “…John Maeda is a world-renowned graphic designer, visual artist, and computer scientist at the MIT Media Lab, and is a founding voice for "simplicity" in the digital age.”

I enthusiastically purchased a copy and even had one sent to a technology-interested friend. Disappointingly, I never learned of that person’s reaction or opinion of the book’s contents but I never pressed when I didn’t receive a response. I have on rare occasion sent relatively inexpensive books to select friends, but have concluded in recent years to discontinue that practice, or, at least to be more selective about to whom they’re sent.

After I read this thin short book which incorporates the authors wonder, recognition, and descriptive accounting when he notices the simplicity associated with the behaviors of his young child, I have been particularly interested in a reaction to the book’s contents from some other person I know with a background other than my own.

The reason I say that is, my therapy intervention training is steeped in simplification, breaking down actions, behaviors into the most basic steps and then simplifying them even more, if possible. Educators also would likely note effective teaching methods, acquiring new skills in any profession or job setting are most successful when they approach new information building from the simple to the complex. Certainly that has been the case in all other employment business settings I’ve experienced or in which others I’ve known have engaged.

So, when I read this book primarily directed at a variety of technically oriented professions I was intrigued that they required prodding to simplify, that such an admonition from one of their own within their circle of expertise was reportedly regarded as having enlightened them with such a profoundly new insight, or maybe he was just reminding them of something they already knew, or should know.

These impressionable readers are the highly intelligent engineers I respect who design all of this equipment that continues to become prevalent in ever-expanding areas of our lives. The readers also include many of the graphic artists, computer scientists such as this author John Maeda and other creators, professionally related technicians from whom we seek technical answers when our complex machines, tools, soft and hardware programs breakdown, malfunction, or just go kaflooey (or as the Spanish say, kontera.)

I was quite surprised to read accounts this book had such a significant impact on their thinking. I have labored under the false perception most of my life that simplicity was just the nature of things, guiding most of us in just about everything. I can only hope all those who continue to create the future technical innovations we’re all going to be using at least remember John Maeda’s message and follow his laws of simplicity.

Better yet, maybe they should remember how a patient, former career military man, once paraphrased my genteel carefully worded instructions to him for producing more intelligible speech:
He said, “Oh, you mean KISS!”
My puzzled response was: “What?”
He replied, “You know! Keep It Simple Stupid.” :

PETS, GECKOS, BIG ISLAND TEMPTATIONS

To have or not to have, with apologies to Shakespeare's Hamlet. Today, I was invited to purchase a golden tawny medium sized Chihuahua puppy. Haven't found any pictures on the Internet that looked quite as cute or even resembled the two puppies I saw today, one male, one female. Besides, I really prefer larger dogs. I must admit I do like a family member's Shih Tzu, much better than the Shar Pei they previously had, though he was really cute, wrinkles and all. The Shih Tzu is really smart and you can tell she even thinks, problem solves. I took a look at pictures of "Small Dog Breeds" here.

On the other hand, as long as I'm talking about pets, here's a link to pictures of different breeds of cats just in case I want to think about that possibility. The thing is, when I fall in love with a pet, there's just no limit to the care I want to provide.

I remember the challenges of providing care for a pet, needing to get home to feed the pet, or let it outside, if it was a house dog, housebreak it, clean up after the accidents. Or, if I had a cat, the cat box care, repetitive periodic urinary infections if it's a male and he's been neutered. We learned years ago from the vet, that was a common medical problem for neutered male cats which no one told us before the procedure on our cat.

For a few years we were spending more on medical care for our cat than our two children required, I think. Then if the cat's not neutered, that presents a whole different set of possible problems for territory marking, sometimes referred to as "spraying," and even more commonly described as p------ on the furniture. I won't even talk about clawing the furniture and I don't believe in de-clawing, either. Then there are the hairballs. There surely can be a lot of care involved.

I thought about the fact that if I want to be away from home for days or weeks at a time, finding a place for the pet to stay, or the cost of boarding and maybe traumatizing the poor creature just did not appeal to me. The thought of traveling with a pet is not an option for me and I told my children to leave their pets at home when they come to see me - a dog and three cats. I really don't understand the idea behind dragging a pet around which I can't imagine the pet enjoys very much, but a lot of people seem to do so today, some wearing their pets almost like jewelry, or stuffing them in their purse or a bag they carry with them everywhere they go.

Reminds me of the junior high school experience some sex education classes have as an assignment -- to carry an uncooked egg in a shell around without cracking or breaking it, to understand 24/7 responsibilities. I know what responsibility for another is and I decided I like the idea of being footloose and fancy free with responsibility for only myself right now.

Then, I was visiting on the Internet and what should I find, but pictures at "Joy of Six" which had me thinking I need a puppy and a kitten, 'cause there are some really cute photos of some there. Joy's poem that tells the story is just as cute. Maybe I should just settle on poems and pictures about pets.

I think I'll get out some of my childhood favorite books like "Lad A Dog," ; alas, the DVD is not available.

I also have Ouida's (pseudonym for Marie Louise de la Reme'e) a "Dog of Flanders." , and see it's available on DVD.

Always there's Jack London's "Call of the Wild" which can be downloaded here for listening. (Note: they have a catalog of other public domain free audio books here . Some may even be able to volunteer on this project.)

Then there's the illustrated book with Ray Bradbury's poem "With Cat For Comforter" I was able to have the author autograph a few years ago, so I could give it to a family member who appreciates cats and books. Maybe she would loan me the book.

If I desire a little more action, I could probably consider some movie DVDs as there seem to be quite a few old movies, though I suspect not all are available on DVD. Here's a listing of movies about dogs . Then, here are the "Top 5 Movies About Cats"

Maybe I should think about fish, or better yet maybe a turtle. Birds would probably require too much care though parrots reportedly can talk and could be fun. I'll bet there are pets out there I haven't even thought of yet. I use to think a raccoon, a de-flowered skunk, or a monkey (my brother had one in Indonesia and they really liked it) would be good pets. I don't think I want any snakes, spiders, mice or rats, but lizards might be a consideration.

Perhaps geckos are also a possibility as a pet. I was searching for a good photo of a gecko and found this special site with some spectacular photos not only of the gecko, but all of those other Big Island views are enough to make me think I should go there.

Well, if I'm going to travel to Hawaii's Big Island, then I think I'll resist a pet for now. But any suggestions would be welcome, just don't hold your breath until I get a pet, as I don't think that will be happening any time soon. I think I'll just visit family and friends who have pets and enjoy theirs.