Barbed wire and useless cats

Stefano and I are going to be very busy for most of next week, so I won’t be posting at all or even checking my computer. This will be my last post until, hmmm…Friday, I think.

Today I thought I would publish what has turned out to be one of my favorite U.S. photos. I took it in Newport, Rhode Island…IMG_2197as you can see, it’s a sparrow or sparrow-like bird perched on the top of a fence, one of the mansion fences, and surrounded by barbed wire. 

When I saw this photo blown up on my computer, a thought popped into my head: those of us who are currently stable are in a similar position…that is, surrounded by danger (the lethal cancer cells/barbed wire) but equipped with wings (our attitude, supplements, whatever…). Silly, perhaps, but that is the first thing that came to my mind. Ah yes, I love this photo…

Let’s see, what else? By now, Stefano and I have more or less unpacked most of our stuff. I brought back the equivalent of one suitcase filled with supplements…wow. 

The “catnip” video was a big hit with Peekaboo who kept tapping on the TV screen, trying to reach all the birds and squirrels. Stefano remarked that someone should videotape the two of us lying in bed like two idiots, watching our baby watch birds and squirrels on TV. Well, all I can say is that watching Peekaboo’s little head bob back and forth (following the movements of the critters on TV) was sooo entertaining. Fun for us, too. The other cats haven’t seen the video yet.

Speaking of cats, my parents informed us that, while we were away, a mouse got inside the house…this has never happened before…in fact, we still aren’t sure how the tiny creature got in, but we think it must have run past my parents when they opened the front door. After all, we live in a green area, surrounded by the hills of Settignano and Fiesole…I am sure there are mice everywhere…At any rate, this silly critter seems to have spent several hours inside the house, “hunted down” by two of my cats, Piccolo and Peekaboo. My other two cats were apparently asleep upstairs, no comment necessary…

It took a while for my parents to realize that the two cats were chasing a live mouse. Sure, they saw Piccolo and Peekaboo get very excited and run after something, but they assumed it was a bug and weren’t that concerned. As soon as they saw it was a mouse, though, my father got a bag and managed to trap the little critter inside. My father took the terrified but otherwise unharmed mouse outside and released it in a field down the street. I hope it never comes back! 

Most of you will probably think that I have a bunch of bloody USELESS cats that can’t even hurt, let alone kill, a tiny little mouse! But, truth be told, I am secretly glad about that…

6 Comments

  1. Cats useless?? oh no, the entertainment value alone is, as they say in the American Express commercial, priceless.
    Glad you are back safe and sound.
    I copied and pasted several snippets about things you did on Cape Cod, sent them to a friend in Virginia who is retiring/turning 60 this week and planning a trip to the Cape. She asked me where to go – and although I spent two summers there working, it was like 35 years ago. We went back for my Chatham friend’s 75th diamond jubilee birthday (we share a mutual July 8 birthday, many years apart) a couple of years ago, but again we didnt’ do many of the extra things. So, thank you for the ideas that I shared with my VA friend. I only wish I could direct her to pufflings, they still dance in my head.

  2. It’s interesting that cats can see video pictures as well as hear the soundtrack, but dogs don’t see the images, although they can hear the audio. One of our cats watches TV with us (it’s a rare event: we watch TV about once a month!), and needless to say, his favourite is “SPCA Animal Rescue”!

  3. I have many psycho oncologists in and around our house at the lake of Garda.
    Three own cats and several guest cats, three docs, three horses and three goats. All these animals are usefull for my stable smoldering myeloma.

  4. I love the sparrow photo and put it on my desktop. Its a little blurry from too much expansion in size, but I’ll enjoy it for a little while longer before changing it.

  5. A random, but brilliant thought Margaret, it could so easily be any one of us. When I first started reading the piece though I thought you where going to say the little sparrow sat up amonst the barbwire and spikes to protect himself from local cats!! good to hear your home, safe and well, what an adventure home though.

    Love to you both

    Sue

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