someday soon we will go to sleep and not wake up, the two-legged of us, and the human world will have at last fallen into the ashes to which it belongs, and this city will belong to you all, the animals, as foretold by prophecy, as written in scripture, and the roar of cars and the steady whine of HVAC systems will go dead and be replaced by the padding of light bestial feet on indifferent asphalt
I have two sitting right now in a window in the Deep South wondering how best to season the squirrel that's just beyond, eating the corn I put out earlier. Salt and Pepper? Paprika?
Well I fucking love this. I can’t really resist joining the chorus of people telling you that your writing has been almost obnoxiously good lately. I never know what I’m going to get when I come here, but whatever subject or style, it’s going to be beautiful even on the ugly topics, probably moving, and make all the other writing feel bad about itself.
Gosh, reading this the week after my cat died and the day after I picked up her ashes. I love the imagery of Suavecito having free reign of the city. My cat was also very much an indoor cat (and had to be for health reasons), but also in temperament. Perhaps somewhere, she is prancing the fields or traversing cities, but most likely, she is snoring in front of a heat dish.
Just before the pandemic, with my innate sense of perfect timing, I read Earth Abides, George R. Stewart's great novel in which almost all of the human race is wiped out by a previously unheard of disease. Stewart painstakingly details what the removal of people will do to the ecosystem; at one point he predicts that dogs will flourish in a people-less world, but that cats will not fare nearly as well. It was the only quarrel I had with the book. After living with multiple felines for most of the last 40 years, I know this: cats will kick ass!
Good thing you and your cat are indoor types. Now that mosquitos in Sandlake Michigan are testing positive for covid it seems Governor Whitmer is going to impose a mandatory quarantine/lockdown of all non-essential persons throughout the coming mosquito season. Reports are saying they will use drones to spray a non-toxic form of DDT to combat the insects, plus the drones will assist in monitoring the citizenry's mandatory quarantine/lockdown compliance with surveillance cameras.
While I was surprised when they announced the hording of window/door screening will be dealt with by sending the accused violator(s) to their local FEMA Reeducation camp I was flabbergasted when I heard they were banning all products with Deet because it only works on Lemmings and sheep.
I guess the saddest aspect, while understandable, is the fact they will require all domesticated pet mosquitos to be euthanized at once. I guess if they were big enough to wear a mask they might be spared, but even though Michigan mosquitos are pretty big, they are not that big.
This must be the year of cats. Brilliant stuff Freddie. Made me think of FJM's new song, Goodbye Mr Blue (which is also about a cat, and about more than a cat).
Two dog biologists actually wrote a fascinating book a few months ago called A Dog's World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs Without Humans. Short summary: it's ugly in the short term (pugs would go extinct within a generation, dog pack dynamics are not fun to think about) but pretty good for dogs overall in terms of their health and mood. (Spoiler: modern urban lifestyles make dogs fat and anxious.) One must imagine the feral dog bands of Prospect Jungle happy.
Lotto
the other cats
in the waiting room howl
but you just peer out
open-mouthed, silent
the vet smiles after she
weighs you, just a pound
and a half of kitten
we found on a farm
a week ago, couldn’t believe
we’d tricked ourselves
into a second cat
to harry our first one
who just wants to sit
in the sun unbothered
by a restless creature
hungry for domestication
vet says you need
another month
and a half to get to three
pounds, and bring
him back, and we’ll do
the surgery
at home out of your cage
your heart pounds
in my hand like you won
the lottery
without a single ball
leaving the machine
I have two sitting right now in a window in the Deep South wondering how best to season the squirrel that's just beyond, eating the corn I put out earlier. Salt and Pepper? Paprika?
Well I fucking love this. I can’t really resist joining the chorus of people telling you that your writing has been almost obnoxiously good lately. I never know what I’m going to get when I come here, but whatever subject or style, it’s going to be beautiful even on the ugly topics, probably moving, and make all the other writing feel bad about itself.
Gosh, reading this the week after my cat died and the day after I picked up her ashes. I love the imagery of Suavecito having free reign of the city. My cat was also very much an indoor cat (and had to be for health reasons), but also in temperament. Perhaps somewhere, she is prancing the fields or traversing cities, but most likely, she is snoring in front of a heat dish.
Is Suavecito named after the skeleton greaser or something else?
So beautiful Freddie, thanks for the heart balm this morning.
I have a fluffy Siamese who is 15 with some health issues. This made me all mushy. Happy birthday Suavecito. ❤️
Just before the pandemic, with my innate sense of perfect timing, I read Earth Abides, George R. Stewart's great novel in which almost all of the human race is wiped out by a previously unheard of disease. Stewart painstakingly details what the removal of people will do to the ecosystem; at one point he predicts that dogs will flourish in a people-less world, but that cats will not fare nearly as well. It was the only quarrel I had with the book. After living with multiple felines for most of the last 40 years, I know this: cats will kick ass!
Good thing you and your cat are indoor types. Now that mosquitos in Sandlake Michigan are testing positive for covid it seems Governor Whitmer is going to impose a mandatory quarantine/lockdown of all non-essential persons throughout the coming mosquito season. Reports are saying they will use drones to spray a non-toxic form of DDT to combat the insects, plus the drones will assist in monitoring the citizenry's mandatory quarantine/lockdown compliance with surveillance cameras.
While I was surprised when they announced the hording of window/door screening will be dealt with by sending the accused violator(s) to their local FEMA Reeducation camp I was flabbergasted when I heard they were banning all products with Deet because it only works on Lemmings and sheep.
I guess the saddest aspect, while understandable, is the fact they will require all domesticated pet mosquitos to be euthanized at once. I guess if they were big enough to wear a mask they might be spared, but even though Michigan mosquitos are pretty big, they are not that big.
Happy Birthday from your sister Sapphire - we are fortunate that they are continuing to let us live in their presence
This must be the year of cats. Brilliant stuff Freddie. Made me think of FJM's new song, Goodbye Mr Blue (which is also about a cat, and about more than a cat).
https://youtu.be/BVD5Rw0FOpA
Two dog biologists actually wrote a fascinating book a few months ago called A Dog's World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs Without Humans. Short summary: it's ugly in the short term (pugs would go extinct within a generation, dog pack dynamics are not fun to think about) but pretty good for dogs overall in terms of their health and mood. (Spoiler: modern urban lifestyles make dogs fat and anxious.) One must imagine the feral dog bands of Prospect Jungle happy.
Anyway, three cheers for Suavecito!
I read it to KatKat(she/purr), and she approves!
Happy birthday Suavecito! He looks just like our Norwegian forest cat, Momo. Have a good weekend, everyone.
I am Jack's pet cat
“Lapidary”! — a favorite. Perhaps second only to “crepuscular.”
A++++ would read again