2710 Branching Out

Monday, December 21, 2009

When fascism comes to America, it will be
wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.
-- Sinclair Lewis --

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For one fee, you can open up to three Meetup groups. I just opened another one, in addition to my art house film group. The new one is for 50+ singles (and anyone else who appreciates a mature mind). Most of the existing singles' groups are in the southern end of the counties, and they seem to concentrate on booze, dance bands, and strenuous hikes. Mine will be northern-based, up here where I live, and we'll do dinners, movies, strolls, blueberry-picking, museums, festivals, auctions, and anything else that looks interesting, with an emphasis on conversation.

It'll be promoted on the Meetup site in about 70 hours, and we'll see what happens.

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Jasper and I are having a battle of wills. Being a boy cat, he is prone to urinary tract infections, so he's supposed to get food that keeps his ph low. I had been buying some prescription food from the vet, but he refused to eat it. He'd been stealing Miss Thunderfoot's special kidney diet instead. Now that she's gone, that's not an option for him any more.

I've bought bags and boxes and cans of every commercial and specialty cat food I can find that says "for urinary tract health", and he refuses to eat any of it. The only thing he will eat is cheap grocery store food, which won't help his ph. And the occasional mouse, when he finds them.

So he hasn't eaten much in the past three weeks. He's a bit chubby, so it won't kill him to diet a bit. If I pick him up, put him at the dish, and then crouch there and stroke him, he'll eat, but only as long as I stroke him.

I refuse to be trained to do that.

I put food out. He ignores it. I feel guilty. He comes into the den and pats my leg and leads me to the dish. I ignore him. He cries, little bitty kitty "Eeee? Eeee? Eeee?", I crouch and stroke him and he eats a few bites.

I will not cook for him. Hell, I don't cook for ME! Besides, he'd probably refuse it anyway. He has had no interest in any people food I've offered to share with him. Not even tuna fish. I don't know what he wants. (Actually, yeah. He wants "Alley Cat" and "Friskies".)

It all reminds me of when I tried to move Daughter from the breast to the bottle. Her stubbornness then should have been a warning of the teen years.
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