Tag Archives: Cats

Squeak Stick

Fun,

It seems like we have been involved with a lot of musical stuff lately in our house.  The kids have had band stuff pretty regularly since Christmas.  They played holiday concerts and, this week, are trying out for “All-County” band which is a band comprised of the best players in the county as determined during a blind audition.

Scaredy cat
Scaredy cat

All of that involves a good bit of practicing pieces and trying new things.  What has been especially fun is when Abigail (flute), Isaac (tenor sax) and I (clarinet) all get to playing at the same time, we can make a powerful lot of noise in the house.  It might be a pleasing noise if we played the same song, or even complementary songs, but that is never the case.

Scaredy cat

Isaac is the most experienced player and has the loudest instrument, by far.  He plays complex pieces and often plays them very loudly.  Abigail is playing very well also and her range is fairly high pitched.  Finally, on my “squeak stick”, I have a good range between high and low but I am not a great player yet.  I just changed reeds so I actually squeak a lot trying to get used to the new feel.  All three of us together makes for quite a…performance I am sure.

Another Scaredy cat
Another Scaredy cat

We practice every evening (or at least 5/7 days) for 30-60 minutes.  During that time, Emily holes up in the bedroom where the cats take cover.  They literally tremble in fear under the bed covers or wrapped up in Emily’s robe.  I don’t think of myself as a particularly cruel person, but there is some sort of special pleasure in seeing the cats respond as they do.  I do not know if it is the volume or the tone, or just the squeaks, but the mere sight of our instruments, especially my clarinet, sends them running for cover!

We are so stupid…or…how my wife became the crazy cat woman

Family,

So just about a year ago, we found a little orange kitten on our doorstep.  We nursed it for weeks (my nipples are still sore), we helped it poop and it grew up to be an enthusiastic orange cat.  Somewhere around the same time we got a stray dog named Ginny from the pound.  She had parvo and fleas and whooping cough and scurvy and an ingrown toenail.  Well, she had some of that.  Anyhow, like Seph, the little orange cat, Ginny was fairly expensive.

We have had stray cats all around for quite awhile but today, one got too pathetic for us to watch any longer.  In a moment of weakness, we snatched her up and took her to the vet.  Several dollars later, we now have another cat in our household…another orange cat.

We have been calling this cat “Flash” since she first showed up on our doorstep last fall.  She was skinny and pathetic but seemed to perk right up with the food we left out for her.  She did great through the entire winter and seemed to be fine outside until recently.  We watched her go down hill for awhile but I could not stand seeing a cat die on my doorstep.  So, Flash makes 4 cats in our house.  FOUR FREAKIN’ CATS! (The other two)

Now you never hear about crazy cat men so I am sure this is all Emily’s fault.  She is the new crazy cat lady on our street.  We are so stupid…