Feb 26 2025 - Dog vs Cat

 

The Globe and Mail has a 2 page spread on cats and cat cafes.  "Does my cat love me" is noted by Trupanion in one of its articles to be searched between 3,000 and 4,000 times on Google every month.  The article goes on to identify 10 signs your cat loves you.    However, our social  view of cats vs. dogs seems closer to this one below. I found it at dfordog.co.uk blog:    Dog Diary 8:00 am - Dog food! My favourite thing! 9:30 am - A car ride! My favourite thing! 9:40 am - A walk in the park! My favourite thing! 10:30 am - Got rubbed and petted! My favourite thing! 12:00 PM - Lunch! My favourite thing! 1:00 PM - Played in the yard! My favourite thing! 3:00 PM - Wagged my tail! My favourite thing! 5:00 PM - Milk bones! My favourite thing! 7:00 PM - Got to play ball! My favourite thing! 8:00 PM - Watched TV with my people! My favourite thing! 11:00 PM - Sleeping on the bed! My favourite thing! Cat Diary Day 983 of my captivity My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets. Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength. The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the carpet. Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a "good little hunter" I am. B------ds! There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of "allergies." I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage. Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow -- but at the top of the stairs. I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released - and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded. The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe.... for now.

A little cottage garden in Buffalo's Summer District during the Buffalo Garden Walk Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

June 8 2023 - Babbel or Gospel Singing

 

"There are lots of ads for learning a new language using Babbel.  Here's the Babbel sort of promotion: "From Spanish and German to Norwegian and Danish, the next time the plane lands abroad you could be speaking the native language fluently with a little help from Babbel. Over 100 expert linguists helped create this innovative app, which can have you speaking confidently in just a month."  "In just 15 minutes a day, you can start to be comfortable in another language within a week!" And that helps if your bucket list is Machu Pichu, Mount Everest, Bali, The Eiffel Tower, Rome's Trevi Fountain, and the Taj Mahal.  That's a few languages to learn.   So many languages and so many thousands of dollars of travel seem to be involved in these over-the-top bucket lists. The alternative might be something Bing is promoting.  Gospel singing.  Your can learn how to sing better with gospel legend Yolanda Adams.  Just like you learn phrases in Babbel, you can learn belting, chest voice, head voice, falsetto and vibrato in gospel singing.   In comparison to Babbel's promise of 15 minutes a day, everyone says that Gospel singing takes a few years.  But then one Quora answer says you can be a gospel singing in a community choir within three weeks.  Or if you are just aiming for the shower, it takes 3 minutes.  Only on Quora can you get an answer that says that a clean heart is required so that Christ will dwell in you and give you great inspiration. Gospel singing is not very close to home here in Niagara.  My own thought is to learn another language that is useful right here now.   What about an app on how to communicate with cats.  "MeowTalk gives your cat a voice! " It is a free app that has the translation mode with three basic meow intents.  And there are lots of articles explaining the science behind cat translations.  There's a pie chart with the different cat sounds dataset - hunting, fighting, warning, angry, mating, happy, mother call, resting, pain, and defence. What will Baxter do with all this?  I think we'll give this one a try. And since there is also a dog in our house the Dog Translator is also available.  Here's the promo for Dog Translator: "This app is amazing it's so cool but so simple all you have to do is just press the little mic and say what you have to say and then once you do that it will talk dog talk and allow your dogs to understand what you're saying." For the reverse, My Talking Pet turns your dog barks into talk that you understand.   Who would guess this is all here now?     It is Thursday and that means market day in Grimsby.  The pandemic restrictions are gone so we are back to Main Street as in this picture below from a few years ago.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

May 26 2023 - Skunked

 

Baxter was in the vicinity of a skunk last week.  When Baxter lunged into the house in the night,  smell swirled in with him as though it were a solid substance.  Millie barked and chased around the house as though the skunk had come inside. She darted everywhere looking for the invader. Here's the advice for a skunked dog: The Best Solution ¼ cup of baking soda. 1-2 teaspoons of mild dishwashing detergent like Ivory Snow. 1 quart of 3% Hydrogen Peroxide solution. Mix in a bucket and use immediately. Work the foaming mixture well into the coat. Leave on for five minutes. Rinse with warm water. Follow with dog shampoo if desired. Can you imagine working anything into a cat's coat?  Let's hope that 14 to 21 days is the distance between The Moon and New York City - the estimate when Baxter will return to smelling like a cat. Did you know that skunks can spray as far as 15 feet? The solutions include vinegar, lemon juice and tomato juice to get rid of the smell.  The advice for cats is to "rub him down" and follow this with a standard bath.  Ha ha! Who has heard of a cat getting a standard bath?  Or a "rub down." So we conclude with a silly skunk joke: Three skunks are walking down a street together when they come to an intersection... Skunk number one says, "My instincts tell me to go left." Skunk number two says, "My instincts tell me to go right."  Skunk number 3 says "Hey, my end stinks too, but it doesn't talk to me." Baxter at his best with Dezi. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 10 2022 - Bxgter is Big X 2

 

Pinterest sends me ideas each day, mostly on gardens and wreaths.I particularly paid attention as these were wreaths I made and posted on Pinterest for the Fantasy of Trees.   And then I noticed the  pictures of big cats along with the wreaths.  This was the picture - it looks photoshopped - and the comment compares the cat to a Lab.  It does look even bigger than a dog.   Guinness Records have the largest Maine Coon to be bigger than a dog - the world's longest domestic cat is 48.5 inches long (123 cm). Reddit had a photo that shows a normal cat and a Maine Coon.     Baxter is part Maine Coon and he is a big cat, but it seems he would be half the size of one these giants.  We have our own siege here with a meowing cat in the night. Millie is trying very hard to defend her place - growling and barking on and off through the night.  Once we got up this morning, this cat seemed to be everywhere I go - at the office window, the front door, the back porch.  It stares at Millie as she barks like a rabid dog.  Baxter and the cat sit together, so that's a poor show on Baxter's part.  On the other hand, who needs cats fighting.   We're hoping we have more success than Ottawa and Windsor as we wait it out till the light comes up and the cat convoy moves on. More Wisteria today.

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Jan 19 2022 - Status Quo or Quo Vadis

 

Would you ever have associated status quo with COVID-19?  How strange to consider this might continue to be the "current state of things".  Typically there are those who want to disrupt the status quo and those who want to maintain the status quo because it benefits them.   Will we or can we "exit the pandemic"? As though we can turn right or take an off-ramp and leave it behind on the highway? The experts are ahead of us and are weighing in on what's to come.  One of them is Seema Yasmin,  a journalist and doctor interviewed HERE on what needs to change. Her first item was supporting the mental health of health care workers.  The second is the need to improve scientific literacy among the public. "Something we’ve had to do is get people up to speed on the evolving — rapidly evolving — science as we are learning it,” Yasmin said. “We’re building bridges and we cross it. And we’re sharing that information with the public, realizing it’s not hitting home. We’re not communicating it well.   And that shows how difficult it is in a crisis to get the public up to speed when you haven’t had investment in education,” she added. “I think so many of these things are not quick fixes that we want to hear about, but they are paradigm shifts and they are generational issues that will take time to fix.” America's  "dreaded mask issue" was on the table:  On Monday, American immunologist Anthony S Fauci said while it was difficult to predict as yet what could be the new normal, he does not think that people will roam around with their masks on forever.  I wonder if that is a quote or the journalist used the verb "roam". The Endemic transition is being debated. Six medical experts close to the White House published three op-eds in the Journal of the American Medical Association, arguing that the time had come for a new approach to the pandemic—one that sets aside the campaign for eradication in favor of living with the disease.  Covid-19, one op-ed argued, should no longer even be tracked on its own but monitored together with other respiratory viruses, such as the flu. Something that we've lived in is the State of Emergency,  Here's the latest on this: “A ‘new normal with COVID’ in January 2022 is not living without COVID-19,” Ezekiel Emanuel, of the University of Pennsylvania, Celine Gounder, of N.Y.U., and Michael Osterholm, of the University of Minnesota, wrote. But they believed that the long era of emergency—the one defined by a wartime feeling and frequent briefings from Anthony Fauci—should draw to a close.   Just last week, a cat was returned home after nearly 12 years of going missing. Vaughan Animal Services picked her up and scanned the microchip to find the owner who now lives in Kitchener.   This cat very much owned the street in Niagara-on-the-Lake a few years ago during a garden tour.

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Aug 26 2021 - Cat Named Dog

 

Do you remember the 1966 song "Walking my Cat named Dog?" It likely came into my mind with the folk song fund-raiser on PBS. It seems to go with The Rooftop Singers "Walk Right In":  Walk right in, sit right down Daddy, let your mind roll on Walk right in, sit right down Daddy, let your mind roll on Everybody's talkin' 'bout a new way of walkin' Do you want to lose your mind? Walk right in, sit right down Daddy, let your mind roll on The Cat Dog song was written and sung by Norma Tanenga. Norma was a songwriter, singer, and artist.  She was connected to Dusty Springfield musically and romantically. Their romantic relationship was stressful and their professional relationship went poorly for her with a number of her collaborations uncredited.   Dusty Springfield was extremely well known as a top 1960s British pop star.  It turns out that in 1981 she had a romantic relationship with Carole Pope.  Who would guess that?  Gay relationships of any kind were taboo in the 1960s and 1970s.  Britain's press pried into everything and turned it ugly.  So her stardom waned after she revealed she was gay in 1970. Norma's Cat Dog lyrics seemed to be free-spirited and humorous.  Would you call them a bit rebellious or defiant?  Here's the start of the song: "I'm walkin' all around the town Singin' all the people down Talkin' around, talkin' around Me and my cat named Dog Are walkin' high against the fog Singin' the sun, singin' the sun" It concludes with  "That's where I'm at" Such an expression of the social state of things in the 1960s.  Almost "stream of unconscious" lyrics.  The naming of cats and dogs is very complicated today - you can look through and go shopping for any number of most popular dog names.  Would you guess that Lucy is the second most popular female dog name?   Could you name your cat "Dog"? That seems unlikely today - relegated to a novelty song title now. This is the best colour display in the Lilycrest field this summer.

Be Aware of the Cat

In Queenston, a beautiful little town close-by to Niagara-on-the-Lake and Niagara Falls.  It is located on the Niagara River.  This is an old town and it was settled in the 1770's.  It is famous for being the homestead of Laura Secord  and the death place of Sir Isaac Brock during the war of 1812. 

Queenston marks the southern terminus of the Bruce Trail. The cairn marking the terminus of the trail is in a parking lot, about 160 metres (520 ft) from General Brock's Monument on the easterly side of the monument's park grounds.