Thread 10 - TalkLair: “The candle flame gutters. Its little pool of light trembles.”

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous threads (thread 9).

Although the nights are gradually drawing in, the new lair of JTT escapees is all cosy and homey inside. The hearth is glowing, the walls covered in dubious artwork, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them).

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

I’m cringing just thinking about the awkward conversation with her “real” owners.

Yeah, it'll be embarrassing, but that's cats for you, they're fickle. When I was growing up the family cat moved out and went to live the neighbours opposite and the same is happening where my brother lives, where Barney has decided he now lives with him. With my other brother, their cat moved out too, but I don't blame the cat as other brother isn't kind to cats.

@Tricyrtis2022 I also stepped on a drawing pin as a child!

@Kucinghitam what’s the situation with CB’s ‘real owners’? Why are they shutting her out at night in torrential rain?

I had a rather similar CB situation some years back when I lived Dahn Sarf. Poor black cat mewling outside in torrential rain, and I took him in. His actual home was a few doors down, and I'd see him sitting on their back doorstep in the rain as I walked past. With hindsight, I don't think I handling the situation as well as I should have. Anyway, he came in some nights, not all, and this went on for sometime. I'd push him out when I went to bed. Occasionally, if raining hard, I'd let him stay in. But it ended up with the whole family (two or three adults, as I recall, plus maybe some older kids tagging along, can't remember for sure) angrily banging on my door one day: "Have you got our cat?" As it happened, the cat was there at that point. And they grabbed him and trooped off, most disgruntled. As I say, looking back, I'd do it a bit differently, but they repeatedly (it wasn't just on one occasion) left the animal mewling on their back doorstep in heavy rain.

@duc748 we all have a duty to keep cats dry.

@Tricyrtis2022 can I ask you a quick gardening question? I have some compost for citrus/med plants left over. Can I use this for cyclamen or will they die?

@CyanCrystalViolet citrus compost has a pH of around 6 and cyclamen compost is much the same, so it should be fine, but if you can mix in some grit or sharp sand to improve drainage that would be good.

In other news, I have sourced some blue shoe protectors. They will henceforth be known as 'Veras' (other fictional detectives are available). Invaluable for trips into the backyard to the wheelie bins on a wet day, or for fetching shopping from the boot of the car.

Ha! We've just had the chimney sweep in and he was wearing those. I told him it wasn't necessary, he wasn't in a hospital, but he didn't want to take them off.

I now see it as one of those 'why didn't I think of this years ago' things.

We have a doormat to scuff our shoes on and that works pretty well.

Poor CB! Was he actually shut outside, or was he just closer to your house than his owners and didn't want to make the dash? Either way, he clearly needs sanctuary, and I think it's best you surrender gracefully.

Thank you @Tricyrtis2022

and very fetching, @duc748

I don't know whether CB was outside by choice or not. I have no idea whether neighbours have a catflap, for example. She may well genuinely want to be outside overnight 🤷🏻‍♀️

During the summer CB would frequently sleep on our property (on top of the Hotbin or on our fake-wicker outdoor furniture in good weather, in the porch on our front doormat if inclement). As it has got darker, I could no longer see if she was in our garden overnight; I had hoped she was going to her real home at night.

I do know that she has our house under Very Close Surveillance: she's often Shouting at our door/window as soon as the hallway light is switched on in the morning or when one of us gets home from work or if we dare open a door to hang laundry/take stuff to compost/put milk bottles out.

It's best you just give in now. If you have a cat flap, then at least you can't be accused of imprisoning CB as she can get out. (Apologies for my repeated misgendering of her. I should clearly be imprisoned myself.)

Fortunately, like me, CB goes by sex-based pronouns and lacks a gender

We have a magnetic catflap. I have set it to "OUT only" so that CB can exit whenever she wants, but Monty the cheeky Siamese (Phoebe's boyfriend) cannot get in.

I'm glad she can escape. I suppose it would be a Step Too Far to get a microchip cat flap that would let her in and out whilst denying Monty ingress.

I want one of these:

https://twitter.com/historyinmemes/status/1715278517649145983

That's fabulous!

Especially for anyone with cats.

And slippers!

What a great idea. There should be a market for this. Radiator with built in cat oven.

I love the cat oven! People mainly have baseboard heaters over here, which are a pain because as soon as you put a piece of furniture in front of them it blocks the heat. We actually bought five wall-hung radiators, which people tend to look at as something unusual.

I went to an open mic last night and read three poems from the ms I have floating around at the moment. One of them was one I've never done out loud in public before (and it's slightly raunchy) and it went down so well I shall make a point of doing it every time I do a reading.

Oh well done @Britinme! I am in awe. I often speak at scientific meetings and the like, but would never dare to stand up at an open mic. Also am somewhat intrigued by the raunchy poem.

I wonder what DH would say if I suggested replacing one of our radiators with a cat oven.

"First, find your cat-oven".

Kuc - It was published last year so I'll pm you the link. It's the second of the two on the link.

Yeah, they wouldn’t go near the damned thing after going to all the time and expense of sourcing/installing one. YOU KNOW WHAT CATS ARE LIKE.

Well done, Brit - your own poetry or someone else’s?