A Neighborly Tom

A few days ago, a kind person shared with me a story of her precious friend.

While shopping at a nearby store, at the pet supplies section I saw an elderly woman getting a package of treats for cats. The kind of morsel makes cats zoom through walls and jump up to second floor balconies.

When I walked by her, she said to me cat treats are costing more now. Then with a gentle grin on her face she told me she does not own a cat. She buys the kibbles for a neighborhood pussy. It visits her from time to time. She spoke of her furry friend fondly. According to her, her good-natured four-legged visitor has many "human qualities." This roaming Casanova seems to understand how she feels.

In the past, I had also been told other stories on cats who enjoyed lasting friendship with lonely or sick people. In one of the stories, the cat cuddled up with a bedridden cancer patient next door during the day while its owners were away. Many of the cat owners might have wondered what were their pets doing during the days when they were home by themselves. Now we know at least some of our cats held day jobs working to bestow unconditional love to our neighbors.

What a wonderful story! I am pleased this kind lady shared it with me. - Ayee

Who is smarter than a 5th grader?

Last week, Kathy Cox, a school superintendent for the State of Georgia, became the first $1,000,000 winner on "Are you smarter than a 5th grader?" She answered all 11 questions right without using any "Cheats." When it was her turn to provide answers, she verbalized her thoughts before she answered. By using the process of elimination, she got the right answer. She did not have to use any "Cheats" while she was vetting her thoughts. She refused to "Drop-Out" (one of the "Cheats"). She said on the show that she wanted to prevent her students from dropping out of the schools. So she would not want to do it either.
Ms. Cox’s appearance on the game show did stir up some controversies in the State of Georgia when taxpayers there questioned their school superintendent’s priorities. But I would say her participation to the show as a contestant had done some good for the kids in Georgia. Firstly, the show is fun to watch even for the grown-ups. Secondly, it suggests that knowledge pays. This may prompt learning. I would think all the students in Georgia are extremely lucky to having an inspiring and knowledgeable leader like Kathy Cox. Adding more icing to the cake, her students will also be benefitted from the prize money she donated to their causes. - Ayes

Failure and Success

Here is one of the late John Steinbeck’s profound observations on humanity. This is what he had said in one of his many great works:

"The things we admire in men, kindness, and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second."*

Evidently, greed, meanness, self-interest and dishonesty will remain to be the timeless prerequisites to succeed. Today there are many high-profile business and political leaders among us. Many of them had followed the harsh Draconian path to lead. And some of them acted randomly and did whatever they pleased.
We know it is not easy to change human nature.

But on the other side of the humanity, loving and generous people do exist. There are many of them. Some are well known and some are not. For example, the down-to-the-earth people like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates had spent billions on their desire to make our world a better one. I doubt either of them had ever had to use any harsh measure while pursuing their success in life. It seems that people can be successful in life through their kindness and understanding toward others. - Ayee

*"Cannery Row," John Steinbeck, 1945

Canine Distemper and Cod Liver Oil

In the good old days when I was still in school studying, I had the good fortunate of discovering many great works by the late John Steinbeck (1902 - 1968). Recently, I decided to reread a few of his books. And "Cannery Row" was one of them.
My revisit to this hilarious book brought me great pleasures again. It was certainly entertaining. Among many other things, I have also learned good nutrition and cod liver oil can help to cure distemper in a dog. "Doc," one of the star characters in the book, was a biologist who collected life-animals for research labs. He helped "Darling," a pointer puppy, recover from the deadly respiratory disease. All her worried owners, residents of the Palace Flophouse, had to do was to feed her "strong soup, eggs and cod liver oil."
In future should one of my furry friends, young or old, suffer this fatal disease, in addition to proper veterinary cares, I will make sure to provide them with extra portions of "strong soup, eggs and cod liver oil." - Ayee

Rambo, a Very Lucky Budgie

During one recent hot day, Rambo fled the coop. While his people friends were looking for him in the trees and bushes around where they live, their beloved pet already found a comfortable perch in a house a half of a block away.

Rambo is not only talkative. He is a fast talker too. It did not take long for his two new friends, John and Diane, rolled out their digital camera and color printer. Many posters about a very worried budgie were on neighborhood telephone poles on the same day Rambo went AWOL.

In the morning after Rambo’s escape, his distraught owners thought out a different strategy to get their pet bird home. They put his cage on the steps leading to the front door of their house. They thought the cage adorned with mirrors and shining beads might help Rambo remember where his home was.

Then, a passerby was on her routing morning walk. She saw the telling posters on the telephone poles. She also noticed an empty bird cage in someone’s yard. That made her curious. So she decided to see if there was a connection between the posters and an empty cage.
Eureka! Now Rambo is home contemplating for his next excursion.

In this case, curiosity did not kill the cat but found a bird. - Ayee

What is our world made of?

It is made of with two types of people: one is gentle and loving but the other harsh and cruel.

A few weeks ago, I read in the newspaper about the trials of two young burglars for "nuking" a house cat to death in a microwave oven. Normally I do not believe jail times are effective punishments. But in this case, I do pray that the sentences to punish the guilty ones are a long and severe one.

Then today at a neighborhood pet supplies store, I am pleased to see the other side of our world.
At the store, a young good-looking fellow asked the proprietor for some bird foods. He told the store owner he found a badly injured bird on the street yesterday and thought it would soon die. Instead of leaving it die on the street, he took it home. This morning he did not find a dead bird but found the injured bird had drunk some of the water he put out for the patient. So he decided to get some proper foods for the bird. With a big grin on his face he told us he will release the bird when it is well enough to go.

Hurrah! - Ayee

Neighborhood Racoons

Neighborhood Racoons

One morning when I was on my way out for some errands, a huge mama racoon and four cute fur balls were looking at me with question marks in their big round eyes. A family of five was at the foot of a big cedar tree. To me the encounter was a pleasing surprise as in our neighborhood we do not often see racoons in bright day lights.

Once they saw me coming, the mother racoon frantically led the pack to escape from this human intruder. Mom and three of the kits managed to slip through the fence and scampered into the neighbor’s yard. The one left behind seemed to have a problem following what others did. Suddenly this little furry creature was seen on the top of the fence. When it scaled down from the high fence in such a hurry to join its family, it landed in the neighbor’s pool instead. Luckily the swimming hole was covered with thick plastic sheets. The poor thing had to skate on the wet and slippery surface before getting itself out of the pool and ran into the bush on the other side of the neighbor’s yard.

What I saw of this little ring-tailed neighbor was very entertaining. It also enlightened me to see how ingenious the wild animals are. A little "thing" weighed less than a few pounds knew exactly how to find alternative ways to protect itself. Perhaps we, the humans, can learn a few things from the wild animals. So we will also know among other things how to pull ourselves out of the harm’s way. - Ayee