This is the seventh episode in the dolorous existence of Henri, the existentialist French cat: “The cat is sat.” Although I object to Henri’s choice of a mercenary existence, he’s still capable of turning out a good video.
Here Henri gets a cat-sitter while his owner is away, and doesn’t like it one bit.
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Stalwart commenter Ben Goren sent a photo of his famous cat Baihu on a desert walk. The caption. If you’re a regular here, you’ll know that Baihu walks on a leash.
I took this less than an hour ago. It’s our first time to South Mountain, and only our third time driving somewhere to walk — the other two times were to Kiwanis Lake earlier this week.The roof of our home is theoretically visible somewhere in the upper left…though I’m sure it’s nothing more than a smudged pixel. You can just barely see the spot where we are from my living room.Baihu did great. He practically pulled me up to the top of the hill, with breaks every several yards to sniff something. On the way back down, he even caught a lizard!
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An epic kitten fail GIF:
Cecí nes pas un chat
We shouldn’t be too hard on Henri’s person for being “mercenary.” What do we know? Maybe they have a child with leukemia and the insurance doesn’t cover the entire bill. Maybe they’ve got two teenagers starting college this semester, and no scholarships. Maybe they need a new roof. Just sayin’.
It is the way of the world, everything is measured in money, we can but submit.
I don’t understand your objection to Henri’s “mercenary existence.” This is how Will Braden makes his living. Do you not get paid for what you do? Besides, I don’t think the product placement detracts from the humor or the artistic integrity. If it did, I might object too.
+1
‘Henri le Chat’ is Will Braden’s creation, he can do what he likes with him. I tend to hate most advertising, but – so long as it’s witty and the product placement doesn’t spoil the story – which in Henri’s case it doesn’t – I’m happy to watch it.
Did the lizard make it, Ben?
Many lizards carry parasites that can be transmitted to their predators, so wild prey – while entertaining for the cat – is best avoided. (After reading your advice on cat feeding many times, I’m sure you know that.) Not to mention the greater value of the lizard to its own population, or to native predators where it lives.
Baihu is fast. Not only did the lizard not have a prayer, not only did it not have time for a prayer, I don’t think it even had time for an “Oh, shit!”
We were walking back to the car, with the only meaningful illumination (for me) coming from my headlamp. I was paying most of my attention to the path; it’s steep and rocky. As I mentioned, Baihu very frequently stopped to sniff something, and, on the way back, I mostly noticed this when the leash went taught.
Well the leash went taught, I looked down, saw him reach his snout to his paw, and about a second later he was chewing on something with a small tail sticking out of his mouth.
I’m not worried. He’s an healthy cat all caught up on his vaccinations. He’s unlikely to catch anything, and almost certainly nothing serious. And the lizards are everywhere in the park — plenty to go around, for lizards and native predators alike.
Cheers,
b&
Not even time for an–Oh shit? I suppose Lady Hope, in the retelling of this episode will not be able to maintain that the lizard recanted on it death bed, so much for that contrivance. Pity that. One less lizard in the desert and only Baihu and Ben are the wiser.
The lizard was whacked! It was in a car insurance racket!
The more I learn about Baihu the more I like him. Whacked you say? I may just start watching some television again. Okay thats pushing it but I’m on board with the whacking.
I taut I taw a puddy-tat.
Just yankin’ yer chain, Ben.:D
Careful…that’s Baihu’s job…not sure he’d appreciate you tryin’ ta muscle in on his turf….
b&
😀
just like humans, there is a range….
I easily see Baihu walking on a leash in a quiet nature area at night, with no other humans in sight. As you know, me and dem kittehs go for walks all the time. Only in daytime. With people around. And without a leash. What I don’t get is how Baihu manages the ride in the camper. I’ve ridden in that thing, and it is frightening…
I am very pleased to see that progress is being made. Maybe you *will* get out here someday.
Cheers back at you.
Hey — the Camper is actually rather cozy, if a bit loud.
I’ve been hooking the leash on various objects in the car and letting him figure out where he’s most comfortable. The way outbound, he seems to prefer the top of the sink. The way back he likes my lap.
I had originally attached the leash far enough back that he could only just barely reach me, which made for a couple distractions as he tried to gat on my lap but couldn’t with the leash holding him back. The most recent option that I’m still not sure will work out gives him enough room to get on my lap but not get near my feet.
The two places we’ve been have intentionally been close and on streets with minimal traffic and low speed limits. There’re other parks in town I’d rather go to for walks, but not until I’m confident he’s not going to get us into a wreck, first.
Along those lines…FedEx should deliver the disc brake conversion kit this afternoon, and the new wheels should arrive early next week. Then I hand the car over to the shade-tree mechanic, who’ll put it all together and replace the shocks and do an alignment all at the same time — and a tuneup, too…emissions testing is this month. At that point, it should pass modern German Autobahn safety standards.
Cheers,
b&
I’ll say this: when you start a project, you really go at it. Happy that fire finally got lit.
As you know, we let the cats roam free in the car, but it took a while, and some experimentation, to work up to it. And there is a second person to intervene should any of them head for the driver-side floor. Usually, one will sleep quietly on my lap, and the other two will sleep in the Spousal Unit’s, with occasional sojourns to the back seat where we keep water and a small litter box, which they have never used in 15 years of travelling. The one in my lap doesn’t like when we come to towns, because I, too, drive a manual transmission. Not a 45-year-old classic VW camper, mind you, but an ordinary late model Subaru. Nevertheless, it could be dangerous if one of them got down by my feet.
Well, I’ve been slowly working up to this for quite a while. First the walks in the back yard, then up and down the back alley, then on the streets around the neighborhood, then on longer and longer walks around the neighborhood, then starting the walks by getting into the car and sitting for a minute, then getting into the car and starting the engine and letting it run for a minute before shutting it off and getting out and going for a walk, then driving around the block, then driving to Kiwanis Park, and finally to South Mountain Park. And even this is just the beginning…eventually, I’m looking forward not only to extended road trips with him, but ideally taking him with me whenever I go somewhere that isn’t cat-hostile.
Good to know that you manage to drive a stick with a cat on your lap. The way the geometry is working out, it’s actually not the shifting that I’m worried about quite so much as the steering…but I think that might have more to do with me not wanting to push him out of the way. More experimentation is needed.
Thing is, it’s gotten hot again. Even after the Sun went down, it was hot enough for him to pant a bit, though I think that was as much from the excitement as from the heat. And it’s hotter today, and it’s supposed to be back up to 108 by the end of the week. We may well have to take a break, which I’d really rather not do right now.
Ah, well….
b&
It looks like there is a UFO in Ben’s picture.
Unidentified Feline Object?
Ha!
If y’all’re referring to the dot in the upper center, it’s an airliner on final approach to Sky Harbor.
And the the lights are all shaped like crescent moons because of motion blur caused by the low shutter speed. The iPhone camera is quite impressive for what it is, but what it is remains a dinky little camera hacked into a cellphone….
b&
“It looks like there is a UFO in Ben’s picture.”
Really, though, how exciting is that, compared to Baihu?
LOL it would be exciting if the flyers of the UFO were cats from another galaxy & Baihu was actually from there. 🙂
Yeah, I have an over active imagination. I’ve watched too much Doctor Who & Red Dwarf and I think the wicked migraine I’ve had since last night somehow combines all those memories.
Aw, sorry about the migraine! But I like the way your mind works. 🙂
This Henri was especially brilliant! I loved the ending. Friends of mine went away for some time & the had people staying at their house to cat sit. Their one cat did not like this at all & would have “accidents” on their clean laundry in the laundry basket. 🙂
Yes, that’s the part that most struck me! Hilarious. Seems it’s a very common problem.
Ahhhh, quelle musique melancholique….c’est une vie de chat….
Ben, If you ever venture down to Tucson, look me up and we can walk the cat in Sabino Canyon
You know…I do believe I’ll take you up on that, but not in the immediate future. Baihu still gets nervous (if not panicked) around non-Ben humans, so I’ve got to work on that. And we’ll also have to work up the mileage…just the Lost Dutchman Park at the base of the Superstition Mountains would be waaaaay out of his comfort zone right now, I think, as much as I’m sure he’d love the park itself.
b&
That business with Henri and the suitcase is very amusing. I have friends who once had a cat named Phoebos. Their living situation changed, and they couldn’t keep him, so they gave him to her parents. Whenever they would come to visit, Phoebos would go to the bathroom in their suitcase. Quel dommage.
Ben, how do you get your cat to walk on the leash? Mine is rather stubborn about it. He also gets carsick on the 20 minute trip to the vet (in a cat carrier, not free to roam in the car), or perhaps he’s just punishing us like Henri.
Well, I started by just letting him roam around the back yard wherever he liked, and I followed him. When I started him walking around the neighborhood, I mostly carried him — at first, even, in a cat carrier. When he graduated from the carrier, I still held him. Eventually we figured out that him riding on my shoulders works great for both of us.
Usually once or twice on our walks around the neighborhood, he’ll jump down, mostly to start sniffing at things. From there, I’ve been able to guide him with the leash to get him walking in the right direction and stay on the sidewalk. When he doesn’t want to walk any more, I just scoop him up and put him back on my shoulders.
In the park last night he had little interest in my shoulders and was mostly interested in staying on the path, so I mostly just matched his stop-and-go pace. It actually bore a faint semblance to walking a d*g.
b&
That GIF is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in a while.