Today was quiet and cooler, and the Princess came in after a night on the tiles. I noticed (after all this time) that her nose is two colors: pink and brick red (with a lining of black on one side). I’m sure you’re keen to see a picture of a cat nose:
Cyrus is still nosing about and preventing me from my Quality Hili Time, so when I temporarily leave her on the couch I block her from the d*g’s view so he won’t disturb her. A keen observer will see one white catsock protruding:
After a morning’s work, we had a typical lunch: ham, sausages (note the thin ones), cheese (including goat cheese), bread, and fresh tomatoes. And, of course cherry pie for dessert. It is almost gone, and that will be the last of the cherry pie for us, as the harvest is over and I’ve scoured the orchard. 🙁
Dinner was a succulent beef tenderloin with salad and a Polish specialty: pickled mushrooms, all washed down with a hearty Zubr beer. Oh, and of course cherry pie for dessert. I helped by browning the beef; it was good to do just a bit of cooking again. (There is now only one small piece of pie left. . . ):
Walkies after dinner with the whole family. Here are Andrzej and Malgorzata on the bluff above the Vistula:
And the non-hoomans. Can you spot Hili and Cyrus?
And so home again to a late snack, reading (de Waal really hates New Atheists; his book is gratuitiously larded with snipes at them and assertions of his own superiority). This is a typical view of Hili as she accompanies us through the orchard. Her white nose stripe is quite visible in the twilight:
Sorry to duplicate this from the previous Dobrzyn post, but there is an urgent request for Poles to eat apples.
#BBCtrending: Poles #EatApples to annoy Putin
Ha ha! I read about that today.
There is not one thing about this post that I don’t like! Hili’s nose and toes are adorable, the food is glorious and the walk looks idyllic.
I’m kinda surprised that works. I’d figure Cyrus was using smell to locate her as much as he was using sight.
D*gs sometimes aren’t very bright.
Ooh boy, I can’t wait for your review of the de Waal book! I look forward to a suitable skewering.
As for Hili and Cyrus, it rather seems _they_ have spotted the photographer.
Beef looks amazing.
I very much enjoy these stories from Dobrzyn. I too am fond of Poland. The people, the food, the beer, – it’s all good.
How have you not thrown that de Waal book against the wall?
Jerry, ITA about de Waal. I was so looking forward to The Bonobo and the Atheist..but I couldn’t even finish it because of all of the random diatribes against New Atheists. Very, very disappointing.
I don’t want to get blocked from your site, so I won’t make another post on cats after this one. I’m not dissing cats, I’m just responding to your animosity towards dogs. I really only like big dogs (border collie size and up), and Labrador Retrievers are my absolute favorite. There is a reason they are the most popular breed in the US. Yapping ‘RV’ dogs are annoying and ‘purse’ dogs are even worse.
The joy that dogs bring to my family and all the others I’ve seen throughout my life is undeniable. Cats are just ‘there,’ but dogs are an integral part of many peoples lives. Traveling, hiking, backpacking, canoeing, rafting, swimming, skiing and camping are all the active things that our dog does with us. Before my grandma passed away I brought him to the hospice center and he brought a smile to her, and several other ‘patients’ faces as he trotted through the center. A wag of the tail and a lick brightens up anyones day. All the things I brought up (and many others I didn’t) in the prior post is what dogs are capable of, but at the end of the day they are still the buddies of the owners/trainers/officers. Cats are just ‘around.’ They don’t do anything. Pets are a wonderful addition to life, and dogs are the best. Woof!
Of course you’re dissing cats. Really–cats are just ‘around’? They are just ‘there’?. I’m not a huge fan of dogs, as people know, but I don’t go over to dog lovers’ sites and tell them that they should like cats more and “dogs are just around.” What would motivate me to do that, except to be contrarian and tick off the host?
At any rate, cats are far more than “just around,” as any cat lover would tell you. If you can say that, you’ve never had a cat. I accept other peoples’ love of dogs, and even extol foxes, but I wouldn’t go up to a dog lover and tell them that they’re misguided. This is what you have just done.
And there is no denigration of dogs in this post.
I’m curious jerry, have you ever owned a dog?
I usually skim right past all the cat posts on this site because they don’t interest me even slightly (sorry Jerry, I like most everything else you post), but for some reason I decided to glance at this one. I’m glad I did because I agree with both of your posts. In my opinion, the best picture here was the one with Cyrus’ head in it. Dogs are vastly superior animals, especially if you live in a rural area and love the outdoors. Cats don’t last long around here—coyotes and owls tend to pick them off. I have both a cat and two big dogs. I love my cat but she’s more like a fluffy toy, while my dogs are able to share in every aspect of my life like hunting, hiking, snowshoeing, and cross country skiing. They’ve chased bears away, they’ve treed a threatening cougar, and have been the most loyal, faithful companions I could ever have asked for. They’re extremely intelligent and are always amazing me by what they can do. They are an inexhaustible source of joy.
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Csn we PLEASE not turn this thread into a referendum about cats and dogs? While my favorite of them is clear, I rarely dis dogs, and wouldn’t do so on the site of a dog-lover.
I would not, for instance, go to a dog-lover’s site and say, “Cats are vastly superior animals.” That’s just not polite.
You don’t have to extol cats here,or read the cat posts, but just don’t crow about how inferior they are to dogs.
Well, i’m not trolling cat-friendly sites and trying to tick off the hosts. Except for cats, and possibly cowboy boots, I think we pretty much see eye-to-eye on most things. I watched your talk from Canada that Boghossian posted on his twitter feed a few days ago and that was exactly what I would have said if I had your intelligence. I’m a fisheries biologist, and not much of one–40 yrs old and on the bottom rung in my field–but I learned a surprising amount about evolution from your book and various posts on your site and articles around the web. I’m not glad-handing you here; just trying to be honest.
Anyway, I am content to agree to disagree about cats vs. Dogs and I won’t ‘harass’ you anymore on your blog.
I do have a (not cat related) question that has been on my mind for the last year or so that I have for, among others, Hitchens, Dawkins and you: All of you were/are giants in your respective fields (Hitchens as an essayist etc.) yet you are all spending an increasing amount of time on the religious question. My two-part question: did you hit a point where you felt your research–and others’–is being hindered by the looneys and you felt you had to take a detour to defend and advance your, and others’, research to help with funding or whatever, and, do you think that your remaining life’s work is gonna be not only showing how religion and science are incompatible, but convincing the fence-sitters of that truth and destroying the idiots? Sorry if that isn’t very clear–typing on my phone, drinking copious amounts of wine and my chocolate lab wants attention.
You don’t use the universal cat greeting then?
Extended forefinger at cat height and get a bump from its nose. Never fails.