Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cats. Show all posts

Sep 4, 2015

Actress and Author Elinor Donahue: The Cat Who Read The Mail

The Cat Who Read the Mail - Donahue, Elinor



Publicity photo of actress Elinor Donahue from...
Publicity photo of actress Elinor Donahue from an appearance on the television program Goodyear Theater. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)















Do you love watching Elinor Donahue on Cozi, Me and Antenna TV, too..........

She was always one of my favorites growing up.......her beautiful voice and personality still shine right through the television screen.

Not only is she a good cook but she loves animals, too.......and she loves chatting with her furry children, as well.

Thanks, Elinor, for telling us about your experiences with cats and sharing your favorite recipes--Good job and well done.


The Cat Who Read the Mail

by 



"The Cat Who Read the Mail" sixteen amazing stories about our mysterious bond with animals Can a dog understand the grief and loss of 9/11? Can a cat expose a cheating husband? Can a research dog let his rescuer know he wants to be called 'Rexy"? Absolutely! And here are the stories to prove it. These are accounts of extraordinary interactions between people and pets. Stories that surprise, perplex and move us. But The Cat Who Read the Mail is not simply another collection of 'amazing" animal stories. Instead, animal writer and columnist Elinor Donahue explores the interaction between people and pets when it moves beyond amazing and becomes inexplicable, mysterious, profound. She's interviewed dozens of ordinary people who have anything but ordinary stories to tell.





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Here, told in a lively, journalistic style, are the most compelling encounters with the unexpected through an animal. Samson the cat began chewing and ripping the mail - selecting only the mail addressed to the husband of the house. He'd then deposit the remains at the front door where the wife would see it when she came home. Samson was on to something. Annie, the 12-pound therapy dog at Ground Zero, gathered the gazes of a circle of bereaved men a few days after 9/11 - whereupon each of them spilled out, one by one, whom they lost there. 'My mother." 'My brother." 'My sister." When Malibu the dog died, her housemate cat, Whip, watched in fascination -- and the next day took on Malibu's daily habits, including opening the kitchen cabinets to forage for dog treats. 

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While each story in this entertaining and fast-reading book stands on its own, the narratives gather momentum as acollection, suggesting there is more mystery and meaning here than our limited vantage can account for. However, Donahue does not attempt to explain or interpret. She simply showcases these special pets and the ordinary people who have glimpsed the extraordinary because of them. The Cat Who Read the Mail offers 16 stories that, in quick and glancing style, suggest that animals are in on the play of the universe in ways beyond our imagining. Still, each episode is real and occurred in the ordinary life of a grounded human being. The people in these stories never expected or sought the unexplainable event they experienced. Donahue has interviewed each of these individuals in depth, selecting the most compelling stories. Like Joel, the optometrist who dealt only in rational fact. He wasn't expecting that an eerie howl from the cat would precede the apparition of Baxter, his recently deceased dog. And a renowned dog trainer found that indeed it matters what you call your dog. When it hears the name it really wants, like 'Jazz," the animal will respond far more readily than when the moniker is a misfit, like 'Daisy." Though not sentimental heart warmers, these are stories for the good. That is their power. These occurrences can't be explained-and because of that they make their way into the crevices in our thinking. They take us to the moment of inswept breath-the aha! that catches us unaware. And they're fun to read!


copied from alibris.com


here is the wiki page about Elinor Donahue:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Donahue


Elinor Donahue Interview on the Archive of American Television:

http://www.emmytvlegends.org/interviews/people/elinor-donahue











Feb 22, 2014

from the facebook page of my girl Greta Van Susteren--the beautiful but lazy kitty







I would be ashamed if I were THIS lazy. I got up this morning…built a fire because I was cold…and then started daily chores (which, of course, including feeding the cats and the dogs.) When I returned to the fire to get warm, I was stunned – there was Mike. Mike is so lazy that I was absolutely speechless. He looked at me...and I decided to snap a pic with my ipad to show how lazy he is and he happened to yawn. Then he put his head down and went back to sleep. At least, while I am working around the house he could do something constructive - like check for mice or something. And if you look close in the yawning pic, he is actually sleeping next to / on a bag of cat treats. He is so lazy…

from the facebook page of my girl Greta Van.....

Dec 4, 2013

Bill O'Reilly: Punishing in the name of Jesus

The butler of bilge, Bill O'Reilly, loves to try and hide behind Jesus.  This gets into the religion thing--justifying hate with Jesus and religion.  Jesus might love the people Bill wants to deny and judge.  Jesus may even love Bill and let him be a lesson for all of us.  It's confusing but I wish Bill would not try to talk for Jesus because I love Jesus, too.  Bill is tainting my idea of Jesus.  Personally I love Jesus, all religions, atheists; I really love Ron Reagan and cats, and the United States and President Obama---there. 

Are all Catholic men this punishing?





Bill O’Reilly: Jesus is not ‘down with’ food stamps because most poor people are drug addicts (via Raw Story )
No one knows what Jesus would do to feed today’s poor, hungry Americans — but Fox News host Bill O’Reilly is pretty sure the Christian savior wouldn’t be “down with” giving them food stamps because it’s “their fault.” After Rep. Jim…

Dec 3, 2013

sewing a new cat bed--making a cat bed from fabric scraps

Displaying IMAG1422.jpg


Can you see the new cat bed?

Apparently Sam loves the electric throw more.

It was just completed last evening.

I'm sure he will be jumping in it any minute.

It is just a flat oval stuffed with scraps of fabric with a folded long strip, stuffed, and sewed to the edges.

Tip--Sew it before you stuff it--leaving open a large enough space to adjust the stuffing with your hand.

I sewed the edge closed and attached it to the oval all in one zig-zag--about 6 inches.

Apr 30, 2013

Sam...the mixer is not a couch!


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Apr 1, 2013

Boston Swagger in SoCal Meets Ronnie and the Cats

 
File under:  Finding Social Acceptance.......Boston Swagger in SoCal Meets Ronnie and the Cats

Not Appreciating Cats--A Definite Flaw in Character

"Why do you have so many cats?" my friend inquired in her usual accusatory tone.

"I don't know" I said, like the number of cats one owns denotes a certain level of happiness.

I'm thinking now I should have suggested she herself should try to acquire cats, one cat, any cat, a stray cat--I'm suggesting get a pet, any pet and give up alcohol.  Wouldn't that steer one on the road to emotional freedom, self-actualization, peace and time away from the bar as one walks their dog.

Perhaps she feels I would be happier if I had less cats--how did I get them--she goaded me again for a complete history as she listened with disdain.

"Why do you let your children give you cats?" she demanded, as if I would actually have an answer to that question--as if I had not asked myself that question a million times.

Perhaps she thinks my house would be cleaner if I had less cats--they are always such a good excuse on which to blame all of my house cleaning issues.

How much time do you spend walking your dog a day?--how many times a day do you take him out for a walk?--do you go to the dog park every day, or what?  Hi, Ronnie, do you remember me?

I'm pretty sure Ronnie said "no," as I drug him into the tavern in embarrassment.

Oh, he's fine in here, she said, I saw other dogs in here earlier.....

Right, that may have been when there was less shouting and people--even a pit bull is small in wall to wall people.

Finally, we took Ronnie home and dropped him off---why--so we could go to another bar.

Taking one look at my beautiful Chlo-Louise on my bed, "Wow, that cat is really old, I can't believe how old that cat is....how old is it?"

"Where do you sleep and where do the cats sleep--why do you just have that little tiny bed?"

Fueled by the synergy of Boston and beer the blonde bomber continued--Yeah, that was really funny when JoAnn and I went out to that street fair on Adams..we were listening to music and drinking all day.  We went to an Italian restaurant and she couldn't even remember what she ate.

She's really stressed out now from work--has a big knot in her neck and gets so many headaches.  She works so much overtime--both of her kids are in college--she's always been a real hard worker.

Are you ever going to get a job again or not?....unrelenting questions in that caustic "back east" style...I dress well because I can afford it, that's another thing about back east, people dress a lot better...people are slobs out here.

Right "back east," what ever planet that's on.

Does your daughter still have that crazy boyfriend.  Remember when she lived downtown with that guy?

Yeah, that was so funny when JoAnn couldn't even remember what she ate--she couldn't even remember going to that Italian place.

Yeah, we really have a lot of fun together.

Right, everyone has their own individual interpretation of what "fun" actually is, how they should spend their time and money in a worthwhile manner.  How much time one should allocate to cleaning.

cats vs. alcohol........

Right now...I's sticking with cats!