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Cat Forum / Cat Anecdotes / January 2005Scaredy Cat
Vino is usually so nonchalant. Not scared of strangers who come to the house, not scared of thunderstorms or fireworks. Not scared of the vacuum cleaner. But sometimes something happens that makes me wonder if deep down he isn't a yellow bellied, lily livered little wussy pussy. Oh wait...he *is* yellow bellied, so that one's a fact ;-) Anyway, so what happened is this. I moved this three legged wooden stool that we have because I wanted to take down the Christmas cards. The stool is heavy so I slid it across the floor. Well, it seems that the felt pads on the bottoms of it's legs had worn off because it made a scratch on the wooden floor. I turned the stool over and went to get more felt pads out of the drawer. I came back to see Vino low-walking around the stool, keeping a safe distance. I watched him slowly creep up to the strange object and extend his neck out in a most turtle like fashion to sniff the stool. The same stool that he sits on for hours every day. Just upside down. Then I saw his paw shoot out lightning fast and bap the stool. He crept around to every side and bapped it from every angle. Eventually he ran off and glared at it from a distance. The whole time I was standing there shaking from trying not to laugh out loud :-) -- Britta Sandpaper kisses, a cuddle and a purr. I have an alarm clock that's covered in fur! Check out pictures of Vino at: http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album I guess he showed that stool who's boss! LOL. Katz I think it's hysterical when they suddenly don't recognize something. Usually its a purse or a shoe. > Vino is usually so nonchalant. Not scared of strangers who come to > the house, not scared of thunderstorms or fireworks. Not scared of [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > Check out pictures of Vino at: > http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album > Vino is usually so nonchalant. Not scared of strangers who come to > the house, not scared of thunderstorms or fireworks. Not scared of [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > The whole time I was standing there shaking from trying not to laugh > out loud :-) LOL I love it when my cats do this. I love it even more if I am in range to nudge the object a little just as their nose is stretched towards it - watching those anit-gravity devices in the pads of their paws shooting them straight up about 3 or 4 feet is absolutely hilarious!! Hugs, CatNipped > Britta > Sandpaper kisses, a cuddle and a purr. I have an alarm clock that's > covered in fur! > Check out pictures of Vino at: > http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album >> Vino is usually so nonchalant. Not scared of strangers who come to >> the house, not scared of thunderstorms or fireworks. Not scared of [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] > >CatNipped Aha!!! A Devil-Mommy!!! ;) Theresa Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com > >> Vino is usually so nonchalant. Not scared of strangers who come to > >> the house, not scared of thunderstorms or fireworks. Not scared of [quoted text clipped - 28 lines] > > Aha!!! A Devil-Mommy!!! ;) Yep, the devil makes me do it - I just can't help myself!!! ;> Hugs, CatNipped > Theresa > Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh > My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com > Vino is usually so nonchalant. Not scared of strangers who come to > the house, not scared of thunderstorms or fireworks. Not scared of [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > The whole time I was standing there shaking from trying not to laugh > out loud :-) LOL! Frank acts the same way when he doesn't recognize something. Nikki is never put off. Once I had dropped a ladle on the floor and didn't pick it up immediately. Frank approached it, belly to the floor, circled it and finally bapped it, then jumped back. Up comes Nikki, trots right past him and puts her paw on the ladle. She firmly believes she is invincible. She approaches big d*gs the same way.  SignatureMarina, Frank and Nikki marina (dot) kurten (at) pp (dot) inet (dot) fi Pics at http://uk.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/frankiennikki/ and http://community.webshots.com/user/frankiennikki >LOL! Frank acts the same way when he doesn't recognize something. Nikki >is never put off. Once I had dropped a ladle on the floor and didn't >pick it up immediately. Frank approached it, belly to the floor, circled >it and finally bapped it, then jumped back. Up comes Nikki, trots right >past him and puts her paw on the ladle. She firmly believes she is >invincible. She approaches big d*gs the same way. My two act like that, too. LB is the cautious one around new things (or familiar ones which have been moved). Sammy is the one who will come running, hoping it just means a new game. SignatureSteve Touchstone, faithful servant of Sammy, Little Bit and Rocky (RB) stouchst@JUNKsirinet.net [remove Junk for email] Home Page: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/index.html Cat Pix: http://www.sirinet.net/~stouchst/animals.html awwww! <grin> Jazz's mama SignatureIrulan from the stars we come to the stars we return from now until the end of time > Vino is usually so nonchalant. Not scared of strangers who come to > the house, not scared of thunderstorms or fireworks. Not scared of [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > Check out pictures of Vino at: > http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album >Vino is usually so nonchalant. Not scared of strangers who come to >the house, not scared of thunderstorms or fireworks. Not scared of [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] >The whole time I was standing there shaking from trying not to laugh >out loud :-) Obviously some suspicious new variety of greebling had introduced itself, invisibly to all but him! ;) I can just see it. ;) Stink is the same way-- utterly imperturbable, cheerful, and sociable 99.99999999999% of the time-- and once or twice a year something will make him suddenly pop straight up in the air like he was in a toaster. ;) Or flatten himself, and slink around in what my mom calls "creepin' Jesus" fashion. ;) Theresa Stinky Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/125591586JWEFwh My Blog: http://www.humanitas.blogspot.com > Vino is usually so nonchalant. Not scared of strangers who come to > the house, not scared of thunderstorms or fireworks. Not scared of [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > Check out pictures of Vino at: > http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album Wouldn't it be interesting to see things through their eyes for a few minutes? I imagine it would be like being in a room of distorted mirrors. MLB > Wouldn't it be interesting to see things through their eyes for a few > minutes? I imagine it would be like being in a room of distorted mirrors. > MLB One of the marks of a good photographer is that they take pictures from other than the conventional eye-level, "landscape" orientation. You can get a very different perspective on a subject by shooting from different angles. In any event, a good start in seeing through cats' eyes would be to get at their level. Remember that their vision systems are different than humans in several ways, besides the obviousl low-light ability: -- they don't have as much perception of fine details. If a cat could read, it would need very large type. Even though their claws would seem built-in sewing tools, they wouldn't be very accurate. -- they have much greater sensitivity to motion than people. -- they have some color vision, but less than humans. Remember that we may interpret things by color. > Vino is usually so nonchalant. Not scared of strangers who come to > the house, not scared of thunderstorms or fireworks. Not scared of [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > The whole time I was standing there shaking from trying not to laugh > out loud :-) Victor may be operating as did one legendary Dungeons & Dragons player, in the legendary tale below -- which, I hope, will still get its point across to non-gamers: From: chu@acsu.buffalo.edu (John C. Chu) Subject: Re: The Gazebo? Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc [Note: The following is typed in verbatim from the Mensa Bulletin, June 1989 p. 15. This was from the Special Interest Groups column. They were reprinting articles from various SIG news letters. This one was from the Role-Playing Games SIG.] Eric and the Gazebo ROLE-PLAYING GAMES SIG by Richard Aronson Let us cast our minds back to the early days of fantasy role-playing... In the early '70s, Ed Whitechurch ran "his game," and one of the participants was Eric Sorenson, a veritable giant of a man. This story is essentially true: I knew both Ed and Eric, and neither denies it (although Eric, for reasons that will become apparent, never repeats it). The gist of it is that Eric... well, you need a bit more about Eric. Eric comes quite close to being a computer. When he games, he methodically considers each possibility before choosing his preferred option. If given time, he will invariably pick the optimum solution. It has been known to take weeks. He is otherwise in all respects a superior gamer, and I've spent many happy hours competing with and against him, as long as he is given enough time. So... Eric was playing a neutral paladin (Why should only lawful, good religions get to have holy warriors? was the rationale) in Ed's game. He even had a holy sword, which fought well and did all those things holy swords are supposed to do, including good or evil (by random die roll). He was on some lord's lands when the following exchange occurred: ED: You see a well-groomed garden. In the middle, on a small hill, you see a gazebo. ERIC: A gazebo? What color is it? ED: (Pause) It's white, Eric. ERIC: How far away is it? ED: About 50 yards. ERIC: How big is it? ED: (Pause) It's about 30 feet across, 15 feet high, with a pointed top. ERIC: I use my sword to detect whether it's good. ED: It's not good, Eric. It's a gazebo! ERIC: (Pause) I call out to it. ED: It won't answer. It's a gazebo! ERIC: (Pause) I sheathe my sword and draw my bow and arrows. Does it respond in any way? ED: No, Eric. It's a gazebo! ERIC: I shoot it with my bow (rolls to hit). What happened? ED: There is now a gazebo with an arrow sticking out of it. ERIC: (Pause) Wasn't it wounded? ED: Of course not, Eric! It's a gazebo! ERIC: (Whimper) But that was a plus-three arrow! ED: It's a gazebo, Eric, a gazebo! If you really want to try to destroy it, you could try to chop it wih an axe, I suppose, or you could try to burn it, but I don't know why anybody would even try. It's a @#%$*& gazebo! ERIC: (Long pause - he has no axe or fire spells) I run away. ED: (Thoroughly frustrated) It's too late. You've awakened the gazebo, and it catches you and eats you. ERIC: (Reaching for his dice) Maybe I'll roll up a fire-using mage so I can avenge my paladin... At this point, the increasingly amused fellow party members restored a modicum of order by explaining what a gazebo is. This is solely an afterthought, of course, but Eric is doubly lucky that the gazebo was not situated on a grassy knoll. [Reprinted from the SIG's fall '87 Spellbook #13, edited by Corey and Lori Cole, via Mensanity, Lewis Wasserman, ed. Send your compliments to the author along with your subscription to the SIG newsletter ($8)in care of L Mary H. Kelly, 4030 Valley View Lane #233, Farmers Branch,X 75244.] [snip awesome RPing gazebo-come-to-life story] Now THAT is some funny stuff. Signaturemonique, roommate of Oscar the (female) grouch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eros was adopted! Eros has a home now! *cheer!* > Victor may be operating as did one legendary Dungeons & Dragons player, > in the legendary tale below -- which, I hope, will still get its point > across to non-gamers: <<Snipped Classic Gazebo Story>> This story was immortalized in one of the first issues of "Knights Of The Dinner Table" a comic based on role playing at it's finest/worst (depending on your point of view). In the game of Hackmaster (IIRC) the gazebo is a 23 point monster with the ability to withstand all but fire and hacking damage. Pam S who has those issues around here somewhere. Tanada <tanada@earthlink.net> had some very interesting things to say about Re: Scaredy Cat: ><<Snipped Classic Gazebo Story>> >This story was immortalized in one of the first issues of "Knights Of [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] >the ability to withstand all but fire and hacking damage. >Pam S who has those issues around here somewhere. Ever heard the one about the paladin who decapitated himself? :-) Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL > Ever heard the one about the paladin who decapitated himself? :-) Nope, would love to hear it. Pam S. Tanada <tanada@earthlink.net> had some very interesting things to say about Re: Scaredy Cat: >> Ever heard the one about the paladin who decapitated himself? :-) >Nope, would love to hear it. Found this story over in rec.games.frp.dnd, posted by "UncleFes": Our campaign uses the old style fumble rules, and we've had some significant fun with them over the years. But the best was when our Paladin of Heironymous, a notorious fumblethumbs (he'd roll 3-4 1's a night, we actually modified our marching order to stay away from him, and took away his crossbow because he kept accidently shooting fellow party members), entered a melee sans helmet (it had gotten knocked off and lost earlier in the game). He attacks a pair of bugbears that are trying to flank him, and so he's flailing around with his broadsword pretty good. Sure enough, he rolls a one, then follows it up with a 00 (at this point, the rest of the party is groaning, we figure he's let go of the sword and flung it into someone for triple damage plus bonuses, and we're all checking our hitpoints and healing potion stocks). DM gets a funny look on his face, says "Roll percentile again." And sure enough, the first and only time I've *ever* ever seen this happen in 20 years of gaming, he rolls ANOTHER 00. I'd have never believed it if I hadn't seen it along with the entire rest of my crew. The rest of the party freaks out, we have NO IDEA what happens now, we're serously wondering if Heironymous himself is going to come up from Elysium and whack him on the head or something. DM says "helmet's gone, right?" Right, says the Paladin... you see where I'm going with this? He DECAPITATED HIMSELF. The first 00 rendered something like "wound self, head, maximum damage, plus roll on chart II" and the second one rendered "sever body part" or something like that. And a legend was born... Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL > He DECAPITATED HIMSELF. The first 00 rendered something like "wound > self, head, maximum damage, plus roll on chart II" and the second one > rendered "sever body part" or something like that. And a legend was > born... LOL, in a game I was DMing, we had a guy who kept rolling one's and two's no matter what 20 sider he was rolling. It got to the point that I halted proceedings and EVERYONE at the table gave him their 20 sider dice to try out. He finally rolled high, on a tubular 20 sider that I loaned him. The funny thing was, the highest I'd ever got it to roll was a 10. Pam S. > LOL, in a game I was DMing, we had a guy who kept rolling one's and two's no > matter what 20 sider he was rolling. It got to the point that I halted > proceedings and EVERYONE at the table gave him their 20 sider dice to try > out. He finally rolled high, on a tubular 20 sider that I loaned him. The > funny thing was, the highest I'd ever got it to roll was a 10. Is it an etiquette thing to always roll for yourself? Our longtime GM would sometimes do the rolls for us. And then there were the nights when two of us might be awake, playing for a party of five, most of whom were already sacked out ... Signaturemonique, roommate of Oscar the (female) grouch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eros was adopted! Eros has a home now! *cheer!* "Monique Y. Mudama" <spam@bounceswoosh.org> had some very interesting things to say about Re: Scaredy Cat: >> LOL, in a game I was DMing, we had a guy who kept rolling one's and two's no >> matter what 20 sider he was rolling. It got to the point that I halted [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] >might be awake, playing for a party of five, most of whom were already sacked >out ... I could handle the DM doing rolls for me if he doesn't want me to know something might happen to me before it does, but I do NOT want another player running my character! OK, so I'm territorial. :-) Signature"The universe is quite robust in design and appears to be doing just fine on its own, incompetent support staff notwithstanding. :-)" - the Dennis formerly known as (evil), MCFL > "Monique Y. Mudama" <spam@bounceswoosh.org> had some very interesting things > to say about Re: Scaredy Cat: [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > something might happen to me before it does, but I do NOT want another > player running my character! OK, so I'm territorial. :-) In our case, it wasn't so much a conscious choice as the fact that people would pass out. Also, parents wouldn't let me stay overnight with the boys, so I ended up having to miss decent chunks of gaming sessions. Sigh. Signaturemonique, roommate of Oscar the (female) grouch ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Eros was adopted! Eros has a home now! *cheer!* How cute! I'd love to have seen that. Best wishes, SignaturePolonca & Soncek <snip> > I came back to see Vino low-walking around the stool, keeping a safe > distance. I watched him slowly creep up to the strange object and [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > Check out pictures of Vino at: > http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album You do find yourself standing watching them doing funny things dont you? after Babies, cats are the greatest timewasters on earth. Jean.P. > Vino is usually so nonchalant. Not scared of strangers who come to > the house, not scared of thunderstorms or fireworks. Not scared of [quoted text clipped - 23 lines] > Check out pictures of Vino at: > http://photos.yahoo.com/badwilson click on the Vino album |
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