{"id":386,"date":"2012-07-22T11:05:49","date_gmt":"2012-07-22T18:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/box5710.temp.domains\/~pippinst\/blog\/?p=386"},"modified":"2012-07-27T13:03:17","modified_gmt":"2012-07-27T20:03:17","slug":"the-other-marauder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pippinstudio.com\/blog\/2012\/07\/22\/the-other-marauder\/","title":{"rendered":"The other marauder"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Here’s the other black cat in my life. \u00a0Her name is Scout and unlike her sister Lucy she has short hair and a much kinder vibe. \u00a0We also like to call her Chicken-legs-fish-lips-soul-of-a-dog, because it fits. \u00a0Her big drumstick hind legs are really something to behold, and she sprawls and sits back with belly out and a resigned countenance as my youngest lugs her around the house. She’s actually too nice<\/em> to be a cat or to truly be\u00a0related\u00a0to her sister. \u00a0Hold your face close and she just can’t resist rubbing her cheek against it, even if she’s miffed about something. \u00a0She loooooves us. Soul of a dog.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I also call her monkey paws. \u00a0If she wanted to I’m sure she could pick locks with those things.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s something funny. \u00a0No nose. \u00a0And what happened to the fish lips?\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

She’s often my muse in my other world of painting. \u00a0She likes to …um….. stay still a lot<\/em>. \u00a0It’s a sign of how obstinate I am that I repeatedly try to paint a\u00a0completely\u00a0black cat.<\/p>\n

Her sister is the better hunter, but after a winter of being indoor cats they both burst out into the world and haul in many many poor\u00a0timorous\u00a0beasties. \u00a0Many survive the experience, and I don’t want to brag but still want you to be completely<\/em> impressed by the list of creatures that I’ve returned outside,\u00a0somewhat\u00a0spitty and dazed and tossing nasty looks back at me as they limp off into the bushes. \u00a0Prepare to be amazed: \u00a0Mice, voles, shrews, moles, bats (!!!!!), a furious chipmunk, the odd bird, lizards, and snakes (who really do pee when stressed). \u00a0Lucy prefers soft things, feathered and furred, whereas Scout is the reptile specialist. \u00a0She has a passionate interest in the small lizards that live around here, and carries them in in her mouth, dropping them on the living room floor and staring at them in stunned disbelief at what she’s pulled off. \u00a0After fearlessly carrying them in, dangling by their heads out of her mouth, she’s suddenly terribly overwhelmed and nervous about what to do with this thing<\/em>. \u00a0The poor thing<\/em> will often as not toss off its tail in an attempt at distraction. \u00a0So really that should have been on my list too. \u00a0Lizard tails. \u00a0Still moving. Ugh.<\/p>\n

(I know. \u00a0That\u00a0part was a bit nasty, wasn’t it? \u00a0I am sorry. \u00a0If it helps at all I successfully resisted the photo I took on coming in from the gym and\u00a0finding\u00a0half a shrew at my feet. \u00a0I was itching<\/em> to show you that.)<\/p>\n

Food is very very important to Scout. \u00a0From a deep sleep upstairs she can hear the sound of my jaw moving and come to investigate. \u00a0She can also hear the splish of yogurt sliding into a bowl and would sell her soul-of-a-dog to have it. \u00a0But that niceness comes out again and she jumps up and sits beside me, mostly patiently waiting for me to finish and let her lick the bowl out. \u00a0Sometimes she has to shuffle her feet a little because I’m soooo slow eating!! \u00a0Occasionally she forgets herself and leans forward, whiffling her nose closer and closer to my bowl, just checking. \u00a0A gentle “Scout”, my voice dropping with just a hint of disappointment at her lack of manners, is enough to make her back up and look shame-faced. \u00a0She did<\/em> know better. \u00a0She’s sorry. \u00a0See? \u00a0Not a cat.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

She likes to help out when she can. \u00a0Hang out with me at my desk. \u00a0Give me some support. \u00a0Maybe a pointer or two.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

But I’m just so<\/em> boring.<\/p>\n

She loves fruit, and becomes loopy at the smell of bananas. \u00a0She comes up on her hind legs and leans against the cupboards staring with hope up into my eyes when I cut meat. \u00a0She comes running and pushes her way in the door when I’m in the bathroom ( I don’t know why!!). \u00a0She sleeps on my daughter’s head at night and towards morning nibbles at her hair and makes it spitty. \u00a0She does amazing happy rolls. \u00a0She seldom looks at us like we’re idiots. \u00a0She’s weird! \u00a0Go figure that we’d end up with a quirky cat. \u00a0How on earth did that happen? Smirk.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s the other black cat in my life. \u00a0Her name is Scout and unlike her sister Lucy she has short hair and a much kinder …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88890,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,1],"tags":[20,24,23,25,9],"class_list":["post-386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cats-and-dogs","category-uncategorized","tag-arg","tag-critters","tag-just-having-fun","tag-life","tag-office-mates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pippinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pippinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pippinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pippinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88890"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pippinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pippinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pippinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pippinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pippinstudio.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}