Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for June 15, 2020

Raven is very happy with this spring’s cardboard box harvest. He loves to wedge himself into boxes and chew the flaps to bits! (And then spit pieces all over the floor.) Packing paper is a close second as a favorite cat toy/nesting material/playfight soundtrack.

Aww, Pucky’s box is very appropriate.

I do like that Pucky is labeled “Handle with care”. I also looks as if Elbif is getting ready for upside down time.

Taking a lot of deliveries at the bookstore, Beatrix?

Or is it your wine store neighbor.

Awww, Pucky in a box labeled “Handle with Care.”

A famous cat once said “Boxes are never empty. They are always filled with adventure.”

Of course it wasn’t “a cat”. It was Elvis.

Clearly supplies of cardboard are no longer paper-thin.

A week that starts out with Beatrix is bound to be a good week!

If The Woman is also an author, that would explain all the boxes.

Amazon was actually an international cat conspiracy and consortium, created as a way of tempting humans into buying items online so the cats could have boxes of all sizes delivered directly to them in their homes. Jeff Bezos started out life as a simple android whom the cats controlled remotely, until they all happened to nap one day at exactly the same time and the Bezos-bot became self-aware (but without become aware of the value of other humanoids), and turned into the feudal lord who treats his employees like serfs that he is today.

At least we now know where cardboard comes from. Though I fear those boxes are doomed.

I think my cats have given up boxes. My last several deliveries from Chewy and Amazon have gone un-noticed by my brood. I tried making first for them, slipped their toys in them but, no sale. They have lots of windows to look out and they take advantage of that. They’re happy which is the most important thing.

Well, hopefully it only means books are coming in and not moving day on the horizon…

So that’s how cardboard is grown.

Awwwh, look at Beatrix sitting on her speech bubble.

Ordering online during a pandemic is certainly convenient especially when you are one of the high risk group. But it does lead to a garage full of nice sturdy boxes. My to-do list includes breaking them down so they store flat. Then they will either go to recycling or saved for a neighbor who was planning on downsizing and selling their house. Plan seems to be on hold right now but when you are sorting and packing to move clean, sturdy, medium sized boxes are gold.

Like Catmom1360’s cats, our seem to not be as interested in boxes as in the past when the arrival of a box was much more of an event. Guess it’s a case of familiarity breeding contempt. Even a particularly nice very tiny box got just a sniff and a ‘meh’.

“So sweep away the sand and dry the ocean

And just pack the moon and stars up in a cardboard box

And stop the clock from chiming

Block the sun from shining

Paint the sky a deeper shade of blue

Cuz my world’s over without you"

(Nash Brian E, Duncan Whitney Renee, Post Michael Terrence)

Oh noes! Is the family moving?

Albert A Cat does not like boxes. In fact, he actively dislikes them.

Beatrix? New CN newscat or someone I’ve just never heard of before?

Cool! Our favourite kitten is back!

Meanwhile Back on the Nile

Elvis-Anum: Why are there so many papyrus scrolls around here?

Puckmosis: I just brought them from the scroll box. The papyrus cat has been here.

Elvis-Anum: How many times do I have to tell you? There is no papyrus cat!

Puckmosis: Then how did these across all get here? Anyway, here’s one addressed to you, one for me, this one’s for you, Bea. This fancy one is for the Queen.

Later, as the Royal Council convenes

Serfig-Aro: We have all received the announcement. Now to make it official! Here is the decree from Afar!

Serfig-Aro: (Reading)

“You are graciously invited to our Wedding on July 4. Your friends, Avenger and Emma.”

Nowadays if you Ofer off of Amazon you will get the best crop of cardboard

How lucky is Beatrix to live where cardboard grows in the wild!

If you want to mess with some people in your neighborhood…Get a good sized box, preferably one that has Amazon or some other well known company on the side and then slap warning stickers all over it:

*Bio Hazard

*Warning Radioactive

*Should not be opened by the Elderly, Pregnant Woman or Children

*Live Specimen

*Non-Returnable

*Robin Harwood Industries, Inc.

*And one sticker in an unidentifiable language

Leave the box on your porch for all passers-bye to see and let the rumors/fun begin!

High-fiber dietary source!

Bea is back!

Of course, bookstores generally have a lot of cardboard around. When I worked in a bookstore, one of my main tasks was breaking boxes down and (later) putting them together again.

Can’t wait to see Lupin’s and Goldie’s, boxes! I bet Lupin’s says, Contents under pressure! And Goldie’s says, Unlawful to remove shipping labels!

Annnn, from Farm Film Report … Cardboard’s UP! – Corn’s holdin’ steady – And pig’s are down. … … Did you see that blow-up movie last night??!! :)

Ember has demonstrated a remarkable ability to recognize the sound of packing tape being either cut or pulled apart. And to give me dirty looks until I empty said box for her use. I will see if I can post the video of her fully diving into a partially-opened Chewy box to my IG.

The cardboard gods are smiling upon them.

Today is Smile Power Day. I’m afraid the only thing that comes to mind is a bit of doggerel from the First World War:

Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag

and smile, smile, smile.

Strike up a lucifer to light your fag,

Smile boys that’s the style!

What’s the use of worrying?

It never was worthwhile.

So pack up your troubles in your old kit bag

and smile, smile, smile!

When put in perspective, we really have very little to worry about. Consider the life expectancy of an Imperial Roman soldier of the first century CE: Enlists between ages of sixteen and twenty years. Eligible for retirement in twenty to twenty-five years. Chances of making it that long: less than fifty percent. And military service was one of the most attractive careers available at the time.

I don’t smile a lot, and people who do make me suspicious. So when I smile, it’s genuine. And if you don’t have anyone to smile at right now, go look in the mirror. Give that person a smile, and realize that for all their possible faults and foibles, they are actually a pretty decent human being.

And for those of a pessimistic bent (waves enthusiastically at Robin): smile anyway—it unsettles the opposition, making them wonder what you are up to.

=^)

Off Topic:

SCOTUS ruled today, 6 to 3, that LGBTQ people cannot be discriminated in the workplace. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination “because of sex,” includes LGBTQ employees.

Georgia, for my daughter and so many others, Pucky needs to fly over the Rainbow again!

LucyLu could care less about boxes unless it is a puzzle box that I happen to be working on. Big Gray Kitty on the the other hand LOVES boxes the smaller they better for him to scrunch up into.

OT: Belated Sunday Funday post

RAGs, spellcheck didn’t help you, did it? “Elbif”?

So great to see our Beatrix again!!

Reminds me of an old Steve Martin routine where he determined to make a killing in cardboard. He got in when it was three cents a ton. Trouble is you had to agree to store two tons yourself.

It’s good to have you back, Beatrix!

Handle with Care & This side Up are perfect T-Shirt graphics for fragile 84+ year old folks. I’ve worn AFOs on both legs since 2007 Shingles paralysis in left foot/leg, & severe progressive Poly Neuropathy in both legs after back surgery that relieved sciatica. Used to bring home boxes when shopping at Sam’s big box store in Tucson.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0liWES6qgxjUDM0QnV0ZDZXQ0U/view?usp=sharing

Our first cat, Peaches, adopted us in 1985 as a stray kitten when we lived in Overland Park KS. Peaches loved boxes. A 2nd Cat adopted us in 1995, Charlie. Charlie rather curl up in my plush lined banjo case.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CUA2J2NN2ThiCPRj4l_xl6dPCtgoSwrf/view?usp=sharing

Thank heaven, Beatrix to the rescue.

Speaking of boxes I just received a box in the mail with my BCN puzzle from Zazzle. The box was at least twice as big as it needed to be. I put it on the floor, but the cats were sleeping at the time. I did see PC give a sniff when she walked by on her way to treat time. Mac and PC haven’t shown a big interest in boxes so far.

I want to see a Chewy box. On the bottom of every box I have received has “Oh boy! A box” with a pic of a cat printed on the bottom.

Back in the olden days (before March) when my rescue org had our weekly cat adoption events at our local PetSmart, we would use empty cardboard cat food trays for temporary litter boxes in the display crates. I used to go around the aisles to collect them, which I referred to as harvesting. Sometimes the harvest was meager and sometimes it was bounteous!

Wish had that cardboard crop here, I’d try making a cardboard catscratcher like Smokey and the boys really like from scratch.

I just always want to pick up Beatrix and snuggle cuddle her!