Scratcher of heads, rubber of bellies
Boo keeps cool in the darkened living room on the morning of the 4th of July. There’s a dichotomy between his waking and sleeping selves, as he’s a shy and nervous cat in general but he can sleep in any position and often appears chilled out when relaxed or asleep.
Boo and I spent the morning enjoying our favorite sport, Formula 1 racing. Boo was so excited he had to sprawl across my legs and take a nap.
I was walking past the dining room when I saw Sam sleeping in an unusual spot, perfectly framed on the hardwood floor by the sunlight poring through the large picture windows on a warm spring morning. I ran to my office and grabbed my camera and got the lovely picture below, one of my favorite cat pictures ever. But then Trixie came in after me and jumped up onto the window ledge, her shadow so perfectly positioned that her head is next to his and her tail curls back towards me, as though his shadow had come to life and turned around to greet him. Thankfully I got the picture above as the moment didn’t last long. I like both pictures but the top one illustrates much of their relationship in an abstract form, Sam relentlessly pursued by his younger sister who adores him. I couldn’t have posed them any better as more than anything she loves to cuddle up face to face, which he’ll often tolerate when he’s sleeping on my legs.
Sam decided he was getting a little too much attention, between the clacking of my SLR’s shutter and the newly arrived Trixie in the window, so he got up and we all retreated to my office.
As adults cats meow to communicate with humans rather than each other. I had always assumed they all had a fairly similar vocalization, but only two of our six cats (Templeton and Sam) have had a traditional meow. Our first cat Templeton could be a bit talkative so I was surprised when we adopted Scout, who was almost silent and communicated mostly with soft grunts or a plaintive bleating, especially when she was scared or upset. Emma chirped, rather appropriate given her fascination with birds. Boo too is a quiet one and has an almost childlike cry.
Trixie continues the theme not only of quiet cats but of new vocalizations.
She squeaks.
She is tiny and energetic and affectionate. She especially adores her big brother Sam, sometimes more than he would like, and they are both sleeping on me at the moment. She is a full-on lap cat like Sam, a snuggler extraordinaire, a little lover. Like Em she likes the wildlife in the yard, although her obsession is squirrels.
She is also the slowest eater who has ever walked the earth. We have to sit with her to make sure the other cats don’t steal her food, although thankfully she is eating faster than she used to. She also isn’t as easily distracted, used to be you could forget about getting her to eat if she saw a squirrel running along the fence. And she eats in one sitting now, that was a battle of wills as she’d prefer to graze but between Ellie and Boo and Sam, we can’t leave food out unattended.
She’s been with us for over a year and has been an absolute joy. I took this picture a month ago when I found her in the guest bedroom sitting in a Trixie-sized opening between the pillows on the bed. She doesn’t usually hang out up there, but this bed was where she spent her first few weeks with us, as this is the room where we kept her in isolation.
Sam and Trixie hold hands while snuggled up on my legs.
Sam can’t resist the allure of curling up on clean laundry on an unusually warm spring morning.
For those not conversant in French, “poignee de transport” translates as “mouse delivery slot” in English.
[Update February 10, 2017: I retired this ID after thirteen years and replaced it with a newer one.]
My Tom Bihn ID messenger bag has been in daily use for twelve (and a half) years now. I first wrote about it in my eleven year review and it is still the bag I use every day. I’ve added a few accessories, most importantly a 16″ Tom Bihn key strap with a Fenix E12 flashlight attached at the end. It’s not so much for me to see as for me to be seen as I’m walking on my commute, either to or from the train when I take the MAX or in a dark parking lot on days I drive. The red color of the strap makes it easy to see in the bag, which is not true for the flashlight which sadly only comes in black. Because the strap is near the side of the bag, while walking I can reach behind me and under the flap and grab the strap without breaking my stride, enabling me to pull the flashlight out without stopping or even moving the bag around to my front. It’s also nice that the light can hang from the strap if I need to adjust my gloves or use the phone.
I also added a new Brain Cell that is perfectly sized for my 15″ MacBook Pro and an Aubergine Side Effect (with a safety whistle attached in the picture) which fits in the front of the ID and adds more organization. I’m still deciding exactly what to keep in the smaller bag, or if I’d rather leave it in my backpack instead. I put a USB stick on another key strap, I don’t need one very often, but this way I always know I have one and can get to it quickly. I also have an iPad now which makes taking the train much more pleasant, and it can go in several different places. I usually place it beside the Brain Cell in the laptop compartment where it’s pretty secure, but it can also go more loosely in the front compartment or in the magazine pocket on the back of the bag (it can be stowed very quickly there, a convenience if I’m a little late in realizing my stop is coming up).
I have gone back to riding the train most days which puts a lot more stress on the bag than when I drive, as it is under load during the time I’m walking to and from the train and when I’m standing because there isn’t a seat available. But the train commute really highlights why I’ve so loved this bag. It’s wide enough for my 15″ laptop and deep enough to carry the things I take everyday with room left over for the occasional bulky items, but not so large as to get in the way on the train or encourage over-stuffing (I don’t like backpacks on the train but in my opinion they are the only good solution for heavy loads). The front strap keeps the bag cinched down in a narrow profile but can be expanded so I can stuff a hoody or jacket in the bag during the spring and fall days when the temperature is changing drastically during the day.
After all these years the ID is gently preparing me for the day that our time together draws to a close. The back zippered compartment where the laptop goes in particular is having issues as some of the stitching is coming out or fraying from the velcro of the Brain Cell when it’s left open. Then one day while in a hurry I tried to zip the compartment closed too quickly (the new Brain Cell sits a little differently that the old one) and one of the zippers popped off one of the tracks. The other zipper still works fine but it keeps me from just zipping both ends a bit, a little trick to quickly force both ends to tuck in well below the flap for extra protection in a heavy rain. The pad on the shoulder strap is also showing wear from heavy use. In general though the bag is in great shape so it will hopefully last me for a while yet.
I don’t know what I’ll do when it’s time to retire the bag from every day use, as the ID has been discontinued and Tom Bihn hasn’t announced a replacement. And even when they do, since the ID has been such a perfect fit for me, no matter how nice the new design is I doubt it could delight me quite as much as the ID.
I’ve been meaning to post this update for a while but resisted for one simple reason — when I’d set up to photograph an item before, our cat Emma (who hated to be photographed) would come over and photobomb the pictures (she’s the black cat in the pictures in the eleven year review). She died a few months after that review and for a while it was too painful a reminder to set up the bag for a picture and know that Emma wasn’t going to come running over to sit nearby.
So it delighted me to no end when I set up the ID for a quick picture and Trixie came over and started chewing on the key strap that holds the flashlight. Professor Boo then came over and showed his young charge how you can retrieve the flashlight by pulling on the strap, while gently telling her not to be embarrassed, we all have to learn not to eat flashlights. I don’t know what triggered them to come over as they’re both very familiar with the bag — in fact it was one of the first things they each saw when we adopted them, Boo in 2013 and Trixie in 2015, as I brought it with me when I sat with them while they were in isolation — but it was a nice little homage to our dear departed Em.
The ID is within arms reach of nearly every picture I post unless I’m out hiking or taking Ellie on a walk. It’s at my feet when I’m on the couch taking pictures of the pets sleeping on me and I bring it with me when we need to keep one of the pets in isolation (as with Sam below when he was recuperating after getting teeth pulled). At Ridgefield it’s tucked in behind the driver’s seat as I photograph the animals on the auto tour. It’s gone with me on all my hiking expeditions to Yellowstone and Mount Rainier and the like, but it stays in the hotel room while I hike. It goes with me to work every day and is sitting beside me now on the train.
I’m a little shy of fifty so I’ve been using the ID for over one out of every four days I’ve walked the earth. It’s one of the best products I’ve ever purchased, in any category, so its replacement will have big shoes to fill. Many, many thanks to the team at Tom Bihn for both designing and manufacturing such a great bag.
Trixie had been with us for a couple of weeks and was starting to get introduced to the house at large, but she’s wide-eyed not because of being overwhelmed at meeting the other pets (she was eager to do it, we kept the introduction slow for the benefit of her older brothers who were less keen on her arrival), but because I only had one small lamp on and her pupils were wide in the low light of the room.
She is demonstrating her quick mastery of a skill often on display in our home, a cat sleeping in a dog bed. I had brought one of Ellie’s beds into the room where we were keeping Trixie isolated as Ellie desperately wanted to be wherever I was, and she and Trixie got along well from the start.
Oh, I don’t know Sam, let’s call it a hunch.
It had been a long day for Sam, he spent the day at the vet getting his teeth cleaned and a tooth removed. We kept him in isolation for the night since he had to be fed in stages and we wanted to keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t throw up. It wasn’t easy at first as he made several (successful) escape attempts, but I finally got him settled in and he snuggled up in my lap and started purring loudly.
A while later to my great surprise Trixie came sauntering out from under the bed so I had to put her outside the room without letting Sam out. After he finished his food I let Ellie in as she had been patiently waiting on the other side of the door (patiently waiting apart from the occasional loud sigh or tapping of toes) and then Sam and Ellie both took a nap.
He earned his freedom and at the moment is curled up in his usual spot on my legs.
Boolie 