Cat? What Cat? I Don't See Any Cat...#6

We're hoping to change all that. Because Princess is going uptown (heck, so is Oakland).

It would seem that putting a big, bright collar on your cat - a bibish sort of collar - helps make those nasty feline predators much more visible to birds.

Audubon thinks it may work. A scientific study indicates that it helps. So Princess is about to become the neighborhood test case.

First, I made some break-away collars. Easy to do and the findings are available online for not much money. I made a bunch of collars because they are often lost and I wanted to have a stash on hand.

Of course, the first one went missing in less than a week. Then I tightened the next one up a bit. And gave Princess a stern lecture about keeping track of her toys. That seemed to work because this second collar has hung around for months. Yup, it's probably time to put it in the laundry.

Practicing wearing a collar in bed

The next step involved sewing a bright, colorful collar cover for Princess. The sewing was easy, but dusting off and oiling the machine, not so much. Or maybe it just seemed to take up too much time.  

And then threading the collar through that cover without losing the end other was an even bigger time sink. After that, tracking down the cat and convincing her that she really wanted to wear it, well, you get the picture. There went much of the afternoon.

You should know that Birdsbesafe produces these collar covers already put together and ready to go. So you may want to show some sense and simply buy the bugger for your own precious kitty, rather than following my example. Just an idea.

Yeah well, so far, Princess isn't too excited about this idea of mine, but one has to make sacrifices for fashion. As well as for a few small birdies' lives. I'm hoping that if I keep telling her how gorgeous she looks, she may get over it.

New Words

Over the years, our dictionary has received a lot of use. In fact, it lives in the dining room, because where else but at the supper table are you wondering, discussing, debating and even arguing about a word, a person, or a place? (And if you have other answers to that question, that's fine. Just don't tell me; I don't want to know.)

But lately there is a entire crop of new words that demand further research.  For starters:

Idiot - Yes, we all have a working knowledge of this word, but perhaps we are not so aware that the roots of the word rest in ancient Greek. The New York Times op ed piece, "Trump and the True Meaning of 'Idiot'"  helps explain.

Impeachment - Yes, this too is a familiar word. But how this impeachment process could play out is described here.

Troll - I knew it was a noun, but can it really be a verb, too? Seems so, and has nothing to do with fishing from a boat.

Emolument/Emollient - Emolument equals hard and bad. Emollient is soft and good. 

Covfefe - Not "coffee" as my spellchecker insists. This one is still undefined. But that hasn't stopped any number of people from suggesting the real meaning. Ahhh, I get it. Those people are trolling.