liveonearth | The Cat Chronicles

Shakti the ferocious feline is sprawled on one of my two desks, watching me sort through my papers. She is long haired with a white chest and belly, and black and gray mottling over her back and sides, with a huge coon tail. She is satisfied as long as she is in the middle of everything. I have had to knock her off the desk a couple of times when she went to play with the orange flowers in the vase. She usually manages to upend my flowers, but I am learning to use vases that won't tip over. The current floral arrangement is particularly gorgeous, lean, long and assymmetrical, arising from an amber vase with a round bulb of a base. Flowers bring me joy, as does the kitten, when she is not in the process of killing something.

Two nights ago while I was sharing dinner with my neighbors across the hall, the kitten brought a bird in here, tormented it until its feathers were everywhere, and ate its guts. She pulled off its legs and consumed its intestines, kidneys, heart and liver. She left the wings, ribcage and head on the carpet for me to find. I found one foot. I vaccumed and am still picking gray feathers out of every nook. Yesterday she caught another bird and I was able to get it away from her before she killed it. I had it in a plastic bag, and freed it down by the dumpster. It flew away, but the inside of the bag was bloody. It probably won't make it.

The kitten's carnivorous nature reminds me of the shock I had when I realized that those river otters (so cute!) eat so many creatures that their fecal matter is made of bones, shells and claws. They eat reptiles, fish, amphibians, crustaceans, birds and more. Anything they can catch. I guess the kitten would too, if there were more things here to catch, but she eats enough little brown pellets that her feces are brown and not full of bones or fur.

My biochemistry final exam was this morning, and it was easy, as expected. I am glad to be done with that class. The professor was not present. The extra credit question was "What is the largest continent on the planet earth?" I wish that he cared more about teaching us biochemistry. I will continue to study on it, because it matters to my new career. For now, let summer begin!!!

I heard on NPR some commentary about yesterday's presidential election in France that put it in a totally new light. Someone said that Sarcozy is a neoconservative with a combination of talents resembling W's cuteness and Newt Gingrich's ability to speak. Oh no!! I did not know this. I am sorry that France has gone down this road. Perhaps it will lessen America's embarassment to see another supposedly enlightened nation fall prey to business interests, but it will not do our species or planet any favors. The protestors are calling him a "Sarko-fascist". Reminds me of "sarcophagus", like the one our wasteful ways are forcing earth's life into. Sarcozy's number one goal is job creation. As far as I am concerned, jobs are a tool of the machine that enslaves the masses for the profits of the few. It is modern day feudalism. I don't want a job. I want a garden, clean water and air, a healthy community, and wild land and rivers. Sarcozy's election is a defeat for the planet.

I wonder if he cheated his way in, like the Shrub clan did here.