Happy Caturday: my cats like to climb tree.

These past few days the world seems to be in a whirlwind of sudden changes and the momentum of time seems to be gathering more intensity. My effort in trying to catch up with unfinished tasks has made a small progress; but I know I should have achieved more. My life seems to be living in parallel reality: one with stray cats and the other with orange cats. These cats keep me sane and down to earth amidst all the confusing and urgent diversions for survival. These cats just make me pay attention to moment by moment while feeding and observing these cats. Their lives are also very important and require suitable conditions for survival. They made no demand, only crying for help and kindness. At times they just sit and suffer their hunger or illness quietly for they don’t know how to communicate with humans. So, it is such a blessing whenever my orange cats come to greet me after I enter the house.

My cats have their own way of telling me when they would like special snack. They way they sit quietly and keep gazing at me tell me that they are requesting some snack. But they are too considerate to actually ask me out right by meowing. They didn’t want to disturb me but they hope I would notice how they are waiting patiently. I could somehow hear what they are thinking sometimes. So, I would tell them to wait for a while as I am in the middle of something, usually on Internet. They would be very gracious and accept the small portions of snacks; I am trying to get them to lose some weights so they could climb trees again.

It is as if my concern about my cats not being able to climb trees have been heard by my cats. A few days ago while we were out walking in the garden together; my cats just showed me that they could climb trees very well. I put my cats on the cork tree so that they could enjoy the view over the wall. Surprisingly, Joan started to climb up the branches. Remembering how he got stuck up five meters up the tree, I told him to stop climbing and come down at once. He looked at me and refused to stop climbing.

Joan was telling me that he would show me that he could climb tree without any fear; he was showing off his climbing ability so that I would not label him as a coward. He went up to about five meters high but the branches were much bigger than last time. He showed me how good he was at climbing so I could no tell others that he was afraid of tree climbing. I shouted at him and praised him on his climbing skill and courage. I told him I had no idea that he was no longer afraid of height. I was do glad Joan could climb tree once again.

He stood up there on smaller branches for a few minutes wondering what he should do next. I asked him to show me that he could climb down safely by himself. He nodded and started to make his way down the smaller branches. Being so heavy, his weight added to the speed of his descending momentum. He slipped and lost the grip of two back legs. I saw him dangling with two front arms for five seconds. I went to stand under the trees ready to catch him from falling to the ground. Luckily Joan could swung his two legs back to grab the branch.

(Joan almost dropped out of the tree! Fat cat had his weight working against him.)

He became more careful in climbing down the tree. I told him not to rush. He did show that he was in control and he had no more fear about climbing high up the tree. I couldn’t believe this transformation that Joan could climb trees at great height. I took quite a few photos of Joan on this tree. It’s quite amazing seeing a fat cat (about six kilos), climbing up trees. Joan must be a very strong cat though he’s quite heavy. I also put Kwan on this cork tree but she was super quick at climbing up the tree. Kwan was very skillful and confident on tree climbing. She went up quite high but she came down very fast. It’s good to know that these orange cats could climb up trees to be safe from stray dogs.

The following day I played chase with my cats and they both ran up a tree to get away from my reach. These cats had so much energy in the evening; they often bursted into quick run around the garden and climb up trees. Joan and Kwan surprised me by climbing up another tall tree yesterday. Kwan went up to the top of the tree, she just loves to climb trees. Kwan is very smart and she knows how to climb down tree by slowly going backward like reversing a car. Joan still climbed trees with his face pointing downward which could be very dangerous. I was so glad that finally my wish for Joan to be able to climb trees became reality. It was so nice that Joan has begun to climb trees again after two years of staying grounded. I hope Kwan could teach her brother to come down trees by backing down tail first!

Kwan is very good at climbing tree! She’s fast and skillful.

My cats live one day at a time; they don’t plan for the future. They have limited memories and thinking capability so all their energies go into everyday survival. Living in the moment is essential for their wellbeing and survival. In contrast, my brain is forever worrying about the future and thinking about how to survive in case of a world war or natural disaster. I could only try to think about several scenarios ranging from bad to really dangerous situations. This thinking activities have taken me on a wild and crazy mental journey. So, I need to maintain some balance in my life and get in touch with reality by feeding cats at temple and looking after orange cats.

Kwan likes to sit and stand on my orchids!

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.