Many years ago, when I believed it was possible for a human with a conscience to relax, I used to think I’d like to be as comfortable as an ol’ pair of favorite shoes.
So relaxing they’d be! A person could flop down on a bed and sleep all night while comforted by the most spectacular foot-feelings since the Beatles recorded Rubber Sole. Wait, that was Rubber Soul. Well, what the heck: Relaxed soles, relaxed souls! Right? A good theory for Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap.
So, that photo on the right is my most recent pair of comfortable shoes — I’ve had them for about 15 years — walked many park and treadmill miles in those New Balance Cross-Trainers. My yo-yo dieting has worn down the rubber and over-strained the glue that originally held them together.
Nowadays, The World’s Most Comfortable Pair of Shoes is held together by Gorilla Glue and some new shoestrings. You may be able to detect on the front of the shoes how the improperly applied glue will “foam” and bulge out noticeably when the human lacks simple repair skills.
I’m wearing these shoes as I type this. That explains why I’m nodding off between sentences — it may explain why you’re nodding off between my sentences, too, typed the paranoid writer.
But here is something that has developed in the past year. Our Oak Cliff-born cat, Stevie Ray Treeboy, has left his rowdy feline teenage years and taken up acting like a full-grown cat.
Consequently, I have decided that, while it is nice to
contemplate being as comfortable as an old pair of properly re-glued shoes, it might just be a little bit more soul/sole-soothing to be as relaxed as Stevie Ray Treeboy. [LARRY ASIDE: On the left, my catfanspouse Martha is holding him with one hand, and on the right he's showing off the ears he would grow into!]
I mean, geez, look at the way he twists and snoozes on the comforter on our living room couch and on the big red comforter on Martha’s favorite recliner!
You see in this edition, snapshots of Stevie Ray demonstrating that he is a full “grown-ass cat” — pardon my stand-up comedian French, please, but it fits his current status. He grew from a hand-sized yowling kitten plucked from the flimsy limb of a mimosa tree to being a big cat that requires a double-handed lift to be moved by a human who is constantly being treated for “back problems.”
FYI: He was found on a hill overlooking the U.S. 67 crossing over Polk St. in the late summer of 2019— that area is in a zip code famous for too many loose dogs and too many pregnant cats. “Spay and Neuter” is a constant challenge — takes constant education to
influence. Could be that “Spay and Neuter” skips a generation…I hope you laughed at that.
You know what helps cats relax? Spaying and Neutering. Yep. They’ll quit “cattin’ around if you get ‘em fixed,” as my Depression-raised Daddy used to explain.
Stevie Ray is named in honor of one of the most famous musicians to have come from that part of Oak Cliff, guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan (Dallas Kimball High School Class of 1972).
And the kitten’s last name comes from where I found him — clinging to a tree limb. He was NOT relaxed at that point.
Now, as you can see, he has adopted relaxation as the theme of his life. It is as if he’s been studying a certified handbook of happiness called The Charming Science of Worn Out Shoes.
He is loved. Free cat, you know. That’s him in the cat bed on a family heirloom table — he’s using his ESP to listen to some tunes. Big fan of Al Stewart’s hit 1977 hit Year of the Cat.
[DEAR READERS: Please send photos of your beloved animals to dallrp@aol.com and snap a picture of the rascals sleeping and enjoying the loving safety of the home you gave them, We’ll proudly post them in our long-running weekend feature Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. It’s good for people to know that animals belong on the sofa and in the hearts.]
OF COURSE, sometimes Stevie Ray just goes back to the couch and flops over onto the table behind it. He's very flexible -- he's into all the "bles" -- flexible, adorable, hugable, purrable, noble, napable, neuteredable....You know: all the important words!
—- Offer cat or dog opinions or human suggestions by clicking on ‘comment’ below or by emailing dallrp@aol.com and put “IF YOU’RE GOING TO TYPE THOSE WORDS, STOP WALKING ON MY KEYBOARD” in the subject line. —-