Reciprocity!

Isn't that a cool word?!  It has five syllables!  English is the only human language I know, but it is pretty neat and pretty hard.  So I speak English and cat and that's all.  But anyway, reciprocity is a special word. Instead of saying "if you scratch my back I'll scratch yours,"  you can say that you'll reciprocate!  Just love that word!

So the reason I'm writing about reciprocity is that I've heard some questions lately about why our servants come and wait on us every day.  Some people don't get it.  So since I understand everything, I'll explain.  The reason is that we reciprocate!  For example, when our humans feed us we show our appreciation by eating voraciously and that makes the humans happy.  That is reciprocity.  Another example is when they clean out our litter boxes and we use the clean one right away!  Our showing them so concretely how much we appreciate their work is reciprocity!  And when they clean our cages, we let them touch us!  And when they sweep and mop our floors, we let them touch us more!  We might even purr!  And when they've done all their work, sometimes we even sit on their laps!  Now that is reciprocity above and beyond any that is called for by what they do for us.  What we give to them in exchange for their service is that we allow them to love us!  How nice we are just brings tears to my eyes!  Most of the time reciprocity is a scratch for a scratch, but we cats give back above and beyond what we are given!

Don't really get it?  Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'm going to show you!

Now I bet you get it!  This is our servant, Vicki Anderson.  She is a very busy woman!!!!  She is a literary volunteer, she is a huge quilter and does other needle work, too!  She is even in a car club with her 1937 Ford!  (I want her to bring it to StreetCats to show us!)  This woman even takes dancing lessons!  But ever since April she has been coming to StreetCats a lot!  The only cats she has in her house aren't real ones.  And even though she has a lot of cat "stuff" in her house, she needs to touch real cats.  What would this nice lady do without us, StreetCats?!  In this picture my friend Fella is reciprocating for all she did for him that day!  (No, you can't have Fella . . . he is already in his furever home.)  You know, putting these facts in words is just overwhelming me with how special we are!  Oh my gosh, I'm not sure I fully realized just how lucky our human servants are!

THANK YOU, ME AND ALL THE STREETCATS CATS, FOR GIVING SO MUCH TO OUR HUMANS!

 

Royalty!

Have you ever met a real live royal personage?  I mean like a king or a queen, maybe a prince or princess?  How about an earl?  A duchess or duke?  Maybe a viscount?  Hey, I'd even be impressed with a lady-in-waiting!  I bet most of you haven't!  I sort of bet all of you haven't!

Well, I have!  And you can, too, if you'll just come to StreetCats of Tulsa!  I can't remember when we've ever had one of these personages living here, but we do now!  And here she is!

This, my readers, is a real live princess, Princess Snowdrop, currently of StreetCats Tulsa!  Isn't she gorgeous?!  Not as beautiful as I, of course, but I do have to admit that I don't have a title like she does. I've really been fantasizing about her staying with us.  We could change our name to StreetCatsCastle of Tulsa.  And maybe build a moat around us with a drawbridge and all that good stuff that princesses have!  Ooohhh, I just thought of this one . . . a tower!!!  I'm going to talk to Princess Snowdrop and see if she'll stay!

But wait, I can't.  This five year old royal cat needs to go to a furever home of her own.  And I do mean of her very own!  There is one problem here at StreetCats and all the other royal places she has lived.  Other cats don't like her and they pick on her!  We're going to have a talk here at StreetCats about bullying, but I don't have beautiful eyes in the back of my head and I can't be there to protect her every minute.  So she needs to be the only cat princess in her castle.  Every other cat (except for me, of course) is jealous of her so she needs her very own castle.

Oh wait!  She just asked me to tell you that she doesn't really need a castle.  If you have a castle, that's fine, of course.  But if you don't she thinks a manor house would be just fine.  No, no, she says it doesn't even have to be a manor house!  All it has to be is a residence, no matter how small, where she will be given the treatment that her royal self deserves.  That's all.

The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth

Hee hee!  Of course I'm not going to tell you the WHOLE truth!  That would take way too long!  And telling you NOTHING but the truth would be a bit boring for all of us, right?!  But I'm going to tell you one truth and I promise that I will tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth about this one thing.

Okay, here we go.  Hmmm, this is a bit harder than I thought it might be.  Before I tell you anything, let's just be clear about one thing.  Lulu can do anything she wants to do!  You knew that, right?!  After all, I am capable of running, and do run, this whole StreetCats place!  But sometimes it just makes sense to deligate things to my servants, right?!

So here it is!

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This is my servant, Vickie Sanborn!  All these pictures you see on my blog (and it is MY blog!), they are taken by Vickie!  Oh I've taken one or two along the way, but why should I take them when I have someone who used to get paid for this to do it?!  That is the great thing about these servants . . . they will do whatever I tell them to!

Ocassionally she has to have a little help from her kitty friends.  This was a day when Buttercup, who is now in her furever home, was helping.  You can tell how much Vickie appreciated that help!  I can't tell for sure exactly how Buttercup was helping, but what else could she be doing sitting on Vickie's back?!  Gee, I sort of miss Buttercup.  She was a pretty cute kitty.  But at least she's in her forever home.  Sigh.

So let's hear it for Vickie!  Doesn't she take great pictures???!!!  My blog absolutely would not be the same without her!  Thank you, Vickie!  Lulu loves you and appreciates your help!  You're welcome to take more pictures of me and my eyes anytime you want!

Karma?!

Before I tell you my story, here is a picture of me and my eyes.  I just want to assure you that, in spite of a close call, I am just fine.  So don't be worried, just read my story.

Okay, do you remember how in my last blog I was sort of, not really, but maybe just kind of making fun of my servants?  I mean it was totally innocent, of course, because they can't help that they can't see in the dark and that their noses are broken.  Well, shortly after that, I got SICK!  I ran a fever, just didn't feel like eating or drinking anything and they told me at my spa, Feline Specialties, that I was dehydrated!  I felt awful and I'm so glad that I'm back to my feeling good self!

So when I first started feeling sick I heard my servant, Linda, saying something about my not seeming myself and I looked at her, kind of like in this picture, with my eyes.  But then she just left!  Communication with these human servants can be a challenge!  But wait, I didn't mean that in a bad way!  I know they can't help it and I do love my humans!  (I think I have to be so careful what I say!)

So, a couple of days later I was really feeling bad and couldn't even pay much attention to what was going on, but I think it was my servant, Jennifer, who called Linda and told her that she thought I might really be sick.  Well, duh!  What does it take?!  (I didn't mean that!)  Linda came and got me and took me to my spa where I got complete TLC and fluids and massages and before you know it I was back to normal.  Linda and I hang together in the office a lot and she is the greatest!  And she's a good driver so I don't mind riding with her to my spa.

So . . . here is my question.  What is this karma stuff?  Was my getting sick bad karma for having made fun of my servants?  From what I've heard about karma I think that could be it!  But then my human servants, whom I had just been laughing at, saved me!  So that is surely good karma, right?  And I have to have good karma because if I don't I might come back in my next life as a chicken, or (please, no!) a university professor!  Maybe them helping me was good karma for them?   If that's how it works maybe they'll get to come back as cats!

Oh I am so confused by this karma stuff!  Do you think we can just erase all the current karma and start over?  Thank you, human servants, for seeing that I was sick, taking me to Feline Specialties and enabling me to get well because of their excellent care!  I will never make fun of you again . . . or maybe not soon.  I love you!  (But don't tell anyone!)

Broken Noses! Funny Humans!

This is Toots.  You have met Toots already.  A while ago I told you her sad story.  If you've forgotten,
look it up.

And this is June Bug.  You haven't met her before.  She is one of the kittens.  You know those one year old kittens I've told you about.  The servants are always talking about what nice cats they are and I do suppose it's true.  But, you know, k i t t e n s!

Now we're going to have a test.  I'm going to show you two pictures, one of June Bug and one of Toots and you get to tell me which is which.  Okay, here we go!

Alright, okay, if you look closely you can tell the difference,  That's Toots at the top.  You can see the little white spot on her nose and June Bug doesn't have that.  But those little white paws look so much alike!  I know I promised not to make fun of my servants, but . . . .  Okay, I won't!  No, no, yes I will!  I wish you could hear them with these two cats in the shop.  They run around trying to figure out which is which!  June Bug?  No, wait, you're Toots!  So now Toots has a collar on and that makes it a little easier for them, but it's still funny!  I watch from my room and I chuckle.  My chuckle sounds a lot like a purr so they don't know I'm laughing at them so their feelings aren't hurt.

Here's a funny story about cats who look alike.  Once we had three solid black kittens.  Their names were Maggie, Molly and Mandy.  One had one white whisker, but other than that they looked just alike.  So the servants had to put different colored collars on them to tell them apart.  Yeah, okay, I guess that was somewhat clever, but . . . .

I DON'T HAVE ANY TROUBLE TELLING OUR CATS APART!  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THEIR NOSES??!!

Isn't that just hilarious!  Their noses are broken!!!!  Their noses are broken and they can't see in the dark!  Oh my gosh, it's a wonder they have learned they're supposed to feed  us!

Okay, I'm sorry, I'll stop now!  Yuk, yuk!

Irresistible, indescribable cuteness

Something is very wrong and I don't understand this.  I, Lulu, did not write the above title!  It was my beautifully colored paws that typed it and I know that it came through my head . . . otherwise I would not have typed it.  But it wasn't me!  This is pretty scary!  I think I've been possessed.  Oh no, I can feel it coming on again . . . I'm losing control again . . .

CAN YOU BELIEVE THE CUTENESS?!

Oh my gosh, what's happening to me??!!  I did not write that last sentence and I did not put these pictures here!  I do know that these kittens are Bolt and Spots and I do know that they are litter mates and I do know that they like to play.  But I would not ever refer to these kittens as "cute."  Lulu doesn't do cute!

Well, I guess Bolt opted for a bath rather than playing.  That makes sense to me!  These kittens are just a little over a year old.  So, as I've explained before, this makes them kittens, at least as far as I'm concerned!  Today they were chasing each other through our quarters and the chaos involved disturbed one of my naps!

Here is Bolt by herself.  I guess Spots decided to find someone else to play with for a while since Bolt was bathing.  Look how she hams it up for the camera!  It's disgusting!  But it doesn't matter how hard she tries, her eyes will never be as big as mine!  Oh no, here it comes again!  I'm resisting the urge to do this thing that is in my brain, but . . . oh no . . .

THEY ARE SUCH PRECIOUS, SWEET BABIES, SUCH GOOD GIRLS!  I HOPE THEY GET ADOPTED TOGETHER!

Okay, I think I have this figured out!  This voice in my head sounds so familiar!  The lengths to which my servants will go!  I recognize this voice!  It is my servant Barbara and she has apparently channeled through me so that she could talk on my blog!  This cannot be happening!  I'm going to go take a nap now, my 16th one of the day, and when I wake up this is never going to happen again!  Oh sometimes these servants think they are so smart!  Listen here, Miss Barbara, you will not get inside my head again!  (Please, if I give the adopters a two for the price of one deal on these kittens, will you leave me alone?)

A Room With a View!!!

Man, oh man, oh man, do I have neat stuff to show you!  But before I show you the cool stuff, a little background.  My very own private room, with the tree and the computer, has THREE views!  Isn't that cool!  One is to the outside and I won't show you a picture of this one because you can close you eyes and imagine it . . . a parking lot . . . dark gray asphalt with cars coming and going and sometimes people.  Sometimes it gets interesting, and sometimes sad, like when a human leaves a cat out there.  They don't think I'm watching, but I am!

My second view is of the part of StreetCats where the regular (as opposed to special me) cats live.  I will show you a recent picture that is really funny!  The mess those kittens can make when they are unsupervised!  The mess was funny, but the look on the servant's face who had to clean it up was even funnier!  Isn't this funny?!

 

The kittens may be a year old and physically they may be "mature," but it only takes one look at this picture to know that their brains are still kittenish!  Please come adopt them!

Now for the good stuff!  My third view is a room referred to by my servants as the "shop," the "boutique," or the "store."  I hear things about the "merchandise" and that all the profits from the sales go to taking care of ME (well, okay, us).  But what is so not fair is that cats are not allowed out there!  Can you believe that?!  I can understand all the regular cats not being allowed out there, but this is me, Lulu, the #1 main cat!  This is just one more example of those servants going too far in taking care of us!  I guess they are just afraid we'll get hurt out there!

But was Lulu going to just accept and go along with that?!  Guess!!  You're right, no way!  I cannot reveal any secrets here, but I, intelligent, resourceful and competent Lulu, have figured out a way to get into that room.  And I used my big eyes to do it!  Don't tell anyone!  Here are some of the things I saw there!

Look at these bright colors!  These are, I think, covers for human paws!  I know they're a bit weird, but my servants don't have fur on their paws.  At least most of them don't!

I'm not sure what these pretty things that are used by humans are . . . well . . . maybe to make them look more like cats?  I don't pretend to understand everything out here, but boy are these pretty colors!

And, as you can see by this picture, everything in the shop is CATS, CATS, CATS!  I could hardly believe it!  I've seen a lot of people buying things from this shop, and I could never get a good enough view to really get why.  But wow!  I sure do now!

I am saving the very best for last!  There are a lot of things for humans who are in service to cats, and that's a great thing!  But, even better, there are so many TOYS out there!!!!  CAT toys!  There are balls of every possible kind that a cat could want to bat around!  And there are catnip toys!  There are bowls for feeding us and bowls for giving us water.  But now I'm going to show you the very best thing I found out there where I'm not supposed to go.  Shhh!  Remember, you can't tell anyone where you got this information!

These are feathery cat toys!  Or maybe they are real birds!  Oh my gosh, I could hardly control myself!  I wanted to play with them (and I don't even play as much as the kittens do!  No wonder they won't let them out there!)  But I couldn't!  I don't want to take any chance of the servants trying to figure out how I'm getting out there!

But here is what I'm going to do.  I'm going to make periodic risky forays into this universe of color and I'm going to let you know every single thing that is for sale here so that you can come and buy it!  When you do, it will help our servants with buying our food and paying for our spa!  Cool, huh?!  DON'T HESITATE!  And stay tuned for further developments!