Cats, Squirrels & Captain Argentina
In Response to Cat Fancies Review by the introvert
Introvert, my dear, first I apologize for being a hard-ass about the photo links. Editors have lamented about being harassed for pirating photos simply because they posted someone else’s uncredited images. Simply protecting you and me.
Second, thank you a hundred times for hanging in there until I felt confident to publish this. It was worth the wait.
However, my cat Tango was on my desk while I watched many of the videos and he was not impressed. In fact, he never glanced at the screen. Instead, he walked on my keyboard, scattered papers on the floor, and tried unsuccessfully to curl on my lap. To his credit, he is more of a sleeper than a watcher. And, besides, he sits on our porch multiple times a day watching squirrels, ducks, crows, cardinals, wrens, woodpeckers, lizards, and a variety of bugs — IRL, not on video.
I, however, was entertained — my threshold for amusement is obviously lower than my cat’s — until, I reached the squirrel deterrent obstacle course. That’s when I became so mesmerized I engaged Captain Argentina in watching the video with me. He was thoroughly engrossed by Mark Rober’s engineering wonderland because he, too, has tried to route squirrels away from the food he puts out for our cardinals, Rojito and Marona.
His idea of “tricking” the squirrels (who have their own buffet of peanuts in shells, peanuts out of shells, and sunflower seeds — they are NOT deprived) was to put the bird food on our air conditioning unit, on top of our tiki torch lights, and on the platform of a windchime. Yeah, none of those worked. He was amazed that the squirrels always found the bird food, even doing simple acrobatics to reach the top of tiki torches and the wind chime platform.
He was impressed with their ingenuity until he saw that video. Now, he is shocked that our squirrels didn’t spit in his eye after easily reaching the bird food that he so ingeniously put out of their reach — hah!
I believe Mark Rober convinced the Captain to give up on fooling squirrels — it cannot be done. With that said, I want to tag Jack Herlocker here because he also tries to outsmart squirrels.
Hey, Jack, you must watch this video. Then, give up, dude!
the introvert, I always enjoy your cat pieces but this was the best of the best. Interesting and entertaining — well, for me and the Captain — for Tango, not so much. Our other feline, Sébastien, doesn’t stay still long enough, unless he’s napping, to watch a video and he has no interest in sitting on my desk to stare at a computer screen. He’s our security patrol, always on the lookout for dangers lurking under the dining table, by the front door, in cabinets and closets, and on the back porch. He has important work to do!
But, keep trying. A video of a variety of cats walking and laying on keyboards might stir a bit of interest from Tango. Maybe, a clip of Mall Cop will do the trick for Sébastien.
