News & Praise

We got some news today regarding the job Aaron’s been trying for. He’s now on to the next and final round. Yes, we thought the last round was the final round, but apparently there’s one more hoop to jump through, and it involves interviewing with some of the heads of the agency.

The HR person who contacted him was even nice enough to give him tips for this interview. She said another person’s interview at this level had not gone well, and she didn’t want to interview anyone else. He meets with them on Friday.

Thank you all for the good thoughts so far – keep it up!

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In other news, I need to take a moment and offer up a little praise for my cats. I know some of you are dog people, and some of you just don’t like cats at all, but my cats deserve a little recognition. They’re not your normal, standoff-ish, butt in your face cats.

First, the two boys are Siamese. My favorite breed, they are a cross between dogs and humans wrapped in a cat’s body. They think they are human, and unlike many cats who demand you deal with them on their terms, Siamese need their people. Without people they are lonely and sad. One might even call them codependent.


But not only do our kitties shower us with furry love, they also earn their keep. When we moved into our new house, we found a lot of spiders. Anyone who knows me knows that I am terrified of spiders. I hate them and their eight legs and their beady eyes.

I have a long-standing treaty with the spider species: if they remain outside the walls of my house and off of me and my family, I shall do them no harm. But if they come into my house, they forfeit their right to live. Sadly, many of them didn’t get the message, or chose to ignore it, and so have lost their lives.

One morning while still pregnant, I came downstairs to be greeted with a giant spider body at the foot of the stairs. I shrieked at first, then realized it was dead. Dante, my blue-point Siamese, was there next to it, proudly showing off his trophy. I gave him lots of praise as I disposed of the spider corpse.

Dante does a good job of dealing with spiders, although he has a tendency to play with them for too long, enabling some to escape. Then we got Marlowe, our kitten. Marlowe has more of the predatory instinct in him, along with a love of fresh spider for dinner.

These past few weeks, thanks to the nearly unending streak of rain, the spiders have been crossing territory lines in high numbers. And thankfully I am not greeted with spider bodies each day. Dante and Marlowe work together as a team to wear the spider down, and then Marlowe goes for the kill and eats the spider. Sometimes the spider fights back, but Marlowe doesn’t let a little pinch on the nose or mouth stop him. Each time I see a spider devoured, I reach for the treats and give both cats lots of praise.

But Marlowe has proven useful in other ways as well. He cleans up the crumbs Cordy drops when eating. (See? I told you they’re like dogs!) He also doesn’t limit his fresh meat to spiders. He also enjoys an occasional stray ant and moth.

After the perimeter has been patrolled and all arachnids are exterminated, the cats then provide the service of lap warmer to me on the couch. Who can resist service like that?

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Comments

  1. My cat has a mind of his own. He comes and goes as he pleases, he only wants to be pet on his terms, and every day he leaves me the carcass of some rodent on the front step (even hugs rats that reminded me so much of an ROUS!). Sometimes I wish he was so cuddly and cat-like, but I can live without pests, so for that I thank him!

  2. I was very impressed when you wrote about your spider killing cats over at my blog last week…and they eat them, too that is amazing! I will have to get me a cat like that!
    I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you guys on the job thing…*good thoughts*

  3. hehe! We too have a Siamese cat (he is half from a shelter).

    He is a monster of a cat weighing in at 19 lbs! (he is big bones from his alley cat father!! but so fat too!)

    We had mice in our last house (ew I know student housing icky!) He was such a protecter!! He played the mouse to death and ate it all!!! Except the guts, he left those there for us so we could praise him (gross!) Not sure where the tiny bones went (do they eat bones? wait I do not want to know!)

    I am a dog girl at heart, but my Siamese cat is the best!

    YAY! For one more interview (arg my toes are cramping from crossing…will keep them crossed though!)

  4. What beautiful cats!!!

    Congrats on Hubby, still keeping my fingers crossed for him!

    http://daisygrl.wordpress.com/

  5. I must admit that i’m usually a dog person, but have been in contact with a couple of cats, one at the moment that was a stray and for whatever reason decided that we were home, maybe it was the food we gave her….anyway she’s a bit psycho, but good fun, and while she doesn’t get the spiders, any flies are toying with their life if they get too close..

  6. Wahoo about Aaron’s interviews! Keeping up the good wishes for the final interview!

    VERY cool cats. Ours are cute and fun and ANNOYING AS HELL, but I think I’d love them even more if they served a purpose like yours do!

    My sister once had a cat who would deal with her phobic critters – though not as completely as your team – snakes! I was living with my sis part of the time so the cat would kill or at least severely wear down the snake, and then I would take it outside and throw it up the hill…

  7. Mommy off the Record says

    Siamese cats are awesome. My grandfather had one that was so smart that he would whistle to them from across the street and they would come running for food.

    BTW: congrats on the good news about Aaron’s job! Wishing more good thoughts for Friday’s interview!

  8. You’re right, Siamese cats are like dogs. My uncle had a siamese when I was growing up and he had a sign on his house that read “Beware of Attack Cat”. That cat scared away strangers and small children and it scared the sh*t out of me.
    I don’t have anything against Siamese in general (your’s sound wonderful!) but that particular cat still haunts my dreams.

  9. I adore siamese cats. I love that throaty weird meow they toss around.

    And it’s a bonus if they also do pest control.

  10. I had a siamese named Mozart. He was the best cat ever. He played fetch with popsicle sticks. Oh how I loved him. However, the hubs did not love him. And in the end I had to choose.

    Since the hubs brought in an income I had to go with him. And Mozart went to a friends where he is still very happy.

    It was a tough choice. I still remind the hubs about it…

  11. Okay, I’ll make an exception to my “all cats are evil” rule for yours. I’ve never owned or even met a Siamese so I will not pass judgment on the entire breed. Lap warmers are good. And they are damn cute.