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ysabetwordsmithThis poem was inspired and sponsored by elinox. It also fills the "Shaggy Man" square in my 9-1-22 card for the Land of Oz Bingo fest. It belongs to the series Monster House.
"The Shaggy Man and His Countless Cats"
Everyone knew about
the house on the corner
and its furry menagerie.
Above the round front porch
was a smaller round sunroom
all walled in glass with ledges
around the middle and top where
the indoor cats could lounge.
In the front yard there were
flowerbeds of hot pink and
bright butterflies to chase,
along with an old blue car
whose warm hood made
a perfect place to nap.
In the back yard there was
a row of cozy little cat shelters
and a feeding station for strays.
There were always cats on
the sidewalk and the mailbox
and peeking through the curtains.
The Shaggy Man had known
countless cats in his time.
There were calico cats
and standard-issue cats
with black-and-brown stripes
and lucky black house panthers.
They came on silent feet
with delicate whiskers,
soft fur, and long tails.
They were stalking eyes
in the night and dagger paws.
They were snuggle monsters
who purred like lawn mowers.
On the weekends, when
the neighborhood children
were home from school, they
clustered around the Shaggy Man.
He told them stories of legendary cats,
of lion-hearted heroes and leopard ladies
with their claws as sharp as scimitars.
And if, sometimes, the moon
flashed in his amber eyes
like a second light,
nobody said a word.
* * *
Notes:
See the Shaggy Man's house.
Standard Issue Cats are brownish-to-grayish tabbies, more often tiger striped or spotted than swirled, sometimes including white marks.
Explore a variety of cat shelters and feeding stations. These are easy to find or make from a wide assortment of readily available materials.
elinox. It also fills the "Shaggy Man" square in my 9-1-22 card for the Land of Oz Bingo fest. It belongs to the series Monster House."The Shaggy Man and His Countless Cats"
Everyone knew about
the house on the corner
and its furry menagerie.
Above the round front porch
was a smaller round sunroom
all walled in glass with ledges
around the middle and top where
the indoor cats could lounge.
In the front yard there were
flowerbeds of hot pink and
bright butterflies to chase,
along with an old blue car
whose warm hood made
a perfect place to nap.
In the back yard there was
a row of cozy little cat shelters
and a feeding station for strays.
There were always cats on
the sidewalk and the mailbox
and peeking through the curtains.
The Shaggy Man had known
countless cats in his time.
There were calico cats
and standard-issue cats
with black-and-brown stripes
and lucky black house panthers.
They came on silent feet
with delicate whiskers,
soft fur, and long tails.
They were stalking eyes
in the night and dagger paws.
They were snuggle monsters
who purred like lawn mowers.
On the weekends, when
the neighborhood children
were home from school, they
clustered around the Shaggy Man.
He told them stories of legendary cats,
of lion-hearted heroes and leopard ladies
with their claws as sharp as scimitars.
And if, sometimes, the moon
flashed in his amber eyes
like a second light,
nobody said a word.
* * *
Notes:
See the Shaggy Man's house.
Standard Issue Cats are brownish-to-grayish tabbies, more often tiger striped or spotted than swirled, sometimes including white marks.
Explore a variety of cat shelters and feeding stations. These are easy to find or make from a wide assortment of readily available materials.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-06 10:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-06 11:34 pm (UTC)I can envision one little white girl of maybe nine or ten, sporting thick glasses and braided hair, sitting on this gentleman's sidewalk with a purring snuggle monster of a cat climbing all over her, to the amused bewilderment of her parents. Call it totally random of some summer morning, and neither the cat nor the human has a care in the world. Whoops? :P
Or maybe the grown-up version of that girl, minus the glasses and braids... yep, I'd totally let myself be charmed by a random kitty or several if they decided to greet me as I was passing by this man's house. I'd end up covered in fur and happy as a clam.
Deliberate icon is regal multicolored torbie deliberate.
Yay!
Date: 2022-09-07 12:34 am (UTC)Your additional images are also adorable. :D
Re: Yay!
Date: 2022-09-07 03:27 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-06 11:43 pm (UTC)Huh... I'm a cousin of the Shaggy Man indeed!
Go you!
Date: 2022-09-07 12:36 am (UTC)Re: Go you!
Date: 2022-09-07 12:40 am (UTC)Well, not only do I have three cat shelters in my garden, plus a feeding station that keeps the rain off, and the workshop and fences all of which were designed for usage by feline friends... but now I'm building shelters for the neighbours who have absorbed what I've said about designing spaces so all it's inhabitants are welcome and can use it!
and that's just the outside of where I live!
Re: Go you!
Date: 2022-09-07 12:59 am (UTC)Awesome.
>> but now I'm building shelters for the neighbours who have absorbed what I've said about designing spaces so all it's inhabitants are welcome and can use it! <<
That is wonderful, spreading the practice.
>> and that's just the outside of where I live! <<
I think you'd be great at designing cat furniture, like a sheet metal coffee table or end table with different holes for cats to climb through.
Re: Go you!
Date: 2022-09-07 01:02 am (UTC)looks over to the coffee table with the cat peeking up through it
Um. Yes. That's something I can definitely do.
Re: Go you!
Date: 2022-09-07 01:13 am (UTC)https://kocistyl.com/userdata/public/gfx/4190bc4eb9991a3be917f00da7a0b1c3.jpg
Cubes are easy to make from many materials. Cut some holes of different sizes. The cubes can then be assembled into a coffee table, desk, bookcase sides, or other pieces of furniture where cats could move around the interior. One or two would make a good end table.
If you choose a lightweight material, such as aluminum, and provide screw holes/brackets then you could hang these on the wall. Ornamental brackets are easy to make, and a good way to use up scrap material. You could even do metal cutwork on the room-facing side for a decorative effect. In fact, if you really want to get fancy, cut the round bottoms off of glass bottles, grind smooth, and inset those in some of the circle cutouts.
Re: Go you!
Date: 2022-09-07 01:21 am (UTC)That's an idea. I started out with some cheap coffee and end tables I got from a charity shop and modified them (Upgrades people. Upgrades!) but starting from scratch would mean I would be free to design it how I wanted, rather than working within the confines of what's already there.
and Aluminium would be a better choice, cats are rough on furniture even if you provide them with scratching posts. Hmm.. you could use acrylic tubing and thread that with some led lights to create internal lighting... although I think 3mm or better wall thickness to give it resistance to sharp little teeth gnawing on it. or go with 25mm (1 inch) diameter tubing making it too wide for them to get their mouth around easily. In which case it could serve as internal pillar supports for the top.
and why not make your coffee table into a cat playground and accent lighting lamp at the same time, Hmm?!
Re: Go you!
Date: 2022-09-07 01:37 am (UTC)I'm sure your sense of design far exceeds commercial offerings.
>> and Aluminium would be a better choice, cats are rough on furniture even if you provide them with scratching posts.<<
So very true.
Consider replaceable soft surfaces for catnapping or scratching. Some modern-style products are mostly sleek but have a sisal-wrapped pillar, cat hammock, or slanted scratching board with carpet or cloth. Soft materials should be easy to get from a thrift store.
>> Hmm.. you could use acrylic tubing and thread that with some led lights to create internal lighting... although I think 3mm or better wall thickness to give it resistance to sharp little teeth gnawing on it. or go with 25mm (1 inch) diameter tubing making it too wide for them to get their mouth around easily. In which case it could serve as internal pillar supports for the top.<<
Check aquarium stores if you can't find what you want in a hardware or plumbing supply store. They have a wide variety of tubes.
>>and why not make your coffee table into a cat playground and accent lighting lamp at the same time, Hmm?!<<
Exactly. In a small space, multifunctional furniture is an asset. Storage is nice, but with pets it helps to give them some space of their own. If you're making tables with 2+ cubes then you could include a drawer unit and a cabinet door unit for people to mix and match uses. Pet / human space, or pet play / pet supply space.
Re: Go you!
Date: 2022-09-07 01:54 am (UTC)Exactly! You could light the interior with warm white leds, and place coloured acrylic on the inside of those fancy laser cut brass panels giving it a stained glass effect. cats on the whole prefer plush micropile fleece or velour, although some prefer smooth harder surfaces to lounge on, so if you used T-track edging as part of the construction you could slot frames with covers of your choice of fabric to make cat hammocks. Plus, removable covers makes washing much easier.
Hm... I'd design the side panels to be easy to remove as well, in case of the little darling brings up a hairball and it needs cleaning inside. Something with sliding locks on a frame so you can mix & match those as well, giving the thing some flexibility in orientation with respect to walls etc. You could then throw in a strong hessian backed carpet tile coated panel for them to strop their claws on.
Come to think of it, base it on a standardized aluminium frame cube of a set size and have some sort of interlocking system so you can join them together semi-permanent, so you could put the cubes together however you wanted. Want a sofa? Long row of cubes with a panel back and cushions on top of the seat cubes. Table? stack two vertically and put a solid panel on top. Desk? make two towers and a longer solid panel between them. Book cases? Mostly open cubes with horizontal panels.... and so on and so forth... and all of it pet accessible and reconfigurable.
Something like the old fischertechnik sets for the frame, but in aluminium perhaps.
Re: Go you!
Date: 2022-09-07 10:32 am (UTC)As an after thought.. aluminium can be anodised, giving it a durable coating that will take dying to produce any colour you want. You can even apply a mask to it, allowing you to coat it in multiple colours in layers and patterns.
I think Art Deco and William Morris inspired designs would probably work best with it too. But that's just me.
(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-07 08:42 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2022-09-08 12:22 am (UTC)And bonus yay for filling an Oz square!
Thank you. *happy purr*
Yay!
Date: 2022-09-08 12:49 am (UTC)Thank you!
>> And bonus yay for filling an Oz square!<<
I'm up to 9 already, although no more than 3 in any one line.
>> Thank you. *happy purr* <<
You're welcome. :D I'm glad you liked this.