Happy Caturday: my cats refused to run, แมวไม่ยอมวิ่ง

I was so glad to be reunited with my orange cats again. They were also very happy to see me back at the house which meant that they could sleep safely inside the sitting room all day long. I noticed some strange movements of stray dogs from my neighbours’ houses. This was the first time a black stray dog crept under the fence to sleep by the boulders under the trees. I had to chase him away a few times. Whenever my cats sat quietly on the window ledge, I knew that dog was not far away. So, we had to place bamboo poles between the big gaps along the wire fence. We also place branches and coconut branches to block up these gaps.

My cats put on more than one kilo each, Joan was almost five kilos which made it difficult to hold him with only one arm. Joan was so sweet and he liked to sleep on my shoulders. This big cat seemed to understand me and trust me completely. I could ask him to come to lie down next to my hand, he behaved like a puppy! These two cats would try to escape from my grip when I signaled to them to go downstairs to their toilets before going to sleep. But I could order them to be still with my thought so that I could catch one cat at a time easily. That’s why I think any cats must be somewhat psychic. They did respond to my thoughts and I could sense that they were waiting outside the door to be allowed inside the room again.

I noticed that my cats liked to listen to my loud conversation with the gardener. They would wake up and ran down to sit quietly while listening to our loud exchanges. Local people here are very lively and animated; they liked to be very expressive and vocal which reminded me of Italian people. I thought my cats were secretly learning how to speak our language and they might surprise me one day!

One day the rain gave us a break so I waited till late afternoon when the earth was less soggy. Then, I persuaded my cats to go out for a walk with me in banana grove. But they refused to walk with me. They have become fat and lazy! So, I collected my cat one by one and put each inside a new vegetable box with bamboo borders. Joan liked this new square box so much that he settled down for a rest. Then, I caught Kwan and brought her to join her brother. Kwan also liked this new bamboo box and sniff the bamboo poles. They tried to settle down for a rest so I had to carry them to the open field to let them explore the area a bit. I tried to persuade them to run after me but they just settled down on the vegetable patch instead.

These cats behaved like small children sometimes. I often wondered why I was attracted to some cats and dogs. In the past I had adopted two stray dogs who roamed around the beach in front of our rented bangalow or small hut. We cooked them dinner while we had our holiday there every fortnight. They came to guard our hut every night making sure that no thief could get near our hut. I could feel something in their eyes while enquiring about their past life. I do believe that animals that became attached to me and obeyed my orders must have been my soldiers in the past life. I had several dreams about my past life as a warrior several hundreds years ago.

The deep memory of previous experiences somehow drew me to meet old acquaintances and companions from other life time. That’s why I would accidentally meet high level people who befriended me and accepted me as one of their family members. I seemed to attract people from the intelligence service and high ranking officials. In the past I often got invitations to work in various departments. But I declined all the offers and maintained my simple lifestyle. We were probably connected during some military campaigns in our past lives and that close feelings of fighting together in the battle fields remained deep in our mind. But I had moved on from making war and fighting in battles to meditation and following a more enlightening path. I was surprised by myself once when I could handle a big sword as if I had been having lessons for years. The instructor would not believe that I had never handle a sword before. So, I was quite convinced that these two cats were my soldiers who guarded my quarter in the old days! That’s why I felt obliged to look after them in this life time. I also had a dream about the past life of my gardener which would explain why she voluntarily came to work for me. Life is full of mysterious stories from many past life times.

I was exhausted by carrying these heavy cats around the fields and putting them further away from the house. In this way I could make sure they had a decent walking exercise. My cats no longer ran around the garden and sprung up onto trees. I had to put them on tree branches to make sure they could still grip on branches. They would stay on the branches without climbing any higher and jumped down to the ground. So, I have decided to put my cats on a diet for a month. I hope they would lose some weight while I had to tie up loose ends in Bangkok. I hope that they would be grateful to my concern about their health!

เราดีใจมากที่ได้กลับไปหาแมวส้มสองตัวที่บ้านสวน แมวสองตัวอ้วนขึ้นมากจนน่าตกใจ แต่แมวจำเราได้และแสดงความดีใจที่เห็นเรากลับบ้าน แมวได้กลับมานอนบนโต๊ะในห้องนั่งเล่นอย่างปลอดภัยและสบายใจ พวกแมวจะนอนหลับสนิทมากเวลานอนอยู่ในบ้าน เพราะรู้ว่าปลอดภัยจากสุนัขเร่ร่อน ซึ่งช่วงนี้มีสุนัขจรจัดสีดำชอบแอบเข้ามานอนที่ก้อนหินใต้ต้นไม้ใหญ่ มันแอบลอดใต้รั้วรวดหนามเข้ามาสามครั้ง เราก็ไล่มันออกไปทั้งสามครั้ง เวลาที่แมววิ่งมานั่งเงียบๆที่ขอบหน้าต่าง เราจะรู้ทันทีว่าสุนัขจรจัดเข้ามาในบริเวณบ้านแล้ว เราก็จะเดินหาว่าสุนัขอยู่ที่ไหน และไล่มันออกไปนอกบ้าน

เรากับคนสวนต้องหาทาวอุดรรั่วตามรั้ว โดยเอาไม้ไผ่มาติกอุดช่องว่าง เพื่อไม่ให้สุนัขแอบลอดเข้ามาได้ แล้วเอากิ่งไม้และทางมะพร้าวมาวางอุดช่องว่างอีกที เราก็จะสบายใจขึ้น แมวจะได้ปลอดภัยมากขึ้นด้วย วันที่ฝนไม่ตก เราก็ตั้งใจพาแมวไปเดินเล่นในสวนกล้วย. แมวจะได้เดินเล่น และวิ่งเล่นเหมือนที่เคยปฎิบัติ แต่คราวนี้พวกแมวไม่ยอมเดินตามเรา เราก็เลยต้องไปอุ้มแมวทีละตัว แล้วเอามาวางไว้ในคอกปลูกผักที่กำลังทำให้สูง เจ้าจอมชอบคอกไม้ไผ่มาก ถึงขนาดลงไปนั่งเล่นอย่างสบายใจ เราก็ไปอุ้มเจ้าขวัญมาที่คิดไม้ไผ่ มันก็สนใจมากและเดินดมกลิ่นไปทั่ว แต่แมวก็ไม่ยอมวิ่งออกกำลังกาย และพากันนั่งแปะอยู่กับที่ เดือดร้อนเราต้องอุ้มแมวทีละตัวไปวางไว้ที่ไกลจากบ้านสักหน่อย พวกแมวจะได้เดินไกลหน่อย แต่ไม่ค่อยได้ผล มันไม่ยอมวิ่งเล่นไล่จับเหมือนแต่ก่อน เราจึงให้ลดอาหารแมวหนึ่งในสามทันที ถ้าปล่อยให้อ้วนต่อไป สุขภาพจะต้องเสื่อมถอยแน่นอน เราก็หวังว่าแมวส้มสองตัวจะมีสุขภาพดีแข็งแรง และอยู่กับเราไปนานหลายปีอย่างมีความสุข

Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.

Stay strong and cheerful.