The Omnipresent Feline

The word "omnipresent" isn't used much these days. It's a theological reference to the fact that God is able to be in all places at once. Now, Sylvester hasn't shown very many Divine qualities, let me tell you. However, the ability to be multiple places seemingly at the same time is one he's got mastered.

When it's time to...

• Change the sheets on the bed - Sylvester's there. He hops on the bed immediately when we want to change the sheets. He's completely fine with being trapped beneath the fitted sheet or buried with the comforter.

• Play any board game - Sylvester's there. There's nothing more invigorating than having a cat walk through a game of Stratego after you've spent 30 minutes setting up the board!

• Write a blog post - Sylvester's there. He reserves the right to edit any comments (by walking across the keyboard or simply blocking the author's view of the monitor).

• Brush my teeth - Sylvester's there. Running water is both fascinating and satisfying - Silly likes to drink straight from the tap.

• Open any drawer in the bedroom (where there might be treats) or the kitchen (where there might be canned cat food) - Sylvester's there - for obvious reasons.

• Give attention or food to any other cat in the house - Sylvester's there. Heaven forbid that any OTHER cat should be given attention, entertainment or food without Syl's blessing.

It would be great to see Syl attempt to imitate the Almighty in more positive ways. Say, perhaps, try being selfless or giving or loving. But for now, it appears that the one attribute he's got down is omnipresence. Let's just say Hermione and Charlie (our other cats) should be glad he doesn't have a shot at that other Divine "omni" - omnipotence!

I am Sylvester's Human

Anyone who owns a cat knows that, from the cat's point of view anyway, you belong to the cat, and not vice versa. So, with that reality in mind, I consider myself to be not Tom Gossett, husband of 21 years to Monica and father of Matt (11) and Jessica (20), but rather Sylvester's Human. As you can see from his confidently restful pose, Sylvester (or Syl or Silly, for short - and for good reason) is quite confident that I have the proper view of things.

As Silly's homo sapien, I have to say that I'm "owned" by quite a cat. This year old tabby can do the following:
1. Open any drawer in which a treat is hiding
2. Open any bag in any drawer in which a treat is hiding
3. Extract a drinking straw from a glass container full of straws (with a lid) without knocking over the container or spilling the other straws
4. Eat all of his food AND have time to make sure that "his" other cats (Hermione and Charlie) are unable to eat their food until he wolfs down half of it.

In this blog, I'll give you an update of Silly's activities, post photos of his latest antics, and maybe even opine about things of interest to his human. Syl won't mind if I occasionally talk about things like the rest of his human or cat family, technology, movies, project management or other things I care about. And if he does - that's tough (please don't tell him I said that).