animals, education, Family, Kids, pets, Uncategorized

Alpha and Omega

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Our daughter has two cats, and is entirely besotted by the younger one who she named Percy. He is a handsome tuxedo boy, He is very naughty, knocked over her television and busted it, and likes to make huge leaps into her garbage can because he likes the way the lid swings back and forth. He gets a lot of baths as a result, since he gets so dirty. He hides his toys in her bed.

The other day, daughter was expressing how much she loved this cat, and described him as her “Alpha and Omega”. I was surprised and gratified to hear her say that, only because it confirmed for me that dragging our children to church all those years was worth it. I guess she was listening and I didn’t even know it. I suppose I would rather she describe the Lord, and not her cat, in such terms, but it is a positive start.

What naughty animals have you loved in spite of themselves? Who has surprised you in a good way lately? What or who is your Alpha and Omega?

25 thoughts on “Alpha and Omega”

  1. My friend has 4 cats in a two bedroom apartment. They are all mischievous, but we’ll mannered in other respects. Our Welsh Terriers embodied naughty.

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  2. We had Calvin the cat back in the late 90s through most of the 2000s. He was a little mischief-maker, always beating up on his little sister, Patty, the runt of the litter. He did NOT like being disciplined, so when he misbehaved, he’d stare me down as if to say “Whatcha gonna do about it? I can run and hide and you can’t touch me.”

    But he loved to play, chasing strings or laser pointer dots or wrestling with Patty (who got him back good on rare occasions!), or batting around a yarn ball or a scrunched-up piece of paper. But when he tired, he got ornery for about five minutes, going so far as to hiss at us if we “tormented” him too much. Then he crashed and fell dead asleep for several hours.

    But when he wanted affection, I was his go-to because I didn’t manhandle him like my wife likes to do with pets. I’d let him decide if he wanted to hug me or just sit on my lap or next to me on the sofa, and what part of his body he wanted to be petted that day. Tummy rubs only occasionally. Ear rubs, anytime! Tail tugs, most of the time. Chin scratches, of course.

    Not sure about an Alpha/Omega. Too deep of a question for 8:00 am. 🙂

    I guess I’ve been surprised (but not completely because a precedent had been set back when my first book came out) that so many online baboon friends have come to my book signing events. It’s not that this group isn’t wonderfully supportive and friendly, it’s just that I never expected online friendships could be so strong. So thanks again to all of you who have taken the time to show your support for my writing career. I appreciate it more than I can say.

    Chris in Owatonna

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  3. I guess all my cats have been relatively well behaved. Charlie the Cat would bring his carnivore offerings to the back door, what was left of them. I’m sure they knocked things off the table/counter/shelf..
    I do remember one cat who would leap to the top of the fridge, so I had to be careful what I kept up there.

    Lately I’ve been surprised at how much fun it is to be outside again, on the warmer days.

    I think of “my Alpha and Omega” as where I put most of my energy – lately that has been Husband, and the Unitarians. : )

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  4. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    My Alpha/Omega combination was my dad and his dad, my grandfather, when I was very young. I did just about anything I could to get to hang out with either one of them. Even better was having them together. They loved to watch sports, especially baseball, together. You could find me firmly planted on one of their laps, happily sucking my thumb. I wish I could say that my A/O fixation was attached to a religious institution, but the evolution of churches and other religious institutions over the last 15 years is appalling to me. The low point was Evangelical Christians supporting #45. While I have never been an Evangelical, their judgmental, hypocritical behavior demonstrated over time has given them all a black eye. I do understand why the younger generation avoids religion entirely.

    Who has suprised me lately? In terms of politics and government leadership, I have been delighted with the likes of Stacy Abrams, Adam Schiff, and Pete Buttegieg. There are others as well. And then in music there is Brandi Carlisle who continues to get better and bettter.

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  5. The only naughty pet that I’ve ever had was a fish that ended up going into solitary confinement until he died
    That fish convinced me that there are people who are simply not fit to be amongst others like Jeffrey Dahmer whose brains are not correct and who simply cannot be socialized
    today I have two cats and two dogs all wonderful models of ideal pet behavior and about 15 fish and two tanks that enjoy life as much as you can as a fish I don’t think their take on existence is much more than acknowledgment but maybe we don’t want to go down that path to far because I’m not sure my appreciation in reality can be considered otherwise
    Who has surprised me with good behavior first one that comes to mind is my grandson Ari the other day we were somewhere and I was trying to deal with he and his brother it was at school and his teacher had not prepared him properly to be picked up and I was sorting through what needed to be done with him as his brother Denver was wandering away and I was trying to corral him and the overly and 10 attitude I was taking on made me a bit crazy and I already looked up at me and said hey Pop why are you so frustrated and all I could do was laugh
    He is like this little essence that gets it completely and doesn’t understand why we who taught it to him can’t follow the rules of the road
    my alpha and omega new terms to me by the way seeing as I’m not a religious follower and that was not part of my Catholic upbringing when I was… Is this planet that we live on what a marvelous opportunity to enjoy seek participate in the most fantastic journey and to be able to find the treasures that you found along the way make it all worthwhile

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  6. My torbie kitty is my Alpha and Omega. She was found on a country road someplace in Iowa, languished in a shelter there, was sent up to the Twin Cities to a foster organization, and was on display in the local Chuck & Don’s when my roommate and I happened to come in, saw her and fell in love. If we’d been 15 minutes later, her foster mom would’ve picked her up, and she would have gone to a different Chuck & Don’s. It was kismet! For the first year at least, she was anxious and so very careful to be a good girl, so she wouldn’t be sent away–she’s relaxed and even gotten a tiny bit naughty over the years. She’s super maternal, and if one of us isn’t feeling well she’ll come cuddle and purr to make it better. Her only real flaw is a bad habit of chewing plastic (bags, window film, stuff like that) when she wants to let the humans know she’s hungry (no bad outcomes from that habit yet, and hopefully not ever). We have 4 cats at present and both of us have had cats before, but she’s an extra special little girl.

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  7. While I’m familiar with the concept of “Alpha and Omega” as mentioned in the New Testament, I’ve never really thought of it as a purely religious concept. I think of it more as a poetic way of phrasing a romantic ideal.

    As someone who thinks of religious fervor as suspect, if not downright dangerous, I’m skeptical of “Alpha and Omega” used in that context. When used in any other way, I see it as a nice bit of hyperbole the sentiment of which will likely fade over time.

    While I may at one time have thought of a single person as my “Alpha and Omega,” I have long since come to realize that it is not wise to have everything wrapped up in one or two people.

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  8. I’ve had any number of animals that I’ve loved in spite of all the trouble they could get themselves into. The list is really too long to name them all, but Bessie, our airedale, probably tops the list. The number of scrapes that dog got herself into is mind boggling, some of them quite serious, but there was something about her personality that we just could not resist. Bess was a handful, that’s probably why we found her at the dog pound. Despite all of the trouble she got into, we both loved that dog to pieces.

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  9. I’ve only had two cats. Zorro was such a good kitty – my friend Lori used to always say he was a dog in a cat suit. Nimue is sometimes referred to as the terrorist tabby but she has mellowed a bit with age. When she was a kitten it was chaos.

    Dogs – another matter. All of my Irish Setters were… well, let’s say scoundrels. Lovable but troublemakers. My big ole Samoyeds were angels. Not the brightest bulbs, but the best boys.

    Alpha & Omega in one person… well, that could only be YA.

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  12. So, I got back to my friend’s apartment and I can only find three cats. I know that no cats escaped as I entered the apartment. There are lots of kitty hiding places. Damn cats.

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  14. My late cat, Sammy, was really good at interrupting me when I was trying to work on accumulated paperwork and junk mail. He’d leap up and land on whatever pile I was dealing with, scattering papers everywhere. He was also good at positioning himself squarely between my eyes and what ever I was trying to read, particularly if I was lying down..

    Now that he’s gone, I miss that. It was really annoying at the time, though.

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    1. I love this. Thanks for posting, Linda. There’s such comfort in human voices being raised in harmony and peace. ❤

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