Cat window perch

She named him Tofu because he looked like a delicious slice of fried tofu; creamy white with a dusting of gold on his ears, nose and tail. He was a cream point ragdoll cat, a breed that is friendly and affectionate with long luscious hair like a Persian. But Lafayette resident Kathleen Faraday also knew Tofu by another name: the under the bed cat because of his penchant for hiding.

I felt blessed to find a 2-year-old ragdoll for just $100. The owner had him cornered in the guest bathroom, citing that otherwise, the skittish cat would hide. But Tofu was so gorgeous, I dismissed the owners comments – I had to have him.

True to form, Tofu stationed himself under my bed the minute we arrived home. However, after a couple of weeks, when Tofu realized this was indeed his new home, he left his safe haven and took possession of me. He kissed my cheeks every evening before curling up next to me on the bed and repeated the gesture every morning. My other cat, Chosun, claimed the far end of the bed and completely dismissed Tofu. I often noticed great tufts of hair and knew a territorial battle had occurred. Occasionally, I witnessed a feline boxing match, each on hind legs throwing punches.

The adoption of my new Tibetan terrier, Bentley, once again drove Tofu back to familiar territory: under the bed. There, he would wait for Bentleys bedtime. The minute he heard the click of the latch on Bentleys crate, a white shadow would streak from under the bed. My grandkids always knew to peek under the bed to greet Tofu. In return, they enjoyed a friendly meow back.

Last May, Tofu had an abscess followed by a diagnosis of kidney disease. I rallied, flushing his abscess with antibiotics and hydrating him with an IV bag hung on a door hook. As he recovered, I declared him my miracle cat, but his veterinarian cautioned that the kidney disease was not reversible.

Still, I clung to high hopes until Tofu had an accident on my bed. This had never happened before. I reassured myself it was an accident, right? He didnt mean to. But when it occurred again and again, friends started asking the unanswerable question, What are you going to do? I knew my answer the night I crawled into bed and there it was: yet another huge puddle that had gone right through to the feather bed. I prayed for guidance, knowing neither Tofu nor I could live like this. I scheduled an appointment the next day.

After examining my dear cat, his veterinarian announced grimly that Tofus kidneys were huge, with much of his weight gain due to fluids in his abdomen. Lymphoma comes to mind, she said, gently adding, You could save him a great deal of pain. I couldnt speak around the lump in my throat. How could I make that choice? I held Tofu, stroking him as he hid his head under my elbow. Just that morning he had happily polished off his breakfast and then rubbed up against my leg with contentment. How could I do this? How could I not?

The under the bed cat went to heaven that day. And that evening, when I latched Bentleys dog crate, I swear I saw a flash of white dart by.

E-mail pet tales to home@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page E – 6 of the San#xA0;Francisco#xA0;Chronicle

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(CBS) When his missing cat, Lola, was found in a trash bin, howling in distress, Darryl Mann, of Coventry, England, checked the surveillance video from a security camera outside his house.

On the tape, Mann saw a woman pause to stroke the cat, then inexplicably drop it in the bin.

CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reported on The Early Show the cat was trapped in the trash container for 15 hours.

Mann told reporters, I dont know how anyone could, you know, go to bed and sleep at night knowing theyve just locked a cat in a wheelie-bin; I just, you know, I dont know what was going through her head at the time.

Mystified by the random act of cruelty that turned his cat into kitty litter, Mann posted the video on Facebook, where it didnt take long to stir online outrage, even death threats aimed at the middle-aged woman from the middle of England ultimately identified as 45-year old Mary Bale, who works at a local bank.

Bale told the tabloid The Sun, It was a split second of madness.

She explained to the paper, I thought it would be funny. And anyway, she added, Its just a cat.

Now police and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals are investigating.

Lola, according to her owner, is tired, but fine.

To see the surveillance tape of the cat being dropped in the trash bin, click on the videos below.

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The 63-year-old Pierce County Fair was well on its way Thursday to achieving its stated goal: To provide a venue to the citizenry of Pierce County to showcase their talents and accomplishments.

The annual celebration of rural life and community pride continues through Sunday with vendors, carnival rides, animal displays, competitions and entertainment.

In one livestock shelter, tufts of black hair fell to the ground as Lucy Bell received a haircut.

The 9-month-old black Simmental heifer snorted and wagged her head in the neck brace that held her in position.

Austin Vestal stopped his work and pressed the backside of electric clippers to the animals forehead.

When you do that, it calms them down, said the 18-year-old from Roy.

It gets them used to it.

The heifer relaxed and Vestal continued to trim.

Vestal, who will be a senior at Yelm High School, said raising the cow is giving him valuable experience, because he hopes to someday become a veterinarian.

As he ran the clippers around the animals face, he cut most of the hair short, but left some length on the top knot.

I leave a little bit up here, because I like to have the little Mohawk thing, he said.

In other display halls, members of 4-H, FFA and other organizations entered contest divisions such as animal sciences, plants, environmental stewardship, mechanical sciences, shooting sports, social sciences, art, home economics and educational outreach.

All qualified entries receive a ribbon.

Inside an arena, children in helmets rode horses as they took part in equestrian gaming competitions.

In one building, cats relaxed in cages that were decorated as intricate dioramas. One cat lived among Jacob and Edward in a wooded Twilight theme. Another cats bed was surrounded by wooden framing as if for a small house the cats owner had been on a mission trip to Mexico and came home inspired.

Beyond the carnival rides and the concessions, tall fir trees provided shade, where people ate or listened to entertainment acts.

William and Megan Cooke of Graham pushed their 3-year-old son, Logan, in a stroller.

We live close, Megan Cooke said. This is his first fair, so its a nice little fair for kids his age.

While it was Logans first fair visit, it was office manager Beth Rossows 38th year working at the fair.

The Pierce County Fair has been like my home for the second week of August for as long as I can remember, she said Thursday as she kept busy answering questions and solving problems.

Rossows first fair job was selling raffle tickets for a bicycle giveaway. After she survived five years as a parking lot attendant, she finally earned a place in the office, and has been there ever since.

I kept on coming back, she said. Ive watched these trees grow up with me.

Cole Cosgrove: 253-597-8267 cole.cosgrove@thenewstribune.com

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Scots cat owners are queuing up for places for their pampered pets at a luxury hotel exclusively for felines.

Longcroft Luxury Cat Hotel, in Hertfordshire, provides designer suites and an A La Cat menu for the furry guests who desire more than a traditional stay at a cattery while their owners are on holiday.

Each heated suite has its own bespoke cat bed and a themed private exercise and play area. Guests can also enjoy the specially prepared menu, which includes steamed white fish, king prawns and salmon.

The animals are also soothed with piped music in their rooms – which also have a view of a birdtable in the garden.

Owners can choose from six suites, including The Daisy Suite, The Savanna Suite and The Bonsai Suite for the duration of their stay.

Abi Purser, who opened the Longcroft at the family home eight weeks ago, said she has been inundated with interest from around the globe, from Scotland to the States.

She said: The interest has been unbelievable with inquiries from around the UK and even messages from America. People are telling us what a wonderful idea it is.

We are very close to the main airports which means we are ideal for owners who want to drop off their cats and then go on holiday.

Abi revealed she got the idea for the cat hotel when she had to find a holiday home for her own elderly pet.

She said: Our cat was about 16 years old and we were really struggling to put him in a cattery. It just didnt feel right and thats when we thought about creating our own luxury hotel for cats.

We only have six suites at the hotel. Four are 5ft in size and one is 8ft and can be divided into two. It is big enough to hold a few cats if needed.

The cats are really looked after and pampered while they are here. And not like a cattery in the least.

The hotel also offers some spa-like treatments for guests including grooming and pamper packages.

For such five-star treatment owners will have to fork out between pound;15 to pound;19 a night.

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Yes, it is another column about BlackBerrys. Over the years, I reminisced about When Life Was Simple and BlackBerries Were Fruit, sneered at those who take their hand-helds into the bathroom, and cautioned about BlackBerries on the Beach and Other Ways to Ruin Your Vacation. Leave it to me to beat a dead subject.

And there was a death. In fact, it was on the eve of my vacation when my BlackBerry died. There was no warning and no time to prepare myself. It was preceded by the usual pre-vacation flurry of activity — clearing out the in-bin full of back-piled periodicals, watering the plants and cutting away dead leaves, and plowing through the never-ending bevy of e-mails.

There was no traumatic accident, no flickers of sickness, just a sudden, unexplainable death. It was very late. I finished packing and picked up my trusted BlackBerry to reset the alarm clock for my early morning flight (the Calypso alarm tone is my favorite). The screen was lit but I could not see anything. No e-mail. No calendar. No address book. No BrickBreaker. Just a clear screen. I could hear the tones as messages were received but could not do see or do anything about them. I tried to resuscitate. I plugged in the charger. I turned it on and off. I took out the battery and then the SIM card. I counted to 10. I tried it all over again. And again.

I called the 24-hour technology help line. Now I confess, I am technologically challenged. I am not sure what my issues are, but I seem to have bad computer karma. I spend way too much hourglassing and searching for lost e-mail and seem to be forever in technology retrograde. No kidding, my home computer restarted itself in the middle of writing this column (luckily, I had just saved).

The help-desk folk are usually quite helpful and have talked me through crashes and proxied in to get me connected countless times. Not this time. My technician did everything he could to diagnose, treat, and save our patient. He asked me about my BlackBerry use … and abuse. No, I did not drop it or get it wet or connect it to a cheap charger — at least not recently. He tried all the trouble shots and finally pronounced my BlackBerry dead.

At first, I was in denial. I had no time to grieve, though, and realized I needed to accept the death and adapt. I kept it plugged in, hoping it would somehow spontaneously come back to life. I considered bringing along my laptop, which is a personal rule I did not want to break, especially after I looked at my suitcase and carry-on bag. My plan had been to keep my BlackBerry close by on my trip — after all, it is also my phone, address book, calendar, internet connection, and tip calculator. I planned on stealth e-mail monitoring, checking only a few times a day and responding only if absolutely necessary.

Now I was completely disconnected and was leaving town for almost a week. My flight was just a few hours away, long before anyone would be in the office to fix or replace my unresponsive device. If I did fall asleep, how would I wake up without the Calypso alarm?!

A few hours later, I took the lifeless BlackBerry with me, along with a charger and a diminishing hope for a miraculous recovery. I soon realized the extent of my addiction to the aptly nicknamed CrackBerry. One of my first realizations was how disconnected I really was — to my family, friends, colleagues, and to my own information, like my flight and hotel details and my frequent flyer number.

I improvised. I creatively used other resources. I managed to keep the lines of communication appropriately open without being constantly connected. And I obtained some much-needed separation. It was liberating, and I dare you to try it. Okay, I admit I relented after three days and obtained a replacement with a little help from my friends Jane and Irene. It was purely out of iPhone envy, though, but thats a story for another column.

During those disconnected days, I carried the BlackBerry around with me. I finally removed the battery out of frustration from hearing the messages arrive but being unable to see, read, or reply to them. As my thumbs twitched, I started thinking of other uses for my dead BlackBerry.

I remembered a book from almost 30 years ago that spent months on the best-seller lists, 101 Uses for a Dead Cat. I like cats, so I never really got the humor behind a book full of cartoons of dead cats being used as chimney sweeps and salad tongs and 99 other things.

I stopped at 10 uses for my dead BlackBerry and thought Id share them with you. As always, I would love to hear any suggestions you have.

1. Hold open an elevator door. Why risk a hand or foot when you can just use your BlackBerry to holdopen the closing door? Hold on tightly, though, as it is the perfect width to fit down an elevator shaft if you do let go.

2. Carry on a fake phone conversation. I travel alone, and my I occasionally think of my BlackBerry as a security measure even if I am just pretending to be in a phone conversation without someone on the other end. I have not needed to use it yet, but also think it could be helpful in self-defense.

3. See in the dark. Luckily for me, I still had a lit screen, which allowed the BlackBerry to work as a great flashlight. The first time I saw someone use a BlackBerry as a flashlight was a lady sitting next to me at a Broadway show. I am always amazed to see the flickers of small screens in the audiences of shows and movies. But when her husband dropped his keys, the light from this ladys screen really came in handy. If you know Morse code, it could even be used to signal for help.

4. Put it to use as a door jam.

5. Even out the legs of an uneven table. Just prop it under the shorter leg to make your dining experience not go aslant. Remember to take it with you though in case you run into any more uneven tables.

6. Entertain a child or annoy a dog. The ringtones will amuse for over an hour and, if the sound is not working, the case can be used as a terrific hand puppet.

7. Swatting flys. It is also a helpful tool for tossing into cobwebs to clear the dusty corners of your garage.

8. Pressing hamburgers. This comes in really handy at summer barbecues. Please clean thoroughly before and after, especially if you already used it under a table or door, to tease your dog or to swat at flies and spiders.

9. Coaster. Why risk a nasty ring on your coffee table or desk? The case collects any overfill spills.

10. As an all-purpose tool for at least 101 miscellaneous household chores, from a crumb sweeper to a spackle applier, to a hammer, to a chisel. The original MacGyver could have a field day with all of the possible purposes so, the next time you are searching for a tool, think dead BlackBerry.

In writing this months column, I learned a great deal about dead BlackBerry. Each month, I spend time online, reviewing the literature and checking my facts. I will not subject you to sharing all I learned about the history of hand-held devices or all of the technical tips for fixing broken ones.

I do want to share one related find that distracted and amused me and so may be worth a click, The Dead Computer Contest Finalists, a look at harvesting and repurposing computer parts. My favorites of the proposed uses for dead computers were the colorful, classic MacPlanters for gardeners everywhere, the cat bed computer monitor, and YaHookah!, the computer you can smoke.

I realize I risk offending my information technology friends, but am hoping since it is July, they are at the beach, and not reading this month. They know I kid and that I would never purposely abuse my BlackBerry. And I know I can survive without it … and have plenty of ideas on what to do with it if it dies.

Molly Peckman is director of associate development at Dechert and a frequent writer and lecturer on law firm life and professional development.

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