This story is from what I'll call "The Archives". It was written in 2000.
I've always wanted a Zen Garden. They are flat, rectangular ceramic pots filled with sand. I've seen rocks, a bonzai plant, shells and little animal figures arranged in them, and then the sand is raked into designs around them with a special miniature rake. It looks so peaceful. My plans for simplicity and serenity in 1999 included one of these, but I decided against one because I have two cats.
These cats have never seen a litter box, but I figure they would at least find time to dig in the sand. They've been showing their years lately and one of them, (no one has ever been caught in the act), has started peeing in the heater duct. I've been advised repeatedly to get a litter box, but I hate the smell and the litter scattered on the floor. After coming into the house on a cold evening and turning on the heater, the odor made me run for the disinfectant and paper towels. One too many times on my knees deodorizing the vents, and I threw in the towel and purchased a litter box, the new clumping litter, pan liners and a scoop.
I filled it and placed it in my upstairs bathroom. To show one cat how interesting it might be, I closed her in the room with me, knelt down, and encouraged her to join me in digging. She sat by the door with her back to me. I lifted her into the box. She sneezed, jumped out, gave me a dirty look, and shook the litter off her paws all over the floor. I swept it up and decided to give it time.
My next time in the bathroom, as I sat gazing across the room at the box, I thought the litter looked kind of hilly. I didn't remember leaving it like that. Turns out one of the cats had figured out what it was for......Now, how did she know? Is there something in kitty litter that encourages them to use it? Have they been unfaithful to me and gone to someone else's house and used their box? Sure enough, it had clumped and I cleaned it out with the scooper.
Then I felt I should arrange the litter nicely so I could tell the next time the cats used it. I dragged the back of the slotted scooper over the litter and it made indefinite lines,.....not unlike the ridges left in the sand at the edge of a stream....
Perhaps I should invest in a little wooden rake. Maybe not. But still, a small rice paper screen and some incense would make that corner of the room more esthetically pleasing, if not for the cats, for me.
I've always wanted a Zen Garden. They are flat, rectangular ceramic pots filled with sand. I've seen rocks, a bonzai plant, shells and little animal figures arranged in them, and then the sand is raked into designs around them with a special miniature rake. It looks so peaceful. My plans for simplicity and serenity in 1999 included one of these, but I decided against one because I have two cats.
These cats have never seen a litter box, but I figure they would at least find time to dig in the sand. They've been showing their years lately and one of them, (no one has ever been caught in the act), has started peeing in the heater duct. I've been advised repeatedly to get a litter box, but I hate the smell and the litter scattered on the floor. After coming into the house on a cold evening and turning on the heater, the odor made me run for the disinfectant and paper towels. One too many times on my knees deodorizing the vents, and I threw in the towel and purchased a litter box, the new clumping litter, pan liners and a scoop.
I filled it and placed it in my upstairs bathroom. To show one cat how interesting it might be, I closed her in the room with me, knelt down, and encouraged her to join me in digging. She sat by the door with her back to me. I lifted her into the box. She sneezed, jumped out, gave me a dirty look, and shook the litter off her paws all over the floor. I swept it up and decided to give it time.
My next time in the bathroom, as I sat gazing across the room at the box, I thought the litter looked kind of hilly. I didn't remember leaving it like that. Turns out one of the cats had figured out what it was for......Now, how did she know? Is there something in kitty litter that encourages them to use it? Have they been unfaithful to me and gone to someone else's house and used their box? Sure enough, it had clumped and I cleaned it out with the scooper.
Then I felt I should arrange the litter nicely so I could tell the next time the cats used it. I dragged the back of the slotted scooper over the litter and it made indefinite lines,.....not unlike the ridges left in the sand at the edge of a stream....
Perhaps I should invest in a little wooden rake. Maybe not. But still, a small rice paper screen and some incense would make that corner of the room more esthetically pleasing, if not for the cats, for me.
loved it! do you still have cats??
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