Sneaky (cat!)





A Polaroid snapshot of Sneaky sitting on the kitchen counter, looking out the window in the morning. He often looks out through the kitchen windows to be sure none of his neighborhood enemies are walking through HIS yard! When I was getting ready to take the picture, he looked back at me.
 
Chriscrawfordphoto said:




A Polaroid snapshot of Sneaky sitting on the kitchen counter, looking out the window in the morning. He often looks out through the kitchen windows to be sure none of his neighborhood enemies are walking through HIS yard! When I was getting ready to take the picture, he looked back at me.
Click to expand...

This one’s a real winner, Chris! I’m sure Sneaky would approve!
 
That indeed is a winner. Getting the exposure correct on a shot like that with a Polaroid camera (with its minimal control) is a skill that comes with experience.
 
Pál_K said:
That indeed is a winner. Getting the exposure correct on a shot like that with a Polaroid camera (with its minimal control) is a skill that comes with experience.
Click to expand...



It is hard. I've done enough pics of him in my kitchen now that I get perfect exposure, or close to it, every time now. When I first got the camera, I'd bracket exposures, and of course the one where the cat had the best facial expression was always one with a crappy exposure. Quality is more consistent now for these shots, so I can get good shots with one shot now.
 




If the video doesn't play here, you can see it larger on YouTube


Recently, I posted a photo my son of our cat Sneaky eating a baked potato that had been left on a plate after we ate dinner. Last night, we had steaks and baked potato again. Sneaky got, and ate, a large amount of steak. After my son and I finished eating, he got on my son's chair and began eating a partly eaten baked potato that had been left on the plate! I was able to make a video of him doing it this time.
 
Even if if you didn't know Chris Crawford you can tell Sneaky lives with a photographer--there's a tripod in the scene at the beginning of the video.
 
mice-steak.jpg




We ate dinner late tonight, finishing around 11. Sneaky got his share of STEAK then went outside. He just scratched at the door, wanting back inside. I let him in and found a dead mouse on the doorstep. He killed it a few minutes ago. What did he do when he came in? Demanded food, of course! He just ate steak then killed a mouse that he did NOT eat, but wants more food from me!

"The mouse was for you, human. You can't expect THE KING to eat that; I'm not some common alley cat."
 
In the cat world, the mouse gift is highly regarded because there is no other way for a cat to show gratitude.

Proper protocol requires you to eat and enjoy the mouse in Sneaky’s presence. It’s also good if you bat it around for a while first.
 
Another theory is that cats bring dead prey to their humans in an attempt to teach us to hunt. A mother cat first brings dead prey to her kittens. Then she brings half-dead prey and fully live prey so that the kittens will learn how to make the kill. When cats bring us dead prey, they've determined that they have to start us from the very beginning.

My sister had a cat who apparently gave her a much higher evaluation, as it brought a live bird into the house and let it loose!

So, Chris, it appears that Sneaky gives you low marks as a hunter and is attempting to elevate you from this pathetic status.

- Murray
 
Pál_K said:
In the cat world, the mouse gift is highly regarded because there is no other way for a cat to show gratitude.

Proper protocol requires you to eat and enjoy the mouse in Sneaky’s presence. It’s also good if you bat it around for a while first.
Click to expand...



I gave it to my houseplants, they loved it! Hairy the Spider wishes I'd soak them in herbicide.


plants3.jpg
 
Ah, I see you have a book by my fellow Hungarian. By the way, the way his name is pronounced sounds like (for an American’s style of writing): mO hoy nudge. That’s an approximation. I could use IPA symbols, but they wouldn’t help unless you’re familiar with them.

Wikipedia and another site show an incorrect pronunciation for some reason. I know my own language!

Also, “Nagy” is an extremely common Hungarian name, meaning “big” or “great”, but the “gy” in Hungarian is pronounced more like “d” with softening at the end of the d - almost like a j sound. So, for example, the word magyar, which means “Hungarian”, sounds like (with Americanized spelling): mUd-yar.
 
PB220001.jpg




Sneaky was sitting on the back of the sofa, with a big plush toy corn snake wrapped around him. When I tried to photograph him, he looked away and refused to look at me. He did have his ears turned back to listen, though. As soon as I made this photo, he jumped down.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom