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As catty as they get

Owners of dogs will have noticed that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they will think you are god. Whereas owners of cats are compelled to realize that, if you provide them with food and water and shelter and affection, they draw the conclusion that they are gods. — Christopher Hitchens

My friend Kabsat Kandu is not impressed with Hitchens’ insight. He cites a pithier one by Winston Churchill: “Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”

“That’s why,” Kandu says, “I’d rather take care of my pigs, which bring me extra income, rather than cats, which steal food from my kitchen.”

Feral cat
A feral cat roaming the slopes below a Baguio ridge. I tried to tame it with food bait for several months, without success. But that's ok. Cats have the right to self-determination too.

Continue reading “As catty as they get”

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Community of bitches

Nocturnal trysts
It doesn't take much for dogs, if given enough freedom, to go feral and back to their undomesticated ways. Is that good or bad?

No. The title of this piece is not what you might think it is, you dirty-minded reader, you.

“What’s wrong with that?” Kabsat Kandu asks. “Bitch, witch, itch, glitch—they’re just words to describe something. The dirt is in the extra thoughts you put into them.”

But really, we’re talking clean unadulterated fun here, I assure my feisty neighbor. Continue reading “Community of bitches”

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Solving transport woes with our own roadmap

In recent years, transport problems of all kinds have hounded the Philippines from far north to far south.

IRAIA thoughts
IRAIA thoughts

“You’re exaggerating, as usual,” says my acerbic friend Kabsat Kandu. “What transport problem in the far north are you talking about, tell me? Flights to Batanes are going on regularly.”

Well, maybe the Manila-Basco flights are okay. That’s because the picturesque Batanes islands have become a favorite tourist destination of those who can afford it. But what if you’re a Cagayan Valley DepEd official wanting to visit public schools in Babuyan islands? What are your options? Have you tried crossing over from Claveria to Calayan, across the treacherous Babuyan Channel? Continue reading “Solving transport woes with our own roadmap”