SPORTSTER

SPORTSTER
CO-AUTHOR

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Making mistakes, make us greater.


Beyond the window
Experiential learning is far more powerful than gathering information. Experience is emotional — and emotion, not rationality, is what changes mindsets and behaviors.

I have always been a good cat. Judy tells me I am the best cat in the entire world. Well, except that one time. She pretends to have forgotten, but I know she never will.

                             

It was dark outside, a time when cats like to prowl. I growled and spat  at the front door, defending our territory  against some Millennial Cat who thought he should be able to just move into my pad,  and that we would feed him Temptation treats and  he could rub his furry rear end all over my mom and the rest of my things.
 I body slammed against the heavy security screen which separated us. Screaming at him, I told him to take his lazy, entitled attitude on down the street.
 He screeched back, threatening to call PETA and social services and every other liberal program that had told him he was deserving of everything his meowing furry ass desired.
That’s when it happened. Judy stepped into the heated cat fight. She stepped up behind me.  “Me, too!” she yelled, “I want you out of here!”  
I became confused and flew across the space that separated me from Judy. I flung myself against her leg,  sinking my teeth into her flesh. Her muscles flexed in reaction  and she shouted, this time at me.   “Hey!”
Surprise shot through me. I released my bite hold. What had I done? I had attacked her.  I had went off, like a gun.  She stood there a moment, frozen in place, staring at me. “Sportster?" She said. I will never forget the look on her face.   And then she limped over to a chair.
I sensed her confusion and disappointment in me. I ignored the Millennial Cat outside,  who was the root of the incident,  and I proceeded to rub up against Judy, gushing out  purrs of  apology. A long time passed before she ever told me she had forgiven  me. I didn’t really believe her,  probably because I had trouble forgiving myself. I love Judy. I was so ashamed of what I had done.
In a rush to do what we think is the right thing, sometimes we make mistakes. Other times  there is no opportunity  to consider the options, we just have to go into action.  How do we live with the consequences when, in retrospect, that decision turns out bad?
I learned to accept that we all do the best we can. Guilt is a wasted emotion. –– I must move past what I considered to be a horrible mistake. I must believe there are no mistakes in the universe. Everything happens exactly as it should.
The followers  of this Eastern principle of spirituality believe there is no room in life, if you want to live at peace, for would haves, should haves, or could haves.  Judy says, “ If pigs had wings, they could fly.”  Her other favorite ‘whatever quote’, which she tells me her mother used to say to her is, “ One hundred years from now, who will know the difference?”
In other words, don’t look back. What is over is over.  No regrets and no fear of moving forward.
Sure, I  make mistakes, everyone does. It is my cat nature to never admit  them out loud, but I must  come to terms with what I have done. I agree with the East Indian principle of spirituality. The philosophy  makes sense in this cat's mind.  i do the best that I can. I am not going to become stale and afraid to make a mistake. 


“The better a man is, the more mistakes will he make  ––for the more new things he will try. If you have not made mistakes, and big ones at that,  you will  surely be mediocre.  Peter Drucker



Please check out my first book, ACTIVATE LION MODE, book one in The Feline Fury Series. Help me to carry the life saving message of this powerful book. 

Besides, my treats are running low.



Book One of the Feline Fury Series

Tuesday, May 15, 2018

She's trying to kill me!


I have not kept in touch lately with you all and though cats never apologize ––it is not in the rule book –– I have missed you all, and i feel badly about the entire situation.  Judy has not been her entertaining self these past six months and, well, to be honest, I’m just going to put it out there. 
She has been treating me badly. I know! I can’t believe it either.
 I don’t like to post my dirty cat litter here for the world to see, but Judy really has gotten out of control. I’m resorting to you my readers, blog followers and Facebook friends to help me out.
Like I said, I am a good cat. Judy loves me. At least she used to. So, why do I feel like she’s trying to kill me?

I first suspected she had this inclination after I spent TWO HOURS crouched on the counter next to the kitchen faucet, staring at her.  She looked right at me.  She knew I was staring at her. She knew what I wanted……well, I am almost sure she did. Sometimes people are so clueless. I hate to include her in that category.  But still….
 She tried to disguise her dark intentions by showing me my water bowl. “Here, Sportster. Here's your water.” Her voice was high, sweet sounding, like she really cared that I was thirsty. Meowing, I turned away and rubbed up against the faucet and proceeded to suck the few drops clinging at the end of the faucet.

She pushed me away from the faucet and shoved me over to my water bowl. Stinking  her finger in the water bowl, she splashed the stale water into my face, trying to get me to look.  “Right here Sportster. Take a drink.”

She knows I never drink from the bowl.  What does she take me for?  She’s way too eager for me to drink that water. You know what I mean?

I wracked my brain. This all had started two days ago, when she didn’t wake up after the alarm went off, so I sat on her head. She yelled at me. I chirped, my way of saying, “I’m sorry.”

Maybe she wants to do me in, because I want to go for longer walks. I pester her too much, these days.I never let up, I meow and meow. I pace like a caged lion.  She used to be so good about all these things, getting up on time and tending to all my whims. But now, something’s wrong.
Sometimes she had even swung at me with that stick she carried with her everywhere, telling me to move out of the way of her and the stick. 
If I gave her my sad face, she said, “It will all be better,” she says,” when this is all over.  I will take you on your long walks again, I promise.”  At times her sad voice cried out in pain. I didn’t know what was wrong with her.
I began to seek out other places for water. I padded into the bathroom after she exited. Putting my paws up on the toilet seat, I peered into the bowl.
 She shouted at me. “Oh no you don’t! Scoot right on out of there.” She closed the toilet lid. 

When she took a shower that night I beat my paws against the shower curtain trying to get past the barrier in order to reach the enticing running water. She shouted at me then, too. “You’re going to tear up the curtain!” But I didn’t stop.  Now she keeps the bathroom door closed.

I went three days without water –– except the few sips I sneaked during the night from my bowl while Judy slept.  I was dry as a lizard on top of a hot rock in the Arizona sun.
 On the third day I sat in front of my water bowl, staring at the water. It was beginning to look pretty good.   

Talking on the phone with her girlfriend, Judy watched me.  She laughed while she related my efforts to her friend about how i try to get a drink of water. I wanted to scratch her eyes out.  I pushed her coffee mug off the counter and it clattered to the floor. Darn! It didn't even break.

I couldn’t believe she was trying to kill me and laughing about it, too!

I think this entire situation has something to do with that stick she carries around. She changed after she began taking the thing everywhere with her. 
Something’s not right with her.  Lately, she seems sad, even though now she was laughing.
“He makes me feel so sorry for him," she was saying to her friend. " Poor baby, but I can’t give in.”   
I rubbed  my shoulder up against Judy and she petted me as she talked.
Did you hear what she said? She’s never going to give in to my demands. My throat is so dry I can’t meow anymore. What am I going to do? I am going to die.  I never thought I would go out this way.

She continued on with her phone conversation.
 “The Dr. says he doesn’t want me doing the steps in the motorhome right after my surgery. My rig is parked on the street in front of the house but still, I can’t expect my daughter to come out several times a day for the next four to six weeks, just to turn on the water so he can drink from the faucet. He’s got to learn to drink from his water bowl. That’s all there is to it.”
 What!?
 Where was she going?  I can’t drink form the faucet AND she’s going to leave me?







Please check out my first book, ACTIVATE LION MODE, book one in The Feline Fury Series. Help me to carry the life saving message of this powerful book. 

Besides, my treats are running low.


Book One of the Feline Fury Series


Click on link  for 



Friday, May 11, 2018

Happy Mothers Day from Sportster and Judy Howard


HAPPY MOTHER'S  DAY!!


This  Mother's Day I am excited to announce  Judy and I  are offering  an 
Amazon Countdown Deal

51% DISCOUNT!!!
on
Sportster's latest book

ACTIVATE LION MODE 

Available for 1.99

Beginning 
MAY 13TH - 8AM



Don't miss this opportunity!
The Countdown Promotion will continue until May 15th. As the days countdown, the discounted price will increase
So Don't Wait!!


SPORTSTER'S MOTHER'S DAY TRIBUTE

I'm honoring my mom, Judy Howard,  this Mother's Day.  Because of her,  I am special. Not many cats have followed in my paw prints.

I experienced my first mother’s day May, 2005. I was eighteen days old and snuggling with my siblings and mom, who lived in a dirt cave behind the bushes that lined the golf course.  I only knew warmth, safety and a full belly. Life was good.

The weeks passed,I grew stronger, and my eyes opened.  I longed to venture out into the world but mom insisted I not go far.

When mom didn’t return from hunting mice on the golf course one night, I waited for her. My siblings cried. After several days my sister, the smallest, quit crying. Her silence prodded me to leave in search for mom.
I wandered the streets, hiding in shrubs when cars whizzed by, and scrambling up trees when the coyotes roamed the golf course. The cold desert nights made me shiver. I ate bugs and drank from the gutter. I was weary but could not stop to rest.

I must have dozed off when the man swept me up. Terrified, I squirmed but his big hands enclosed me like a cage.

That was the day my life changed. I met Judy. On that day I never dreamed  I would live the life I am living.  Ten mother’s days have passed. I know of no other cat who has walked in my paw prints.  This is a tribute to my mom.

Yes, the downside is that she is  a pet groomer. Baths are common and I complain a lot. But afterward I am soft, fluffy, and I smell like lavender.  have never had a flea.  
And she dresses me up. But I am a celebrity now. The demands as  co-author of Judy's first two books, my own blog, and my own book coming out this year are never ending.
Photo shoots are a necessity in marketing. We don't stay on the top limb without  a lot of caterwauling.

All in all, as I review my time with my mom, my life is full of adventure.

How many cats have considered kayaking? ...















... Or traveled across the country with their friends  Tweety Bird and Birdy Bird?




...or prayed on a mountain top?





Because of my mom, I have meditated along  the waters of Slidell, Louisiana.

 ... and researched the living habits of creatures my fellow felines have only known in their dreams.


And I have learned to look to the heavens . 
I've listened to my two  audio books ,COAST TO COAST WITH A CAT AND A GHOST  and GOING HOME WITH CAT AND A GHOST.

Thanks to you Judy Howard, I am the greatest cat in the world!!

So Mom,
This is for you.

I love you this much!!