{"id":1812,"date":"2019-12-15T09:50:37","date_gmt":"2019-12-15T17:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jocularious.com\/?p=1812"},"modified":"2020-09-06T17:24:51","modified_gmt":"2020-09-07T00:24:51","slug":"oliver-the-cat-takes-time-from-his-busy-day-to-teach-a-philosophical-lesson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/?p=1812","title":{"rendered":"Oliver the Cat Takes Time from His Busy Day to Teach a Philosophical Lesson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As you may recall, Oliver the Cat showed up on our doorstep last winter and informed me and my wife that he was now living in our (his) home.  So far, Oliver has been quite reasonable.  With few exceptions, he has let us have the run of the place.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may also\nrecall that I didn\u2019t have much trouble identifying his breed.  He\u2019s not a Siamese cat.  He\u2019s not an American short-hair cat.  He\u2019s an \u201cAlarm Cat.\u201d  Oliver begins meowing like a tsunami siren at\n5:30 every morning, and if I don\u2019t spring up like a firefighter racing for the\npole, then he starts whacking his paw against our bedroom door.  Oliver has all the patience of Saddam\nHussain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As it turns\nout, Oliver is also the first feline Philosophy Professor.  Let me explain \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We live in Eugene, Oregon.  Oregon is famous for its rain.  Out of the 365 days of the year, on average, it rains 366.  (This is just in case it\u2019s a leap year.)  Well, Oliver isn\u2019t much for rain.  He might go out and prowl around the porch, but Oliver\u2019s more of a sunny-weather cat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, here\u2019s the deal.  We usually let Oliver out through the front door.  He\u2019ll make it clear he wants to go out by running straight for the door and then freezing and staring at it like he\u2019s a statue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I open the door, Oliver always sticks his head out to survey the situation before he exits.  If it\u2019s raining, he\u2019ll do a U-turn and head back in.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s not the end of it.  Oliver will then run down the hall to the back door.  I will then dutifully go open that door for him as well.  You see, Oliver figures that just because it\u2019s raining outside the front door, doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that it\u2019s raining outside the back door.  I\u2019m not saying that Oliver does this every time he sees it raining outside the front door, only 99% of the time.  (I\u2019m guessing Oliver flunked Earth Science in middle school.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because I am\na little slow off the dime, it took me a while to figure something out.  It\u2019s a lesson I keep trying to remember:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oliver is\nnot the only one looking out the front door and then checking the back.  Oliver isn\u2019t the only one who can\u2019t see the big\npicture.  It\u2019s me.  Here I am sitting on this little blue planet\nin this vast unending universe, which I can only describe as an\nimpossibility.  And I regularly make the\nmistake of thinking I have even a modicum of understanding of how it works.  In short, I am not much smarter than Oliver\nthe Cat.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for helping me remember this, Professor Oliver.  See you at 5:30 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

**************30****************<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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______________________________<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also-<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out these great\nbooks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Lawyer\u2019s\nSong: Navigating the legal wilderness<\/em><\/strong> \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/buff.ly\/2K41Tax<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven Rules for\nthe College Playground –<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/buff.ly\/2IqXxgn<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seven Secrets You\nNeed to Know to Hire the Right Lawyer –<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/buff.ly\/2roFIov<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you may recall, Oliver the Cat showed up on our doorstep last winter and informed me and my wife that he was now living in our (his) home.  So far, Oliver has been quite reasonable.  With few exceptions, he has let us have the run of the place.  You may also recall that I […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1875,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[766,834,835],"class_list":["post-1812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-humor","tag-cat-humor","tag-cat-philosophy","tag-funny-cats"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/jocularious.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/New-Cat.jpeg?fit=1490%2C688&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1812"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2372,"href":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1812\/revisions\/2372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jocularious.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}