Thoroughly Poetic Thankful Thimble Thursday

Hello and happy Thursday, friends! Let's get right to Angel Sammy's Thoroughly Poetic Thursday challenge, shall we?

As always, our host shared a photo prompt to help guide us. This week's prompt is this one here:

This is one of those times when I'm going to have trouble explaining how I got from that image to my resulting poem. Let's see if I can't make this succinct. Probably not, but I'll try.

As I've mentioned before, I'm a huge fan of reading, most especially the fantasy genre. I'm of an age that resulted in me growing up in the middle of the Harry Potter craze, and truth be told, I was part of that craze. I eagerly awaited each new book's release, and I truly enjoyed them, and I still do. That said, there's one issue big I have with those books—an issue of the feline sort—and that's what I address in this poem.

Oh, and I should probably actually explain how I got from that image above to my poem. In the Harry Potter series, kids attend a school to become proper witches and wizards. They get to that school by way of a sort of magical train. So, I saw railroad tracks, and that was that.

If you'd like to read my weird and wacky poem, here you go.

A Tale of Missing Cats

This is just a quick little rhyme to say,
That I wanted to attend a school for witches back in the day.
I read about it in some books once a upon a time.
Getting to this magical school took nothing but a magical train ride.

But, you see, even as a child I had one main qualm regarding those books.
In them, to find a cat you had really closely look and look.
Can you imagine reading a witchy story,
Only for it to barely touch on the feline glory?

It's not that there weren't any creatures at all of the feline kind,
And it's not that I minded the owls and other critters inside.
In this book about witchy children, the confusion was that,
They were allowed to bring to school with them an owl, a toad, or...a cat!

If you were allowed to bring a cat with you to school,
Are you telling me that you wouldn't take full advantage of that rule?
It's not that I didn't think all the owls in the book were cool,
But how did the magical children rarely choose a cat to bring with them to school?

If had the option of learning alongside my cat,
You better believe that would be an easy decision, just like that.
And, well, that is the weird tale of my childhood self reading a book about magical children,
And wishing all the wishes that to a magical school both myself and my cat would be sent.

Truth be told, that's a flashback doodle from a couple of years ago. I of course scribbled it up as a result of my longtime appreciation of the Harry Potter series. I actually scribbled up a brand new, somewhat similar doodle for this poem, but, as I mentioned yesterday, I have yet to scan a number of new doodles I've finished. Once I scan all of those in the next day or two, I'll start sharing them, including the new silly doodle for this poem.

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Now, how about Brian's Thankful Thursday Blog Hop? That sounds like a plan to me.

Thimble is of course here to share some gratitude.

This little tabby is thankful for window views.

Thimble sure does love being able to supervise the neighbors.

But, goodness, it sure is a tiring job. Before she goes off to nap, Thimble wants to wish you all a wonderful day!

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Last but not least, we have for you the fill-in statements for tomorrow's Friendly Fill-Ins challenge. My amazing co-host Ellen of 15andmeowing came up with the first two, and I came up with the second two.

1. I think _________ is a waste of money.

2. Lately, I spend a lot of time _________.

3. _________ is the craziest thing on my bucket list.

4. _________ is a holiday I'd like to create or see more celebrated.

We'll see you tomorrow, friends!

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Tip of the Day

As we mentioned yesterday, we're doing a series of tips dedicated to none other than the litter box. Yesterday, we talked about choosing a type of litter box. Today, we're going to talk about the number of litter boxes you might need.

We're going to begin this discussion with a bit of an equation:

(# of cats) + 1 = (# of litter boxes)

That up there is the general rule for how many litter boxes a home should have, for the comfort of the kitties living there. Since we're a broken record, we'll say it again: the number of litter boxes should equal the number of cats, plus one. This general rule helps ensure that all of the cats in a home have plenty of options, something that is especially important in a multicat home. Finding a clean litter box, and not being bullied out of it, is more easily done when there is a sufficient number of boxes. As for single cat homes, the equation above still typically applies. Why? One reasons is that some cats don't like to urinate and defecate in the same box. Another reason is that, again, it gives them more options for a clean box, and can thereby reduce potential out-of-box behaviors.

Now that we have that little equation out of the way, we'll also mention that it's possible that not all of the litter boxes in a home should be or will be the same type. For example, do you have one cat who likes covered boxes, and another cat who prefers uncovered boxes? If so, then you should probably have litter boxes of both of those types. This ensures that each cat has a choice that suits their preferences. So, it's not only important to ensure that there are enough litter boxes, but that the boxes suit the needs of all cats present in the home.