h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Plants for Pussycats - A87887119
Author: ZildoggoX - U15002385

I want to submit an entry (A87887119 - 'Plants for Pussycats') but even writing a single word gets an 'Invalid GuideML' message.

Hello ZildoggoX

I can see your Entry, so that's no problem. You have got some html such as p class which is perhaps clashing with GuideML, but the main thing is the text is visible.

Your website sounds lovely - a great tribute to pets My cat's waveform collapsed many years ago now, but I still think of her - I particularly enjoyed it when she would sit with me on a Saturday morning and we would read a book together

I had a question as I read your Entry - "Perhaps issuing cats with digital watches would solve the problem" - what problem is this?

Hi, I understand perfectly how you feel about your cat. If we keep them we should treat them as our dearest friends.

The problem solved by issuing cats with digital watches - this is black humour and inspired by the Golgafrinchams, who thought that it wise to blow up the forests to devalue the leaf they adopted as currency. In this case, the contentment of cats would be removed by making them as daft as us, again with a reference to Douglas Adams - by giving them digital watches, at least as an experiment to see if it works... black humour in line with the pessimistic times we live in, but maybe it needs explaining more.

Chris Gray

I look forward to seeing this in the guide. The guide needs more cat entries.
We have a community of 6 cats who as they have formed a kind of family they appear to live a more interesting life.

I found that cats make good use of wood cable reels, which are sized from a few kittens all the way to totally unmanageable.

They are a natural material, scratch-able, give shelter from rain, keep a moderate temperature, and are a neat shape and using them is a form of recycling or re-use. Firms recycle them but some dispose of them in skips. The largest are very hard to dispose of when rotting - metal in them and living creatures.

I might add pictures of the two enclosures I built for the ferals I helped with, to the PfP website. There are some free entries (2 photos, text, as described), up to first week in April 2017.

Haven't any cats of my own, currently.

I'm occasionally visited by neighborhood strays, one of which growls and snarls at me when given directions, but has proved remarkably biddable.

For example, directed "Hey you! Please stay out of the flower bed!", has done so since, acknowledging with a growl and snarl as it stepped clear.

Of plants cats like, besides the catnip, which hasn't been doing anything in my gaeden this season, also, German chamomile; http://theotherside.com/2012/09/chamomile-herb-of-the-week/; and the native Calfornia blue perwinkle; http://www.gadoodles.com/images/Smokies-2011-04-13/Wildflowers/Periwinkle/index.htm; the first is a springtime herb that likes a full sun location and is indifferent to soil quality; the second a hardy perennial that does best in a well watered full shade area under trees or shrubs.

Your pardon on the (missing) german chamomile image.

The linking system isn't cooperating with me at the moment.

German chamomile, please send pics and text to [email protected]

New website so you can post your cat entry for free.

Sorry, didn't see all of those. You could declare those or one as an Unknown Pussycat.

I see you've updated this Entry too

As you mention the Golgafrinchams, you might like to keep the digital watches reference, but expand on it for the benefit of people who haven't read the whole Trilogy in Five Parts for a few years, but no problem if you don't want to include it any more...

I would like to know a bit more about the philosophy behind the website, though - eg is there a particular significance of linking a cat to a plant?

I'll see if I can add on Sunday, regarding the digital watches.

Why I thought of plants to remember cats... Plants are very colourful, a visual memory of them if no longer there. It isn't meant to be a type of gravestone. For most people a cat is looked at more than stroked. Of course the same can apply to other pets. Maybe I ought to change this.

Anyone reading, free entries are available.

I've altered the Golgafrincham mention to read: "... without harking back to our Golgafrincham ways (of burning them down). Maybe that would...".

The digital watches association needed too much elaboration and was best left out. Sometimes things are really clear, other times not. Other times, the clear things somehow aren't later.

I've amended the text further, regarding reference to The Golgafrinchams.

Thanks ZildoggoX - this is looking good

I like how you defined the Golgafrinchams, so the Sub-editor can add links to Douglas Adams and his work when this Entry is picked to go into the Edited Guide

Are you still here, ZildoggoX?

<BB<

Yes I'm still here, but been busy for months. I got a few mentions and about 25 pages in a 50th anniversary book about the TV series The Prisoner. I'll be in volume 2 also, if I finish my work in time. If not then the final volume. I may get to draw some attention there, to Wonko The Sane. Wish me success! The book is called "It Means What It Says - 50 Years Of Trying To Understand THE PRISONER"

I wish you every success with that project indeed - The Prisoner is a fascinating TV series, and it does take some understanding...

I found the website http://plantsforpussycats.com/home and it is very lovely The sub-editor will be able to include the link in the Edited version of your Entry, so that will really enhance it

Having seen the website, I think you could expand the sentence "The PfP website has entries comprising of text and two photos..." to say more about the text - the descriptions of the cats are excellent to bring them to life, and give context as to why the particular plants were chosen, too

I've tried a couple of times this week and http://www.plantsforpussycats.com/ doesn't seem to be working?

<BB<

Oh no