Cat Meets Manual Typewriter

So, I found my husband’s old manual typewriter in the attic the other day.

It needs a new ribbon, but it works. Last night I was puttering around and wanted to make notes while I listened to a podcast. I set up the typewriter and started clacking away.

Suddenly our cat Beans, a.k.a. The Stripey One, galloped behind me at top speed. Then he whirled around and zoomed back in the other direction. I realized that his case of the zoomies was spurred by the typewriter: a noisy, foreign object!

Like most cats, Beans dislikes changes in the environment.

And like many people, Beans likes to work out his anxieties with a good run. So Beans raced back and forth behind me for awhile while I typed.

But his curiosity got the better of his anxiety. Or maybe he just got tired. Or maybe both.

He leaped onto the table and slowly circled the typewriter, maintaining social distancing. Then he eased forward, cautiously bit the corner of my paper, and jumped back.

I finished my note, started dinner, and when I went back into the dining room I found him still monitoring the situation.

an annoyed looking cat is lying on a table across from a typewriter, with his back to the machine and his ears slightly flattened

Notice how his back is turned to the typewriter. And his ears are flattened, which is what we call “grumpy ears” around here.

This is what he does when someone annoys him: he turns his back on you, and makes Grumpy Ears.

But I have never seen him do it to a machine.