So the other day I was pondering two totally unrelated things:

1. Animal thinking; and
2. Mould (mold, for you ‘Murricans).

Take a look at this critter’s eyes, looking back at you. Is he thinking “Oh boy, I hope she gives me treats! Maybe a bone! Yeah… Oh wait… nooo… she’s not going in the kitchen. (sob!)”

Do dogs think in words? I know that some dogs recognize certain words or phrases, especially if they hear them often enough, like:

• Walk?
• Treat?
• Bone!
• Ball!
• Ride in the car?
• Plus various others like Sit, Stay, etc., and even the names of family members. (Okay, I made that last one up, from my experience. 😅 Seems plausible, no?)

But other than those few special bits, when dogs and cats do get to thinking, do they think in our language? Or do they have their own? Is it mainly images? I suspect the latter, but – maybe a combination of both words and images? I’m sure studies have been done on this – but I’m too lazy to do the required research.

Anyway, it’s perfectly clear to me that whenever John and I go out and are gone for more than, oh, half an hour, our anguished cat, Annie, thinks to herself – picture the thought bubble above her head – “THEY’RE NEVER COMING BAAAAAACK!!!” 😿🙄

Also, she has what we call magical thinking! When we’re gone, she pulls one of her toys out of her toy pile and draagggs it to the front door. Every time. (Sometimes just for variety, she drags it into the living room… probably because her favourite place in the whole wide world is on my lap, on the loveseat, in the living room.) Here’s a photo of this magic toy as we saw it one day upon our return, a few feet inside the front door.

She must always think to herself, “See? It worked! They’re back!!”

I will leave you now – but wait! I almost forgot to address my second idle thought, which was: Why is mould (mold!) different colours (colors!), depending on what type of bread or other food you’ve ignored on the counter or in the fridge for too long? And did you think that expiration dates on foods are just suggestions? But hey, those mouldy (moldy!) hues are fascinating, aren’t they? Blue? Green? White? Okay, maybe not white… 

I am off to read the expiration date on the blueberry pie we just bought today. I ate a piece without checking first! 😬🤢😝