John Walker's Electronic House

For every person who complains, there’s three more who bitch at me for not posting enough Dex pics. So here’s a bumper collection.

Click on the pictures to see the full set.

Dexter Vs. Toilet Paper

For reasons unknown, Dexter’s list of hated things includes: pens, DS styluses, Spyro The Dragon, bedtime, and toilet rolls. If a toilet roll is ever discovered, it must be destroyed at all costs. We have discovered the bathroom carpetted in shredded paper first thing in the morning after a roll was particularly naughty the previous night. Here a roll that was nearly finished was put in his way.

Dexter Bowling

We often have excellent ideas in this house. The excellent idea the other night was to take our spare microwave onto the patio, and see what happens when we microwave different types of metal. Another excellent idea was Dexter Bowling. Combining his hatred of toilet rolls, along with the ideally suited long, thin downstairs hallway, and his love of chasing Mousey, we struck upon gold. Arrange toilet rolls in the shape of bowling pins, then with Dex at the other end of the hallway, throw Mousey over the rolls, and see how many Dex knocks over.

Dexter Vs. Wil

There’s only a month’s age difference between my nephew, William, and my kitten, Dexter. Wil has the advantage of age, but Dex does appear to be developmentally leaps and bounds ahead. For instance, he can leap and bound. While Wil may be starting to stand up without holding on, Dexter has been climbing curtains and catching butterflies in midair since he was about three months. I concede that Wil’s rudimentary speech is more than the cat can manage, but when it comes to climbing stairs, it’s really no contest.

It was interesting seeing Dex’s reaction to Wil. He wasn’t regular human-sized, so his first thought was that he must be a toy of some sort. But then suddenly the toy started moving with autonomy, and Dex freaked out. This meant there had to be more careful study, and a much more cautious approach. On the stairs, Dexter quickly realised he had the advantage, first running away, but then soon getting bored of waiting for Wil to catch up. Wil won him over eventually when discovering Dexter’s treat box. It’s fair to say that Wil recognised it more as a rattle – a sound which Dexter associates with the impending arrival of a treat – leading to some investigative confusion. In the end, I’d call it a draw.

Also, to stop the endless, ghastly whining of Stuart “I Don’t Know How To Use Bookmarks” Campbell, there’s now a link to Dex pics on the right.