Cats and Heights

We have almost given up trying to train our cat to stay off the tables, counters, and upper shelves of the bookcase. My last cat learn after two sprays of the spray bottle - but this guy I think sees the water as a bonus.

I have never seen a cat drink so much. Not only are all of our water immediate glasses targets (not coffee or tea - pretty much just the water), but in the morning he jumps up on the window sill and laps off the condensation on the window until he can see out. The he moves hown the window and does the same think all along the sill.
We even added vinegar to the water - but it doesn't work. Sometimes we have sprayed him as many as 7 times (with frustrated tsks and "bad cats" accentuating the ordeal) before he finally gets/ or is pulled down.
I tried putting saran wrap on the table. He responded by jumping up and falling asleep on it.
For the most part we are avoiding the problem by trying to keep him out of the kitchen unless we are there too - but still - as soo as our backs are turn to wash the dishes or put something in the fridge he is up on the table again. Any ideas?

Here come the clowns

This weekend Alister and I went to the Ukrainian National Circus in Kiev.

This was not a big tent affair - but rather a permanent building with two "features" per year. We went to the winter show - Polar Bears on Skates. The advertisement was in Ukrainian rather than Russian, and for the longest time I thought it was a Polar Bear Playing a Harp (which it also did) but in reality the main feature was Polar Fears on Skates.

Everything about the show was spectacular - it was like - circus meets ice-capades - everything was done on an ice rink - their were "stilts", disappearing acts, performing cats, birds, and of course the polar bears. Each act was put to music and accented with fabulous costumes in winter motif - one of them were glow in the dark snow flakes - another was a battle between fire and ice. Our favorite was the Amazing Icicle Boy who skated on his hands!!

Other than the sheer ability of the performers, I was also struck by the amount of training that when into the animal bits - For example, the cats knew that when they got let out of their cages, they were to trot over to the rope course and run through the obstacles. Another cat knew that when it came out - it was to run to the top of a high pole and then jump onto a scarlet cushion being held by a clown assistant. My cat was pretty smart, but i could never get it to do a trick when he didn't want to entertain.

Still in another act, they actually trained pigeons where to fly and what to do - seriously, pigeons have super tiny brains - how can they be trained to fly and land on first a shoulder and then a bush?

All this without even mentioning the polar bears, who really did run about on skates AND play a harp (so it just looked like a harp - but there was a LIVE orchestra that filled in) (We'd show videos- but we don't want to give away the fun or cheat the Ukrainian National circus out of admission)

Everything was fantastic. So fantastic that Alister actually wants to go again - before the winter season ends on the 30th. He says "Whoever dreamt up the program definitely had a sense of humour, a polar bear ice skating, brilliant!"

The summer show promises to feature a crocodile and a Brown bear - care to join us?