My west coast brother has informed me that today is "Cat Herders Day." On our recent trip to Egypt we overheard our ever patient guide commenting that keeping us all together was like herding cats.
On that particular excursion we had been given a little free time to explore on our own after the guided part of the tour. My spouse and I were among the first back to the bus because it was so hot that day that we were ready for the bliss of the air conditioned bus and the ever present bottles of water after only a brief look at all the amazing things for sale in the market area. The refrain "One dollar, only one dollar." echoed in our heads. Our guide had told us that if we didn't want to be bothered to just keep saying "No thank you." over and over and never make eye contact while we kept walking toward our bus. That worked very well.
The sales people were never scary, just pleasantly persistent. I did buy one item, an Egyptian book on the tombs translated into English. Some interesting syntax but still quite readable.
But back to herding cats. Perhaps Cat Herders actually refers to cats who have been trained to herd some smaller animals - chickens maybe? I have seen amazing demonstrations of sheep dogs herding sheep so why not chicken cats or bunny cats herding those animals.
Of course we all know that even the best trained cats would only do what they were asked to do when they felt like it. Cats operate on cat time. Although they do respond to the sound of a can opener.
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