Hemingway Home Argues With USDA Over Cats
The caretakers of Ernest Hemingway's Key West home want a federal judge to intervene in their dispute with the U.S. Department of Agriculture over the six-toed cats that roam the property.
More than 50 descendants of a multi-toed cat the novelist received as a gift in 1935 wander the grounds of the home, where Hemingway lived for more than 10 years and wrote "A Farewell to Arms" and "To Have and Have Not."
The Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum disputes the USDA's claim that it is an "exhibitor" of cats and needs to have a USDA Animal Welfare License, according to a complaint filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Miami.
"What they're comparing the Hemingway house to is a circus or a zoo because there are cats on the premises," Cara Higgins, the home's attorney, said Friday. "This is not a traveling circus. These cats have been on the premises forever."
A message left Friday afternoon at the Washington, D.C., office of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service was not immediately returned.
The agency has repeatedly denied a license for the Hemingway home under the Animal Welfare Act, which the home contends governs animals in commerce. The USDA has threatened to charge the home $200 per cat per day for violating the act, according to the complaint.
"We're asking the judge to let us know whether this act applies to the cats, and if so why that is if the animals are not in commerce," Higgins said. "If it has something to do with the number of cats, how many do we have to get rid of to be in compliance with the act?"
Agency inspectors who have repeatedly visited the property since October 2003 have never indicated any concerns about the welfare of the cats. But they have said a 6-foot-high, brick-and-mortar fence Hemingway built around the property in 1937 did not sufficiently contain the 53 cats, which should be caged, according to the complaint.
Caging the cats, some of which are 19 years old or older, would traumatize them, and the home's designation as a National Historic Site prohibits extending the height of the fence, the complaint said.
The tourist site complies with city and county ordinances, Higgins said. "We don't know why the USDA got involved in this," she said.
As for your mother, I know enough evangelical Christian homeschooling crunchy granola mothers from La Leche League to know that plenty of religious conservatives don't believe that extended breastfeeding makes you gay, but rather, strengthens and nurtures your family. You need to get some of those ladies to drop in on her.
Yeah, our assistant pastor's wife is a La Leche mucky muck (milky milk [sorry, rough day already]) of some sort or another, because her pre-recorded message on their home answering machine gives some sort of instructions for people calling for La Leche breast feeding assistance. Too bad I can't turn her loose on your mom.
My family didn't give me a hard time about the extended nursing but strangers gave me bad looks. This could be because my 2 year old looked 5.
We had that with Ben—not with breastfeeding, but just in general. He looked about 3 when he was 1 year old, and people would just see him acting his age, and you could tell they were thinking, "What's up with that?"
Laura, do you find now that people expect more maturity from yoru boys, because they're tall? I still see that with Ben. He's smart, and he's good, and he's tall (although not as big as your sons) and so people expect him to be mature to a degree I believe is beyond most ten year old boys (and is beyond them, as far as I can see from watching his friends).
I have to share this bit that I got from my parents:
Teacher Arrested at Kennedy Airport
President George Bush announced today that an individual, later discovered to be a public school teacher, was arrested trying to board a flight in New York while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a set square, a slide rule, and a calculator.
At a 12:45PM press conference, President Bush said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-gebra movement. He is being chared by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.
"Al-gebra is a fearsome cult", Bush said. "They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like 'x' and 'y' and refer to themselves as 'unknowns', but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country." Bush then warned that "the Greek philanderer Isosceles, and early founder of Al-gebra, used to say, 'there are 3 sides to every triangle'." Bush admitted he wasn't exactly sure what that meant but Pat Robertson had told him anything done in threes was bad...very bad!
Bush went on to say, "If God had wanted us to heave better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes." Bush further stated he had heard the Al-gebraists had issued a fatwah and declared Ji-ahmetry on all of America's best and brightest students.
Corwood, I'm betting you could easily get your hands on some La Leche literature (I'm betting they have PDFs on the web) that specifically addresses Dobson's dubious advice. Actually, from what I hear, Dobson hasn't a single bit of good advice to offer....
Laura, do you find now that people expect more maturity from yoru boys, because they're tall? I still see that with Ben. He's smart, and he's good, and he's tall (although not as big as your sons) and so people expect him to be mature to a degree I believe is beyond most ten year old boys (and is beyond them, as far as I can see from watching his friends).
My parents had neighbors for a while with Marfan's (?) syndrome, which makes them really tall. It was weird (and really hard for the kids), because the kids seemed nearly retarded until you could put it together how old they actually were vs. what they looked like.
Casper is big for her age - we had a friend over yesterday who is 5 months older and weighs about 15 pounds less than she does - but she's also talkative for her age, which helps some. We had some problems with other kids (3-4 years old) expecting her to be more mature than was age-appropriate last fall, though, when she was barely 2.
We went to see PoTC last night, and took the Dillo (who slept and nursed, as was appropriate) but left Casper at home, to me obviously. (I mean, with a sitter, not Home Alone.) But there were a ton of little kids in the theater - next to us a family with 1 and 3 year olds, and I saw several 6-8 year old girls as we were leaving. WTF? Not a film I'd take most kids under 12 or so to - there are scary and gross parts!
I saw lots of small kids at PotC: DMC, too. It sort of weirded me out because it was awfully scary for young children but a lot of people just don't seem to care anymore.
Corwood, sorry for the family trauma and drama. Yeesh. I'm so lucky I didn't get any shit from my in-laws on child-rearing issues (even if they didn't always agree with us, they kept their traps shut).
Seekrit message to Cash:
Seekrit message to Aillean:You. Bet. Email me the times you want to go see it and I'll check the schedule.
