Nothing is more annoying than repeating a mistake. Lately, I’ve been duplicating a problem as I don’t remember my cat, Cheez-It, is already outside when I let our dogs out. Our alpha welshie, Matilda, has a bit of a strong hunt instinct and given the opportunity, she will turn predator in the wag of a tail. She will launch like a heat seeking missile and pounce and secure small woodland creatures like squirrels or our orange tabby by the neck. Yikes.
When I come to my senses and intervene, much yelling and flailing and grabbing indiscriminately happens. Or not, unfortunately, if my eyes haven’t adjusted to the bright morning light or evening darkness outside and I am stuck in place for endless moments, hearing the fur fly. Of course, Stockton ran to the rescue a few times. My hero.
We started telling each other emphatically like kindergarten teachers giving a pre-snack hand wash reminder anytime we let Cheez-It out. Yet, I’ve forgotten the memo and caused a ruckus. Is my screen addiction causing the missed message, another distraction like tiredness or worse, hearing loss?
I encountered a possible solution. I heard the Only Human pod tout a free app, Mimi Test, offering a two-minute hearing test. When you have lost part of one of your senses, you tend to preserve what’s still left. Plus, monitoring things can pick up a gradual loss and more importantly, a kitty life was at stake. I was interested, vision loss or not, I’m all about self assessment. Magazine quizzes as a teen, personality tests in college, buzzfeed clickbait quizzes now, I’m in. I was set to assess my ears. I asked a few family members to join in to get a range in participant age and they agreed.
I downloaded Mimi Test, grabbed my ear buds and left the living room noise. As I heard tones in my left or right ear, I tapped the designated button on screen. In moments, my results appeared. Not bad:
My parents sent me their results. Age appropriate, no red flags there. Stockton and my brother-in-law sent me their test results, too:
Stockton bested me while a terrier crunched on a treat beside him. My brother-in-law also turned in stellar results. He planned ahead and chose a silent home office room for auditory assessment. My competitive instinct kicked in. Must find quieter exam quarters. I pretended like I was The One Who Lived and ventured into the closet under our attic stairs. Test results improved:
So my ears are not the problem, it’s my brain. That will take more effort to fix, but there is something I can do immediately. I shall put down my tablet and take a nap. For science and for Cheez-It. I don’t want to cause another cat rodeo in Mayberry.
Do your pets play nice? Do you absent-mindedly do stupid things? Will you test your hearing with the Mimi Test app? Tell me about it.
Adventures in Low Vision 
I do repeatedly do stupid things! One of them is forgetting to lock the cats inside when it gets dark out. I worry and fuss over it for days and then I forget and my cats are out prowling around with coyotes lurking nearby. I must work on being more focused!
My pets constantly have little squabbles. The dog’s new thing is to not eat his breakfast and then stand guard over it, not letting the cats come in the living room. Pets can be so exasperating!
Our pets keep us on our toes. We have a few foxes, but no cyotes in these parts. Your cats must be tough prowlers!
BTW, Cheez-It is a very handsome cat and I love his name!
First of all, I love the name Cheez-it! The mimi app sounds interesting. I will certainly check it out and encourage some of my family members to do the same (especially the ones that seem to have selective hearing!) I do absent-minded things all the time….I blame it on age, vision, and having 2 crazy kids. My dog, Wrigley, is actually the best behaved member of my entire family!!!
And I love the name Wrigley, ha! I hope you enjoy the app, it’s kinda fun taking the test in a closet!
You are not alone Susan. I refer to it as AADD (Adult Attention Deficit Disorder) or the inability to focus. There are days when I think I surely must be losing my mind. Do you know if there is any correlation between losing vision and memory?
I do not, but if I come across any good reports I will certainly share, Steph.
I’ll do likewise.
Stupid things? Are you kidding? This is Stupid Things Central! I forgot something in my car today, walked around the apartment building to the garage, lifted the door. No car. That’s because I parked it in front of the house a few hours earlier and WALKED RIGHT PAST IT when I went to the garage! Stupid things….? Yeah. Nailed it.
We must be focusing our brain power on the truly important things in life…like where the chocolate is.
Your post reminded me of a psychiatrist friend of my parents back in the 1950s who couldn’t believe his children were so disobedient that he had them all tested for hearing loss! Their hearing was fine. Then again, we used to have a Pekinese who suffered selective hearing loss when chasing prey.
Funny story Bridget. Kids and pets do “suffer” from selective hearing.