CALIFORNIA WILD (AND TAME) LIFE

I'm always surprised, it seems, by the variety of wildlife in our beautiful lands.  On our recent trip to California I took some photos of what I could.  You probably saw the elephant seals in yesterday's post.  But on a quieter beach, the dominant species seems to be sea gulls.

If they're not scrounging for food along the shore they seem to spend a lot of time perched and just watching.  And who could blame them with a view like this at the W.R. Hearst Memorial State Beach at San Simeon.

"All right Mr. Demille, I'm ready for my close-up."

In this same area a couple of crows were courting.  (They might have been ravens.  I can never seem to tell them apart.)

Away from the coast, SWMBO and I were amazed at the numbers of cows grazing on what seemed to us like very steep hillsides.  We wondered if a strong gust of wind might send them rolling down the slopes.  But they remain unconcerned and sure-footed.

Whenever something out of the ordinary occurs, the cows stop and stare . . as when a tourist photographer pauses to take pictures.  These cows graze just across a small road separating them from tennis courts where Tom and his friends play in the mornings.  Tom says the cattle make up the audience.

Now how could a cat lover like myself go anywhere without bringing back a photo of cats.  These are two of Tom and Lana's trio, Hemingway on the left, Luke on the right.  Hemingway is so named because like Ernest Hemingway's cats he has six toes on each foot.  Such an animal is known as a "polydactyl".

And finally there's the third cat.  I caught this picture of her staring inside the house but too early for feeding time.  What a face!  Her name is Joy though she doesn't look too joyful at the moment.

There's still more to our California tour but we'll continue with that tomorrow.  Stay tuned!

Cat habits

What are you going to do when you have a home with three resident cats and only one door that opens to a screen door?  Normally you just sit back and watch what happens.

When I opened the inside door this morning Jazz was the first to make it to the screened viewing position.

But that was short lived.  Blackwell, now sometimes known as The Big Cat, soon showed up hoping to take a spot next to her.  But Jazz is not big into togetherness.  When a snarl didn't scare him off, she left.

A little hostility doesn't faze the big one and he settled down into the place of dominance.

But that left Muggles, the oldest but most nervous of the three.  She crept up behind Blackwell, thankful to peer over his shoulder.


But that only lasted for a moment and she soon fled the room as well.  Blackwell settled in for a session of watching whatever moved outside the door while the other two pouted.

Cats.  Can't live with 'em.  Can't live without 'em.

My girls

Everyone knows that a cat will adopt a box. Any box. And the cat will adapt to the size and the shape of the box. Jazz has adopted this shallow box.

She has fallen in love with this box and spends hours every day curled up in it.

Then, there's another thing about cats. They seem to inherently know . . . what they look best on. They seek out a fabric, a color, a texture and seem most comfortable posing on it. Muggles has taken to this chair.

Does she look happy or not?

I think you can see why I love my girls.

Just one picture

Jazz on a Mexican blanket.

Adaptation

As the BRD was moving this week, she and SWMBO traded living room furniture. Whereas ours was wicker with an off-white upholstery, the BRD's was big, puffy and dark green.

On moving day, Jazz holed up on a shelf in a bedroom closet and stayed there for 8 hours or so. Finally, in the evening, she came out and walked (or stalked) very slowly over to the big couch and carefully began sniffing it. Not only is it new, it carries the scent of a couple of strange cats.

But by last night, Muggles (left) and Smoke (center) seem to have made their peace with it. Jazz (right) is still sniffing.

Smoke, are you confused?

O.K. You've all met Smoke, right. He's the one in the middle here.

He's our "half-cat". We call him that because the other two . . . Muggles and Jazz . . . are "inside" cats and Smoke is an "outside" cat.

So, he comes in to visit part of the day.

(And...key to this story...he's a male and the other two are females)

Now I need to tell you that all of our cats are "fixed". Neutered. De-cojoned.

But Smoke. Smoke. What the hell happened with Smoke?

Recently, he has begun to feel the impulses of Springtime in Arizona.

SWMBO noticed it first because it happened as she was lying on the bed with Smoke and Muggles.

Suddenly, Smoke gave a couple or three little chirps and then leaped, without any further warning, on Muggles. He wrapped his front paws around her and began nibbling on the back of her neck.

Well!

I think you cat people know what comes next.

But it didn't.

Because SWMBO yelled, threw something and chased Smoke out of the room and soon out of the house.

This has now happened several times in the past week and SWMBO is getting a bit more than a little tired of it.

The other day, Smoke was lying on the bed next to SWMBO when the tell-tale chirps began.

Considering that SWMBO is NOT a female cat, she promptly threw Smoke out of the house.

1. He's an animal.

2. It's springtime.

3. He feels urges.

4. He apparently doesn't know he can't do anything about it.

5. But . . . what's a guy to do???