The facts - in black and white

You will recall that the BRD lost one of her cats recently. The snow white and blue eyed Emma just disappeared one night and never returned. This is a picture of her visiting our house about 7 years ago. She was shy around us but still bookish.

Well, I knew it wouldn't be long. Not with the animal loving BRD. Her other cat, Sheba, has apparently settled with the loss of Emma or maybe, as I guess cats do, just forgot her after a few days. But one cat just isn't good enough. They are pretty social creatures and they need companionship of their own species. So . . . allow me to introduce the decidedly un-white Jet.

He is about 9 months old and is totally black except for a small smidgeon of white under his chin.

The BRD says he is very friendly and completely unafraid of anything. Still . . . we're hoping she'll keep him an inside cat.

Clouds..and more

Today was one of those days when I was glad I had my camera with me. It began when I spotted the clouds over Granite Mountain.

From there it was just one shot after another of this near perfect blue sky day with clouds and even occasional raindrops.

That's a bit of Willow Lake in the lower left of the photo above.

The only way I can imagine would be better than watching these clouds from the ground would be as a bird on high soaring among them.

If you would like to know more . . . much more . . . about clouds, check out this remarkable site.

The Adventures of Smoke

I haven't shown you Smoke for awhile after taking him away from my banner (above). So this morning I snapped a few photos in our back yard.

Smoke really does like his picture taken although he looks a bit unsure of it in this photo. The next one shows him in all his glory surveying his world.

A bit later, as we were both resting from this photo session, a dove dropped down for a quick drink at our bird bath. (You can see him better if you click on the photo.)

Smoke noticed him too and thought about trying to catch him.

But the bird flew away, which was just as well. We don't need dove guts and feathers scattered around the yard. And besides. Smoke was really needing a nap.

Cats and Dogs

These were among a group sent to me by Mick back in Indiana. They're easier to see if you click on them.

Just to let you know I'm not solely a cat person, here's one of dogs. And I know the last word is misspelled but I was unable to correct it. Go with the thought.

I'm not writing or photographing today. But I do have some links for you.

Dawn, over at Twisted Sister has a great video about cats and catnip.

And Tombo, at Tombo's Blog has a short but amazing video of a huge pod of dolphins.

Check 'em out. And tell 'em Catalyst sent you!

Home on the Range

Local critters, right in the heart of my town.

" Look, it's hot, we're resting and we're not getting up to pose for your stupid camera! And you can knock off that ti-yi-yippee-yippee-yay crap, too!"

"Yeah, I am the boss around here and if wasn't for this barbed wire fence, you'd know that for sure!"

(Photos expand if you click on them.)

Hot and cool

It is 4 o'clock in the afternoon and 96 degrees Fahrenheit where I live. Don't tell me about Phoenix or how low the humidity is here. That's still just too damned hot.

So I went in search of some photos that might make me at least feel cooler.

The next two are shot over a fence at Mountain Valley Splash, the local public swimming pool.

There! I don't know about you but I feel cooler!