boolie

Boo Turns a Corner

Our sensitive little Boo turned out to be the biggest obstacle to Trixie’s introduction. He didn’t stalk her the way Emma stalked him, but he did hiss at her if she came close and was just generally out of sorts. He’d follow Sam at times to try and engage him to play, and even when Sam made it clear he didn’t want to, Boo wouldn’t relent and a quarrel would follow. He’s made a lot of progress the past couple of weeks and no longer hisses at Trixie and at times is quite tolerant of her.

He’s not ready to play with Trixie yet, but hopefully that will change with time. I’ve been able to get him to play at the same time as her, so that’s a start. He’s a sweet little fellow, I’m not too worried, it’s just the stresses of the past few months have been a bit hard on him and Sam.

At Last, Some Rest

I started off the year pretty worn out after Emma’s long decline, and it only got worse after she died and then Sam got sick. Then it was Boo’s turn and even Ellie gave us a scare when a test suggested she had an infection but it turned out to be a false positive. Then we adopted little Trixie and started her slow introduction to the household and even she got sick. And just when it seemed everyone was over all their health issues big and small, one night Ellie wanted to cut her walk short, so we came home early and she walked straight into my office and barfed all over the place. Turned out not be serious, but let’s just say after a few months of chaos we’re exhausted.

There is some good news however as we head towards our new normal. The other cats have accepted Trixie and she’s spent the last two weeks with free run of the house. Though it will be a while before they are truly comfortable with one another, there is progress as shown by Trixie and Sam sleeping on my legs. We’ve gone an entire week without anyone getting sick in big or small ways, and we’re finally getting a good night’s sleep.

Or mostly anyways. Thursday night all three cats joined me in bed but Trixie was in the mood to play so we didn’t get much sleep until she was ready to snuggle up. I love it when she snuggles up to my face, usually she just rubs her face on mine in the most adorable way, but occasionally she can’t resist nipping at your nose. You just never know what you’re going to get, though thankfully the nose bites are getting further and farther between.

We also replaced both mattresses a week ago. We got our mattress when we got married so it was over sixteen years old and due for a replacement. We tested out a bunch, unfortunately the one I liked best was on the expensive side, but so far I’ve slept well on it. We discovered how tortuous the mattress in the guest bedroom was when we stayed with Trixie when she was isolated in there, so we replaced it as well, although with a more basic model.

All of which means that, better rested, I no longer feel as though I’m about to lose my mind. And I shouldn’t fall asleep immediately after dinner, so blogging should return to normal too.

Trixie Wins Her Freedom

This weekend we finally gave Trixie free reign of the house. She joined me in bed last night and is asleep in my lap at the moment. This picture is from a week ago when we were giving her limited time outside the guest room, you can see in her wide eyes that she was a little too hopped up to be let loose on the other cats full time. That’s Sam beside me on the stairs, trying to decide just what to make of his new little sister.

Lunch for One

A hooded merganser swallows a fish she just caught in the shallows of Long Lake. She’s swimming away not from me but rather the other mergansers in her group who would be more than happy at the chance for a free meal. Once she surfaces with the fish she’s got to get it oriented head-first, lengthwise down her long thin bill, and toss it back and swallow it. The still squirming fish sometimes gets dropped even when alone, much less in a crowd, so a little private space is always welcome.

A Closer Look

Not only was I fortunate to be able to photograph great egrets numerous times in December, but even on this day I had several opportunities, including full-body portraits as one caught numerous bullfrogs. There were times I saw egrets very close to the road but in each case someone else had stopped and, rather than risk spooking the bird, I continued past.

Late in the day I got my chance at a close look when I came across this egret at Rest Lake. It was mostly watching the water for frogs but occasionally if another car came past it would gently turn its head in my direction. That rarely happened as there was a sudden lull in traffic, but I spent a lovely twenty minutes watching it at close range before it finally took flight to chase off another egret that had flown in a ways down the shore.

Turning Frogs into Katydids

My visit to the Tetons in 2011 got off to a slow start. I hadn’t seen much wildlife and while the scenery was beautiful as always, the light and weather weren’t cooperating. In the mood to try something new, I hiked a trail I hadn’t been on before, the Two Ocean Lake Trail. In the meadows I was startled multiple times by creatures moving in the grass that reminded me in size and mass of frogs, but they looked like giant grasshoppers. I had no idea such things even existed, not having seen them before (or since), but they were Mormon crickets. They’re actually katydids, not crickets, and lack the ability to fly.

Calm

I photographed this mountain stream on the trail above Wahkeena Falls in the fall and realized when I got home that I had photographed these same rocks a few years earlier. I love the look and sound and smell of mountain streams and the Columbia River Gorge never disappoints. While I find the picture calming, the trail is popular and I had to keep moving the camera when people approached to avoid blocking the trail with my tripod.

Trixie Gets Comfortable

Trixie’s introduction to the rest of the family is proceeding apace but she’s not yet been given free reign of the house, we’re still keeping her in the guest bedroom at night and while we’re away. Boo is still rather uneasy around her but he is making progress and in the past couple of days has been willing to play when she’s around. Trixie, for her part, seems quite comfortable in her new home, as you can see when she stretched out on my legs a few days ago. You can see where they shaved her belly for the surgery when she was spayed.

Philosophy

“Do you ever wonder if life is an illusion and we’re all really just sitting in a paper bag?”
“Not really, Boo, but I bet it kept Descartes up at night.”
“Nihil enim somni ergo sum.”
“What?”
“I can’t sleep, therefore I am.”
“Maybe it’s time you came out of that paper bag.”

An End to Hibernation

Bullfrogs hibernate during the winter so their metabolism slows significantly and they aren’t very active but they don’t bury themselves in the mud the way a turtle might. Many bullfrogs at Ridgefield found their hibernation cut short this winter by the herons and egrets and bitterns that worked the shallow channels and ponds of the refuge.

This egret in particular was just walking up and down one such channel, avoiding a great blue heron doing the same, striking at bullfrog after bullfrog, following a familiar process between catching the frog and eating it. First, the frog would be dunked quickly into the water, as shown above. Next, the egret would spin the frog rapidly, presumably causing massive internal injuries to the frog, as shown in the following two pictures. In the first picture, the egret has closed the nictitating membrane in its eyes, a transparent third eyelid that protects the eye from damage while still allowing the egret to see, as water spins off the frog and its clawed feet flail about, while in the second picture the membrane has been retracted.

Then the egret would toss the frog into the air, catching it in a different place on its body, and either repeat the process again if it caught it by a leg, or perhaps crush it in its beak if it caught it by the body. This would happen multiple times until I gather the frog had died or given up fighting, although with the egret constantly keeping the frog moving it was hard to tell exactly when or if the frog itself stopped moving.

The final step was to position the frog head first in its beak and swallow it whole. Bullfrogs are voracious predators and, as they aren’t native to the area, have had a big impact on some of the other small creatures in the ponds and sloughs. However I’ve seen the bullfrogs themselves become prey for the larger predators of the refuge, including not just egrets and herons and bitterns but otters, raccoons, and grebes.