boolie

String Theory

I used this green yarn to tie up some coneflower that were in danger of falling over and ended up with a piece of leftover yarn. During Outdoor Time, I’d drag it around behind me while running around the yard with Sam and Emma in hot pursuit. I held it loosely in my hand so that they could step on the string and capture it, then I’d pick it back up and the game started anew.

This quickly became our favorite game and the fun lasted for a week or two.

But then Emma started carrying the string away when she captured it. She’s always had a thing for strings so I didn’t think anything of it at first. If I didn’t take back the string, she’d find a spot to sit down in the yard and start chewing on the string. I thought it was cute so I grabbed the camera for a few quick pictures, but then I realized she was actually breaking off pieces of yarn and swallowing them.

I nipped that behavior in the bud right away, we’ve had a bad experience before with a thread chewer …

You Don’t Want To Be A Cardboard Box In Our House

The only furnishings in our living room are cardboard boxes for the cats to play and sleep in. Templeton and Scout both loved boxes, so I wasn’t surprised to see the newcomers enjoy them so. I was surprised to see Sam add fiber to his diet by chewing on the boxes, a behavior I assumed would go away once he was no longer teething.

I assumed wrong.

Some Lessons You Have to Learn the Hard Way

I’ve warned Emma to stay out of the coneflower. Oh how I’ve warned her! Time and again I told of how they’d lure her in, let her drink in their beauty, then attack when she let her guard down. But did she listen to me? No she didn’t. Some lessons you have to learn the hard way.

Suddenly Sam Realized He Was Not Alone

Sam emerged from playing in the raspberries and froze. He felt her eyes upon him, but from where? Then he saw her, the dark shadow under the rose bushes.

“Does she mean to attack me?”

She does. And she did.

Siamese Twin Cats

The other morning I woke to the purring not of Siamese cats but Siamese twin cats. As they approached me on the bed, their two heads rubbed against one another and their tails were intertwined. I expected them to be identical twins, but to my surprise the twin on the right was an orange tabby and the twin on the left had black and white fur and golden eyes.

Having reached me they rubbed their heads against my own, my hands rising to scratch their heads and stroke their backs as if responding to some unspoken command. In that moment I was given the gift of healing and the conjoined twins split apart, but their bond proved too strong and they soon rejoined. My eyes played tricks in the pre-dawn light, for it seemed they were now joined on the opposite side as before.

Eventually their desires for affection were satiated and the twins finally separated for good, Sam departing for parts unknown and Scout curling up beside me to sleep.

Wild Boys Always Shine

If you come across a mysterious box in your living room, do not open it. Even if you hear a small voice inside the box urging you to, do not open it! It’s a trap!

Blogging From the Face of the Sun

We just got through a nasty heat wave here in Portland, some days over 100° Fahrenheit (1000° Celsius). We don’t have air conditioning in our house so I spent most of the weekend hiding out in the basement. It’s generally nice and cool but after so many hot days it was warm even there. Thankfully the heat just broke, the temperature dropped 20° pretty quickly and there’s even a soft rain now.

This picture of Sam was taken a few days before the heat wave, we were running around when I noticed he stuck his tongue out whenever he paused, so I decided it was time for us to take a break so he could catch his breath. The daisies on the right are past their prime but he loves to play in them, so I left one patch standing for his sake.

Innocence

A white-spotted elk calf looks up in the early morning light at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park.

White Spots

A mother nuzzles its white-spotted calf at sunrise near Mammoth Hot Springs at Yellowstone National Park. This was my first real visit to the park in the summer of 2004 and was taken on my last day in the park. Despite wanting to get up early every day during the visit, I only managed to do it on the last day. I also saw the most animals and got my best pictures, I lesson I didn’t forget. It seemed like Mother’s Day, as within a few minutes I saw mothers and young not only of elk but also bison, black bears, and moose.

Kiss Kiss

Emma’s been complaining that I’ve posted too many aggressive pictures of her, baring her teeth or mauling feathered toys or rough-housing with Sam. So here’s a picture of her planting a kiss on Scout.