Boolie

Oh Christmas Tree

I put up the Christmas tree last weekend not knowing how I’d feel about it. Templeton loved tree day but last year on the day the tree went up we realized something was seriously wrong with him and he had to be euthanized that night. Thankfully this year it was a happy time, between remembering how much he loved the tree (and the big box it is stored in) and seeing the current cats enjoying it so. Scout was curled up on the tree skirt as soon as the top section went on, while Sam and Emma stayed away at first.

Soon enough Emma curled up under the tree as well and has rarely left it since. I hoped to take a picture of her but Sam walked in front of the camera and then Emma woke up and walked towards me, hoping for a game of String. Emma spends her waking hours hoping for a game of String. So I settled for a picture of a sleepy Sam under the tree, although of the three cats he spends the least time there.

We left the ornaments off to see how Emma and Sam would do with the tree, they left it alone last year but they were new to the house so they had plenty of other distractions. After the first few days the tree showed no ill effects so I planned on putting the ornaments up this weekend.

But one day this week, my wife heard an awful cry from Scout so she rushed in thinking the cats were fighting, only to find Sam and Emma in the tree and attempting to flee the scene. Scout used to love to sleep in the tree but we finally got her to stop, I suppose our little narc decided that if she couldn’t sleep in the tree, no one could.

At least we think we got her to stop, she’s crafty and learned to cover her tracks pretty closely and sneak up near the center of the tree. The new cats haven’t adopted her Leave No Trace ethic and I’m not sure the tree will survive the holidays, at first it just suffered flattened branches but soon developed a decided tilt.

Scout Says No

I took Scout to our vet yesterday to get her left eye looked at, the same eye that bothered her earlier in the year. Scout is pretty shy and hid under the blanket in her carrier, but once in the examination room she turned on the charm and all were sorry to see her go. As suspected earlier in the year, it looks like she has a viral infection that will come and go, she gets the eyedrops from before that prevent a bacterial infection and also a new gel to minimize the effects of the virus. The gel is given orally and is described as “a highly palatable gel”.

Scout says no.

At least she would if she were talking to me.

Weasels

As I mentioned in my previous post, this year I’ve seen three long-tailed weasels (Mustela frenata) after never having seen them before. However they weren’t my first introduction to the weasel family itself, the mustelids. I had a similar experience last year with mink (Mustela vison), I saw three after never having seen them before — unfortunately I haven’t seen them since, I hope I have better luck with the weasels.

And of course I once had daily contact with the gray-tailed weasel (Mustela templeton), the sort of weasel who would act like he wanted to play, then when you got up to follow him, double back and steal your chair. And still look up at you with the purest innocence. That is a weasel.

While the gray-tailed weasel has sadly gone extinct, scientists are studying a mammal that some believe is a new species, the orange-tailed weasel (Mustela sam). The scientific community wants to wait for more data before final classification as a weasel, but two young scientists note that he will push you aside and steal your food, and with manners like that there’s really no reason to wait.

However, another scientist argues that the gray-tailed and orange-tailed weasels are likely one species, the little weasel (Mustela minimus). Or, since the orange creature seems to eat anything that even remotely resembles food if you leave it unguarded for a few seconds, that perhaps it is not a weasel at all but an unusually cute species of goat (Oreamnos terribulus).

Jealousy

It’s hard not to be jealous of how well-adapted some animals are to their environment. It was a little humbling to watch these tiny little pikas sprinting across the talus field with plants in their mouths. I don’t think I’d be quite so quick if I had to drag several 12 foot tall trees in my mouth as I ran across a boulder field with rocks as big as a school bus.

This Year’s Vacation Notice

My whiteboard art doesn’t seem to be getting better from year to year, although I am making increasing use of color. I’m hoping that my art form (known as stickism) will catch on and I can start paying for my meals by signing napkins like Picasso.

Remind Me Why I’m Not Hibernating Yet?

The higher elevations in the Sunrise area of Mount Rainier got a light dusting of snow on the morning of my last day there but it melted when the sun rose. After hiking a bit on the Sourdough Ridge Trail early in the day hoping to see marmots, pikas, or grouse (and not seeing any), I went a little lower in elevation to the trailhead of the Summerland Trail. The trail is an uphill march mostly through a forest before you pop out into a mountain meadow at the very end of the trail, I chose it since there was a chance of seeing hoary marmots and elk in the meadow (the mountain views from the meadow are also spectacular and make up for the lack of views in the forest).

I didn’t see any elk but I did see a few marmots when I first entered the talus field. The afternoon sun didn’t make for good light for pictures but this marmot was shadowed by rocks where the snow hadn’t melted. I followed the trail through the rocks and saw more and more marmots until I realized just how large the colony is at the end of the trail, this was by far the largest marmot colony of any species I’ve come across.

I spent the rest of the afternoon watching the marmots as at least one was usually close to the trail, taking advantage of every passing cloud to improve the light. I had thoughts about staying until sunset but I still had a long hike back down and while I had my headlamp, I was hiking alone and didn’t want to risk it. When the marmots that had been near the trail were no longer around, I took that as my cue and headed back down the trail.

Changeling

Some day I’m going to stop posting pictures of this bear, but today is not that … no actually I think today is that day. Watching the bear in person it was pretty obvious that it was young, I’m no expert on bears but it clearly was at least a year old but not yet a full adult. Looking through my pictures sometimes it appears younger to me and sometimes older, a furry changeling, but I just love its fur coat of many colors.

Browns

I found this Olympic marmot colony in the afternoon and hoped to photograph them in better light later in the day, but unfortunately they weren’t around when I came back in the evening. This marmot in multiple shades of brown gave a nice view of its paws.

Unique

I saw at least four species for the first time on my Washington trip, three of them mammals and two of them marmots. In addition to the hoary marmots I saw at Mount Rainier, I was lucky enough to see Olympic marmots in Olympic National Park, one of the species that is unique to the peninsula. I expected to see them in rock formations along the trails in the Grand and Badger Valleys but neither saw or heard them. I did see a couple on the road between Obstruction Point and Hurricane Ridge, I would have missed them if a friend hadn’t seen them there on an earlier visit. The road is quite narrow with occasional steep dropoffs and made me more nervous than any of the trails I hiked, but in this particular location there was enough room to park on one side of the road and be clearly visible to traffic from both directions.

ObamaNation

Wow.

This is the first time I’ve ever voted for a Presidential candidate who won and the first time I felt emotionally invested. While I’m sure there will be bumps and setbacks on the road ahead, I’m just glad we’re going down this road.