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!
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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.
Emma, My Hand Is Falling Asleep, May I Move It Please?
Alright! Alright! Calm down, I’ll leave it. You could have just said no.
Almost Two
Our dear Emma turns two this month, we don’t know the exact day so we’ll celebrate her birthday with mine later in the month. It’s too bad she’s not more of a lap cat, as she’s very affectionate and will sometimes grab hold of your hand while she sleeps.
Death Defying Dinner
Another picture of the same death-defying chipmunk, in this picture it has found some seeds amongst the needles and is eating them.
Flower Child
The daisies in the flower garden out front were getting too numerous, so a year or two ago I transplanted some of them to the backyard to give us some temporary flowers until we decide on landscaping. I planted two patches and they’ve both done really well. They lean over to get more sun and many of them eventually fall over since I usually forget to tie them up.
Sam likes to play in them, sometimes hiding under the flowers so he can surprise Scout or Emma (and sometimes knocking more down in the process). I let him wreak a little havoc in the daisies since they are so numerous and he enjoys it so, but I do try to keep him out of the coneflowers. Here he was sitting beside some of the daisies, I framed the picture so he was mostly hidden by the white flowers. The cats haven’t been able to go outside much this week either because I’ve been working late or had other stuff to do, so I’ll have to make sure they get some time out there this weekend.
I Am Become Death, Destroyer of Aphids
I’ve mentioned before how it sometimes seems that everything you see is an invasive species, such as the cute little ladybugs in my yard that turned out to be an Asian species originally brought to America for pest control. But this little ladybug, fierce and ferocious (if you’re an aphid), is not the same species! Have I finally found one of our native ladybugs? Alas, no, it has two spots too few. The seven-spotted ladybug is closely related to its American cousin the nine-spotted ladybug, but the nine-spot is rarely seen these days. The seven-spot is native to Europe and, like the Asian beetles, was brought over to the States for pest control and then established itself in the wild.
This one established itself on the petals of my purple coneflower. But the aphids are on the roses! The roses! For the love of Sammy, the aphids are on the roses!
Ah well, I’ve gotten a little disoriented in foreign lands myself.
Boolie 