cat – Page 73

Window Seat

Another flash test with Scout, also bounced off the ceiling as fill-flash.

One of the things I like about my new camera is the battery system, which is both more accurate and more detailed about how much life is left in the battery. All of my previous cameras used the same battery system, which had three indicators:

Your battery is full
Your battery is about to die
Your camera is shutting down

A slight exaggeration, but not by much. The new battery is one of the nice little touches to the 7D that doesn’t make the headlines.

The downside of course is that I can’t use the same batteries from my old cameras, and I found out this morning just how painful that could be. After visiting Ridgefield last weekend, I left the battery in the camera during the week so I could take pictures of the pets. Last night I put it in the charger but went to bed before it finished.

As you may have guessed by now, I got up before sunrise this morning to go back out to Ridgefield, arrived at the refuge and realized the 7D’s battery was still sitting in its charger. At home, 30 minutes away.

Sigh.

There’s a reason I get my camera gear together the night before I go hiking, a morning person I am not. On the plus side, I did bring my old Canon 10D along, so I wasn’t completely dead in the water. And water there was, it rained hard the entire time I was there.

It reminded me of a time years ago when I was in grad school and not long after I had gotten my first tripod. On a day hike in nearby West Virginia, I forgot my tripod and ended up missing a nice shot of a bat hanging in a tree. On my next trip, eager to avoid the same mistake, I checked, double-checked, and triple-checked that I packed the tripod before leaving.

Yet when I got to West Virginia, I realized I had brought the tripod, yet left the camera at home.

Aren’t I the Cutest?

I originally grabbed the camera to take a picture of Scout, but Sam started playing with his favorite string and I couldn’t resist a picture when he struck this pose. Though taken late in the morning next to a big picture window, there was so little light from outside that I turned on the lamp for a little more light. It has a much warmer color than the outside light but that goes well with Sam’s orange fur.

Unfortunately the pictures of Scout didn’t come out so well, my older cameras don’t work as well in these situations, but I’ll keep at it. She only gets in the tree if I put her there, especially with the weather getting colder she’s been re-colonizing the warm beds in my office.

We got the cat tree came from a fantastic pet store, Green Dog Pet Supply, a locally owned shop not far from our neighborhood in NE Portland. We also get our pet treats from Green Dog, and in fact they are the folks that turned us on to Wildside Salmon that the cats go crazy for. It is also the place where we get our Dog Toys to End All Dog Toys, the family of hedgehogs that Ellie loves so much. So Green Dog comes highly recommended not just from us, but all of our little ones as well.

Templeton! Who Raised You?

Templeton was not sticking his tongue out at Scout but rather licking his lips after chowing down on catnip, which was usually followed by him laying on his back on the concrete sidewalk and wiggling around, a legacy now claimed by little Sam. While he is definitely his own cat, he does share many of Templeton’s traits.

He’s a full-on no-apologies I’ll-sleep-on-your-legs-until-you-can’t-feel-them lap cat, just like Templeton was. He sticks his head out the door to greet me the moment I come home, just like Templeton did. He then goes downstairs to his food bowl and meows loudly to be fed, meows even if his bowl has plenty of food but he can actually see a bit of the bottom of the bowl, meows just because he likes the comfort of having me come down and go through the motions of feeding him. Just like Templeton did.

He’s an excellent groomer and yet never has hairballs, just like — well, Templeton was an excellent groomer.

Where Did All The Birds Go?

Scout can’t quite figure out why there aren’t any birds in the birdbath when she sits beside it, even though she sees the birds playing in the water when she’s watching from inside the house. This is another picture from 2003, I broke the birdbath not long after.

Gargoyle

Templeton used to love to sleep atop the bookcases but as he aged he had trouble jumping that high. If he sat beside my bookcase to indicate he wanted up, I’d place him up there for a catnap and get him down when he woke up. On this particular day, I climbed on top of a chair so that we’d be eye to eye when I took the picture.

Mac OS X 10.7

I’m pretty excited.

It’s not often that I get to break big news here on the blog, particularly not in relation to my favorite computer company. But today I get to announce the code name for the next release of Mac OS X. As you probably know, Apple has been using cat names since they first introduced OS X:

Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah
Mac OS X 10.1 Puma
Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar
Mac OS X 10.3 Panther
Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard
Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard

So it comes as no surprise that they are continuing the theme for 10.7:

Mac OS X 10.7 Samwise

You might question Apple’s thinking, going from the big predators to sweet little Sam, but only if you’ve never had to give him his flea treatment. I understand it’s not pleasant to have something squirted on your back, but Sam reacts as though I’m pouring battery acid down his spine.

The claws come out and my blood flows.

A Cheer for the Ages

Two, three, five, eight,
All our pets are really great!

Three, four, six, nine,
Next year they’ll be just as fine!

Snuggle buddies and flower aficionados Sam and Scout enjoy my favorite flower in our garden, the purple coneflower. Sam and Scout play the role of two and eight in today’s cheer, Sam turned two last month and Scout turned eight in the spring.

So There I Was, Outnumbered 20-to-1

Scout regales us with a story of how she once defeated a whole band of ninjas. Normally with such an outlandish story I’d assume a fair bit of author’s embellishment, except that I vividly and painfully remember the first time we gave her a bath. The first and last time we gave her a bath.

Upgrade

This is one of the last pictures I took with my Canon 10D before upgrading to the 20D in March of 2005. It certainly wasn’t my last picture with the 10D, not even close, as I like to shoot with two cameras in the field and the 10D has soldiered on as my second camera.

Templeton didn’t care either way.

My Kingdom, My Kingdom

All of our cats are indoor cats, but during the warmer (and drier) months I let them outside into our fenced backyard for some supervised outdoor play. Templeton didn’t just enjoy his time in the backyard, he held court. I love the display of his proud and regal air to the minions who deign to share his kingdom.

Of my many pictures of Templeton, this remains a favorite.