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Journal of a Sabbatical |
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November 1, 2000 |
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cats |
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Adopt these cats at Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society Today's Bird Sightings: great black back gull (4) Salisbury Beach
Today's Reading: Circling the Sacred Mountain by Robert Thurman and Tad Wise
Plum Island Bird List
Copyright © 2000, Janet I. Egan |
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Chip tried to eat the newsletter. He left teeth marks on a couple of copies. That wasn't so bad. Sandy jumped up on the table and took possession of the last few newsletters and envelopes. I tried to slide one out from under him. Bad move. He grabbed me with his front claws and opened his mouth to bite - his teeth were closing in on my right wrist when I jerked it away figuring it was better to get a few scratches from the claws than a bite. What is it with the newsletter? Does it smell like catnip? Does it smell like Wilbur? Last weekend we had a record setting Saturday with 11 adoptions in one day (including that adorable Cyril from last week) so there's a whole new cast of characters in here today. After a long day of washing dishes and litter boxes and then doing the newsletter mailing, taking pictures for the web page was like a triathlon event. I had a brief moment of feeling like that guy in the Dunkin Donuts commercial who walked around sleepily saying "Time to make the donuts." Time to photograph the kitties.
Cliffy is a male former feral about 5 months old. He loves to play. Cliffy is OK with dogs. He's affectionate, friendly, and enjoys being petted. I had a great time playing with him before I took his picture.
By the time I was done it was a little after 1:00 PM, which could explain why I was starving. Oops, no money in my wallet. Forgot to stop at the ATM after I spent my last buck and a half on Perfecto's coffee. So I head into Newburyport figuring I'll get some cash at the Fleet ATM in Market Square. Market Square is all dug up. They're repaving the whole thing. It's Newburyport's version of The Big Dig. So what do we call it? The Little Dig? The Not So Big Dig? The Tiny Dig? The Mini Dig? Whatever you call it, that made it tricky to get to the ATM without getting tar on my shoes and leaving my footprints in the areas surrounded by yellow Caution tape. Who invented yellow Caution tape anyway? Does it all come from one monopolistic supplier? Are they the same ones who make yellow Police tape? Where was I? Oh yeah, obstacle course on the way to the ATM. So by the time I got to Fowle's armed with money to pay for soup in a bread bowl (vegetable lentil today) and coffee, I was badly in need of sustenance. Our story continues after lunch. Although the sky was clearing in the west, it was pretty overcast on the refuge making it kind of dark for shorebird identification. A flock of dunlin made a dramatic entrance at the salt pannes - my first for this year. At least one was still in breeding plumage though a bit rumpled. A long string of cormorants flew over my head. It's easy to tell them from Canada geese because the geese fly in a V and the cormorants in a crooked line. I looked at the dunlin and sanderlings trying to see if there were any white-rumped sandpipers or others among them but with them all huddled together with their heads down it was kind of hard. I should have scrutinized them more closely when they landed (except they landed fast). "Where are the greater yellowlegs? " I mused. There are always greater yellowlegs here at this time of year. Well, they must have read my thoughts because two very noisy greater yellowlegs cruised in for a landing. The disturbance caused an unidentifiable gray lump to stir and reveal itself as a black bellied plover. No luck on finding any other sandpiper species though. The high tide was up to the edge of the dunes at parking lot 7, not leaving room for me to walk on the beach. I scanned the waves from the boardwalk and spotted three beings that looked an awful lot like red-throated loons but the surf was so rough I couldn't be sure what they were. Oodles of sanderlings scrambled along the water line all looking kind of silvery in their winter plumage. On the way back out I checked the salt pannes again for interesting shorebirds and the dunlin were gone. The black bellied plover was still there as were the greater yellowlegs and some sanderlings. Sanderlings are all over the place today. Not satisfied, I decided to go over to Salisbury Beach to see what avian life forms might be hiding over there. As I pulled onto the access road to the parking lot a huge flock of snow buntings landed on the tarmac. I pulled over to the shoulder and whipped out the binoculars. I spotted at least 1 and possibly 2 Lapland longspurs in with the snow buntings. It was a spectacular sight. I estimated about 100 or more birds in the flock. I love snow buntings. They are gorgeous. They just make me happy, what can I say? |
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The
struggle for domination of the big yellow bucket continues
now that Stormy is out of bite quarantine. Sandy had the
upper hand for awhile this morning until he had to move to
let some human get litter out of the bucket. He wandered off
and by the time he wandered back Stormy was in his spot.
They glared at each other for awhile and then Sandy decided
that sitting on top of the radio, which is on top of the
fridge, was clearly a better spot for watching Roy dry the
dishes (which Sandy unfailingly finds entertaining) with the
added advantage of being closer to the donuts. We spoil him.
Yes we do.
Cliffy
was the hardest to photograph because he wouldn't stay still
and kept hiding behind furniture, but when I finally looked
at the pictures I liked the Cliffy one best. It actually has
interesting composition and even a bit of narrative content,
which I can't say for the others. I must have been very
tired to blurt out: "I can't believe I used to be a
high-powered corporate quality director and now I'm sliding
around the floor on my belly trying to photograph a
kitten".
Iris
is a short-haired female former feral 4 1/2 months old. She
does not like to be held but gives affection on her own
terms. She's timid and will need patience. Iris would prefer
a quiet home with adults.
Billy
is a 4 1/2 month old male with a bit of coon cat in him.
He's a former feral so he'll need some patience at first.
He's timid and needs to be approached slowly. He doesn't
like to be held but he does give affection on his own terms.
Billy would prefer a quiet home with adults.
There
were three adorable kittens in one of the cages in the
office. Usually I don't bother to put kittens on the web
page because they get adopted so fast but Kendra and Barb
suggested the former ferals don't go as fast. The gray and
white female is Mandy. The black and white male with gold
eyes is Squeek. Naturally Squeek has a brother named Pip.
He's black and white with green eyes. Pip hid in the kitty
bed behind Mandy so I couldn't get him in the pictures.
Angel
and Kitty are both 5 month old females. They're former
ferals and a little shy. I don't think I'm going to be able
to use any of the copy I've written about these cats as
writing samples in my portfolio if I decide to go back to
work as a technical writer (the most likely choice - I ain't
gonna do total quality management ever again - process
improvement? fuhgeddaboutit!). Sometimes the cage cards
don't have much info beyond the sex and maybe the age. And I
often haven't' had a chance to know the cats very well
before I photograph them and email their mugshots and blurbs
off to the webmaster. Where was I? Oh yeah, I don't know
much about Angel and Kitty except that they are a little
shy. Adopt them anyway, dear readers. It will get you some
good karma.