Mother Cat

Mother Cat

Bob is a friend who is a mechanic with his own auto body garage and tractor trailer towing business. I seldom ask him to help with my car because he always insists on free (except parts). Bob was Barton's Selectboard chair for years, many of which when I was Selectboard clerk. Jody was also on the Selectboard for part of that time, which is where we met. We are all friends now in private life.

This is Mother Cat. She's never been a mother, though. She is 18 years old! She is a bit stiff in the legs and is completely deaf. She lives in the shop. There was another cat, Brother Cat, but he had a heart attack and died at 16 years old last year.

I want to thank Bob for repairing my soft tire (for free). It was important on these roads and with studs on an all-wheel Subaru. You can't replace one tire: you have to replace them all. I don't want to get all new winter tires at this time of the season. He saved me.

Merry Christmas, Mother Cat!

🎅🎄🤶

Feline Friday at
Comedy Plus

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Hiking the ROW Part 3

Buddy and Oscar will follow John to the end of the earth.

An unidentified fungus.

Porcupine quills at the bottom of the cliffs.
John thinks the porkie may have fallen off of the cliff (and survived)
because of the number of quills that were there.

The very bottom of the cliffs.

Oscar poses for the camera.

Scarlet Waxy Cap Mushroom (Hygrophorous coccineus)

Another unidentified fungus.

Up the tree!

Insulators

The transformer is nearly eye level because the slope of the
mountainside is so steep under the cliffs.

Well, that's all there is about this great hike. To view the other photos:
Introduction: Strangers on the mountain
Hiking the ROW: Part 1
Hiking the ROW: Part 2
Hiking the ROW: Part 3

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Hiking the ROW Part 1

Fairpoint Communications telephone pole ID

On our property there is a right of way (ROW) up to the ridegeline of Barton Mountain for electricity and cables to the cell towers up top. This past September, Fairpoint put in fiber optic cables on those poles. I wrote about this invasion in an earlier post. Because of our concern about the Fairpoint activity we saw from the house, we decided to climb up the ROW to see what damage had been done to the land. We saw plenty. Unfortunately, I didn't take photographs of the damage, but it is still visible and will be visible for years. I will return after mud season to document the damage better. The photos here in this multipart photographic essay are of our activity on the hike — of John, me and the cats Buddy and Oscar. Despite our anger at the invasion, we had a wonderful afternoon. I took only my 70-250mm lens, which was inadequate for most of the macro photos here. Next time I'll take the whole kit and caboodle.

Looking down the ROW.
Our home is through the woods to the left.

Looking up the ROW.
All trails end at the bottom of those cliffs, which is where bear and bobcat live.

Buddy wanted to rest here.
He actually wanted to turn back and go home, but continued on with us.

A couple of chickadees kept a close eye on us the entire hike.

We found even more apple trees from the orchard a century ago!

White Worm Coral Fungus (Clavaria fragilis)

Bear scat full of chokecherry pits.

To be continued . . . .

To view the other photos:
Introduction: Strangers on the mountain
Hiking the ROW: Part 1
Hiking the ROW: Part 2
Hiking the ROW: Part 3

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Oscar: The Perfect Poser (Sometimes)

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Five Favorite Bad Shots

Sepia Possum

An upside down chestnut warbler.

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Above & below: Leaping Oscar

American Tree Sparrow takes off

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My Frustration with Birds

American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla)

I spend a lot of time in the spring, summer and autumn stalking birds in the fields and woods. Some species, like sparrows, some finches and a few warblers are rather easy to see and capture on film. They stalk me while I stalk them (mostly because the cats are always with me and are a very good reason for the birds to stalk us). But there are other birds that defy capture. Two that obsessed me this past summer were the American Redstart (above) and the Black and White Warbler (below). They are both shy. The Redstart never seems to come out of the forest edge, so the lighting is awful. It also always kept its back to me. The Black and White Warbler was a bit shy, but the biggest problem was its speed. One second it is there, and the next it is gone. I can't predict where they will hop to from moment to moment, like I can with sparrows and other birds. I've been within five feet of a flock of Black and Whites and have never been able to raise, aim and fire quick enough. I'm pretty sure cats are OK for the Redstarts, but if I want to get a decent Black and White photo, I will have to lock the cats up. So until next season, these two photos are the only proof I have that these two warbler species live here.

Black and White Warbler (Mniotilta varia)

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Oscar’s Toes Part II

Peering at his captured grasshopper

Oscar’s Toes Part I is here.

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Wordless Wednesday: Who Else But Oscar?

 

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Grumpy Buddy, Stomping Oscar

Buddy wants to go thataway . . . 

. . . but grumpily follows Oscar. . .

. . . as Oscar shows off his two-legged Godzilla stomp.

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Oscar’s Bugs

Leaping Oscar

Oscar became our best mouser after a summer of bug hunting. His stalking and leaping skills were finely honed. He won't touch ladybugs and continues to enjoy cluster flies. These are three of his favorites from the summer.

Carolina Grasshopper (Dissosteira carolina)

I ended up spending the summer stalking Oscar as he lept after bugs.

Two-Striped Grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus)

Skidding to a dusty stop.

Female Shadow Darner (Aeshna umbrosa)

I managed to rescue the dragonfly above and release it outside. But unfortunately, Oscar often brought in other dragonflies. He ate all but the wings. I never saw which species he would catch.

Oscar, 4 months, relaxing after hopper hunting.

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Oscar’s Hopper Up Close

Dissosteira carolina

This is what one of those flying Carolina grasshoppers with black wings looks like up close. I think this is the only time I got one face on. I usually only get their behinds. I don't think Oscar ate this one.

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Oscar the Hopper Chopper

Yup, that's Oscar, our little yet great grasshopper chomper. Here he is after leaping through the air and catching, in flight, a Carolina Grasshopper (Dissosteira carolina). Those are the big grasshoppers you see during the last half of summer flying with the black wings. We probably all think at one time or another that they are huge butterflies, but they are big, prehistoric grasshoppers. You can view the original photo size here for more detail. After spending the summer learning how to expertly catch these hoppers, Oscar is now the champion mouser of the family!

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Happy Thanksgiving (Buddy)!

Buddy eats his Catster stickers

Catster, one of the favorite cat bloggers’ sites, recently offered free Catster stickers. They want you to e-mail photos of how you creatively used these stickers and will post the most creative uses on their site. My stickers came in the mail this week, so I excitedly looked over my house and stuff for a spot for my stickers so that I could photograph them for Catster. I didn’t want them on my camera, camera bag, computer, Kindle or walls. Not on my school bag, either. Finally I spied Buddy sleeping and stuck them on him. Buddy woke up very quickly and very grumpy until he spied the stickers. Then he immediately started eating them.

On this Thanksgiving Day, Buddy is thankful for anything that is edible. Even if it’s not. I am grateful for my new, rich life with John (and the cats). We have so much. Life is wonderful! Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

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Photography on Google+

Possum sharpening her claws

I’m spending most of my time on Google+ lately. Photographs are shown in much higher quality than on Facebook. But more importantly, the range of photographers is huge. From serious professionals to hobbyists, we are all there sharing photos.

There are photography groups on G+. You can post every day to a special interest group: whether it be four-wheelers or sky shots, grass, spiders, or your town. Click here to view an updated list of the groups and instructions for how to participate. I have participated several times and am a regular participant of the Google+ Project 365. My project album is here.

I hope you come join Google+. Be sure to include me in a circle — you can reach me from the badge on the sidebar of this blog. Next on my tasks is haiku folks on G+.

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Oscar Takes a Long Hike

Oscar in July, 3 months old

You probably know that the cats hike with us in the woods up the mountain. Oscar developed his knowledge about the area and the creatures of the forest from these hikes. Some of the hikes were very long for a small kitten and he tired easily. But in this photograph, half way through the hike, he was still bouncy and full of curiosity and wonder about the forest. I like his right rear leg perched on the log behind him, ready to take off to run and see another interesting sight. Whenever Oscar is out of sight of us, he yowls pitifully until we wait for him to either catch up or, as is usually the case, return to us. He's one of those kids that runs all over the woods without watching where his folks are going!

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