Category: Animals

Cattywampus

Timothy Price7 Comments

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Roscrantz was laying between my legs about 3:30 am when Diné attacked him, and a cattywampus ensued as they fought, tumbled  and wamped each other on my legs before Diné jumped off the bed with Rosencrantz in hot pursuit. A few minutes later Diné returned to triumphantly claim the spot between my legs where Rosencrantz had been before their cattywampus. Rosencrantz made his rounds, came back in, walked up on my chest and gave me a security report before he snuggled inbetween Laurie and me. I got up early, so Diné and Rosencrantz, still worn out from their early morning tussle, dragged themselves to my spot and continued to snooze.  Guildenstern seemed a little mystified  that I was getting up after all that ruckus in the wee hours of the morning. Meanwhile Mama Manx caught the first rays of the sunrise in the catio.

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The Last Picture! Oh?

Timothy PriceLeave a comment

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These photos of Beaker are the last pictures I’ll ever take…

…with my first digital camera, that is — an old Olympus C-5050. I was testing the telephoto attachment to make sure it was still sharp before I put the camera and accessories on the auction block. The last photo shows the camera with all the accessories I used with it. The Olympus C-5050 was my only camera from 2003 to 2009. I sold all my film cameras soon after buying the C-5050 in 2003, then 6 years later, I bought a Lumix L10 body with a 28-100mm zoom lens in October 2009. The Olympus C-5050 served me well for all those years, but I hadn’t touched it for over 5 years, until today when I got it out and tested it to see if it was still working. It worked great, and will soon have a new home.

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Cat Games

Timothy Price16 Comments

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While I was playing with Rosencrantz by the end of the bed, Guildenstern walked up to the edge of the bed and grabbed the stick out of my hand. He held it there while Rosencrantz watched for him to move it. When Guildenstern didn’t wiggle the string, Rosencrantz looked up at him like “Are you going to do something?” At which point Guildenstern attempted to wiggle the string, but the pole dropped from his thumbless paws. He grabbed for it, but it finally ended up on the floor.

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Manx in Mulch

Timothy Price17 Comments

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I had the catio closed while I painted the floor, so Mama Manx took advantage of the sunny day to go out and have a roll in the mulch. After a few rolls, she paused to yawn, and then acted embarrassed about the yawn by putting her paw over her face. When she finished rolling in the mulch, she nestled into a dried catnip for a catnap.

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Fashion Laur & Puzzle Cats

Timothy Price9 Comments

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Since the dance room/photo studio is still full of stuff from our reorganizing, I had to get a shot of Laurie in her cute outfit of the day as she was literally ready to step out the door. The cats were all stacked up like a puzzle on me when I woke up, and the house was so cold that after some effort to extract myself, the cats stayed in place locked together. Even Mama Manx, who is always spring loaded, and normally jumps off the bed from my slightest movement, held firm on the edge of the bed waiting for the heat to come on.

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Lithobius forficatus

Timothy Price4 Comments

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It’s the time of year the sugar ants start prowling the kitchen for anything we have left unsealed. With the reemergence of sugar ants comes a lot of other insects, arthropods, myriapods and arachnids — what most people refer to as creepy crawlers — and with this reawakening of the “creepy crawlers” out comes my macro lens.

Today’s photo is of a Lithobius forficatus, commonly known as the stone centipede. We have lots of these 30 legged centipedes in the garden where they stir around in the soil mostly under rocks and wood eating lots of pests. One pest that centipedes eat are roly-polys or pill bugs, which are actually crustaceans. I don’t know of other predators in the garden that eat roly-polys. For those of you who are herpetophobic or ophidiophobic, larger centipedes will kill and eat small snakes and lizards. Centipedes also eat spiders and insects.

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