Often, when the kitties and birds are being cute, I pull out a camera and they cease being cute. But when I pulled out the iPhone (not the usual camera) Rosencrantz and René just stuck their faces in it.
Category: Cats
Cats
Dia de los Gatos
Rosencrantz commemorated his kitty version of Dia de los Muertos by being half ghost / half black cat. The photo is the result of an experiment using my 4X5 view camera, and “ghetto scanning” the negative.
The Animals
As I mentioned yesterday, the Blacksmith Wold Championships was held at the Wildlife West Nature Park and Rescued Wildlife Zoo east of Albuquerque. Today’s photos are of some of the rescued animals they have at the park. These animals have been hit by cars, caught in traps or injured in some way that makes it difficult or impossible for the animal to survive in the wild. Of course, in the rescue zoo, they are well fed and cared for, so all the animals are fat and healthy.
In photographing zoo animals, especially birds, there’s the issue of the wire on their enclosures. When I can, I put my lens up against the wire to reduce the wire’s visibility, so I end up with varying degrees of soft focus, streaks or the visible wire. The challenge is making the wires and habitats work in the composition, and as part of the effects of the photos. I don’t remember the names of all the birds, but the animals (in order) are coyote, raven, bobcat, hawk of some type, coyote with humans, great horned owl, mountain lion, golden eagle, raccoon, vulture, Mexican wolf, roadrunner, gray fox, hawk or falcon of some type, and a peregrine falcon.
The Cat Before The Storm
I seem to get constant kitty help these days. I walked out of the store to discover a small super cell was forming overhead. I drove straight into the storm and got a great lightning show on the way home. For all the lightning and thunder over the past 24 hours, we only received 2/10 of an inch of rain.
Cat Help
Laurie’s annotated bibliography about code switching became a “cat-otated bibliography” with “cat switching” as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern took turns checking out our progress. Guildenstern was very persistent, and insisted that lying on our papers, computers and arms was great help as we worked late into the night. The geese are foraging in one of Wagner’s fields every morning.
Egg Sandwich
The egg sandwich I made for breakfast seemed particularly worthy of a photo. Mama Manx was walking around the yard like a kitty queen, and the answer to our morning congestion was all the smoke in the air from people burning their fireplaces (haze in last photo).
Guildenstern, a Lamp and a Mac
I was messing around with the telephoto on Laurie’s camera, and got this shot of Guildenstern lounging on Laurie’s legs from across the deck.
Family Breakfast on the Deck
With fall comes green chiles and there’s nothing like a leisurely breakfast with Guildenstern and René (Laurie doing the photo and the other cats on the table or chairs). We had huevos rancheros made with freshly peeled green chiles from Wagner’s Farm.
Cat Fight
After helping me change the sheets on the bed, Diné started challenging Rosencrantz by biting him on the legs. I ran and got my camera, and when I returned Rosencrantz was giving Diné “mad dogs”, and the fight was on. Diné is the one who picks fights with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and she is always on top as the aggressor, because even though Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are both much larger and stronger than Diné, she is still top cat; therefore, they always maintain the defensive position when she attacks. Even though Rosencrantz brandishes his impressive set of claws in Diné’s face (those claws have earned him the nick name “Claws and Fangs”), Diné is not impressed and whoops on Rosnecrantz until she feels she’s defeated him. This is the full sequence of their sparring match from mad dogs to Rosencrantz’ attempt to get in one last swat before Diné jumped off the bed after her triumphant, tiger-like pounce.
You Did What?
I deleted myself from Facebook using the website justdelete.me which actually deletes all your data from selected websites if possible. Justdelete.me rates each website from easy to impossible on it’s ability to delete your data from the site. René and Mama Manx were surprised I did it. While people complain about Facebook’s new user agreement, as long as they stay on Facebook Zuckerberg wins and gets the free use of their photos and personal data for advertising and whatever they want. But if all the people who are mad about the new user agreement dumped Facebook, then it might force Zuckerberg to change policies or Facebook to fade away into oblivion.
Off Center & Not Even 