Dawn. The clouds persisted and we got rain this afternoon.
Can you find the odd cat in the clowder?
Loki, “Hahahaha! I got the cheez, Silver!” Siver, “Pig cat!”
Odd Cat Out
Tag: Gwendolyn
C7@3
Dawn
I had a Cat 7 (seven cats piled on me) at 3:00 in the morning. Loki is under the covers, lying across my hips. That’s where he likes to sleep on me. See the Kitty Key for an accounting of cats.
Wile E. Coyote hanging out with us on the levee.
Cranes at dusk
Daddy Owl and Mama Owl were hanging out together.
Another great cheese stand-off.
The Tangle Heart Tree and Wile E on the levee.
Not much color on the Sandias tonight.
Afrerglow at dusk
Cold Moon Rising
Cold Moon rising through an anonymous tree yesterday.
Cold Moon and Orion with black lace trees when we got home after midnight.
Hey, Spunk. I’ve been watching Marble play with her tail for the past 20 minutes. She’s quite silly.
Hey, Paparazzo! What’s sillier is that you stood there watching Marble play with her tail for 20 minutes. Hahahahahaha! Stupid Paparazzo!
Loki: “Eye don’t think any of you are funny!”
Gwendolyn: “I don’t get it!”
TNBC
Christmas Eve Dawn
It’s the night before Christmas
And all through the house
The cats are all quiet and lying about
Dreaming of catnip and catching a mouse
While Blue waits for the rat in the fridge to thaw out
The birds are all ready to roost for the night
To wait for the fat guy with a beard that’s all white
Then they all looked at me round-eyed and distraught
“You’re fat with white hair and a white beard, are you not?”
I’m fat, my beard’s white, that I cannot deny
But I’m not him, I assure you, and I’ll tell you why
He’s jolly, wears red, and carries a sack
I’m a curmudgeon and cranky, and I always wear black
But before you all get your tails in a twitch
Besides old Santa, there’s La Befana, the witch
So, one or the other or both they may call
Offering peace and prosperity for one and for all
Christmas Eve Sunrise
Sheep, Glenda & Silver dreaming of catnip and catching a mouse. Well, maybe not the Sheep.
Marble: “Bah humbug! Wipe that smile off your silly face, Santa!”
Marble: “Talk to the Christmas paw!”
Silver: “Crown me the Cat of Cats!”
Silver’s bow
Silver’s bow
It’s Christmas time for the kitties
Ding-a-ling
He’s Kitty King
Tomorrow will be Christmas Day
Gwendolyn: “Hey, stupid Paparazzo! You’re not the only cranky curmudgeon wearing all black!”
Moonrise over Resa’s tree on Chrismas Eve.
A Persistence Of Wastewater
Corrales flood control channel this afternoon.
When I first started riding in July, the flood control channel was dry, and I could ride across the arroyo where the water ends, 300 yards from where I took this photo. At first, the flood control channel filled with water from rain collected on the west mesa up to 20 miles west of Corrales. That was the beginning of the second week of September. Since the beginning of October, the flood control channel has been filled with water. However, we have had zero rain in Corrales in October and little rain in Rio Rancho west of Corrales. I finally came to the realization that the water in the flood control channel is the treated wastewater from Rio Rancho backing up into the channel. I have not investigated why the water is backing up into the flood control channel now when the channel was dry in July, August, and the first week of September.
The treated wastewater from Rio Rancho is released into the mouth of the flood control channel near the levy and flows into the Rio Grande, as does the runoff collected by the flood control channel. Rio Rancho is the third largest city in New Mexico, with 109,060 people in 2023.
Cyclists, runners, and hikers who want to cross the flood control channel to continue north or south on the levee or the Bosque trail either have to ford the water or walk, run, or ride 200 yards into the flood control channel to get around the water.
The outlet for Rio Rancho’s treated wastewater.
Treated wastewater flowing toward the mouth of the flood control channel. The water smells like chlorine and detergents. I was surprised to see people fishing there the other day.
Different views of the treated wastewater outlet.
Erosion east of the current outlet. The erosion may be from before they reworked the area. The photo on the right is looking west from the eroded area.
The photo on the left was taken on 9/9/2023. The photo on the right was taken on 10/28/2023. You can see how much farther the water extends into the channel in the photo on the right.
Sasha and Glenda hovering over the heater.
It’s cold this week. The cats are clamoring for the space heaters we use to warm the spaces close to us. The cats were all piled up on me at 3:50 AM this morning. I had a cold ride this afternoon with the temps in the low 40s.
Cats from head to toe: Sasha on my chest in the foreground. Gwendolyn’s ears are on the right in the foreground. She was under the covers, resting her head on my shoulder. After Sasha is Marble, Spunk, Silver, and then Glenda is at the end of the bed, curled up on my feet. Loki was on Laurie out of the picture.
D G S
Dawn
Reduced to Dawns, Dusks
Big lens sits out summer months
Birds, bees go unshot
Gwendolyn
Sunset
Sunny
Sunny
Distant Drums
Gwendolyn Reflecting
Snuggle Kitties
Simple sunrise
Loki snuggling on Gwendolyn
Spider Lily
Grass seed
Sunset
Admiring the sunset
Back In Black
Simple Sunrise
Black Butterfly
Black and yellow dragonfly
Black cats (Gwendolyn, Loki, Glenda)
Black caterpillars
New table and chairs in the Black Bamboo
Inspirational coffee in the Black Bamboo
Sunset
Happy 3rd Birthday Glenda & Gwendolyn
Glenda (foreground), and Gwendolyn (background) are in the catio looking for birthday birds. They were born on July 4, 2020.
Gwendolyn: “Three Years! That makes me like 28 years old!”
Gwendolyn (looking at the camera) and Glenda napping together on the deck.
Glenda reflecting
Spunk wrote a Heavy Metal parody called Death To All But Kitties for Glenda and Gwendolyn for their 3rd birthday. The lyrics are brutal, so dog lovers might not take well to Spunk’s parody. All of the cats dislike dogs, but Gwendolyn despises dogs more than anything. The first time Tristan brought Jake to the house, Gwendoly injured her spine trying to escape the monster dog that invaded her space. Jake only be’d a dog, but he really scared Gwendolyn. She lost the use of her legs for a week from her spinal injury. We were really worried about her. When she has gotten careless jumping on things or playing rough with the other kitties, she has reinjured her spine and again lost mobility in her hind legs. She still high-tails it when Tristan brings the dogs over, but she hasn’t injured herself in over a year.
Death To All But Kitties
Lyrics by Spunk Kitty
Music by Steel Panther
All right!
Meow!
Down with stupid dogs, I’m spraying on the wall
They look like shaggy retards licking on their balls
Pluto is a fool, and so is Scooby doo
Sniffing each other’s butts and rolling in their poo
They lick their butts, and people’s faces with their grody tongues
Everybody shout, “Kitties rule! Cats are fun!”
Death to all but kitties
Death to all but kitties
Death to all but kitties
Death to all Dalmatians. Did you get their gist?
They’re whizzing on the fires, getting burnt to a crisp
Wearing black polka dots, really stupid critters
Eating Tootsie Rolls that we bury in our litter
Where are the Stray Cats? And Sylvester, too?
We strut around and act weird; that’s what kitties do
Death to all but kitties
Death to all but kitties
Death to all but kitties
Kill those dumb old doggies who have a pedigree
They can hump on your leg all night; you won’t disagree
Kill sassy Lassie leaving Timmy in the well
Kill Old Yeller too. Been done? Oh, what the hell?
Screw Lady and the Tramp, death to Red Dog Blue
They can do the doggie shag. Wouldn’t that be cool?
Frankenweenie is a drag, Snoopy, don’t come home
Let ’em fight it out in a thunder dome
Death to all but kitties
Death to all but kitties
Death to all but kitties
Off Center & Not Even 