We got a lot of wind and dust on Monday, and sporadic rain, wind, snow, and hail yesterday, making the light really strange at sunrise and sunset. I think some places in the metro area might of got measurable precipitation, but it didn’t register on our rain gage. “¡Cuatro gotas!” (not much rain) as the Spaniards would say — just enough to leave muddy rain drops all over our cars.
The new tulips I planted last fall are coming up — big yellow, red/yellow and peachy-red tulips. I’ll have to wait and see if there were other colors in the mix, as I’ve forgotten what all I planted. Guildenstern was out rolling in the dirt, and wanted to be held, of course.
Blossoms, butterflies, droplets, flies and tiny, yellow-centered daffodils — pieces of April promising new life despite the dry conditions.
A couple of old trucks and a pair of tulips dancing. Speaking of dance, tonight at 7:00 pm we are having our monthly salsa dance with classes at Central United Methodist Church, 201 University Blvd NE. The dance and classes are free and all ages are welcome.
Macro photography in low light at a high ISO gives interesting results as in the photo of the spider on the fancy daffodil. I got a couple more street scenes in downtown. Things I see every day will suddenly catch my attention when the light is right.
Stretch finally succumbed to his long battle with renal failure. We gave him a kind of kitty hospice for the past couple of weeks after he started on a downhill trend and he began not responding very well to the fluids we gave him daily. He was still happy, had many energetic episodes where he would twinkle-toes around the house and go outside, and talk to us as usual. We groomed him (Laurie mostly), talked to him, rearranged a lot of stuff in the kitchen where he like to hang out to make him as comfortable as possible. He didn’t seem to be in pain even at the end, so we let nature run its course so he could have the dignity of dying at home in the place he loved. I wasn’t sure he would last through the night on Tuesday, as he was very lethargic when we went to bed, but I woke up at midnight and checked on him, I found him staring into one of his favorite water dishes and sticking his paw in it. He was drinking, just doing one of the things he liked best. I petted him and talked to him for a little bit before I went back to bed. When I woke up at 3:00 am, we was laying in another one of his favorite spots. I talked to him some more and scratched his head since I couldn’t reach under the shelf to pet him. After I went to work, Laurie let him outside and she reported his activities to me throughout the day. He laid in his favorite spots outside all day then died late in the afternoon.
Stretch was one of the smartest, most clever and creative kitties we’ve ever had. He could conceptualize things and would also come up with different behaviors to keep himself entertained. After I put on the catio in 2008, Stretch started catching lizards and birds and bringing them in the house. He would triumphantly announce his catch, and then drop the unharmed lizard or bird for us — we’d end up chasing his catches all of the house before we could put them outside again. On night he brought in a little bird and gave it to me. After putting the bird outside, a had a talk with Stretch and told him as much as he was a cat and as much as I appreciated his presents, he needed to leave them alone. He went back outside and a few minutes later came in announcing another catch. When I turned around to see what critter he had, I was surprised to see a flower from the trumpet vine in his mouth. He trotted up proudly and dropped it at my feet. I praised him and the rest of that summer of 2009 he brought us flowers, and never again brought another animal into the house.
Then he went though his stage of wanting roses in his water dish. He would put is paw on the rose, push it under the water and then lick the water off the petals. He could also see ghosts, and while he never sat on our laps, he would sit on our shoulders and backs. Stretch loved boxes and would be on or in a new box, sometimes before the box made it in the house. He also helped take care of me and Laurie when we both had health crises in 2010. He seemed to understand what we were going through.
Stretch begin having renal failure in 2007. He responded well to his initial treatments, but started having serious problems with the renal failure agin in 2011. He responded to treatment well, and did really well up until a few months ago, when we could see the fluids were not having the same effects. But he lived six happy years longer than he would have without the fluids. We are going to really miss Stretch.
The photos today are from when he was a kitten up through 2010. Here are a few posts with Stretch being clever:
If you put “Stretch” in the search, you will see all the posts I’ve done with Stretch in them over the past 2 years on this blog.
This Cooper’s Hawk was trying to catch a flicker for breakfast. They flew by really fast, the flicker flew into the cottonwood and the second the hawk got into the cottonwood, the flicker made an instant u-turn and flew back over me and off to another cottonwood. The hawk couldn’t make a u-turn and landed on a branch, giving me the opportunity to photograph it.
René had dinner with me again tonight. I was talking to him and asked him what he thought about a few things to which he replied with belches. I just can’t imagine where he learned to belch!
We had a cold wind all day, and when I went out at 10:30 tonight to shut off the water, I found everything had ice on it. When I checked the temperature it was 20 degrees F. Now it’s midnight and the temperature is 15 degrees F.
The sky was cloudy most of the day with occasional sunshine slipping through. The temperature got up to 80 F, and our early blooming pear tree popped its first bloom. A few of the red tulips are blooming and a lot more tulips are thinking about it — with the positive signs of spring, I got out my macro lens. I also got the rest of the iris separated and planted this afternoon, and ran drippers and soaker hoses, but I really need to irrigate. I’ll go out at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning to see if there’s water in the irrigation ditch, and if the gate’s unlocked, but I’m not counting on either.
Rosencrantz eyed Diné in the dry grass and attacked. Diné held her ground, while Guildenstern lounged on the deck watching the standoff.
Off Center & Not Even 