Well, no. This IS San Francisco and the home of the Maltese Falcon, but not this time.
We went to the Japanese Tea Garden to soak up a bit of Zen. Instead, the main pond had been drained for maintenance. Bummer. Still, we decided to walk around it to see what might be blooming. Then we found this:
Red shouldered hawk
This is not the same bird that we saw across the street at the Arboretum. I meant to take only a couple of pics, but it turned into a regular photo shoot. The birdie was working it for the camera.
From the tree, the hawk dove down to catch a crawdadWowOm nom nom nomAfter eating, the hawk flew over to sit on a lantern and modeled for usLooking coyThis is my good side!
I think I took about 90 pics. These were the best. I’m still in awe.
Here’s a vid that Lastech took with his new phone. The sound is awful, but I’m too impatient to edit it out for now, so hit the mute button. 🙂 We’ll get better at this. We just need practice.
Yesterday we ran off to the park to test Lastech’s new phone as we wanted to see how well the navigation worked. We decided to visit the Arboretum in the hope that there might be some wildlife in addition to the magnolias that were blooming.
Magnolia
We rounded a corner to find 3 other people staring at a tree. This is why.
HawkCloseup of the hawk
I found it amazing that several people walked by and never even wondered (or noticed) what we were all looking at. The hawk was sitting in a tree next to the walkway. It was only about 7 feet off the ground.
I’ve been off doing a MAJOR cleaning and organizing of the apartment. I was doing the super boring job of sorting paperwork for filing when the mail arrived. HOLY WOW! It was gifts for Tito, Miss Jenny, and Titanescu sent by a wonderful woman named Grace.
This post is for Grace.
Titanescu helped with the opening of the box. He says the noms are wonderful.Miss Jenny is now dragging the mousie toy everywhere.Tito loved this mousie toy too. He was also tossing the balls in the air and catching them. He stopped when I grabbed the camera.
The pointy eared people love their wonderful goodies!
Thanks again from ALL of us. Hugs for you and scritches for your fur people. 🙂
An amazing and miraculous event occurred. Grumpy Butt (aka Titanescu) forgot to be grumpy for a bit. It only lasted for about 5 minutes, but it was a major breakthrough. It has taken 6 mos. to get him to this point.
They were not only touching, but they spent a few minutes grooming each other.
The picture isn’t the best, but since Miss Jenny runs from the camera, I had to use my phone. 🙂
Today is Miss Nightshade Jenny’s birthday. She is two. She also behaves like a typical two year old, but she has done that since she came to live with us.
She came to us as a timid youngster. She spent her first three days hiding under the dresser in the safe room, only emerging to eat and dart back under. I lived in the safe room with her and she finally got brave and emerged. She and I get along quite well, but she’s daddy’s girl and has been from the beginning. 🙂
She’s daddy’s girlWhatcha doin’ down there daddy?I haz pretty blue peepers!
She managed to fit in quickly. Tito adores her and grooms her at every opportunity.
Hold still! I gotta get the dirt behind your ears!
Kitsy adored her. She turned into nurse Jenny when he was sick. She wouldn’t let him sleep alone…ever. She stayed with him and kept him warm. She missed him a lot when he crossed the bridge.
Keeping Kitsy warm
As for behaving like a two year old? She’s a pen thief. She steals lots of things, but her favorite is pens. She likes to bring some to bed and the rest she hides somewhere. I figure they’re behind the futon where I can’t get to them. I wrote about her thieving ways here. She also loves to steal taters. She rolls them around the floor and even brings them to bed. Cats are strange and she’s no exception to the rule.
Of course, she’s still a nervous kitty and will hide from strangers, new lamps, new drapes, etc. She’s even hiding from her mousie birthday present.
Lonely mousie
She’ll be playing with it soon. It just might take a day or two. She’s probably still recovering from her fear of the lamp monster.
She was named Nightshade by the shelter. We added Jenny after Pirate Jenny in the Threepenny Opera. Jenny was played by Lotte Lenya in the original movie. She is a prostitute who was mistreated by Mackie (Mack the Knife) and she’s our favorite character. This song is her dream of revenge for the abuse she has endured. This version, by Marianne Faithfull, is a more accurate translation (from the German) than most. I hope you like it as much as we do.
Warning: this song contains a bad word or two and may be NSFW.
I know we’re maybe supposed to talk to the cats about catnip… But it’s too much fun and they’re all having a good time. Jenny in particular, likes to chew on her toys. Especially after I place them in the catnip jar and shake it…
Chew, hug and toss ’em. This last time, of course, she farted when I reached down to pet her…
Gimme some…Mousy! I LOVE Mousy!Om-nom-nom-nomINTENSE NOMAnnnd… Mellowing out….
