summer_jackel

Photos from the last few weeks. I love this time of year.



( Dogs, cats, parrots, wildlife, May )

I was walking through the woods one afternoon in May
when the air was golden, the hills thick green, spotted in wildflowers
between the trees' cool shade
and ahead of me, the insects were awake.

I heard the buzzing
and curious, walked forward to see what they were
---and they were all around me, the air lively,
heavy with their drone.
Hard to focus. I found one. Honey bee.
They had no reason to sting, but still. I did the mental math
and backed out, heart racing, awake.

They were in swarm
a wild swarm
and they danced wildly above the fragrant fields
and spun swiftly down the hill
right now all the world and gone a moment later
like many wonders.

They left me unhurt.
Standing in joy with an empty rolling field
and the memory of that moment when I stood within them, surrounded
by the strength of their festival day, the founding of their hive.

Here are the not so wilderness photos from my recent trip. Vegas is emphatically not my kind of place, but I do have to admit that it's entertaining...Cirque Du Soleil is always incredible (we saw Zumanity and Mystere) being some of the most physically beautiful things I've ever seen people do. There are lions, white lions and tigers, and a pretty good aquarium in various places as well. All of the animals seem about as well cared for as big cats in captivity can be, so it was lovely to see them.

I want to hug and pet a white lion and bury my face in his pretty mane. Yes, I'm aware of probable consequences of that.



( kitty kitty )

It's not just my ducks that were kinky as heck. No really, it's all of them. Here's a fascinating article about the weird sexual proclivities of ducks. There's video.

"There comes a time in every science writer’s career when one must write about glass duck vaginas and explosive duck penises."

Sadly, none of mine survived the winter's raccoon predations, but when the storms stop, I am going to build a bigger and more secure coop in which everyone can be more easily locked up nightly. At that point I'll probably add another chicken hen and perhaps three more duck hens. Even though their penises are in fact fascinating, I'm declining to keep another drake at the moment.

Of course, this just begs the issue of furry porn. Donald, we never knew.

And if that wasn't enough weird biology for one morning, have some solar powered slugs.

OK, I am still pretty tired from a wonderfully fun couple of days and now must catch up with things needing done at home, but I gotta share this.

It was only a matter of time before we caught an octopus using tools. Of course they do it with style and enough cuteness to make my brain leak right out my ears.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8408233.stm

I love you, tiny little clever okkie.

One of these days, I should write about my dancing project (Initially, this was learning to dance ballroom, which mutated to include learning swing and also apparently now Viennese waltz; I opened Pandora's box with this one). Suffice to say that there was a swing dance last night. There was an excellent live band (Stompy Jones; swing bands have the cutest names), this was actually in Sonoma County, I was there in pleasant company and I actually managed to not make a fool of myself or look like a complete and utter rookie on the dance floor. Um, hopefully. I am by no means good...there were a few really good dancers there and I am not one of them...but I think I have achieved adequate beginner status. Wait, I can dance now? Really? How did that happen?

I spent this afternoon with the horses, which is really one of the finest ways I could hope to spend a clear and glorious November day. Bey got her Autumn trim, and I realized again how fulfilling it is to know how to trim my own horses. I've had this mare for 21 years, and post-farriery it seemed like I'd never actually looked at her in all of these subtle and really important little ways. She toes in a bit on her fore, more strongly at the left, and like many horses her hooves are not perfectly matched. They are good, strong feet, the soles thick and healthy from a lifetime barefoot, nicely hydrated from the moist ground.

This skill also means I don't have to watch any more farriers become increasingly murderous-looking as they realize how much they hate trimming my horse. It just means I have to do it. At least Bey is more obedient for me than she is for anyone else, right?

After Bey was loved on, trimmed, sworn at creatively and ruefully loved on some more with a promise to work on those back hooves a little more in the next few days, I worked with Equinox. He let me catch him with relative ease, and was leading obediently and almost perfectly around the arena with only the halter (you teach a baby to lead with another rope looped around his butt) less than 45 minutes later. This, you will recall, is the baby who only had a halter on him for the first time last Sunday. Better yet, when I was mucking his stall after the training session, he came up and hung out next to me, sniffing and requesting skritches. I am relieved and also touched...the little guy is starting to show an adorable personality. It's a bit sobering to consider that, assuming all goes well, he is going to be my companion for the next 21 years and then some...I have good reason to want the baby started well. I love this small horse quite vividly.

I didn't get to Dancer until the evening. I trimmed him as the sky faded on this short near-solstice day (with no cursing; Dancer almost acts like he likes his feet done) and then rode out into the vineyard at dusk. He's a youngster, and I had never taken him out so late, but he was mellow; you have to love Appaloosas. It was wonderful to listen to the birds calling right at dark, to enjoy the light quality of the sky as the first stars came out, and not have to worry too much about my horse killing me. Dancer got extra grain.

As I was looking all around for interesting wildlife (see it before horse does!) a suspiciously owl-shaped bunch of leaves in an almost bare maple tree turned its head clear around to regard me gravely. I have never been so close to a wild owl other than brief flyovers, but this one seemed unconcerned about some lady on a horse looking all starstruck. Possibly a great horned; this was a large bird and had big ear tufts. I was near enough that I could see the last of the sun touching the top crescent of her enormous eyes and flashing copper.

I feel suspended in a sea of blessings. If October is releasing and letting go, perhaps then in November there is room for things that are tender, very new, and possibly wonderful, and for rediscovering what has not been lost.

Point Reyes National Seashore is a place of astonishing beauty. It isn't all that far from me, kynekh_amagire had never been there, and I have been a bit low about the emotions all week, so we made the journey to the point.

It was wonderful. Here, I'll post the vulture shot first, in honor of Kyn. I think that this is my best vulture capture to date!



( You know the drill. A zillion pics under the cut. I got some nice ones! )

Mr. Raccoon has, it seems, realized that there is food to be had at my place and has returned the last two nights, as they will. The first, I saw him getting into the dog food can (now removed) and last night he was in the kennel once---and then tried to get the chickens again, although he has not succeeded. I have two new hens; a little black bantam something I named Requiem and a red frosted white I-have-no-idea-as-to-breed pullet who I'm calling Prelude. It turns out that Prelude is a screamer, and yells bloody murder when the coon approaches the coop. (The others go silent). Good girl!

So the coon got a few tailfeathers, but no chicken. Last night, I set a cat trap in hopes of bagging my transgressive procynid neighbor, but no luck. I was up to chase off the coon about six times, starting at about 1 in the morning and ending at about 5. Of course the dogs and cats had to be locked in the house, or I would just catch them with the trap, and Tiger was completely enraged about having his outdoor privileges revoked. He let me know it, too, with loud and increasingly irritated caterwauling as the night progressed. I'm telling you, it's a good thing there was no English-feline translator present. He would start in anew every time I got up to chase off the coon.

The upshot of this is that I didn't get much sleep last night. My trespasser is certainly a handsome devil, though. Nice soft fluffy guy, far from the biggest one I've ever seen, but not a youngster like the last coon to attack my flock. That one was tasty.

Tonight, Jez and the shelties are sleeping in the back yard (collie inside, though, because he's still not trustworthy with my landscaping if he gets bored). There exists the possibility of Jez going after the chickens, of course, but the small coop they are in is fairly secure, and I trust that Prelude the alert hen will sound off no matter who is trying to eat her. I'm setting the trap in the chicken yard where the dogs can't get it, and hopefully Tiger won't notice the bait (wet cat food). He won that argument.

We will see if I am actually awake enough to dance this evening; I am now taking bets. Our current score is coon 1, Jackel nothing. Rematch tonight.

Saw this on splodefromcute, fell over laughing, had to repost.



Hey, if a kakapo tried to jump me, I would probably just sit there helplessly hoping someone would remove him gently, too. Kaya and Gavin had best not try it, though. (Although I wonder sometimes if Gavin is actually a hen. Planning on having him tested next vet visit and I will let y'all know).

You all know how much I love cephalopods by now, I'm certain. One of the highlights of Disney World was the cuttlefish tank. They were in breeding mode and so were being very active and adorable (ok, so cuttles are always adorable). The water was cloudy because someone had inked, my camera doesn't much like aquariums and of course I didn't flash them, but still, I got some good shots. The best aquarium shots I've ever gotten, actually.

I showed one of the cuttles her picture on my camera screen, and she very distinctly turned towards it, looked and flashed color. They are so amazing, smart, and of course oh so cute. Here's my best one.



( You want more adorable tentacled things, right? )