Ever since I finished National Poetry Month, I’ve been slammed with too much to do. It’s not all been work. A lot of it has been cat related. And even a genealogy rabbit hole (not even my family haha!) that I fell down.
But I’m devouring Natasha Trethewey’s poetry collection Thrall, and I’m so engaged. You won’t be sorry if you pick up a copy and start reading.
Here’s a little photo show of the prettier parts of the week.
This bobcat was stalking prey in the wash next to my house. He goes along nicely with a poem I think (#NaPoWriMo is a blur) I started last month.
Here is the coolest part of seeing him. He stopped totally still with his left hind leg (you can see the leg here just before) raised in the air. He had visually locked onto his prey. And then what do you think happened?
I’ll be darned if a little songbird didn’t land on a branch of a tree to the left of the photo and sing out a warning. IT GIVES ME CHILLS RIGHT NOW JUST TELLING YOU ABOUT IT.
I can’t even imagine how to put that into a poem without it sounding sappy!
There were some more saguaros in blossom at Mayo. Yup, I had another issue.
See the little hole up near the top? It looks like a mouse hole. It’s actually the entrance to a bird’s home. What I would love to show you are the older saguaros in vacant lots around here. They have lots of branches unlike these ones that were planted by somebody–in this case, Mayo. They also blossom at the ends of every branch. And some of them are absolutely riddled with holes from birds–completely battle-scarred. But there isn’t any place to safely park to take a pic.
(That reminds me, right outside my kitchen window was the most glorious male cardinal ever–smaller than Michigan ones and the red more orangey and vibrant–but my camera/phone was too far away to get a pic in time).
Some of the landscaping at Mayo is now mature enough to produce some shade. Since it’s turned hot again, that’s a good thing.
It’s flower time, so the gardener has been obsessed with planting flowers in the yard. He buys flats and flats of them and plants them all over–in beds and pots. Actually drives me nuts because the flowers come ahead of everything else. (He thinks I act that way about the cats, but of course, that is DIFFERENT).
Do you know how many times I’ve been to the nursery lately?
Perry continues to be the cutest most adorable softest squishiest handsome boy ever who really sets the household on end. Hah. See here. Kana was sleeping peacefully on top of the tree. Tiger was lying in the sun on the bottom. Perry had to take the middle part as he tried to “engage Tiger in play.” I put that in quotes because that is not how Tiger sees it.
When nobody will play with Perry or he gets yelled at by me, he sometimes retreats for a little pout.
I did a couple of submissions this week, so at least something happened in the writing sphere.
My new job at the shelter is contacting people who have adopted cats during the month. I LOVE hearing from them. Some of them send me photos of the kitties all comfy and happy in their new homes. Makes it all worthwhile!
Make it the best week for you and those around you!
Of course cats are DIFFERENT! That is an awesome job you have at the shelter. Happy endings. I love them.
Thank you for recognizing that cats are way different from flowers! It got so hot here so fast, though, that he’s nurturing those newly planted flowers along like babies in an incubator. It is so much fun to see how happy people are with their new cats–and how happy the cats look.
Those cats look so peaceful in their perches in the sun. Makes me want to be one. 😄
They are so peaceful until Perry comes along to play haha. That is part of why I love living with cats. When they are all being quiet and resting, they are so relaxing. Better than meditation!
Wonderful spring photo montage, Luanne! A cheery way to begin the week. I’m off to get an epidural (for the pinched nerve situation), in order to insure being pain-free when I leave for Ukraine in a couple weeks. Wish me luck!
I’m glad they came up with a way for you to enjoy your trip, Elaine. I wish you much luck and wellness and being free from pain. If you go to Odessa and/or Tiraspol, please take pix for me! Hubby’s grandparents came from those two places. In the 50s and 60s his grandmother received letters from family there with so many words cut out by censors they were almost unreadable. Then silence.
I think you should coin the phrase “lucky cat!” We already have “Lucky dog.”
Great shot of the bobcat!
Haha I guess so! The bobcat was lucky timing, too. Unlike the cardinal.
In my next life, I want to be one of your cats. 😉 Good luck with the submissions!
Thank you, Jill! Happy week to you!
I like it when you use details of your personal life as “compost” for posts, Luanne. Good work. A pleasure to read.
Thanks for much, Roger. Hope all is well. Have a good week!
A lovely post, Luanne. You may not have ponies roaming your roads, but you do have a visiting bobcat. Write that poem!
I went and looked it up, and the bobcat poem was one of the most finished poems from #NaPoWriMo. Of course, it wasn’t THIS bobcat, but still.
🙂
LOVE all your photos, Luanne! Never realized bobcats’ legs are so long! Love the cat tree showing a kitty on each level, so cute!!
I forget where u live – Arizona? Here, spring is just starting, finally!! I put a few bud shots on Instagram. Are you on Instagram? If so, what is your ‘handle’ there? <3
Yes, long legs. You can see why small animals are toast around a hungry bobcat, unless a little songbird steps up ;). Yes, I am on Instagram. I think I’m called Catpoems. hahaha See you over there. I will watch for your spring!
Great! I just “followed” you there. I’m known there as “ell.the.belle” (gosh how modest I am, eh? 😉 ) but if you search my name Ellie Presner you’ll get to me as well. C u!
Ok! I am not on there very often, but I will look for you!
What a delightful post, Luanne! Of course, cats are different!
And that bobcat–wow! The shelter job is perfect for you.
(It’s possible that daughters and I share photos of our crazy pets.) 😉
Good luck with the submissions!
Thanks so much, Merril! I thought it must portend something that I wrote a bobcat poem and a few days later he showed up! Nobody in our family EVER shares crazy pet photos hahaha. Hmm, just sent the kids one last week of Kana playing the piano. Then they sent me one of the dogs in their new balcony potty/grass area and one of Lily cat lying amongst the Legos. But, no, we don’t do that.
Oh–I thought you saw the bobcat, and then wrote the poem. That is extra cool, that it happened the other way around.
How do your cats feel about oranges? Our other cats hated the smell, and younger daughter’s cat does, too, but one of our cats, (Mickey, the white one), rubs himself all over my orange fingers in the morning, and the other day he–the cat who only eats one flavor of one brand of cat food–actually licked the orange. So I took a photo of that and sent it. I’m glad you would never do such a thing. Hahaha.
Yes, the other way!
Interesting about the oranges. I am always trying to figure out if citrus bothers them. I like citrus cleaners and air fresheners. They don’t really seem to care and don’t run from orange juice.
I guess it’s like how some cats love catnip, but others don’t care.
Have you heard about honeysuckle sticks for cats?
No
Supposed to like them!
You live in the most exotic locale!! Giant cacti happily doubling as bird apartments, bobcats, fearless little birds who call warnings about bobcats……and you are a poet! Sigh!! My daughter has just adopted an adult cat who was abandoned not once but at least three times. He is beautiful and of course he has issues. We went looking for a cat tree and she wants one just like yours, but is a little afraid to purchase it yet (It’s more than $500) just in case he doesn’t like it or gets spooked by it. There’s always big decisions to be made when you live with animals! 🙂
FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS??!!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? OK, I don’t have time to write now, but will be back. I am so GOBSMACKED.
Pauline, two years ago my daughter found a huge and elaborate cat tree online for $80. The only catch was she had to put it together herself. She did. My tree was $120 less a bit of a discount. Also there are people around who make them.
The drawback of being a small country, far far away from anywhere else, is that there are a lack of consumers for certain things and therefore prices go up accordingly. Anything imported automatically doubles in price before getting to the middleman. So, $500+ for a decent sized cat tree and we will have to put it together ourselves too 🙂 On the plus side we have Jacinda and no guns 🙂
It never feels exotic haha although it is extremely different from where I grew up in Michigan!
Beautiful post, Luanne. Lo0ved the Bobcat.
Thanks, John. Me too!
Nurseries are one of my favourite places on earth. I too am dotty for lots of pots. I’m curious what kinds of bird dig into a cactus. They must have armour to survive!
You and the gardener! I sure would miss the flowers if I wasn’t so lucky!
Oh, the birds. Birds have no problem with cacti. And good protection for them!
Love the bird houses in the cactus. Love the gardener’s take on flowers, too. Yes, the flowers, they are THE JOY! 😀
Great shots of the bobcat! Really liked the “engage in play” commentary. Cletus the Dog Kitten tries to engage his sister Clara in play as well. 😛 Whatta racket they make! 😛
Hahaha, your animals are funny! Thanks, Joey!
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What a thrill to watch the bobcat hunt play out the way it did.
How amazing to see a bobcat in action–well except for some of it! I also like the domesticated cats:) Natasha Trethewey is a gifted and brilliant poet/thinker/speaker/human.
Luanne, I love this update! Congrats on getting out a couple of submissions. Coincidentally, I sent out three stories on Monday, the first time in a few months. I wanted to complete Lies first, and then I could go through the review each story to see if it’s standalone enough to try in some of the markets. Of the three stories I sent Monday, one already came back with a rejection – so quick! It was a nicely worded (form) rejection, at least, from a very very very competitive market, so I didn’t expect exactly to sell the story right off to them, but I tell myself, it gets them acquainted with me.
Your update about Tiger and Perry and the other felines inspired me to include Pickles in my update post last night. Thank you! love the action photos. Your featuring of the bobcat also reminds me that this week we had a visiting coyote – in full daylight (11 am on Sunday morning), who paced through the yard at the top of our ravine, glanced over at me 2 or 3 times, before going down into the ravine again. I fumbled with my phone to get a pic, but by the time I’d unlocked the phone with the security code, opened up the camera . . . she was gone already. Hah!
Have a GREAT week! Sending good thoughts about your submissions!
Great Pics of the bobcat! Was it scary to see? I have never seen a wild one! Your cats are adorable and that sounds like the best job in the world! I love looking at pics of kitties!
No, because my cats were inside I wasn’t afraid. I was so fascinated. He’s the second one I’ve seen in the past year, and I really believe this is a DIFFERENT bobcat, which is interesting since they are such solitary characters. I agree–rather look at kitties than anything :)!
How cool it is to see a bobcat! So you have a new job with the shelter. That’s really nice that you follow up with the adoptions. And congrats on squeezing in some submissions. I finished running through a draft of WIP. Now I have to figure out whether I should make another pass or bundle it up for a beta reader. Kind of nice to be at this point 😉
WOW, I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU! Yay! I hope you are celebrating this weekend! I need to email you about something . . .
Pretty and the gardener have much in common…luckily, I have convinced her that the plants require maintenance that neither of us is likely to do so she is limiting her purchases this year! Good luck…
Loved the pictures of the desert spring – beautiful!!
You have had better luck than I have!!! He’s out there again planting more!!!!!!
OMG – hide his planting apparatus!!
Hahaha! He would just get a kitchen spoon!
lol…too true