From The Half-Red House

..from the new Magpie Magazine blog (http://magpiemagazine.wordpress.com/ magpiemagazine dot wordpress dot com) comes this amazing video of a bunch of zebra finches playing riffs on an electric guitar:

We put out sunflower seeds for birds, but, as of December 24, none had shown up. A red squirrel, who belongs to a species that I think of as the gentlest species of squirrel found in this area, took up the offer, providing entertainment for our bird-viewing-deprived cat.

The music is a folk song whose words appear in the Digital Tradition without a tune, so I just made one up.

Update: On Saturday, the birds flew in, at least three species. Kitty was overjoyed!

(cross-posted from my LiveJournal blog) A small flock of wild tom turkeys stole the show at Monandnock Quaker Meeting on December 20. We all just had to take a break from business meeting to watch them. One of the turkeys perched in a crabapple tree for a while, but unforunately his picture didn’t come out well. At various points, the turkeys seemed to be acting the parts of the various birds in “The Twelve Days of Christmas” for us. Music is midi banjo playing the obvious tune.

I want to celebrate the life of a jaguar named “Macho”, a cat

Having spent a lot of time lately at my “home office” in the company of my incredibly supportive cat, I found the Rhymes withOrange cartoon in the latest issue of Funny Times particularly accurate. 

Home Needed

Lively, playful Gingersnap
a young female cat with orange fur and striped tail,
needs a home.
She arrived at our doorstep in the snow,
meowing and purring, and we just had to take her in.
She loves to play and is very affectionate,
but we we are a quiet middle-aged couple with a
quiet middle-aged gray cat who doesn’t want to share his space.
Our house is no longer peaceful.
Gingersnap is growing up, and unless she goes to the vet soon,
she will likely become a “teenage mother”.
We frankly can’t afford to spay and keep her.
All the shelters are full.
Can you help her find a happy home?

Jim + Denise
Greenville NH USA
603-878-3702
jim@halfredhouse.biz

I had just picked up the phone for an important (read “job-related”) phone call when a huge wild turkey leapt in front of the picture window and took my breath away. Usually wild tukeys are tall and thin with a skittery look about them, but this one was every bit as big as the commecial turkeys our farmer neighbor raised last year. Then four more came into the field of view. They were all pecking leisurely at the sunflower seeds that had fallen from the bird feeder, and not looking in the least scared. They left single file and with dignity before the phone call was over, and the minute I hung up a snow squall came up as if commissioned to obscure their tracks. I feel so privileged to see these amazing creatures close up. It feels like when my cat crawls into my lap purring, but also like a visit from aliens. Of course there was no camera …

In case you were wondering, our cat did finally recover from the chimney fire incident. In the morning he emerged from the rafters and sat on top of a cabinet looking fearful. I put some catfood in a small dish and held it up so he could eat. He had apparently been too nervous to eat for at least twelve hours. A few hours after that, he came down to floor level and slunk across to the water dish, looking over his shoulder at each sound or movement in the house. It was at least a day later that he began to jump into laps, and now he’s his old self again, the very embodiment of the Comforter, sitting on the monitor as I type.