Cats, dogs, and pigeons

The sun is rising like a yellow fireball in the sky and it's 48 degrees here. The kits are out playing in the back yard and I'm having scrambled eggs and fruit for breakfast. While I was out walking the Irish kids yesterday, someone (and I'm totally convinced it was my neighbor who complained about the pigeons) swept my patio and bagged and removed all the loose seed. I know that what was left was not swept out into the dirt and grass at the edge of the patio. In a way, I feel sorry for her, because the birds, squirrels and pigeons visited me yesterday afternoon even though there was no feed left for them. I hope it got her goat!

While walking the Irish Setters, I was happy to look down and notice the muddy prints of a mule deer going down the middle of the sidewalk... I'm not sure why, but it made me feel good. After our walk, we stopped off at Suki and Boo's - played with a new tennis ball I'd brought along, and visited the fox den. The fox den is about 10 feet away from the back fence - the plot of land it's on is a small triangle that is separated from the rest of the yard by Four Mile Creek, which has very steep banks. The folks who own the house and land have allowed that back corner of their property to go wild. Kathy told me that Suki and Boo were barking like mad the other morning, and, looking out, she and Jim saw the fox teasing the dogs by visiting the patio. I can't wait until we have kits! Then I'll have to make sure that the yard is clear before turning Rosie and Remy loose!

My "animal magnetism" is still working. Walking back to the bus stop from the Rs' house, I passed by a house I've walked past a few thousand times before... but this time, a calico cat came out, talking to me as she came. I spoke to her and stopped; she very primly jumped over a muddy spot on the verge, and then twined herself around my legs, still meowing away. Being me, I stooped over and petted her, and was rewarded with a very loud purr. About that time, a young lady with her two children asked me to take their photos, and I happily obliged. Afterwards, the cat came back, and I picked her up - she exposed her tummy and wanted it rubbed, so I did so. The young lady and her daughters (they are a family new to Boulder and the lady and her husband are newly-hired professors at CU) wanted to pet the cat. It luxuriated in all the attention, and seemed very forlorn when I had to continue on to the bus stop - or miss the bus.

Finally, another bit on Ward Churchill, the ex-professor who sued CU in a civil trial - this is the first sentence in today's Daily Camera about him: "If a judge won't give Ward Churchill a job back at the University of Colorado, the former ethnic studies professor plans to ask for more than $1 million, he said Monday." Reading further into the article, I found where he stated if other professors or students had problems with him being reinstated and teaching at CU, then ,
"they are free to leave." - What a guy!