Bits & Pieces

Haven't been blogging because my depression has had a huge upswing - the tear duct in my right eye is infected, and my very nasty recurrent case of shingles is back, making every moment painful.  But enough griping.  The world continues to turn no matter my personal condition.
   My cats are here, loving me to pieces.  It's an overcast, rainy day here in Boulder, with an expected high temperature of 66.  Our usual high on 7 August is 93 degrees.  I have on a pair of sweatpants instead of my usual shorts. A fine mist of rain is falling and visibility is limited to about 600 feet.
   In need of laughter, I have been watching news clips and YouTube videos...  not to mention listening and watching the Randy Rainbow musical videos.  (He is a fantastic singer, and his videos are such a hoot!)  A few of my favorite videos have included a fawn and a rabbit playing together in a suburban yard; the rescue of a foal who tumbled into a huge ant bed; the Muppets performing Bohemian Rhapsody; and a trio of pathetic mental incompetents.  Unfortunately, all three of the people are female.  One video shows a woman who believes that drinking a bottled water branded "Smart Water" will actually raise her IQ level.  The second video is of a woman who is asked how many slices she wants her large pizza cut in.  She firmly states 8; when asked if she'd prefer 12, she insists on 8.  Asked why 8, and not 12, she says because she can eat 8 slices, but not 12.  Hunh?!?  The third video just shows a deer crossing sign - but the audio is from a radio call-in show, in which a female driver (who has hit three deer crossing the road with her car) is complaining that the deer and other wildlife crossings need to be moved off of main roads and interstates to somewhere safer, like a school crossing area, or into small towns where the speed limit is 25 or so.  This woman believes that the deer and other wildlife cross the roads because the wildlife crossing signs are there.  She can't understand that the wildlife crosses the roads in those areas naturally....
    With the cooler temperatures, the three hummingbirds that I recognize are coming multiple times to my hummingbird feeder.  There are three distinct ones - two females and one male.  On warm and hot days they don't visit the feeder except early morning and dusk.  All three have been here multiple times this morning - and I counted as the male dipped his beak in 43 times at three different "flowers" in one visit.  I was particularly happy when I observed a small air bubble flow up to the top while he was sipping away.
    I called the emergency 911 police number Saturday evening.  A new tenant moved into an apartment on the third floor two staircases north of me.  Each building has a staircase, with two apartments on the ground floor, and four apartments on the second and third floors.  Beatrice, my room mate, and I are friends with our maintenance man, Chris, and Chris tells us things he feels we should know about neighbors.  The new tenant, a Caucasian woman, came to be known because she was screaming and yelling at a cleaning crew in an apartment across the hall from her.  The cleaning crew was made up of two whites, two Hispanics, and an African-American.  She was hurling nasty racial slurs at everyone.  The next day, a Hispanic man was doing heavy-duty carpet cleaning - and had his hoses running between the apartment he was cleaning and the new tenant's.  Suddenly, none of his hoses were working.  He stepped out to find they'd been sliced through - completely severed - and the woman was threatening him with a large butcher knife. He locked himself inside the apartment and called the police, who came and took her away.  She was back inside 24 hours.
   The lady had been pointed out to us at an apartment community meet-and-greet on 1 August.  The night of the 5th, she was at our door around 7:25 - she rang the doorbell three times, then pounded on the door, then laid on the doorbell again.  Our neighbor who lives diagonally across from us has multiple medical problems, and we thought it might be her, so Beatrice opened the door without looking out the peep-hole.  It was the new tenant.  She placed her hand on the door, as if to push it open further, and yelled, "Andre?!?  Where's Andre?  Does he live here?  I need him now!"  Beatrice immediately said, "No Andre here," and abruptly closed the door.  She went next door, rang the bell and pounded, and they opened the door - she began yelling about Andre, and all of her stuff, and it was in her place, and where the hell was Andre?  They closed their door on her.  Across the little hall from us lives a couple with their dog and new baby.  Luckily, they weren't at home, but she took a while trying to get them and the lady with medical problems, who was also gone.  Then she came back to our door, ringing the bell and hitting the door with her fists.  That's when I called 911.  Apparently the folks next door were also calling, because the 911 operator told me they were taking another call about her at the same time...
    We ended up with four "squad cars" (although most Boulder police vehicles are actually SUVs) in the lot.  I had called 911 at 7:29; the last car left at 8:05, and called up to us that everything was OK...  I don't know what exactly happened.  One of the neighbors called and said one of her neighbors claimed to have heard a gunshot.  I heard doors slamming before it started to pour rain, but no gunshots....  Life is always entertaining in Boulder!

A Typical Spring Day

I awoke at 5, as usual, this morning.  I took care of my kits, took care of myself, and took a wonderful walk before most Boulderites were out and moving.  There was a light fog, more haze, really, and the temperature was in the mid-50s.  Walking through my apartment area, and then along the Boulder Creek path, I saw several raccoons, a red fox, two mule deer and a large number of squirrels.  Birds were awakening, and their songs filled the air, and soothed my soul.  I stopped counting after I reached twenty different types of birds that I saw this morning.  On my way back, I saw chipmunks and some early morning joggers with their dogs.  It was a great way to start a good day, especially as my kits and I are well.
   After taking care of all of my morning business at home, I went to walk Rosie.  I was early in arriving at the bus station, and I was going to go inside and chat with my friend, Joe Rivera, when I saw that Geary Jr was driving my usual route.  I got on and flirted outrageously with the young man until my normal stop - then I told him to tell his father that I had been flirting with him.  Geary laughed, made a very stern face, and said that his father "would be coming after" me.  I love Geary's dad dearly, but haven't seen him in several months. At least I found out what routes and days his dad is driving, so I can go pester him, too.
  I arrived at Rosie's a little early for our walk, but kept myself occupied by watching a hummingbird feed on a large patch of purple-flowered ground cover for over ten minutes.  I only saw the back of the bird, so I'm not sure which type of hummer it was, or whether it was a male or female.  This little bird was slightly larger than a big moth, but its wings were a constant blur of motion.  Hummingbirds flying abilities have always amazed me - to be able to hover, and move up and down like a helicopter, rather than the straight flight of other birds just leaves my mouth gaping in awe.  Once I took Rosie out, it seemed that the squirrels were quite brazen in tempting her to chase them; and I was very happy that we met six new dogs and she never barked or growled.
   And, just being silly, and since today just felt so good, I bought two lottery tickets - the estimated jackpot is $149 million.  If I win, I'll be setting up a few scholarships and making a lot of donations to charitable organizations.  (And, eventually, I hope, moving back to Chincoteague - where I'll be happy to sponsor local TNR programs.)

Cats and Wildlife

How nice to sleep with my kits last night!  Then they were upset with me when I wouldn't let them outside to roam before I headed back to Cooper and Lola's.  Lovey and Nedi got to go out once I returned from walking Rosie, and I haven't yet closed the patio door.  We're up around 91 degrees, and I have both fans running, as usual.  Bob, the neighbor's cat from three doors down, has been in and out since the first hour that I returned.  ...  But I've paid all my bills, and had a nice nap about noon.  I'll have to check the bus schedule to see when I need to leave to go feed and walk everyone again this evening.
  I took some fresh organic catnip to Pounce and Tipsy yesterday.  Found out that Pounce doesn't have the catnip gene, but Tipsy does.  Tipsy was hysterically funny as he got "high" for the first time.  He rolled in the greenery; he ate it; he started swiping all the food bowls, and made them travel all around the area.  Then he flopped over - but suddenly jumped up, and ran like a rocket around all four floors of the house (I could hear him on the stairs).  It certainly was a most spectacular reaction to catnip.
  We have a treed momma black bear, along with her two cubs, about a mile away from my apartment, up on University Hill.  They were first spotted early this morning.  Police and Department of Wildlife folks are keeping sight-seers at a distance, and are pretty sure that the family will head back into the Foothills around dusk this evening. ....  Alexy has been enjoying watching the hummingbirds at her nectar feeder on the back porch. ....  Getting out and about so early, I've been able to observe multiple cottontail rabbits, does and fawns, a single fox, and tons of squirrels and various birds.  What's funny is that the raven family that lives nearby has apparently passed the word that I'm not a menace - I can walk through a murder of them, and, as long as I cluck my tongue occasionally, they completely ignore me.  But if someone else approaches, or a vehicle starts to drive by, the entire flock is a-wing.

A Calliope

I watched in awe last night as Nedi leapt from the top of the cat tree onto a raggedy white mouse (toy), walloped it, and sent it flying down the hall, and then grabbed it in his mouth and deposited it in the bath tub.  When I got up this morning, the mouse was still in the tub, but its head has been removed.  Apparently Nedi was busy last night while I slept....  We have bright blue skies today and it's 30 degrees outside.  The weather folks say Denver will be at 50 degrees for the Broncos' game, while Boulder will be in the upper-40s. The kits have been outside playing for the last 90 minutes, and I finally got both to come in at the same time, so I can close the door and remove my sweater.  According to the 5 day forecast, we should have lows in the 20s and highs in the mid-40s for the rest of the week.
I have to admit that while I was transcribing family records last night, I had the GOP debate from Iowa on.  I laughed out loud several times - because what was said was funny, and because what was claimed was unbelievable.  I have to admit, listening to the GOP snipe at one another was cathartic, and I was happier than ever to be a Democrat. 
There was one bright snippet of news that perked me up - a Calliope hummingbird was spotted by several folks in Easton, Maryland last week.  They've recently had warm weather, and people were surprised to see a Western hummingbird over on the Eastern Shore.  They have normally migrated to South America at this time of year.  Calliopes have been seen, singly, on the Eastern Shore for the last seven years.

Yeah, Jimmy!

Jimmy finished fourth in his age group for the Marathon up and down Pike's Peak yesterday.  With his combined times, he placed 97th as a "Doubler."  But he was the only man in his age group to run in both the Ascent and Marathon races, so as a Doubler, he was first - as a 67 year-old.  There is no way I could have even walked the course, let alone run it, or them back-to-back!  So I humbly salute my brother-in-law.  You are something!  I needed some flat land today, so I drove over to Longmont and Berthoud - just so I could see fields of crops and rolling pastures with livestock.  I love looking at the mountains, and climbing in them, but my east coast up-bringing still makes me hanker for non-mountainous areas.

All of the critters are fine - Rosie's haunch is bothering her again, so she's visiting the vet this afternoon. When she got her short trim, I thought she had a callus on her rear from sitting; but it's gotten inflamed, so to the vet she goes.  Shady slept on my legs last night; I was reading A History of Latin America that was written by Alexy's father.  It's very good (if you like history), and I then found out that George Pendle had been a BBC commentator from South America for many years, as well as being the CEO of a huge textile company in London...  Who'd a thunk?  All I can say is that his book on the overall history of Latin America is very entertaining, as well as also being very insightful.  I'm looking forward to reading his other books regarding each country. - My kits were happy to see me again this morning.  I think I'll surprise them by showing up this evening as well.  It'll make a nice break in our current routine, anyway. .... And I think I'll have to make more nectar for the hummingbirds here.  There is a very small amount left in the one that's out, and I've seen it visited more than 20 times so far today.  A couple of them are having a discussion on the patio even as I type this....