Journal of a Sabbatical

June 30, 1999

flying fur

June 30, 1999
Plum Island
eastern kingbird
semipalmated sandpiper
least sandpiper
great egret
Canada goose
redwinged blackbird
gadwall
snowy egret
willet
green-winged teal
double-crested cormorant
house finch
gray catbird
song sparrow

Today's Reading: Before the Dawn by Shimazaki Toson

I think Joey can shoot fur like porcupines supposedly shoot quills. It doesn't do much to deter Jazzpurr but it makes quite a show. Jazzpurr, Joey, and Cubby got into a three-way battle that sent fur flying all over the place before we could break it up. Joey went back into his cage and I closed the door for him. Jazzpurr always seems to be the one starting these multi-cat fights, but he's such a sweet and affectionate guy it's hard to get mad at him. Anyway, we got them all separated and peace returned.

The construction is still going on. The vet downstairs has the front door boarded up while the work is going on. We had a lot of people show up at the cat shelter asking what had happened to the vet. When I told them "nothing, she's still there" they refused to believe me. One woman even thought we were the vet office. She came in and started telling me how she called this morning about some special food and she was there to pick it up, as I'm elbow deep in bleach water and litter boxes. At first I thought she meant she was from one of our foster homes and had a kitten that needed a special diet or something. Then I realized she was looking for the vet. Finally, Kendra went downstairs to tell the folks at the vet's office to put up a sign telling people how to get in during construction.

The junque dealer next door is having some sort of construction done too. There's a crane moving huge metal beams around. A couple of the cats were watching it out the window when the crane made a loud noise and they got spooked. They ran and hid.

Jaguar is mellow today. He even head-butted me when I went over to pet him. He did a fine job of sniffing the stacks of dirty litter boxes awaiting my extraordinary cleaning touch without feeling a need to pee on them.

After I finished the dishes and litterboxes, I went around photographing the new cats for Bonnie's web page. Keesha wouldn't let me take her picture. She kept putting her nose right up against the lens! I think she wanted to try out the camera. I left the diskette with Bonnie (which is why no pictures here today).

It actually cooled off here today - a brief break in the heat wave so the weather forecasters say - so I figured I'd make a quick pass through the refuge. I didn't have any bug repellent with me, and quickly discovered I wasn't going to be able to get out of the car for any serious birding without it. Greenheads have arrived.

From the car, though, I was able to detect a sudden influx of least sandpipers. They must migrate earlier than the rest of the shorebirds. Either that or there's some guy running around yelling "Honey, I shrunk the sandpipers."