Journal of a Sabbatical

September 8, 1999

queen of laundry

Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society

Adopt MRFRS Cats

September 8, 1999
Plum Island
Birds

4 semipalmated plovers
18 black-bellied plovers
2 greater yellowlegs
6 snowy egrets
3 semipalmated sandpipers
2 herring gulls
1 American crow
2 lesser yellowlegs
1 least sandpiper
52 black ducks
1100 tree swallows
1 mourning dove

heard but not seen:
eastern phoebe
cedar waxwing

Mammals
2 white-tailed deer

Today's Starting Pitcher: Pat Rapp

Today's Reading: Out of the Crater: Chronicles of a Volcanologist by Richard V. Fisher

The humidity continues.

There's clean laundry stacked on top of the big yellow bucket. This makes it even more inviting than usual. So inviting that Chloe challenged Midgee for possession of the choice spot and won - briefly.

Midgee challenged right back, vanquished Chloe and took undisputed sole possession of the clean laundry. She stretched herself out and clung to it for dear life. She never relaxed the entire time I was there. It was as if the laundry was a choice morsel of food - a particularly fat vole or field mouse - and she wasn't going to let anybody else get it. She guarded that laundry fiercely: the queen of laundry.

One of the volunteers figured out she could still fold the laundry by sneaking one piece at a time from the bottom of the pile. It took awhile before Midgee caught on and resisted. Guess the afternoon shift will have to finish folding the laundry.

The new kid on the block this week is a pale orange tabby with really big feet. Otto has 26 toes (yes, somebody counted them). He's a real sweetie and when he stretches his claws out in pleasure he's an amazing sight.

The new Angelina's now has a big screen tv and a satellite dish. I watched ESPN's roundup of all yesterday's baseball games while I ate. Maybe having a new, larger tv and good reception at home wouldn't be so bad... The Coke machine is empty already and shows no signs of being filled. Now if only they'd bring back the Addams Family video game.

Drive-by birding in the rain is a little tough because the lack of light makes it hard to pick out subtle differences - not to mention reduces how far you can see. So my black-bellied plovers could have included two lesser golden plovers, and my least sandpiper could have been a Baird's sandpiper and I'll never know. I'm pretty sure none of the snowy egrets were little blue herons. I didn't see any of the three coyotes, but I did see two white-tailed deer close to the north pool. As for humans, I saw two other cars and a group of 5 cyclists. For once, I stuck to my one hour time limit.