Journal of a Sabbatical

April 12, 2000

purr purr

These cats are available for adoption at Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society. There are lots more there waiting for homes too!

Visit Bonnie Buckley's site, Adopt Homeless Paws, for more pictures of MRFRS cats and other animals needing homes.

Today's Bird Sightings:
Plum Island
7 American kestrels
2 gadwalls
10 green winged teal
2 mute swans
9 Canada geese
1 northern flicker
1 American robin
4 killdeer

Today's Reading: Thoreau's Country by David R. Foster, Thoreau's journals for April 12 1855-1860 from the Thoreau Home Page web site.

Today's Starting Pitcher:
Jeff Fassero

Purr Purr finally let me take his picture instead of crouching down in his litter box to hide from the camera.

The place is pretty quiet without Giggle Girl today, and also without Roy to tell jokes -- so no hysterical laughter.

Chloe got her FeLV shot today so was in a bad mood about people.

Kittens 00-151, 00-152, 00-153, 00-154, 00-155, and 00-156 have all been adopted already. I knew they wouldn't be here long enough to need names. That's only 6 kittens, and I thought there were 7 in that batch. Chris thinks so too, but we forget to ask about the 7th.

Nobody had written Shanti's name up on the board yet, so I wrote it with two exclamation points and a smiley face. Her person called today to tell us Shanti was rubbing up against her and acting all lovey. She wanted to know if we were sure we'd given her the right cat! Go Shanti!

More new cats have arrived since last week, nice ones who are very affectionate. If Sampson is still around next week, I think I'll take him over to Brigham Manor. They'd love him and he'd eat up all that affection. Two newbies, Maytag and I forget the other one's name, are already spoken for. It's so nice when cats don't have to stay here very long.

Word from Jaguar's permanent foster home is that the old boy has plenty of life in him yet! Apparently the kid's pet hamster escaped. Guess who was the first one to find it? Yup. Old Jaggie. How was he supposed to know this rodent scampering through the house was a pet hamster and not a mouse come to raid the cabinets? Jaguar presented it to his foster mom with that proud chirping sound cats make when they've brought home a fresh kill. The old boy was very proud of himself. Too bad for the hamster, and I feel badly for the kid whose pet it was, but I am amazed that Jaguar seems far from death's door. When I told Nancy this story tonight she said Jaguar must have faked all the blood work just so somebody would take him home! Go Jaguar! We love you! Live forever! But leave alone the pet rodents...

Evidently I got done earlier today or there were fewer tourists in Newburyport or something, because Fowle's was not out of potato & leek soup when I got there. So I got my potato & leek soup in a bread bowl and a large dark roast coffee while I checked the paper for news. There was none. News that is.

It was a bit windy for drive-by birding but I went for it anyway. Kestrels continue to be very much in evidence. I have to admit I looked at them way more closely after seeing Kestrel's Eye last Friday. Four of them were hunting over the field by the Pines Trail, providing a good vantage point for watching their hover then stoop maneuvers.

Killdeer are spread out along the big field next to the North Pool Overlook, where the granite post is. The russet of their rumps is especially vivid today. A pale shape that looks like neither a killdeer nor a clump of grass turns out to be a flicker once in focus. It's going to town scavenging ants from among the grass. The black crescent on its chest stands out as does the red spot on the neck even in this low contrast drab light. This is my first flicker of the year, though they've been around for awhile according to the white board at the gatehouse. A quick flip through my notebook shows last year's first flicker on April 6. No doubt they were around on April 6 this year, but with the hailstones and frigid weather they were less visible.

The notebook also reveals the first sound of spring peepers last year on March 31 compared with this year's on Monday. Clearly the observer hasn't been getting out much this spring.

More Thoreau secret decoder ring entries:

bay-wing = vesper sparrow

Fringilla socialis = chipping sparrow

huckleberry bird = field sparrow

white-bellied swallow = tree swallow

stercus = dung