Cattywampus, While Cats Look On; Season in Review . . .

Franklin does some serious editing

Cattywampus season post, last spring to now in review; some will be sad. I didn’t have these pictures before due to computer stuff. Anyway there’s no fall leaves scenery here yet; and in the southern hemisphere, it’s even spring.

I had to switch to another machine. Learning new tech is not so easy, with the energy deficits I have. Everything is different, trying to size the pictures is a challenge. And most of my pictures are marooned in the old computer; time is scarce for the hubs so we haven’t accessed the back-up drives yet.

An important note, the visual balance on the screen is off, all those factors like contrast, dark and light, etc. There’s been no time to try to try to get it back to default settings either. That means I’m not photoshopping to the same standard setting most viewers will see on their screens. I have no idea what it will look like on a typically balanced screen.

The last weather picture was of the odd snow storm in February, but then on March 17th there was severe weather potential. Here’s Shelley that day, you can see the TV weatherperson reflected in the window.

Shelley on Stormwatch

There were 25 tornadoes in the state that day. Sometimes a tornado stays up in the air and does not descend to ground level. They’ll tell you during the event but we won’t hear about it later; I’ve only seen the ones that hit the ground get written up in reports. This is the way the sky looked around the time they said one went over near us. Also around this time a neighbor heard something either go by or over.

Disagreeable Sky

Here’s Shelley later in the afternoon.

Sweet Shelley

There were some injuries, but no loss of human life that day. But sadly there were 6 deaths in the March 25 tornado outbreak.

In April:

Spring busting out all over

Moonpie is glorious!

Moonpie brings on the spring beauty

Iris and Spiderwort

Our Spooky Girl is still a little wild thing (and makes our hearts sing)

In early May we went to the creek, for the last time before the mosquito population exploded this summer. Everything was already bright green.

Forest in reflection

I had my phone camera pointed at the trees when this vulture zoomed in and out of the frame. They are nature’s clean-up crew, not really bad birds. This is October so perhaps this bird serves as a Halloween decoration. Muhahahaha.

Vulture, there for an instant

Tulip tree petal, grounded

Our Tulip Trees are about 40 feet and the blooms are all at the top, where we never see them. Petals had drifted down as the flowers wilted, or could have been blown there by a wind.

I tried to root one of the little blooms that was on the ground, but it didn’t work.

This was fun and pretty for awhile.

Stripey’s a happy kitty!

Regular summer mimosa

Lynx is ever watchful, no cattywampus will get past him!

Speaking of cattywampus if anyone knows if it’s safe to download the non-google versions of Picassa that are the only ones available now, please let me know. Picassa made it so much easier to work with photos and with far fewer clicks.

“Early bloomers” in the fall department

This happened in July, but it was an anomaly. We are still . . . so green.

We lost a dear friend a few weeks ago. A person of great courage who had marched with Dr. Martin Luther King. I had looked forward to visiting her when the virus situation gets better and I’m heartbroken. She is mentioned in my book. She loved the natural world; this post is dedicated to her.

The American Beautyberries begin

At least the beautyberries are in full swing for autumn now, they are everywhere. I’m getting weaker and may have trouble getting around to commenting on everyone’s posts, much as I enjoy the camaraderie of commenting back and forth. Hopefully I can get back with some black cat stuff and some more fall-like scenery soon!

Boss Buddy

My gorgeous Boss is here!

He wants y’all to get my MUSE Award winning book, Catwoods! It has the stories of our five decades of rescuing outdoor cats and adopting them, or finding them good homes when we were at catpacity. People who read it say they read it over and over; when they give it to friends, they get another copy to keep. We just need more people to get it, that will help us take care of the kittens, their feral elders, and Franklin. Link to Amazon is at the left top of the page; when you get to Amazon click the “1 new …” or “2 new …” to go to Borgo Publishing, the publisher is a third party seller there, it doesn’t really go through Amazon – that’s different than the usual arrangement but works just fine. Or, go to the “Order the MUSE Award winning book Catwoods Online” page to find the links directly to Borgo Publishing.