What's outside of your picture window today?

Thanks JK! Yup, it's one of those nasty red squirrels we have around the woods. They love chasing the small grey ones around but don't usually mess with the bigger grey squirrels.

Hi Elizabeth @ess77, She is a cat with many names. I just wished her sister had not been snatched by an owl when she was a kitten and my neighbor was letting them roam in the woods at night. They were really a cute pair and would prance down our driveway and come up onto our front porch looking for treats. The neighbors named her Fluffy, my wife calls her Princess and I call her Bitty Kitty. She does have some gorgeous eyes.

Funny bat sorry Sue -- When I was working at IBM in Rochester, it wasn't uncommon for bats to be flying around in some of the long hallways in the buildings. They usually got in at night through the loading docks. I was walking to a meeting with a young girl who was part of my tech writing team and a bat buzzed us several times. On it's 3rd pass I took the notebook I was carrying and swatted it to the floor and was about to stomp on it when Beth took her notebook and swatted me upside the head and gave me what for, for hurting this poor little creature. She then picked it up and we walked it out side where she gingerly placed it on a tree branch just outside the building. That's when I learned she also volunteered at the Minnesota Zoo on the weekends while she was lecturing on why we should be nice to bats. I did get even a few year later when she told us she was moving and leaving our team at the end of the month. It was when we first started using PCs in tech writing and I wrote a small BATch file that loaded when you turned on the computer. It prompted with the question - Are you really going to leave your team? Y or N. Y was an infinite loop and it would keep asking the question until she replied No. Fun times at the Blue Barn on Hwy 52 in Rochester.

@johnbishop, and all...how precious, the sister kitties. She obviously is very bright or she'd be confused by the multiple personalities/names. This one isn't confused at all. I love her attitude. I see by this photo that she's getting older now, John. Give her a special snuggle for me tonight. I've developed a relationship here with her.

During the last several months as I've been weaker and unwell, my little kitty, Samantha, who's now getting older with me, has become attached at the hip. When I leave the house for Mayo, almost the only place I go even yet...she is waiting at the top of the stairs when I open the door. Waiting, watching for me and she immediately begins talking at me in a constant barrage of kitty chatter. It's so wild, She's so upset with me and she's letting me have it full bore.

Additionally, I have always cleaned her litter box every day, sometimes 2x daily. I've been too weak and unwell the last several months, months that I've not been able to clean the box except at times after 3-4 days. John, I will hear her howling, that special cat's sound that makes you think she's being stabbed in the heart.

I 'run', ha, run? Run to find her letting her know I'm coming...she's sitting in front of the little box, facing the box, howling in anger/horror/frustration/insulted that there's still poopy in there!

I have laughed out loud at this behavior. What a spoiled cat, but, it must be awful-maybe like using an outhouse?
So, I'm better now and cleaning it out daily, usually. But, this morning, as I sat down in my recliner in my bedroom to eat my yogurt and fruit and granola, she sits on the floor beside the chair staring at me, now blinking and frozen. I swear she stayed like that as I gave her permission to hop onto the chair.....I finally said, 'Sam, I'm eating my breakfast and I'll go downstairs in a bit. And, I promise, as soon as I finish my food, I'll clean out your litter box.'

She stared at me, in my face, and in the instant, I finished the sentence, she hopped up on the chair and began lying next to me. Believe it. She understood and accepted my promise.

Aren't they wonderful? Aren't we weird?
Blessings all. Elizabeth

These little guys frequently greet me at the barn door or a fence rail. It isn’t uncommon to find them inside of a building, I use a large fish tank net to move them. They eat their weight in bugs every single day. This big girl is the size of a large fist.

You know what Jim Stafford said “I never met a handbag, I didn’t like”. @ess77 can have dinner, with boots and handbags left over. Sorry for the dark humor. I couldn’t resist.

😂🤣 Dark humor brightens my day. 😚

@auntieoakley, @loribmt, and all...my word, this is a bat! I've never seen one up close and personal. I really needed him to visit me this summer to get fat with mosquitoes...that's a lot of insects to eat. What a great help for you. Food supply chain....circle of life...Love it. Bless you and your visitors. Elizabeth

@auntieoakley, @loribmt, and all...Loved my gator leather shoes and bags. Suppose that's dark humor, but they are really nice. I still had them and could wear them...couldn't put them on today with swollen feet, couldn't walk at all due to heels and construction, but they are lovely. The meat is really good, too. Now that's dark...poor babies...bless you all. elizabeth

Outside my window this morning, at 4:15, were the deer. They have "trimmed" my rose bushes now, after leaving them alone all season! The recent rains have brought new growth to the grass, which is also a treat for them. The babies are large enough to jump over the chain link fence now. On the side of the house, our cat stares out at the little chickadees, sparrows, and blue jays as they pick through the grass near the falling down fence, looking for bugs and tidbits. The old madrone tree next door still leans precariously and the copse of pine trees still shelters the deer in sudden storms.
Ginger