Dogs and cats together

The fire was on, it was a cold and rainy day.

I came away from the computer in my studio and there lying in front of the fire, toy near his nose was my big blond labrador Bliss, and curled into his back, my black cat Christopher.

Of course I ran for my camera.

And grabbed this shot before I disturbed the two snoozers and the dog got up and left.

It's not often that I see this. I have hundreds of photos of my cats all curled together over the years... and a few of a black lab I had many years ago who was adopted as "Daddy" by a tiny nine day old orange kitten that I'd rescued. But this was a first for these two.

It's interesting how animals normally get along - even though traditionally they're billed as "enemies." For example the cats in my family are adored by the dogs, who lick them and nose them and the cats reciprocate by purring and curling up under the dogs' chins and rubbing whisker to whisker - exchanging scent I guess. But that's inside. Outside, though,  if the cats are on the pathways in the pasture, they're fair game for a chase. Two days ago on a walk around the property, I saw a black bundle of fur crouched down on one of the pathways. Unfortunately I called out to him and the dogs immediately went on alert. They spotted Christopher who realized he'd been "outed" though all he wanted to do is follow us like he did with my other previous dogs.

So Christopher took off at top speed, heading back to the drive shed or the deck... Bliss following as fast as he could. The dog returned satisfied with the chase - for him it's always about the chase. I've seen him run right past Christopher in a chase or two that has made me laugh at the silliness of it all.

Anything that moves fast - flies, runs, a bike, a motorcycle and certain cars and trucks - they are all fair game for a chase in this dog's mind. Because my property is surrounded by Invisible Fence and I'm particular about keeping their collar batteries up to date, I don't worry about him leaving and getting into trouble, or bothering anyone. He just loves to run.

He chases birds from tree to tree - they seem to know it's a game and will fly back and forth between two trees. When they land he barks, they fly off, he follows, and on it goes until either I get tired of hearing him bark at imaginary birds, or he gets distracted by something else more interesting. Spirit of course is learning all about this from his brother and the sounds of the two labs joyfully telling off some bird, or the dogs across the road is somehow reassuring.

As you can no doubt tell, animals and their antics, birds and their habits, flowers and plants - in fact the entire natural world intrigues, amuses and fascinates me.

Wonder what turns you on?

Blue jay feast

The blue jays are often the first ones at the feeders these days. Most particularly they fancy the easy to get seeds on the rail and I see four to six of them lined up storing seeds in their gullet and flying off to hide them somewhere.

I believe they are from a family of blue jays that nested in the blue spruce that is highlighted by the early morning sun behind the feeder. It hangs over the drive shed and is the nursery for many young families of birds - finches - gold, purple and house, chickadees and hummingbirds most particularly. But the jays have been living there too - though not recently.

Until about two weeks ago the youngest jays were still fluttering their wings and mewing at the adults to feed them. Comical to see those big fat babies badgering their bedraggled and much thinner parents, begging as if they are starving. Parents often start giving them short shrift as they get bigger and fatter, insisting that they learn to take care of themselves. But there is often one, that won't leave the nest. Sort of like some human youngsters we all hear about, don't you think?

The natural world does include us with all our foibles. It's fun to compare and I often chuckle about how easy it is to forget we are Nature's creature's too.

Enjoy this beautiful day as we run up to Hallowe'en - one of the several pagan festivals that has been adopted by other religions and transformed to meet their codes. Will you be celebrating Hallowe'en this year? The blue jays will certainly be looking for treats - but then every day is a day to look for treats for them.