30 July 04
Predators Too Close
Davis is in an uproar. A number of cats-about 20 or sohave gone missing from North Davis; two or three have been found dead and mutilated. Coyotes have been seen in the area for over a year and they were blamed for the deaths. Two adults were euthanized two days ago; their pups were caughtprobably todayand although the local paper said they’d be “relocated,” the Animal Services director said they had no intention of doing anything other than putting them down (which is probably the humane thing to do in the circumstances-they’re orphans and probably under severe stress at this point).
When we push our urban and suburban bounds into the territories of wild animals, these kinds of encounters are inevitable. Coyotes are naturally wary of humans, but find that our golf courses and overwatered lawns provide an abundance of rabbits and rodents on which to prey, plus all the food humans put out (as garbage, as food to feral cats, as food to coyotes), and they are gradually losing their fear.
The outraged pet owners demand coyote deaths. It’s easy enough to keep cats indoors, though—it’s much better for the ecosystem and much safer for the cats. As long as there’s a constant supply of food, these kinds of stories will continue to hit the news.
29 July 04
Decluttering The Feline Way
We’ve been on a major tidying tear these past several weeks. Yesterday it was going through the box of all the things that were in our old car Blue, transferring some of them to Nellie the new vehicle, and tossing the rest. Today we cleaned up the space under the glass table in the living room. Clearly the cats have something to do with this binge; they are certainly quite happy to supervise at any moment. Our one reference on the topic, Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui (for more details see the author’s site on Space Clearing), has nothing to say about the role of cats. But it is well known that cats are masters of feng shui, and we are learning what we can.
28 July 04
Apologizing to Cats
Being part English condemns you to apologize for things for which an apology is totally inappropriate, as in, “Sorry, do you mind if I just open the window?”-and must get thoroughly tedious after the third or fourth round. Unfortunately I find myself apologizing to kittens-if THEY get underfoot, if THEY are finicky about their food, if THEY are (much worse) finicky about their litter.
But they’re going to have to put up with it, I’m afraid. Pending approval from the landlord, we’ve decided to keep both Diego and Charlie. We’re out for too much of the time for one cat to be in here, cooped up, by himself and not start becoming neurotic. At least this way they’ll have each other to play with and make mayhem with.
For someone who isn’t a “cat person,” I’ve done a lot of cat stuff in the last few weeks. It’s been entertaining and far more fun than I’d ever have believed. And-yes-sorry to all of you who are bored out of your minds by all this kitten-blogging.
27 July 04
Return Of The Corpse Flower
Last year in June, the botanical conservatory at UC Davis was the site of the first “corpse flower” ever to bloom in Northern California. When this plant from Sumatra blooms, an event that happens every decade or so, its huge flower emits a stench like rotting flesh to attract flies as pollinators.
This year, a second one of the conservatory’s corpse flowers will be blooming. The flower, nicknamed “Tabatha the Titan”, is expected to open sometime between August 3 and August 13. The bloom doesn’t last long, the odor peaking over a period of about eight hours, so there’s not much of a window to smell the plant in its full odoriferous glory.
26 July 04
Roast Duck Curry
Our intrepid traveller friends put in a request last night for Thai food tonight. Not just any Thai food (they had been to lots of Thai restaurants in Australia); Thai food from Thai Nakorn, one of the newer Thai restaurants in Davis and our personal favorite.
Seems like it hit the spot all round. Nicole ordered Roast Duck Curry, which she claimed was never on the menu where they were; a couple of vegetable and tofu dishes and vegetable tom-ka soup sorted us all out.
Thai Nakorn opened around the same time last year as the Davis premiere of Finding Nemo (just next door). We mentioned both things in our blog entry for May 30, and were amused to find that entry pasted in the window of Thai Nakorn for a couple of months afterwards, apparently replacing any bona fide restaurant reviews.
Not that it has ever needed any; this restaurant has easily sifted its way to the top ranks. It seems always crowded now.
25 July 04
Sacramento Valley Homecoming
We picked our friends Nicole and Mike up from the Sacramento Airport late this afternoon. They have been on a three-and-a-half month long honeymoon—their wedding was in late March—and have been travelling throughout the South Seas, Australia, and New Zealand. They seem very relaxed but are happy to return to these parts. We had them over for dinner for a simple mixed greens salad with bread, cheese, and wine. This worked out well: it’s hard to find good salad fixings in the Pacific and they were craving greens. One fun logbook story: when Nicole was a teenager, she was given a journal from the airlines to record her plane rides, collecting the captain’s signature after each trip. She finally completed it on the last leg of their honeymoon, the flight this afternoon from Los Angeles to Sacramento.
24 July 04
All Over Bar the Champs Elyses…
The final stage of this year’s Tour de France is tomorrow, the processional 165 km trip into Paris. Lance Armstrong has demonstrated once again his ferocious domination of this event, which is leaving lots of people wondering whether it will ever be interesting again. But time gets us all. He can quit while he’s ahead, or eventually lose. The only thing that can change tomorrow is the sprinters’ green jersey; Robbie McEwen of Australia currently holds it, but expect a huge mad rush at the end as Norwegian Thor Hushovd attempts to grab as many points as he can along the way.
The end of the Tour will alter my morning routine—definitely won’t be so much to look for online, which is just as well.
23 July 04
Discover Your Inner Smile
While we’re on the theme of Bay Area New Age eclectica, let’s not forget the dental practice in Berkeley, located near the Claremont Resort, entitled transcendentist. “Imagine entering a dental environment like no other: a wellness spa designed for your comfort and the first eco-friendly dental office in the country.” You too can receive a twenty-minute foot massage while you’re getting a teeth cleaning or a new crown put in.
21 July 04
Nellie
On Sunday, we had two tasks. One was to take the two remaining kittens to Petco to try and get them adopted (we failed-hooray!-, but saw Fernanda who ended up adopting a young adult Siamese cross, Roux, of whom we’ve grown quite fond, and also Virginia and her daughter Alexandria who was visiting and who had babysat the kittens when we first got them and given them names). The second task was to buy a car. (The kittens were MUCH more stressful.)
My ‘86 Subaru hatchback is still running fine but having spent a good ten years in New England ice and snow (and salt), is a bit the worse for wear. It was getting so that I was not feeling comfortable going on long trips—or even relatively short ones out of the way, such as going to Bodega Bay. Blue was my first car, and I bought her for $700 from my roommate back in 1995. Yesterday I sold her to a coworker whose car died a couple of weeks ago and who needs a reliable commute car, which Blue is.
So—this evening we picked up a new Honda Element at the Davis Honda dealership, which was surprisingly low-pressure and even pleasant. This car is the butt of many jokes as being the ugliest thing on the road; it’s fondly known as a toaster, an elephant, and worse. But you can hose out the inside, you can sleep in it, and we can fit our tandem INSIDE. We’ll be rigging up all kinds of gizmos for hitching things in there and are-finally-able to go on a delayed honeymoon for our first anniversary. If only Nellie were a hybrid…
20 July 04
Bird Scheming On Tomales Bay
These past two days I’ve been at a meeting at the Marconi Conference Center on Tomales Bay, near Point Reyes in Marin County. This meeting was about developing a data schema for exchanging bird inventory and monitoring data (one example being Christmas Bird Counts). It’s fun being at a meeting with a bunch of ornithologists. One participant seated at the far end of the room would use his binoculars to read the fine print on projected slides, and discussion came to a halt one time when a Nuttall’s woodpecker called nearby.
I had a bit of time for doing some art before and after the sessions. Above is a sketch I made yesterday looking south towards the landward end of Tomales Bay. This morning I went up to Tower Hill (the former site of a set of radio receiving towers: Marconi, the guy who pioneered the use of radio, had a trans-Pacific station here starting in 1912) and, in the fog, did a sketch and a small painting. One amusing event while sketching was that I heard a goat-like bleating which turned out to be chanting coming from a woman running up the hill. Afterwards I learned that the Motherwave Institute was also having a session at the conference center while we were there. According to their website, “motherwavework opens new multidimensional doorways to the Field that allow it to be perceived not only ‘within’ in some virtual, ‘spiritual’ realm, but in every realm including our bodies, our emotional selves and our outer world.” A very Marin County thing, that.