Gardeners that don't think

I can home today wondering if I'd see the neighbor's cats. As I walked under the pergola to our front door, I realized that I forgot to duck. The little momma finch who's been nesting tends to fly away if we linger too long, too close to her nest. The nest, as I've probably mentioned before, is made from seed pods of some local tree that they intertwined with the jasmine vines that grow up the pergola.

But when I looked up towards the nest, it wasn't there. In fact, once I got my bearings, I realized that a huge chunk of vines had been chopped away! I followed the beam of the pergola to see that they had trimmed back the vines to reduce the dead and overhanging debris. Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, they failed to notice the bird nest and cut it away with all the other brown material.

My heart just sank. It was so cute to know there would have been a baby bird chirping away in a matter of weeks. For me, it's also one of those weird omen things that I wanted to believe was a sign of hope for our own desire to have a baby. I couldn't help tear up as I dialed up Tim to tell him the sad news. I pigged out on a generous helping of Jalapeno Cheetos to console myself. (They are yummy!!)

Why couldn't the damn gardener thought of trimming these vines two months ago? You're supposed to cut things back in the spring before things start to bloom. I've also felt the community landscapers were kind of lazy. They never remove weeds or debris from our tiny lawn. They just walk around with the gas-powered blower. So long as the sidewalks and street look clean, the job is done. The day I have my own gardener, I'm going to insist he used only human-powered tools - broom, rakes, push mower.

Picture window

I'm sitting here at the desk in our second bedroom. Tim almost never opens the window blinds because it's too much glare against his monitors. But now that it's after sunset and it's a nice day, I opened them up for some fresh air.

It's also fun to sit here because there are so many birds about. Underneath our pergola is a finch nest. The birds cleverly built a nest by attaching it to the jasmine vines that spill over the edge of the pergola. This way it's well protected from the weather and blends in with the shadows. It took some time for me to realize it was there. Each time we walk out the front door, this poor mama bird dashes off in fear that we're out to catch her. Otherwise, she dutifully sits on what I am guessing is a little egg.

Sitting here, I now realize that our neighbor's tree also has a nest. I always thought they were big clumps of leaves that the squirrels made. Now I see there's a brown dove cozied up on top of the clump. The male bird is sitting on a nearby branch keeping her company. I just hope the cat doesn't get up the nerve to climb that high and attack the nest.

And on a random note, this is Tim's computer I'm typing on. I just noticed to the edge of my Firefox browser window there is a column of icons on his desktop. The eight icons are all Sims games - original, university, nightlife, business, pets, seaons, voyage, and freetime (yeah, that's a good one). The boy is crazy. I haven't seen him play Sims for probably a year. Sadly, the last time he played, his Tim and Pandax didn't do so well. If I remember correctly, Pandax died. Oops. Hopefully real life deals me a better fate.

Dramatic rescue

We has some *major* wind the other day. As beautiful as the clear sky looked, the velocity of the wind combined with the cold made it a very unfun day to be outside.

Late in the afternoon, I was standing in my kitchen drying the recently cleaned parts of my Cuisinart. A curly soap line has formed in the plunger element, and I needed to rinse and dry it.

Standing at my sink, I have a pass-through window so that I can see my dining table and look beyond that out to the patio. Behind my patio lies a fence and fast encroaching redwood trees. The trees were likely planted by the neighbor to create some privacy. I question whether they thought through the implications of growing redwoods in a yard the size of a two car garage. They're beautiful trees, but their size is going to be a problem one day.

As I was trying to thread a towel into the crevices of the acrylic plunger, I noticed something fall from the tree. It was followed by bits of tree branch. The wind bullied the trees and apparently one of the branches snapped. Just a minute later, a brown mass cradled by green needles fell and landed on the ledge of the fence.

When I moved closer to the window to look, I realized there was also a strange gray stick off to one side. Once my eyes focused more clearly, I realized that it was a squirrel. It's head was unusual, flatter and triangular like a snake. I realized that it was a juvenile. The poor thing was clinging to the fence for dear life. I imagine it was not moving because it was stunned by the fall.

Soon after, a larger squirrel, presumably the mom, came down the tree and cautiously hopped onto the fence. Just as she approached the branch clump, the juvenile tried to move. He looked frantic as he tried to find some leverage and ended up upside down with his right foot caught in the remains of the nest. Mom finally heard the rustling and tried to reach for her child. With her hind claw tightly gripping the top of the fence, she stretched down to reach the juvenile. She managed to get one paw on him, followed by her teeth. It reminded me a little of a momma cat picking up one of her litter.

The juvenile seemed a little calmer knowing Mom had arrived. His body seemed to relax a little to allow Mom to rescue him. She, however, did not have a secure grasp of her child. Her grasp on him was shaky and then the remains of the branch and nest began to slide off the edge of the fence ledge. Because she was standing on some of the branches, she was sliding with it. She seemed to tighten her grip as they fell down with the debris some five feet to the ground.

Fortunately, Mom landed safely and quick hopped from a planting pot and scaled the fence to return to the site where she had just stood. The juvenile did not move and I wondered if he was okay. She used her paws to adjust her hold on him. Under one arm, she tucked in his tail, and then his head under the other arm. She had balled him up as if he were a tube of dough shaped into a horseshoe and skipped down the fence ledge off to some unknown location.

Phew!

Cat-ya

After all the time I've spent with my neighbor's cat, I can't help wonder what drives them. I've never been much of a pet person besides the random goldfish and beta that I kept as a teen. But how much do fish really count when they're really only good for looking at?

Larger animals likes cats and dogs truly interact. They remember you, they show anger, they show love. My dad had a family beagle and cat when he was young. You can tell when neighborhood pets visit he'll be friendly and playful with them. While I think he enjoyed having pets, he said pets were dirty.

My mother, on the other hand, is scared of anything that walks on all four and has a mind of its own. Seriously, my friend's cocker spaniel, Lady, took off into our house once and headed straight for the master bedroom where my parents were watching television. As I rushed down the hallway towards the room, I could hear a shrill voice exclaiming in terror as Lady happily greeted her newly found friends. While my mother cowered and panicked over the presence of the dog, my dad called summoned the dog to him and gave her a friendly pet on the head.

This past couple months is the most time I've ever spent with a cat. Loki is incredibly moody. Early on, it seemed he was always happy to lay down on the ground and allow me to stroke his belly. But there have been more and more days when he'll try to grab and bite my paws if I attempt to pet his underside. How am I supposed to know when it's okay or not okay to be rubbing his belly? Okay, maybe he's playing because he purrs the whole time, but, ouch, his claws and teeth are sharp.

When his family was out of town for several days, he was coming over all the time, not only during the day, but at night, meowing at the front door for attention. I came to understand why mothers have such a hard time when their infants keep crying. He grew so bold as to attempt to hop in my lap when I was squatting down to pet him. He'd proceed to snuggle his face into my hands or arms and position himself so he could take a nap. It was adorable that this animal trusted me enough to curl up and fall asleep on me.

Most days, he just wants to play. It's not that he even wants to play with me. He simply likes having a human around. If I go out to fetch the mail, he'll follow me. Sometimes he'll stay "undercover" by moving quickly from one shrub to another to keep up with me as I proceed down the sidewalk. Other times, he'll run along side and even dart directly in front of me so that I almost step on him. He's amazing obedient, not crossing the street until I encourage him to. Even though he wants to explore more of the new surroundings near the mailboxes, he'll come when I call that it's time to walk back.

During each of these activities, he'll have a variety of meows which I wish I understood. There's the obvious door call which either means "come out to play" or "I'm lonely let me in." When I first see him, I'm guessing he's say "hello." But there are other times, when he sits in my lap, or when I'm watching him play in the scrubs when I have no idea what he's trying to tell me. I feel like I need the equivalent of the DVD that teaches you how to distinguish between different baby cries.

Tim enjoy playing with Loki as well. I think he also finds it good for me to have a friend when I'm alone at home. Our neighbor's are supposed to move this summer when their house is complete. We'll be sad to see the cats go. Tim's asked what we'll do then. He's joked a couple times about kidnapping the cats but obviously that's not an option. While a cat would be fun, I'd feel bad forcing the cat to be outside since I'm allergic to them. Besides, there's no guarantee we'd find a cat with a personality similar to Loki's.

Meet my little friend

Now that I'm home more, I'm discovering little things about my street such as a cute group of finches that hang out in the olive trees across the street. The most entertaining thing I've come across is my neighbor's cat. S/he's this cute orange, striped cat with a white underside. I knew they had gotten a couple kittens late last year because we noticed them looking out from a bedroom window. I suppose the cats finally got big enough to be let outside.

Every morning I typically head out around 10am to run errands. Almost every day, he comes running over to play. He and his shy sister explore the front yard clawing anything that moves, chewing whatever smells interesting, sharpening their claws on the tree trunk, and exploring the hidden treasures in the bushes. I'll play with him by grabbing one of the overgrown vines in the bushes and dangling them in the air or pulling on the ones that are wrapped around the branches. He is completely intrigued by the sounds and movement.

There are days when he clearly wants attention. When I walk near the car, he'll hop on the hood in order to get my attention. The first couple of times he tried, he missed hopping up and I'd pick him up. With practice, leaping onto the car and onto fences has become a piece of cake. It's been interesting seeing his skills develop. He has no fear.

I'm not sure the cats have quite figured out cars. They have a confused look on their faces when cars go by. They are intrigued by the movement but scared by the sound and size. It'd most entertaining when he's been on the car as I start to leave. I can't convince him to get off so I inch back slowly. It takes a few gentle starts and stops before he realizes it's best to hop off.

His curiosity is incredibly entertaining. He'll bite anything. He tried biting the rubber bad of the newspaper and it was like he was plucking a banjo. When I watered the plants once, he repeatedly tried to bite the stream of water. Crazy cat!

The only downsides so far have been his minor destruction of the big jade plant, digging in potted plants, and chewing of things such as our door mat. His climbing and clawing lead to branches of the jade plant breaking off. If jade plants are supposed to represent money in Chinese culture, could he be causing me bad luck? ;)

We finally ran into the neighbor and learned the cats are Loki and Thea. Remember the Norse god Loki? It's a very appropriate name for the cat. I've learned that Loki often plays fetch like a dog. It's funny to see cats that will repeatedly chase after things like a dog. After being nine months of living in the same household with the family, Thea is still very cautious about allowing humans to approach her.

I'm allergic to cats so I can't have one of my own. I have to say this is the ideal arrangement. When I feel like some pet therapy I call out to Loki and get a little love and play time. I don't have to feed or clean up after him. Not having a pet growing up, this is really fun.