experiment

Today I took my dogs for a walk. I walk, and they alternate between excited spasticity and contemplative sniffing of remnants from previous sojourners. During this process, it is not unusual for them to wander far in front of me, or to stray into the prickly pear patch, or saunter into the middle of the road. I decided to see whether they would come to me if I whistled a particular tune, which is presented below. They did not. It is important to note that this was no short whistle, was not lacking in passion, and included improvisational flurries inspired by the version in the video. Still, no response. I concluded that the dogs do not care for big band music.

Later I tried to get their attention by calling their names, clapping my hands loudly, yelling familiar commands, and screaming obscenities. Currently, my test results are in limbo.

1/20/09

I thought the above photo might work as a symbolic commemoration of a momentous day. I should confess though, if it's not already obvious, that I've come down with a case of telephotoitis. I hereby resolve, in the spirit of new beginnings, to try and contain myself. But not until after showing a couple more squirrel close-ups. Some things never change.

transquirrelification

This squirrel appears to be having a nut-induced vision.

I will now google the word "transquirrelification." It's apparently not in the blogger spellcheck.

the jungle in winter

Except for the bathing dove, all these pictures were taken the same morning, and include mourning dove, titmouse, house finch, goldfinch, chicadee, and cardinal. That's an inca dove taking a bath. The cardinal looks like it's spilling seed in shock.