A Cat's Prayer

I found this clipping while cleaning out a container where I keep the brushes and clippers I use on the cats when I am sitting on the couch. I cannot credit it as the author's name is not included in this clipping:
"Now hear this! You may live in this dwelling with me, but keep in mind your sole purpose for existing is to care for me. I pray God keeps you able to do so.
Feed me well and promptly, so that I may then find a quiet place to lie down and stare at you. If that place happens to be on top of the television set, do not keep trying to dislodge me even though my tail is hanging in the middle of the picture.
I expect full run of the premises, including the kitchen table. I sniff your food only to see if I would prefer it to mine. Brush me twice a week. Pet me as often as you wish, but I can do without the idiotic statements you utter as you do so.
When I bump my head against your leg or cheek, it means I accept you as part of my environment. Keep in mind that if I thought the lady next door would feed me better, I'd be out of here in a minute. If you're looking for loyalty, get a dog."

My only comment is, I think the lady next door may feed you better, but I am home more and available for lap sitting.

Generation Kill by Evan Wright

I recently finished reading Generation Kill and it was really terrific. It was a terrific book and a terrific experience. Evan Wright described the Marines he was embedded with so completely and with enough background that I believed that I actually knew them and traveled in that Hummer with them. All of the situations they faced on those roads through Iraq were described with enough background to make the situation completely understandable. I recently watched the PBS Series "Carrier" and I found some similarities between servicemen on the Nimitz and those in First Recon. I definitely did not predict that I would see both of these experience in such a satisfying light.

"Carrier" definitely gave me the information that I needed to empathasize with the crew of the Nimitz and their deployment to the participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom. I developed a great deal of respect for all of the crew of the Nimitz and wish them all a fulfilling and successful life.

The ducklings have grown

Today I ambled across five mallard ducklings with their mother and a small community of adult males and females. They were all sitting on rocks under a footpath on the Bay Trail. Two of the ducklings were occupied with cleaning themselves. I thought it quite amusing as I watched them bump each other around. It didn't look as if the rocks made a very comfortable roosting place for them, but they were making the best of it. A little bit further on there was a pair of mallards swimming along the shore line. When they came to a narrow passage, the male took the lead. I thought it looked quite gallant on the drake's part. Wikipedia notes that the drakes and females do not stay together, but I have seen male-female pairs together on the Bay every time I take a walk. The beautiful color of the drake's head and the lovely purple feathers on the female really catch your eye. I wonder how long before the ducklings begin to take on adult plumage?

Report from the Bay Trail near Sierra Point

Starting out near Veterans Blvd there were quite a few swallows swooping all around. It was high tide and the swallows were gathered together just above the waterline. They were quite energetic. Walking around the slip where the liberty ships were set into the water, there was a lone mallard enjoying the warm weather and light winds. A bit further down I passed six pairs of Canadian geese. They are really big and they totally own the territory they walk on.

But the really big surprise was the manta ray that was patrolling just off the shoreline. I am not sure what he was searching for but it was a riveting experience watching him parallel the shoreline for quite a distance before heading into deeper water. While he swam around you could estimate his size as about three feet from tip to tip as his flaps broke the surface ever so slightly.

The rock squirrels remain uncounted but their tails were going straight up as the ran back and forth over the path at the side of the shoreline. On reaching the parking lot for the Sierra Point Marina, the resident red-tailed hawk took up his perch atop the light standard. He preened nicely displaying his beautiful colors. Walking along the marina there weren't too many remarkable sights. But you could see more boat owners taking the sails out and readying their boats for a voyage. Along the outside wall of the marina there were dozens of pelicans and other waterfowl sitting and enjoying the sights of Oakland across the bay. A beautiful spring day near the city by the bay.

Ducklings all in a row

For the first time this year I saw a mother duck and 9 ducklings out for a little exercise at the Sierra Point Marina. I had to stop and notice how they proceeded. The mother duck maintained her little brood quite well. There was one that was consistently off exploring the shoreline and the mother backpedaled a bit to keep her eye on it. I like to think his name was Michael. He really was curious about what was happening inside each little eddy at the shore. When the whole entourage reached the cement wall I was curious to see how the mother was going to bring her brood around. There were a few clucks, she turned and headed off toward the sailboats, and her brood followed close behind, two by two, with Michael bringing up the rear. I am going to have to keep close eyes on them and watch their progress. They are very young now. There is a red-tailed hawk that scouts this area frequently. He perches atop the parking lot lights. I don't think he is equipped to grab his food from the water, but the shore might be another story.

There was another oddity there today. In fact, the reason my eye was drawn to the ducks was the rock squirrel laying on the rocks. He was completely supine and quite relaxed. Those guys are usually quite active, but he was really chillin'. He did move himself down one level as I got a little too close. But I think he was interested in the progress of the ducklings, too.

As I was returning from my walk, a sailboat had motored into the area where they used to launch the liberty ships during WWII. I am not quite sure what the sailor was intending, but she turned around and motored out. You seldom see any boats down there, although there are sometimes kayakers who visit that inlet.

The birds have been calling and bulding their nests for awhile now, but this was the first sighting of new families being built in my neck of the woods. How about your neck of the woods?

Omnivore's Dilemma and other thoughts

I recently finished reading Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma"
and I found it very thought provoking. My days on the farm were quite a while ago and I didn't witness farming on the scale that Mr. Pollan relates in his book. But certainly the experience on Polyface Farms was a little closer to my grandfather's hog farm in Orland Park, IL back in the late 40's. Also, I spent a vacation one summer in the 50's up at our relative's farm in New Auburn, WI. At the time they were growing beans up there and I made a few bucks harvesting the beans. For fun I got to drive the tractor. I guess I am trying to establish my street cred for a nodding acquaintance with the farming life lite.

I had, of course, read about the feed lots and the fertilizer run off and the threat to the midwest acquifer that is caused by our current farming techniques. All of these did perplex me, but Michael Pollan's book pointed to ways we could influence these changes to our environment that would engage us again in what we ate and how it was produced.

I had been mulling these things over and today I read Joel Stein's essay "Extreme Eating" in Time magazine. I believe he knows how ridiculous he is being when he states that buying food from the furthest reaches of the planet ...'is the only way we Americans learn abut other countries, other than by bombing them." I don't believe most Americans even know which food is coming from foreign countries and I do not believe that eating this food increases an American's knowledge of their source one whit. Perhaps Mr. Stein is being deliberately provocative, but I fail to see how eating locally is 'deeply Luddite' as he states. The only technology involved in Mr. Stein's meal is transportation, chiefly air cargo.

I may not always agree with Joel Stein, but I was deeply disappointed with essay because it is inaccurate and mean spirited. He has done nothing to better civilization in this attempt and I don't believe that forgoing Marcona almonds in favor of locally-grown California almond is a big feat of self-denial.

New Beginnings

This is a new enterprise for me. It seems I like to express thoughts I have on current events, television shows, interesting books, and even movies. Sometimes I just feel so passionately about something I must express it. I also have a list of favorite blogs I check out daily and sometimes I think interesting thoughts are expressed in these blogs. So, in order to share some of these things, or just allow for their expression, I am initiating this new enterprise. It is nothing so momentous that it requires the word to go forth from this time and place, but I want to mark it here.

If you find yourself with an inclination to wander by from time to time, or put an rss feed onto your Google home page, you may find the result of my searches for more information about a wealth of mundane, obscure, and interesting (at least to me) facts.

Initially, the format will be somewhat free-wheeling until I find a rhythm. I am hoping to settle into somewhat of a schedule. It seems, though, as the Queen of the Non-Sequitur, you shouldn't expect things to be overly organized in thought patterns. I will do my best to keep from confusing you beyond all confounding, though.