July 05

This is one unhappy kitty cat.

When my landladies go away for a weekend, I usually volunteer to take care of their critters -- Jasper the dog, Tico and Ulti the cats, and the fishes (thus far unnamed). Tico is accustomed to having his time outside every day, but when I'm in charge he has to stay indoors. It's not me being a bastard by keeping the cat in; it's more that I worry that he'll go out one day and get injured, or hit by a car, or perhaps worst of all, simply not come back. I'm not ready to be the person responsible for caring for the pet who mysteriously disappears -- particularly when I write the owner a check once a month for rent!

I caught Tico gazing balefully at me from the front window today, either longing to go outside or trying to make me feel guilty by hamming it up. Either way, I think it makes for a POTD that really tells a story.

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January 08

Tico is my downstairs neighbor cat, and a fearless scourge of small birds in our neighborhood. I was doing the latest performance of the Backyard Ballet today, letting Pogo out and bringing Jasper in, when I spied Tico on the other side of the backyard, casually sauntering back toward the house with his prey. This is a common enough occurrence, but when it happened before, I hadn't been trying to complete a Photo of the Day project.

One of the problems of having an injured foot is that your world begins to shrink. I haven't been out doing much or going places, so I'm left with the house, the job, and the commute to document things about my life. I'm working on the whole healing thing, but it's simply going to take time.

Meanwhile, I chose this photo because Tico and his bird fascinated Pogo. Below are some smaller pics of Pogo trying to approach Tico. It was like watching a chase in slow motion; both Pogo and Tico were walking, Pogo with what I can only describe as a "hey whatcha got there?" expression on his face, while Tico was all "Mr. Cool Kitty," about the whole thing.

In the end, Pogo didn't get to see the dead bird -- much to his disappointment. Isn't it always the case that puppy dogs have to give up so much just to keep their humans happy?

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