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Saturday, February 5, 2011

February snow, complaining cat and tufted titmouse...

It snowed most of yesterday here in Norman. The video shows some of the visitors to the bird feeder in our courtyard...also featured is Gracie Rae voicing her bitter displeasure at not being allowed to go outside. If you look closely beginning at about the 1 minute 54 second mark, you will see a brief appearance by a tufted titmouse...very brief...several cardinals appear throughout the footage.

Gracie Rae lives totally indoors, but sometimes she is firmly convinced her true calling is somewhere "out there"....and she is not shy about voicing her opinion to any who will listen. Her observations about this and other matters are quite varied and she will generally converse with anyone willing to engage her. Her characteristics of being strong-willed, opinionated and vocal mean that she is an interesting companion...and never at a loss for something to say. She sometimes grumbles, sometimes chirps, sometimes yowls, sometimes quietly or loudly meows and is always a delight. She sometimes clashes with the other female in the household (my wife), since they both are rather strong-willed and this sometimes makes for some interesting exchanges.

Enjoy the snow, the cardinals and other birds, Gracie Rae and...in the background clanking noises from the kitchen where Gracie Rae's mom was baking some vegan chocolate chip/peanut butter cake (it was delicious)


Remember the outside animals and birds and provide them with food, water and shelter if you can. Sharing with your neighbors is a good way to live, as is living as an ethical vegan.

6 comments:

Krissa said...

Gracie Rae is gorgeous! What a stunning profile! And she has a sweet voice. That's a great shot of the cardinal that starts around the 1 minute mark. I'd love to look outside my windows and see a view like yours. It is very beautiful. Oh! There, I saw the tufted titmouse. I'm off to feed the birds at the Spree in a few minutes. Our sparrows haven't been around much today (the ones that come to our windows). That happens once in awhile. It's nice to see videos of 'your' birds. And to see and hear Gracie Rae. .. The cake sounds yummy!

veganelder said...

Thanks Krissa for commenting and for your kind words. The courtyard does make for pleasant viewing...my joke is that we bought a courtyard that happened to have a house around it.

Gracie Rae is a big piece of my heart, what can I say?

Taking a picture of a black cat is a challenge, pretty much a silhouette or profile is all you often get but her voice came through well...usually someone will answer her when she says something but that day she was the star so I didn't reply to her...she will carry on very extended exchanges if she is getting a response, adding astonishing inflections and other variations with her voice. I wish I were more adept at understanding what she is telling me (even though sometimes I know what she is saying is not pleasant).

Many cardinals visit the courtyard (and home themselves in the trees around it) as well as many other sorts of birds. Evening and night often brings an opossum or skunk foraging under the bird feeder, sometimes a racoon visits. Pretty lively for living in a medium sized city.

Christina said...

Gracie is probably griping about the snow. Sounds kinda like "oh no, snow" to me.

I can sit at the back window for hours and watch the birds. Had a opossum a time or two but havent seen one around in a while.

veganelder said...

Thank you Christina for commenting. While it does sound like "oh no", I think the "oh no" is about not being allowed to go outside...she has always gotten sort of excited when we get snow and turns up the pressure to be allowed outside.

So I'm Thinking Of Going Vegan said...

A pleasure to meet you Gracie Rae! KJ heard you from the other room and was quite intrigued. :)

veganelder said...

Thank you for commenting SITOGV. Gracie Rae sometimes intrigues herself... :-)