We briefly step back from the backlog and present the one-hundred-fortieth feline found behind door or window. Nickname Brim, this handsome kitty lives somewhere along Panorama Drive. Date: Oct. 19, 2025. The Featured Image comes […]
Author: Joe Wilcox
This Use to Be Grass
The homeless are increasingly pariahs, across San Diego County. The public policy is discourage and displace, rather than meaningfully address fundamental causes. The Featured Image and companion reveal one tactic: Piling jagged rocks where until recently there was grass, punctuated by shrub-like trees.
But the homeless would somewhat frequently hangout or campout on the grass. Honestly, the rocks are more unsightly than the homeless tents. Grass is great! We need more. The city destroys a lovely green space to deter the so-called unhoused? Solve the problem! Don’t create one as band-aid for another. The rocks look weird, and they are weapons. Lots of damage can be done with rocks like these.
Larger Than Life
Halloween may be over—and Day of the Dead with it—but I have one seasonal yard decoration to share, as you can see from the Featured Image and companion. There is no optical illusion here. The skeleton really is giant size.
Both photos come from Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra on Oct. 30, 2025. Vitals, first: f/2.4, ISO 50, 1/1600 sec. 70mm (film equivalent); 10 a.m. PDT. Vitals, other: f/1.7, ISO 50, 1/500 sec, 115mm (film equivalent); 10:01 a.m.
University Heights Fall Festival 2025
According to the Camelot Climate Index, San Diego has the best weather in the United States. San Francisco and Los Angeles follow close behind. But even with three seasons of Summer, October can prove to be unpredictable. Cooler, cloudier days are common enough to spoil outdoor public events.
Organizers of the University Heights Fall Festival, and all the locals attending, lucked out on Oct. 18, 2025. Blue skies, drier air, and pleasant 28 degrees Celsius (83 Fahrenheit) made the annual gathering the outdoor destination of the area. Families abounded, and I wondered where hide all these young parents and kids. I don’t see many about otherwise.
The Cats of University Heights: Batman
This fine feline doesn’t dress up for Halloween. His black coat and witchy allure are already perfect—and his name is appropriate for the day of cosplaying: Batman. Well, it’s on his collar tag.
I first encountered Batman at 8:52 p.m. PDT on Sept. 23, 2025. But he was so engaging and seeking of pats that I couldn’t get a full-face view; night shot required him to be still, too. I encountered him once more around two days later in late afternoon.
Here They Come…
I do hope that you like felines. My “Cats of University Heights” series languishes, and the backlog of photographed but unpublished kitties goes back a couple of years. That’s in part because my posting overall is in a lull that needs to be culled.
So, I make a half-promise to pick up the pace, which must include more furballs than you could ever want to see. If fulfilled, overall posting should uptick significantly. Get ready!
Your Pet is Not Your Child!
Cue the music. I had a Twilight Zone moment today. While walking into PetSmart, I heard the cashier tell a customer about weekend festivities. The store will welcome self-described pet parents to celebrate Halloween. There will be “treat stations set up throughout the store”, the checker said. Oh, and of course, humans are encouraged to bring their animal(s) dressed in costume. Seriously? What alternate universe have I unexpectedly entered?
Trick or treat will be Sunday, that’s Oct. 26, 2025, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Don’t have a costume for fido or frisky? No problem, PetSmart sells them. Treats are free (I presume), assuming your animal is smart enough to find any. The trick is for those beasts unable to sniff out any, I guess.
Uh, I Don’t Think So
The many bargains of Costco are sometimes perplexing; the item carried and what someone would pay for it. Look no further than the Featured Image. Who pays $600—on sale—for a cat litter box? You tell me. If that’s you, no offense intended, but I would really like to know why?
This post’s title tells you what I wouldn’t do. There’s no robotic in the Wilcox household. Plastic bag and a pooper scooper, and either my wife or I keeps our kitties’ litter box nice and tidy. Someone else will pay big for convenience and because their animal is more than a pet. It’s a member of the family, and he, she, or they is (or are) the parent(s).
The Cats of University Heights: Tinkle
This series started exactly nine years ago—Oct. 17, 2016, with a kitty nicknamed Scruffy. Living in a dog neighborhood, I expected to wrap up in about a month. How many cats could there be? Nearly a decade later, there are 613 profiles, including this one, and a backlog of photographed but unpublished kitties.
The problem with procrastinating posting putties: I don’t recall shooting some of their portraits, and I must look closely to ensure the animal hasn’t already been published. Oh, my aching aged memory.
Eighteen Years Ago Today…
On this date, in 2007, the Wilcox family arrived in San Diego. We had left the Washington, DC-metro area to be close to my aged father-in-law, who luckily found us an apartment one block from his place. Our presence meant that in January 2017 he could pass way at age 95 in his own bed, rather than in some sterile institution.
The city is hardly recognizable from the one we moved to. San Diego seemed sleepy, small town-like for the size. Communities were tight knit, even with the massive number of renters; congestion was a rare occurrence on the roadways; neighborhood streets were wide; housing architecture was surprisingly varied and charming; and homeowners kept attractive green spaces, among many other attractive attributes, with the three-summer season weather being among them.
Buggy Dogs
According to Sperling’s Best Places, San Diego “has a mild and pleasant Mediterranean climate…The summers are warm and dry, with temperatures usually reaching the mid-70s Fahrenheit (25 Celsius)”. Rainfall: About 12 inches annually. Such an environment practically preserves Volkswagen cars and minivans, which are spared the otherwise audacious expansion of rust.
Hence, old Volkswagen Beetle and minivan sightings are not uncommon. But black ragtop and red body? With two aged mutts that look like they could be as old or older than the vehicle?
Happy Birthday, Adrian
I stepped out of the ophthalmologist’s office into cloud covered defused light that passed pain through my dilated pupils. Squinting, I stumbled down the stairs to the sidewalk, where a smiling gent walked up and asked for a “favor”. My apologetic tone conveyed clear response: No cash. I meant to bring a five-dollar bill, in case somebody asked, but left it behind when rushing out the door to walk to the doctor’s office.
But he didn’t ask for money. He wanted me to bless him. To wish him happy birthday. He is 37 years-old today. I did both. We separated, and I regretted not asking to take his photo. How often does something so straightforward occur? He wasn’t grifting or panhandling. The fellow simply sought birthday wishes.