The thirty-fifth feline from Alabama Street—between neighborhood boundaries Adams and Lincoln—is also the third in an impromptu series of harnessed beasties (Jake and Rocky are the others). Peanut is house companion to Rocky, and both shared owner with Monkey, who passed away about 12 months ago. Next door lived Smokey, who disappeared weeks later. In another house down resides Precious. Also on the same block: Alley, Harley, Holiday, Mitsie, and Sly.

Drama of the day was Laramie and Lupe, who lived across the road from Peanut and Rocky and were removed in the late afternoon. Three weeks ago, L&L were abandoned by their owner. This evening, they are being fostered in a Pacific Beach residence by a kind woman whose beloved pet recently died. The rescue group assures me that wherever Laramie and Lupe are adopted, the bonded pair will stay together.

Our second feline, following Jake, in the impromptu harnessed series is Rocky. I had heard about the Tortoiseshell and her house companion more than a year ago. But the 18-month- old rescues were indoor kitties. Yesterday, the owner brought out both for some supervised front lawn romping while wearing harnesses; it’s training for when leashes follow. BTW, unbelievably, Rocky is our thirty-fourth feline from Alabama Street, between neighborhood boundaries Adams and Lincoln.

You will meet Rocky’s buddy Peanut in the next profile. Both are rescue cats, and their adopted mom went with the intention of taking home one (Peanut) but couldn’t leave behind the other when learning that they had bonded while living at the shelter.

Along a stretch of Mission Avenue not far from the temporarily closed Valero gas station, on Feb. 26, 2019, I spotted a black-and-white that waited nobly statuesque along a door step. The kitty stayed still for several portraits, including the Featured Image and its companion—both taken using Fujifilm GFX 50R and Fujinon GF63mmF2.8 R WR lens. Vitals for the first, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/200 sec, 63mm; 10:43 a.m. PST.

Spring foliage is lush all around San Diego because of ongoing heavy rains. The second photo is cropped to capture a different moment—of untypically brash green growth that elsewhere in the county could in autumn become dry tinder that feeds ravaging wildfires. Vitals are same, except 1/170 sec.

Dare I present another Alabama Street cat? The thirty-second? Recently, I have expanded my feline photo walks into rarely traversed parts of the neighborhood—like the many dead-end roadways—desperately searching for someplace that can match Alabama’s kitty sightings. Nowhere comes close, and I still cannot explain why.

That said, today’s beastie, whom I nickname Sly, was long sought after—and perhaps only a saddening situation could reveal him (or her). Late-summer 2018, I caught a brief look at the animal as it slinked down apartment complex stairs next door to where live Laramie and Lupe. While presenting glimpses a couple more times, the Siamese proved to be too skittish and quick-moving for my camera. Until yesterday.