Tag: animals

Read More

The Cats of University Heights: Comet

Comet (his real name) approaches Herman on Christmas Day 2016 in a courtyard off Campus Ave. Owner JoAnn named him before his white coat took on an orange tint. The energetic feline is about one year old. She adopted him from the local shelter when a four-month kitten.

I met JoAnn and her four furballs, while walking from my father-in-law’s apartment. She gives them four hours of outdoor time, regardless of weather, each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The accountant perennially keeps the same number of cats. Comet replaced another animal hit and killed by a car. 

Read More

The Cats of University Heights: Herman

On Christmas Day, while walking down Campus Ave. from my father-in-law’s apartment, I spotted a kitty. Then another. And another. And another. Their owner, JoAnn, lets outside her four furballs for four hours three days a week—Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. She sits in the courtyard with them, as they race around chasing and playing. Look for the others tomorrow and rest of the week.

Her favorite is Herman, who may be the cat I previously featured as Frisky. He visited me on a June Saturday across the street but down the block from JoAnn’s studio apartment. She thinks it is, although there are few identifying features in my photo. 

Read More

The Cats of University Heights: Grey and White

On, Dec. 17, 2016, at 11:57 a.m. PST, as I walked down Maryland Ave., headed to The Hub, where there is Trader Joe’s, movement in a roomy front yard caused me to stop and look. I had not seen this grey and white furball before; too bad, the beastie sat in contrasting areas of light and shadow. Worse, prescription sunglasses and glare from overhead obliterated the iPhone 7 Plus screen to darkness. I shot this and subsequent portraits blind.

The Featured Image is a crop, and it’s the best—and not that great—from the dozen captured. The second photo is the uncropped but tweaked original, which gives good perspective of feline and habitat. Vitals: f/2.8, ISO 20, 1/290 sec, 6.6mm 

Read More

The Cats of University Heights: Poser

There is nothing like lush greenery and ground following heavy rains. Yesterday morning, between downpours, I walked down Campus, where beyond Van Dyke a black-and-white surprise waited. Such a beauty she is, too. The tuxedo furball posed for me and iPhone 7 Plus.

Against the clinging vine and fresh grass, one could easily mistake this Southern California home for the side of a French farmhouse. But the Bird of Paradise creeping in the upper right hints at more tropical locale. 

Read More

The (Honorary) Cats of University Heights: Sammy

Sammy is so spectacular she gets second treatment as special guest to our neighborhood series. Should you ever visit The Hub plaza in Hillcrest, which is adjacent to University Heights, stop by DC Computers. If you’re lucky, a slanky tuxedo furball will be relaxed along a wall—or perhaps she will be in the side room, door ajar, where is her cat tree.

Call her mascot or store mouser. Sammy came to the Mac and PC sales/service shop as a six-week old kitten more than five years ago. Yesterday, one of the clerks pointed to an iMac keyboard, where the little thing lay her first day as a resident. She stays inside even when the outside doors are wide open during the summer heat.