Our Tortoiseshell cat watches my wife cook breakfast today. Can you say bacon? The kitty sits where little Lou Lou did after our big Maine Coon Kuma disappeared three years ago on Thursday. The neighbor’s […]
Tag: cats
Our Cat Cali gets Fixed
This morning, my wife and I took our daughter’s Tortoiseshell kitty Cali to San Diego Humane Society, where she will have her operation today. I don’t feel good about taking away the cat’s motherhood, or changing her personality in the process. But I feel obliged by circumstance.
Cali came to live with us in October 2014, after one of my daughter’s four housemates insist the cat go. She and we endured two heat cycles in the last month, while we waited for our appointment date. This morning in Cali’s absence, Neko is unsettled. As am I. She comes home late-day.
Yesterday I posted a poll asking: “Is your cat fixed?” The results and comments are worth calling out.
Nothing But Trouble
Cali nestles into the kitchen IKEA rack. Happy Caturday!
Cali Poses
In the daylight, I got a couple good snaps of Cali, in another off-the-cuff X100T test. One shot is from the perch and the other from the fridge. The first is Macro, by accident, f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 2500. The other (right) is f/2.8, 1/60 sec, ISO 1250. Full-size shots are available from my X100T Flickr set, or, separately, here and here.
I am a bit grumbly about choosing the X100T over the X-T1 this morning. Fuji will release on December 18 a firmware update that adds most of the features that swayed me to choose the X100T, which arrived about 21 hours ago. This is good customer service, though, for existing owners, and I won’t forget the benefit. I complain today, but long term it’s way to go, Fuji.
Neko and Cali Perch
Peace is possible in our time.
The Cats are Better Together
Sharing the cat tree is a huge breakthrough for Cali and Neko.
Meet Cali
On October 20, my daughter’s cat Cali moved into the Wilcox domicile, where she and our other feline Neko slowly, but surely, adapt to one another. The kitty is the second to adopt my now college-age child and chance for some redemption for the first.
I met Cali on a pleasant summer evening in early June. Molly—that’s my daughter—moved into a group house, and I had just dropped off a last load of belongings. As I crossed the street to the car, a slim Tortoiseshell cat approached down the sidewalk. She raised her head to receive pats, just as a San Diego State University senior approached. He and I chatted about education and careers for about 15 minutes. Then we parted from one another and our new feline friend.
That’s One Big Cat
Today I started updating my profile photo with the one taken by my wife this morning. She used the Nokia Lumia Icon, which is a fantastic shooter. I edited and square-cropped (because that’s the profile […]
Caught Between a Rock and a Cat Tree
Today, I bought Neko a cat tree—found on Craigslist—from a woman who makes them in her home. “I’m trying to get off welfare”, she told me. I paid $60, and I felt guilty for her giving such a good deal. I didn’t negotiate for better price.
I love enterprising people. Don’t you?
HTC One M8 is a Worthy Phone Camera
I snapped this cat around sunset under overcast skies using HTC One M8. Both renditions are cropped. The left is otherwise untouched. To the right, I applied the phone’s UFocus feature. The One uses a duo-lens system to capture photo and additional depth information. I applied depth-of-field centerpoint to the cat’s face, which blurs rest of the image. I cropped afterwards. UFocus can also change the focal point, even after shooting.
Quite a few reviewers ding The One for having only a 4-megapixel camera. I shake my head and laugh. Look back a few years when 4MP was state of the art, and the same reviewers raved. Here’s the problem I see: Relativity. Making relative assumptions about A to B. Not long ago people praised 4MP for printing large photos, close-cropping, etc.—cited criticisms today. Now that there is 8MP and greater, 4MP is looked down upon.
Neko says…
Everyday is Caturday.
So Long, Lou Lou
At one time, our little corner of San Diego had two neighborhood cats, Maine Coon Kuma and black beauty, with speck of white, Lou Lou. They lived in the same apartment complex, separated by one door, and sauntered about and inside each other’s alcove; we and Lou Lou’s owners always left a door open for our indoor-outdoor felines.
Lou Lou tolerated Kuma, at whom she hissed devilishly whenever he approached, swatting as her head pulled back. He never attacked, though, merely invaded her space. Kuma was a gentle giant.