Fifteen Years With Tybalt!

While I don't know the exact date, I do know that right about now I'm reaching the anniversary of the first time I ever laid eyes on my little tabby cat Tybalt, and brought him home.  My best guess is that we first met on April 23rd, and he came home a few days later.

I should start by explaining I never thought of myself as a "cat person" for most of my life.  None of my friends when I was growing up had cats, and my family never had cats, only two dogs.  One of my earliest experiences with cats, when I was probably about fourteen or so, did nothing to win me over to the species.  I was visiting my older sister at her house, and was petting her cat Maggie (you Tennessee Williams fans will get that), who seemed perfectly calm.  In a flash, I found myself with a cat, claws out, scrambling up my arm and shoulder to my head, where she launched herself across the room.

Really not a great first impression.

Savannah perched on my desk.

Over time, yes, I met some cats who were nice enough.  My brother had a sweet manx named Savannah that I got to know when we were both back at our parents' house for a while.  I even cat sat for her for a week or so while my brother was away, and got to know and like her pretty well.  Still, over the years, I had few really close and positive interactions with cats.  I, like many others, saw them as mysterious, aloof creatures.  I'll always remember visiting someone's house or apartment who owned a cat, but you'd never, ever know, since they hid the moment you arrived.

Tomas

Then I got to know Tomas.  He was a sweet, big black cat who belonged to a woman I started dating about a year after moving back to the DC area.  He took to me, and I'll admit, I grew quite fond of him.  When we all moved into a house together, it was suggested that I get my own cat, both so I could learn what it's like and to provide a buddy for Tomas.  We talked about it idly, but didn't really make any definite steps.

Then a late April weekend where we had planned a camping trip, and the weather turned nasty... freezing rain and chilling cold.  With camping plans off, we thought we'd go check out a local shelter, and look at cats.  I don't know that either one of us really expected to find one on the first, impromptu trip, but on arrival we met this sweet little tabby kitten named Junior by the shelter.  The shelter had a separate "visitation room" and we took the little guy in there, and he was very friendly and cuddly, not shy at all.  He absolutely won me over right away, so we went to fill out the paperwork to start the adoption process.  As we were standing in line, I overheard the couple next in line talking, and the woman said "his name was Junior, right?" and I realized we weren't the only ones taken by the little fellow.

Paperwork done, all that was required was a house visit to make sure we were going to give him a suitable home.  When the woman came to interview us, Tomas calmly strolled into the middle of the room, plopped himself down, and proceeded to bathe himself.  This made us all laugh and the woman said "well, he's clearly very content here."  So that was that, Junior was mine.

One of my first photos of Tybalt, comfy on my desk.

Upon getting him home, we followed all the good advice about putting him in a room by himself for a while before introducing him to Tomas.  I spent a lot of time just getting to know him, and learning what a smart and playful boy he was.  I also knew I needed to come up with a new name for him, as Junior just wouldn't do.  After trying out a bunch of options in my head, I finally landed on Tybalt, from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.  If you haven't seen or read the play, or seen the amazing Zefferelli film from the 60s, you might not know that another character refers to Tybalt as "rat catcher" and "good king of cats."  It just seemed to suit my new little guy, so that's what I chose.

Snoozing with his buddy Tomas, about a month after coming home.

Prowling the yard.

The funny thing is, for the first few years of his life he was an indoor/outdoor cat, and we learned pretty quickly he really was quite the hunter.  Rodents were not at all safe around our house, and sadly, neither were birds.  He's since become an indoor only cat, which is better both for him and the wildlife.  He did very much enjoy his outdoor time, but it just isn't safe for him or my other cat where I live now.

He's got his eye on that bird outside.

I do have to share one of the funnier aspects of his hunting days early on.   He experimented with a variety of ways to try to wake me up for his breakfast earlier than I wanted to.  Leaping off the headboard onto my chest certainly woke me up... but also got him tossed out of the bed, and not breakfast.  Then one day I was woken by him running around and leaping and pouncing all over the bed.  I opened my eyes, and there he is on the pillow right next to me, with a tiny young mouse pinned under his paw, and he's looking at me like "isn't this cool?"  The mouse still being alive, and me being that kind of person, I managed to get the mouse from him and release it outside.

The next morning... there he was again, running, leaping, pouncing all over the bed.  I open my eyes and he's there on the pillow right next to my head, but no mouse!  The little stinker is looking at me like "Fooled you! Now how about that breakfast?"  Funny thing is, every so often, for the next few years, he would play the same game, and I could never just relax and assume he had no mouse, because I knew all too well what a good mouser he was.  I've lost count of how many times I've found a mouse or even rat he killed.  Luckily, for the last five years or so, there seem to be none where I live.  I'm pretty sure he and my other cat Jinx are the reason for that.

Tybalt in February of 2020, still bright eyed and active.

We've now been together for fifteen years and I couldn't be happier.  He's a sweet, gentle, and very affectionate cat, who likes nothing better than settling down on my lap (where he is right now as I write) or curling up next to me.  He loves naps with me, and at night, as soon as he sees I'm getting ready for bed, he trots into the bedroom and hops into bed with me.  Not a big one for meowing ever, he's got this adorable trill that I love.  He's quite a mellow fellow in his later years, but he'll still play with toys and chase things around, even giving my younger cat Jinx a run for his money.  And I've learned just how wonderful it is to have cats in your life and how easy they are to love.

A Trip to Chincoteague

Driftwood shell art on the beach.
People add pieces to it every day.

Well, it's taken me far too long to sit down and write this out, but I wanted to share the trip to Chincoteague, VA that my girlfriend and I took the weekend of June 11th - 13th. For those of you who don't know, Chincoteague is a tiny island off the tip of Virginia's part of the Eastern Shore. It was made famous in a series of children's books, the most famous of which is Misty of Chincoteague, which tells a tale based around the wild ponies of neighboring Assateague Island. The ponies on the island are in two distinct herds, and the Virginia herd is owned and managed by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Dept, which rounds up ponies every year and auctions off some of them.

Anyway, Christy and I had talked about visiting there for quite a while, since we'd both been avid readers of the books, and had both been there some years ago, but hadn't visited in a long time. So I managed to make a deal with Bruce, my trusted lieutenant at the shop, and we took three days off together to camp down there. And despite less than meticulous planning on my part, we had a wonderful time!

View of marsh and lighthouse from our site

To begin with, we ended up with a really great campsite, at the Maddox Family Campground, on Chincoteague. Remarkably convenient to both the beach (which is part of the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge) and downtown Chincoteague, it has a large open area for tents at the edges of the campground. We pitched our tent far from any neighboring tents and had a lovely view of the marsh and lighthouse... and enough of a breeze to keep the mosquitoes and biting flies away! I couldn't have hoped for a better site for our first camping trip together.

This fellow acted tough as long as I kept my distance

Assateague has beautiful sandy beaches, and if you're willing to walk a ways, you can have a stretch of it just about to yourself. We took several long walks where most of the living creatures we saw were birds, crabs, and dolphins.  One particularly lucky sighting was a bald eagle, zooming very low over the waves. I've seen a number of baldies along bays and rivers and streams, but never one right over the ocean. Of course we saw plenty of gulls, but they were mostly Laughing Gulls, not the more familiar Herring Gull. We also saw several flights of Pelicans and watched their wild display of diving for fish, smashing into the water with a great splash.  I've also never seen anywhere near as many Osprey in one day as we saw on our walks... truly astonishing.

Click to enlarge -
If you look really closely, to the
right of the birds, you can just
make out dolphin fins!

Perhaps the best animal sighting wasn't really a "sighting" strictly speaking. We saw several schools of dolphins during our walks, which we both really got excited about. The coolest part was when Christy suddenly realized she was hearing the dolphins... she was floating on her back, with her head tipped back, and heard a steady, loud clicking sound. I checked it out too, and sure enough, there it was. Neither one of us had ever heard them in the wild before, so it was a very fun discovery.

See him? By the middle
clump of brown needles.

The Refuge also has some trails running through it, a few of which are "multi-use", so we unfolded our Brompton folding bikes and tootled around the marshes and woods for a while, stopping to watch a bald eagle perching in a tree. It was pretty far away, and hard to spot, but as is so often the case, once you find it, you can't imagine how you didn't see it in the first place.

Of course, no visit to Chincoteague and Assateague would be complete without ponies. We actually only saw a few small bands out in the wild (I think the Maryland end might be better for wild pony sightings), but we also visited the Chincoteague Pony Center in town. There we visited the gift shop, but mostly just stood and watched and petted the ponies. Some things you never grow out of... it's fun to see people of all ages just stand and smile and touch these beautiful animals.

My Laughing Gull kite and Scott Sled

Another first for us on this trip was kiteflying... well, the first time we've ever done it together. Long ago, in my teens, I helped start up a kite making company with my then-brother-in-law, and I've owned and flown a variety of kites on and off over the years ever since. The beach is always a fun place for kites, so I brought some along, and one evening after our walk we put a few up in the air and just relaxed and enjoyed the feel of a tug on the string and the dancing of kites in the air. One of the several kites we flew was of my own design, built over 30 years ago (wow), in the image of a Laughing Gull. It had been one of our popular models back when the business was going strong, and it still flies great, if I may say so myself. My girlfriend flew a classic delta, as well as the yellow Scott Sled you see to the left, both also more than 30 years old.

It wasn't all sand and sun and water and wilds for us though... the town of Chincoteague is very charming, and has a bunch of shops and restaurants and a museum to visit. We didn't get to everything (so darn, we'll have to go back!), but we got a nice taste of the town by wandering the main street and ducking into some shops. Among the sights we took in were the Volunteer Fire Deptarment's firehouse on Main Street, the Roxy Theatre (where Misty put her hoofprints), and a lovely little memorial/statue of Misty, based on one of Wesley Dennis' wonderful illustrations from the book.  And of course we indulged ourselves with some ice cream... is it possible to go to the beach and not do so? I think not.

All in all a wonderful, fun, relaxing trip. Too short, of course, but most vacations are. This way we've always got more to see and do and all the more reason to go back.

Assateague Lighthouse

More photos -

Chincoteague/Assateague June 11-14, 2011

Summer Evenings!

I've been lucky to have the chance to enjoy some lovely summer evenings of late... Last night, on my way home, I stumbled upon our local "Concerts on the Green" event, and listened to a fun bluegrass group as the evening cooled things down. Families on blankets and lawn chairs, some other folks with bikes... even a couple of our customers with their tadpole trikes. A classic summery event.

And tonight I enjoyed a walk along our local rail trail and was treated to another installment of the Amazing Firefly Display! I don't know if they are actually more active or abundant this year, but it sure seems that way. I've had a number of walks lately graced with the luminous display of these amazing little critters. Magical.

All the while, whenever I'm outside in the evening these days, it seems the air is filled with frog song. One of my favorite sounds of summer!

So, where you grew up, was it "firefly" or "lightning bug?" I recall both, but I can't be sure which was New York and which was Maryland. Hmmmmm...

Signs of Spring!

After an unusually snowy winter here in the DC area, this week we are seeing sustained signs that spring is here!

At the shop, folks are coming in with their bikes, in the time honored tradition of everyone remembering they own a bike in the same narrow window of time. We went from a virtually empty repair ticket board to one that's chock full of tickets, with turnaround time for most repairs now about a week and a half. Ah, if only some of these people had thought to bring their bikes to us in January or February.

In other realms... tiny traces of green appeared, then blossoms... overnight the forsythia outside door went from bare to glorious gold about a week ago. The first signs of spring leaves are cropping up on the branch tips.

And tonight, I extended my ride home, to take in a couple of marshes and the strident song of spring peepers! Mixed in were a couple other species of frogs or toads... I need to look up what they were sometime, since I don't know all the calls. And a Fowler's toad hopped away in my headlight beam as I rolled down the path. Finally, as I was headed home, a red fox hesitated, then bolted across my path, disappearing into the brush.

A lovely night.

Ahh... spring.

Snowshoes!

Yep, I did it. I bought myself a pair of snowshoes. I'd heard over the years from various folk how much fun they were, but never felt any great drive to buy a set here in the mid-Atlantic, where heavy snows are pretty rare. Then back in December we had a big storm... dropped around 20" here, which is a lot for us. And the first day I walked in to work after the storm, I saw a pair of women zooming along on their snowshoes as I slogged through the snow in my regular boots. It looked really fun... but geez, "there's no way we'll get another snow like this this winter" I thought.

Well, um... we did! As you know if you live here, or if you've followed my blog. In fact in February we've gotten something around a total of 30" of snow, all in the space of a week. So as that series of storms was descending upon us, I decided to give it a shot and ordered a pair of snowshoes online. There were a few snags along the way... but yesterday around noon, there they were, thanks to UPS! So I decided to waste no time and headed out to try them out on... you guessed it, my beloved C&O Canal!

What a blast! It's an amazing sensation to be out in deep snow and to be able to walk ON it, instead of sinking deep and having to slog through it. It's all about surface area, I suppose, and these suckers have plenty of that. Sizing of snowshoes is based on weight, so for me a 30" x 9" snowshoe is the best choice. They look huge but once they're on, they're really not ungainly. Maybe it's because I read and heard many warnings, but I really didn't ever feel like I was having to work hard to avoid tripping on my own feet. I'd heard that was one of the adjustments you have to make, essentially adopting a wider than normal stance, but I didn't really have to think about it. Perhaps my mind and body compensated unconsciously, or perhaps I naturally walk a little bowlegged (I'm suddenly reminded of a recent Prairie Home Companion "Lives of the Cowboys" sketch... but I digress!). Either way, I found it easy and natural to walk in them.

And what a gorgeous day! A little chilly, but not windy, and while it was mostly overcast, it was still lovely to be out in the snow in solitude. I think the whole two plus hours I was out I saw exactly two people, both on skis. The towpath was covered in snow, as were some parts of the canal, and the woods to either side wore it like a soft white blanket. View of the river were as always spectacular, and the water itself was an amazing shade of green. There were a lot of ducks out and about, and a couple of kingfishers (skittish birds!), and a fair number of deer. I managed to get a few good pictures of the deer, and even some nice shots of the ducks. Even the trees were remarkable, with their branches and trunks standing out in dark contrast to the snow.



Take a look at the flickr album Feb 17, 2010 Snowshoeing on C&O Canal to see more shots, including a series of closeups I took of the severed end of a large, fallen tree branch. A surprisingly beautiful thing.

A First...

Tonight, while riding home on the Brompton, I had one of those small "first" experiences that make me smile.

I see a lot of deer along the paths I ride, especially in the evening. And lately, I've seen a good sized buck on a number of occasions... a "six-pointer" (meaning he has six tips on his antlers) at least. I've seen him on the trail near where I live, and even in the back yard once or twice (my cat, Tybalt, was very excited at this!). I've even gotten fairly close to him without him running off... but tonight was the best.

My route home consists of a short stretch of town street, then a paved, multi-use trail. From there I turn off onto a narrow paved trail, over a creek, which then turns into a dirt path for the final leg home. Tonight, just as I was about to reach the dirt portion, I saw the glow of eyes in my headlight beam. Now, this isn't uncommon in itself... it happens often in fact. But something struck me as different tonight, so I kept my light (mounted on my helmet instead of the bike) aimed at the eyes as I drew nearer. It soon became clear what was different... the eyes were lower to the ground than I would have expected... because the deer was lying on the ground, resting... and it was the buck I have seen many times now.

I've never seen a deer at rest like this before, so I slowed down, and spoke softly as I drew nearer. I do that... when I see an animal when I'm out and about, I tend to talk to them, quietly, to try to let them know I'm not a threat. It may be silly... it may have no effect at all... but it seems the right thing to do, and I do it without thinking now. And tonight, for whatever reason, the buck just rested there on the ground, in a little thicket in the woods, as I slowly rode by, and told him I meant no harm.

Beautiful creature... beautiful night... a gorgeous full moon...

Twins!

Well, tonight they were both there on the deck... two little baby possums, chowing down on cat food and apples.

Amazing little critters.

A Haven for Critters

First it was a bird feeder. Then another. And you know, gold finches like special food...

And that doesn't take into account the domesticated critters... our two cats... and we have in the past also had gold fish and parakeets.

But last night, it was particularly funny... no sooner had Annie managed to shoo out the possum yet again (we forgot to close the door), when I glanced down at our dish rack in the kitchen... to find a young Praying Mantis perched on a canning jar! Take a look there to the left.

He was safely escorted outside and released back into the wild. We wouldn't have it any other way.

More Yard Wildlife

Or... "Living With Squirrels"!

Thanks in large part to our generous feeding of the local bird population (including, indirectly, the feeding of the local hawk population, as noted in earlier posts), our yard is visited by a prodigious number of squirrels. It's not unusual to look out and see 4, 5, or even 6 (or more) squirrels cavorting about the yard, feasting on the birdseed that spills on the ground. And as the photo to the right shows, sometimes the birdseed in the feeders!

Now, lots of folks object strenuously to such activity, but Annie and I just can't seem to be bothered by it. The way I figure it, what makes birds more worthy of feeding than squirrels? I'm not going to start setting up feeders specifically for them, mind you... it's just that I can't see going to the extreme lengths some people go to to rid their yards of squirrels. And honestly, do any of the things people do really work? Squirrels are so industrious and clever (and stubborn) that they seem to find ways around everything.

What brought them to mind tonight though, is a pair of squirrel incidents that happened today. This morning, I happened to glance out the window and saw a squirrel on his hind legs, reaching up to grab at the head of a sunflower that has started to arch over toward the ground. He's reach up, grab a seed, and let it go while he munched on his snack.. then reach up and repeat the whole process. I'd never seen one do that before, and it was pretty funny.

Even funier was the sight Annie was treated to a little while later. She saw a squirrel bounding across the lawn with something rather large and odd-looking in his mouth. It took her a moment to realize that it was the entire head of a giant sunflower! Apparently, in addition to the trick I witnessed, the squirrels have figured out how to pull the heads down and sever them from the stalk! Which explains why several of our sunflowers appear to have been decapitated. Not a big deal... most of the sunflowers in our yard are "volunteers" (see earlier post and photo) that sprung up thanks to the birdseed. But it does show you to what lengths a squirrel will go for food.

Determined Critter

Well, one of my readers warned me about the persistance of possums.... and he was right!

We've been closing the door at dusk generally, but the other night we forgot. When Annie went out to the back room to shut it, look what she found... our little furry visitor perched on the edge of the big container of cat food! We're not always good at screwing the lid down tight, and she figured that out. Once she realized she was spotted, she hunkered down under a shelf unit, and it took a lot of time and some judicious use of the broom again to get her out.

We're a lot better about closing the door in the evening now!

Stubborn little critter, huh?

Critters

I ride to and from work on a rail-trail... one of those multi-use paths that use a former railroad right of way. It makes for a nice ride, in part because of the flora and fauna along the trail, especially at this time of year.

One treat this year has been the discovery of a fox den not far from the trail. I was tipped off to it by another rider who comes into our shop a lot, and I now have been lucky enough to see both mama fox and her three kits on several occasions.

Yesterday was the best so far though. I was riding home around dusk, nearing the area where the den is, when I suddenly realized all three kits were frolicking right beside the trail, and in fact stepped onto the pavement at one point. I stopped and watched for a minute or two, and it was delightful. Clearly they were playing... chasing each other and wrestling and jumping on one another. At one point, a pair of runners passed within 5 feet of them, totally oblivious to the kits! I guess they were too wrapped up in their training or whatever. I don't understand that... I always pay attention to my environment, and notice the little things, even when riding along at a good clip. Guess I'm just not totally focused on the "fitness" side of things.

Anyway, the kits eventually retreated back to the relative safety of the brush, but were still visible from the trail as I rode off. I was both grateful for the chance to see them, and concerned at their lack of fear of humans. That usually doesn't turn out well for animals. And I have to wonder where mama fox was all that time. Seems odd that she wouldn't have kept them out of sight with so many people still around. I think about a half dozen folks passed by in the short time I was there. I hope those little guys do okay.

On another note, my cat Tybalt had his annual checkup and vaccinations today. As usual he cried all the way to and from the vet, and the whole time he was in the waiting room. He just doesn't see much of other people or places, so it kind of freaks him out. The vet was very gentle and patient with him though, so it went well. And he's got a clean bill of health! Woo hoo!