Spawn of Sparky

I don't know if he's actually related to Sparky or not, of course. But I like the alliteration. [The cats bring in a lot of anoles and I'm always catching them and taking them back outside.]

View of a generous world

It's finally rained
the rich air vibrates with life
each breath tastes of green

Snuggly Cat Belly #2

A sweet puzzle, this--
skittish wild kitty sleeps with
such wild abandon

Spring Blanket

thickly-coated cat
any downwind petting mom
wears his shedded hair

Sons & Daughters

It's May and the blue jays
are learning to fly
still partly gray
awkward adolescent heads
they make flying leaps of
10 feet, then 15, then 30
hopping and cheeping around the yard
somebody's blue jay daughters
somebody's blue jay sons.

Photo courtesy of Ralph Deeds

Morning

faint light and birdsong

killer Haley finds fortress

behind my curved legs

Great Egret

So I'm taking a shovel back to the tool corral [where Stephen is supposed to keep his mes, um tools corraled] and I notice something new to the yard....


It's a great egret! It's big! It's after the fish in our fish pond! It does not want to go away! We finally had to build a mesh cage to put over the pond. It remains optimistic about its chances though. We see it all the time.



Awfully pretty though. And kind of wonderous to have in your yard in downtown Snorasota. Florida is amazingly fecund.

glowing in sunlight
thinly bound by gravity
hope stands on stilt legs

Common Yellowthroat Warbler

So I'm on my front porch reading and I hear this 'tchat.' [srsly, that's what they sound like, you can listen here. an added advantage is if you have cats, they'll run around like crazy looking for the bird. Haley was convinced it was inside the printer.] Tchat, tchat. I look around and see this teensy bird hopping from bush to tree, perching on the plant stakes, looking at the peppers and broccoli. Cute!



He flies over to the bird bath [which hardly anyone uses as a bath, it's mostly too deep but lots of them drink from it] and hops around on the edges. Hop, tchat, hop, tchat. It starts to jump inside the bath-whoa I think--it's actually going swimming? Jumps in, jumps out.

Jumps in, jumps out. Does not want to go swimming. That's when I realize the water is too low for it to reach, and it's thirsty! I fill it up of course, but fully expect that I've scared it off. But no! It only waits until I'm back on the porch and comes and drinks and drinks and drinks. Yeah teensy bird!


It hangs around and sings a bit. wich-i-ty, wich-i-ty, wich-i-ty. wich-i-ty, wich-i-ty, wich-i-ty. then leaves.


I love my front porch.I'm so happy, I sing too. wich-i-ty, wich-i-ty, wich-i-ty. wich-i-ty, wich-i-ty, wich-i-ty.

I think I'll call him Sparky

The cats bring in lots of anoles [nope, the lizards you see for the most part in South Florida aren't geckos].

screen clinging lizard
is no match for my technique
of catch and release.

If I do this every day, I might get better...

photo is too dark
haiku is not much better
some disappointment

[attempted study of reds and greens]

kitty haiku # 609

black and white kitteh
scares all with snarly face and
claws like ninja knives

Myakka State Park

Beautiful Myakka State Park on an idyllic Sunday.

Then you notice something lurking in the water.

Gatorzzzzzz! Actually, this was just a teensy.
We've seen some monsters out there.

brown tinted water
moving slowly thru rushes
home to dinosaurs

and perhaps lizards too....

cat sits in window
bathes in morning sunbeams
daydreams about squirrels

Not What I Expected

The soybeans are coming up
A surprise that—
I thought them
Too long on the shelf
For a comeback
But no, there they are
Bright green as they push
Bulbous heads up through the soil
And the broccoli, bless them!
Still throwing out tender shoots
Topped with tiny flowerets
Still a serving for two
About once a week
I circle the yard
Bees thrum on onions and mustard
Gone to blossom, making
Wry-tasting honey, I imagine
It’s finally rained enough
For the jasmines to put out leaves
Fresh fodder for army worms
I make a mental note
To get out the Conserve
My hip aches
As I trip over the hose
My stomach slightly upset
From the evenings too much
Cheap whiskey and Coke
Last night I was thinking
About how cruel youth was
To spend itself
So unwisely
This morning
As I make neat coils of the hose
I think about
Keeping on.

Surinam Cherry

too tart for the birds
the bounty of cherries
I keep for myself

Arcadia Rodeo

Panasonic DMC FZ28 on high-speed burst mode. The camera is way smarter than I am :)

Figuring the new camera out...

Squirrel eating a loquat. The birds love them too. They're tasty, if you don't mind the fact that most of them have a bite out of them :)

after the loquats
scores of squirrels storm my garden
like TV for cats

Caturday

Haley, she ponders
shall I catch a lizard now?
or go after squirrels?

Bad Ass Bluejays

Bad-ass blue jays. Don't like crows or hawks very much.


and not very afraid of them.

but evidently, neither are cardinals.


it's the tree he sings in every night. I guess neither crow nor hawk was going to stop him.

This was in a tree across the street from our house. Even though we only live about a mile from downtown, our neighborhood has an astonishing amount of wildlife.

Sunday Haiku

sunday morning, spring
newspaper on front porch
real butter with eggs