Kittens

Say hello to Tillie and Callie, our two new kittens! We have been plagued by mice this year. Last year we had our old cat, Echo, but she's left us now and the mice moved in. So we decided to go to the Humane Society to get a new cat to rid ourselves of the mice, or at least keep them at bay. Needless to say, we never made it past the kittens back to where they keep the cats. We played with Callie in a room for 10 minutes, then saw her sister Tillie, and decided we couldn't split them up or leave them there.

Their first week here was a little rough, they both caught a cold, and were actually sneezing blood at one point. But they've both gotten better now, with the help of some anti-biotics and rest, and are back to their energetic little selves.

They have the most spectacular battles in mid-air. I've been trying to capture them in photos but I think I need a video to really do them justice:

Bald Eagle in Osseo

I left work earlier than usual last Friday (before dark)- it was a grey day and I had gotten in early anyway. As I drove South on 169 I saw an odd blob in a tree on the other side of the highway. I did a u-turn at the next light and pulled over to discover that it was a bald eagle perched in a tree overlooking a plowed field.

I got my camera and started to make my way into the field closer to the eagle. My excitement had disarmed me of any stealth and the eagle made a quick departure off into the distance. But as I watched from the field it flew in a half-mile circle and landed on a telephone pole down another side road.

The chase continued. As I approached it's new perch, there was nowhere to pull over so I had to continue driving to a pull-off, got out, and started trekking back to it. Again, before I could get 20 yards, the eagle seemed to take note and took off.

This time, it flew further down the street, towards Osseo, and the into a residential area where I lost sight of it.

I spent 15 minutes circling the streets of the neighborhood it had flown towards and was almost ready to turn back towards 169 when I found the strange figure again perched in a tree this time above a house overlooking the same road I had just driven down.

I parked and spent a good 20 minutes taking pictures of the bird way up in the tree as the light faded. This time around there was no response from the eagle and it stayed put, unconcerned with my presence (or that of the rush hour traffic rushing by just below).

I'd seen bald eagles in zoos before but this was my first time seeing one in the wild, on the wing. It was spectacular even on a gray, dreary day, as darkness encroached.