Remember SJCITY Fit is on a break all next week for Thanksgiving! (Nov. 19-Nov. 24, 2018! We will be back dancing Nia on Tues., Nov. 27th! 2 days ago
I never understand what happened to: go to the next exit and turn around. People in too much of a hurry? Glad you… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…4 days ago
I believe that the lizards in our yard are fascinated by the cats. I think they come to the windows to visit with them. One day there was one on the screen hanging on checking out the cats. They come over to the window and just stare at them. The cats “ick” at them. They range anywhere from two inches to 7 inches long. The majority I see are in the middle of that range. I think they are fascinating.
Here is a picture of Nessa looking at one for today’s Friday Photo. He stayed at the window for quite some time.
I have just graduated from an iPhone 5 to an iPhone 10 XS. My phone was six years old. They no longer sell the 5. Perhaps that can be my guide as to when to buy new phones. My 5 still worked, it just didn’t work as fast as the newer phones. My camera was not as good. And that is what I am showing you in this post. I wanted to give you an idea about the difference between the photos.
The difference between the cameras is here. The only info on the 5 that I could find was from Wiki. The information on the 10 XS is taken from the Apple website.
Old Phone Rear camera Sony Exmor R IMX145[9][10] —8 MP iSight back-side illuminated sensor —HD video (1080p) at 30 frame/s —IR filter —Aperture f/2.4 —5 element lens —Facial recognition (stills only) —Image stabilization
Front camera —1.2 MP, HD video (720p)
Info from Apple.com
New Phone —Dual 12MP wide-angle and telephoto cameras —Wide-angle: ƒ/1.8 aperture —Telephoto: ƒ/2.4 aperture —2x optical zoom; digital zoom up to 10x —Portrait mode with advanced bokeh and Depth Control —Portrait Lighting with five effects (Natural, Studio, Contour, Stage, Stage Mono) —Dual optical image stabilization —Six-element lens —Quad-LED True Tone flash with Slow Sync —Panorama (up to 63MP) —Sapphire crystal lens cover —Backside illumination sensor —Hybrid IR filter —Autofocus with Focus Pixels —Tap to focus with Focus Pixels —Smart HDR for photos —Wide color capture for photos and Live Photos —Local tone mapping —Advanced red-eye correction —Exposure control —Auto image stabilization —Burst mode —Timer mode —Photo geotagging —Image formats captured: HEIF and JPE
The first picture of each cat is with the new phone. The second is with the old phone.
In the first picture of Teagan I might have zoomed in a bit, but I didn’t touch either phone to make them focus better. So, I might have been able to get a bright picture with the iPhone 5, but I was taking it as a comparison of not having touched either phone.
With the new phone I might actually be able to get some better pictures of Teagan. Although, as I have mentioned she is not as camera shy as she once was.
I fought long and hard (for at least two years – that is when the seven was released and suggestions were made to get it) about getting a new phone. But I figure if I keep this one for six years it will be ok.
Even though don’t know most of what the description of the phone is saying, I can clearly SEE that the photos are much better!
These were just quick pictures I was taking to show my hubby the difference. I should have thought about posting from the get go and done a better job!
Dramatic difference, huh? Means bad news for my blog because I am going to be posting a lot more cat pictures now.
It was way before 2008 that I first noticed an oriole on our hummingbird feeder. I didn’t know what it was then. I got a picture of one on a feeder in 2008. I don’t know that I saw any more for years. Now they are regulars. In fact I am rushing to post this so that I can go fill the feeder they just emptied. I’ve mentioned before that the feeder we bought specifically for the orioles is way too difficult to clean. It is very narrow and I am not sure I can get the brush in there and get it clean enough. They are much dirtier than the hummingbirds. Or something. It could be that they have to get their beaks all the way in whereas hummingbirds have long tongues. I am not sure, but the hummingbird feeder they primarily eat off of is way more gross than the ones the hummingbirds eat off of. It gets this black sludgy stuff in it. This time of year it is not so bad because I am filling it every three or four days. Our hummingbird feeders come apart and are very easy to clean so we just take the flowers off of them so that the orioles can get their beaks in for the sugar water.
I think the orioles we get are Hooded Orioles. I originally read (now I can’t find it) that they depart in July, but now I am looking at a site that says they depart in August. So we might have them another month or so. I am trying to keep the feeder full so they have enough before they go. But I try to keep them all full for the hummingbirds anyway.
The orioles have gotten a little more brave as they used to fly away immediately if we even walked into our living room. But now they will stay at the feeder or even come into the yard when we are in the living room. And they are so brave that now they are eating at the feeder that is close to the window. They are tormenting my cat. She climbs up on the cat tower and talks at them. She reaches at her paw for them. There were two on the feeder today while Nessa and I were playing and that quickly distracted both of us.
I guess over the summer they have gotten a little used to us so they are not as fearful. They are still very cautious, but they are less freaky and will stay and eat as long as we are not too close.
My husband said he saw six last night around the feeder . . . that could be why it is empty and I have to fill it. I know that I have seen two brightly colored ones together, so I know that there are at least two males. It is difficult to tell the females apart but I have seen at least four together so I know that there are at least four of them. I have never seen all six together.
Since they have gotten a bit brave I was able to take closer pictures. So here are a few.
I can’t remember why exactly . . . I think it was because when we adopted Teagan (Smokey) and Nessa (Esmeralda) The Dancing Cat used pellet litter . . . . so I started researching litter. I liked the litter that we used when we first got Spot, but Costco stopped selling it LONG ago and we had switched to Arm & Hammer. I liked it. It clumped well and it — the unscented kind — did a good job of keeping the smell in check . . . at least with Spot. But I got very tired of the dust. I share a room with the litter box and just regular dust is hard to deal with, but add cat litter dust on top of that and I just was tired of it. My research revealed that Dr. Elsey’s Ultra Litter was pretty much dust free. Of course, that was the old formula . . . according to the reviews. Seems like about the time I was thinking about buying it they switched their formula/litter and loyal customers were upset because the dust free litter now had dust. I decided to try it anyway because there were a few reviews that said it was good. Well, I think it is a lot less dusty than the litter we used to buy. It might be more dusty than it was at one time, but it is still less dusty so we use it. And the cats had no trouble at all adjusting from pellets to one litter the the next. They are such good girls. This story is all leading to #Orangeinside.
The last litter bag we opened had an orange collar inside. (Ha! That is not what #Orangeinside is about. 🙂 ) I picked up the package and read “Share a photo with #Orangeinside on Instagram for a chance to win a year supply of Dr. Elsey’s Ultra cat litter.*” And I said to my husband, “Will you do it for me? I don’t have Instagram?” And then I went on to say what a brilliant way to market. Send out an orange collar with your website on it and have people take pictures of their cats in it and post it on Instagram! I thought that was brilliant. I don’t even HAVE Instagram and I was going to do it — or have it done. I could use a free year of cat litter. Heck yeah!
But then I flipped the bag over and read the other side of the enclosed card. It said that less than 5% of missing indoor cats are returned home, that a cat with an orange collar is an indication of an indoor cat, a cat with an orange collar should not be outside. Ha! I hadn’t read past that because I thought that was a great idea. Now that I am reading the entire thing I understand what the white strip on the collar is. It is a space to write your phone number so someone can call you when your cat is found. This is cool. I like this program.
I also noticed once I really looked at the collar that, there is a little kitty face on the breakaway buckle and if that kitty face is facing outward the website does not show, only the spot for the owner’s number.
The thing is . . . my cats are indoor cats and they don’t wear collars. That is one reason I love indoor cats, they are unfettered by collars. I was planning on putting the bright orange collar on our black cat for a photo because I thought the orange and black would really stand out. But when I thought about it I don’t know where she was and her sister was right there. So I tried it on her. Well, I am not posting all the blurry shots I have. She wouldn’t really sit still. She was trying to get it off. I did manage to get one or two, but not of her face.
Today as I was preparing to write this post I put it on the black cat. She was in mellow mode so she just laid there and actually let me get a few photos.
When I googled Orange Collar the result was a lot of sites selling orange collars. The few articles that came up showed a year of 2015 in the summary . . . so I am thinking that this orange collar for indoor cats has been around since at least 2015. I think it is a neat idea.
Have you ever heard of the orange collar thing? Do you have an indoor cat? Does your indoor cat wear a collar? WOULD your indoor cat wear a collar?
Here is Teagan. She is a very pretty kitty. She has green eyes. They change color from green to yellow. Do most green eyes do that? I know a couple of people who have green eyes and they say their eyes change color, too. I don’t think Nessa’s change, but Teagan’s do. Sometimes you can see the yellow and the green at the same time. She likes to play but not as actively as her sister. She is a great cat!
I am posting our beautiful black cat as my Friday Photo today.
Oh, now I have to post them both! (Last week I posted only Teagan.) Both of our cats. They are on both on their tower here. Doesn’t Teagan look like she is suspicious?
Nessa and Teagan on their tower is this week’s Friday Photo.
Here is our cat before she got annoyed with me trying to take her picture. There are two main reasons I have a lot more pictures of Nessa than I do of Teagan. One, Teagan is black and very difficult to photograph. The lighting has to be right in order for her features to show. And two, she hates it. It used to be that I could NEVER get a shot of her. She just didn’t like it. Nessa doesn’t care. You can be in her face or across the room and she is like, “Whatever.” Or she may not even notice. But Teagan used to have a NO-radar. She could be dead asleep and her NO-radar would wake her up and she would leave. “NO! You are not taking my picture!” She is better now, but she is still difficult to photograph. You might imagine how many far away (so she hopefully wouldn’t notice I was taking a picture) or blurry (because she noticed and is leaving) pictures I have of her. She is beautiful so I would try!
Seems like I am posting a lot about cats. I recently posted about how you can use a box and/or packing paper to entertain a cat or two. Either the box itself will do the trick OR your can bring life back to a forgotten toy by using it in conjunction with the box. Well, a couple of days later I was given a bag with something in it and when I empty the bag I left it on the floor. Next thing I know I hear a cat diving into it. Then she hides. We played a bit. Then a couple of days later I am in the room and I THINK I see Nessa come in the room, but I don’t stop what I am doing to look. When I finished what I was doing I looked around and there was no Nessa. And I think, “Dang, I really thought I saw her, I must have been mistaken.” I go to move the bag and I am surprised by a cat in a bag. She loves this bag.
Here is Nessa in the bag with Teagan playing from the outside.
Here is Nessa in the bag getting my finger.
Then on FaceBook I saw someone post a video about a guy who built his cats a maze made up of 50 boxes. I watched it without reading the story attached to it only to find out at the end of the video it was Cole and Marmalade. Awww. I love Cole and Marmalade! Many of us do! Click the picture to go to Youtube to the video in which Cole and Marmalade’s dad builds them a maze made out of 50 boxes. Then he throws treats in the boxes so they jump into the boxes to get their treats.
See? Boxes make the best cat toys! It is great exercise for them, too.
I probably should have warned you . . . I have a few cat post brewing. They have been swirling around my head. I thought it would be best (for me) to just get them out. You may have seen me mention that we have two cats. You may have also seen me mention that one cat is tiny and the other cat is big. They are actually about the same size, as in, the same length and the same height. And in fact, they are not large cats. I would say they are medium, if not small. The are NOT large. But one is heavier than the other. The heavy one makes us think we should try to have her eat less and the thin one makes us think we should feed her ALL the time. But I think she is comfortably thin. I mean, when I look at her or pick her up, I kinda freak out because she is soooo tiny. She is thin . . . her bones stick out and they knock together when you pick her up . . . but . . . she is in charge of her eating. It is not as if she doesn’t have access to food. She is just a very lean cat. If she had any issues that I notice about moving or toileting, I would be concerned, but she moves like the wind. Just last night I heard my husband make a flabbergasted noise in another room and I asked him what that was about. He proceeded to explain how Nessa, the thin one, just moves like there is no stopping her. It doesn’t matter what is in the way she will get around it, she will jump over it, fly past it, sail under it . . . just MOVE. She moves in very amazing ways so I am confident that she is pretty healthy despite her small frame. But . . . I still try to get her to eat more.
I probably have mentioned how I will put the wet food down and Nessa will lap up all the liquid. Then she will go away. Teagan will come in and eat off one plate. Then sometimes she will go away. Then later on Nessa will come back in and eat some. Then Teagan will come back in and sometimes she finishes what is left . . . but sometimes not. It is really difficult to track who eats what. When you try to watch them and monitor them then they don’t eat. So leaving them to their own devises, probably ends up that one eats more than the other. So with that in mind I discovered that Nessa likes one brand of cat food that Teagan does not. In fact, Teagan will only eat one kind that I have purchased so far. Nessa will eat others, but not Teagan.
One day Nessa was in licking her empty plate and I thought, “Hmmm. Maybe she will eat these fish flakes I have. (And have had for a long time.)” Oh my word! She gobbled them down. I thought, “Well, I don’t even know if Teagan likes them because Nessa just sucked them down.” So I decided to buy more.
Well, Teagan does not like them, but Nessa will gobble them up. She will gobble up a pile then look at me and make her little squeak for more. So I will give her more. Teagan will not touch them, even though they are bascially tuna. So . . . this is another thing that I can feed Nessa and not fear that Teagan will eat it all. But then I feel bad because Teagan asks for something, too. But the whole point it so get more food into Nessa.
Anyway . . . I just thought I would share this treat that my one cat considers crack-like. I think they might make us go broke because we are down half a bag already. I thought we had gotten them a while ago, but we just got them Friday.
Do you have a treat for your cat that they LOVE? What treats do you give your cat?
