Posted by terrepruitt on February 15, 2019
It amazes me how squirrels balance on things. To them it is probably just sitting. Sitting on a tree branch, sitting on a chair back, sitting on the edge of a pot. But to me it is balancing. Their little feet holding on and their butt hanging over the edge. Their tails helping out. It was raining and he was having a nut. He sat for a couple of shots, then finished his nut and was off. I thought I would share him for my Friday Photo.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: balancing squirrel, Friday Photo, peanuts, squirrels | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on August 16, 2011
Our cat is an indoor cat. She does not go outside. I honestly feel that cats should be able to go outside. There are so many fun things for cats to experience; butterflies, grass, fences, frogs, lizards, flowers, etc. They do belong outside, able to roam, but unfortunately there are also many dangers. In addition to believing that cats really should be allowed to go outside, I feel that people must take responsibility for their pet(s) and that can come with a heavy price tag. Neither my heart nor my wallet could afford having to fix my cat if one of those outside dangers were to injure her. In our neighborhood we have raccoons, opossums, dogs, cats, cars, and sometimes the worst danger of all . . . other people. Not everyone is an animal lover or they might not enjoy a kitty fertilizing their garden — understandable. So we keep our cat inside. She, like a lot of indoor animals, LOVES to sit by any open door or window. She can sit there for hours. She stares and sniffs, and sniffs and stares. She will often go from door to door as if patrolling her yard. My hubby and I feed birds and squirrels in our yard in hopes that they will serve as entertainment for the cat. We have learned that we are overly entertained by our yard animals too. As I have posted before, the animals often distract me when I am doing a Nia routine or working out.
My hubby and I also have animal protocol, if there is an animal in the yard and we are on our way out to the yard, we stop and wait for it to settle or be gone. If we are in the yard and one comes in we freeze and let it do what it is there to do then we proceed. We often will stop what we are doing (pause a DVD, pause our conversation, etc.) to watch the various critters that come to visit. They are very entertaining. They eat, they play, they drink, they take baths. It is all very fun to watch. They can be quite silly.
We used to have blue jays come with their babies every year. They must have nested in our neighbor’s yard, because one year he drastically trimmed the trees and the babies that visit now are not nearly as young as the ones we used to have. So I believe the birds are having their babies elsewhere and sometimes they come here to eat or bath, but they are not here over a period of months as they once were. It is interesting and very amusing watching “babies” learn new things.
I believe the video included in this post is a group of “baby” hummingbirds. They are either babies or they are adults new to our yard and they have not seen the “house” that we allow our cat to go outside in. The hummingbirds swarm around the house to see what exactly is the threat of the animal inside. It is quite entertaining. They did this just a few times and have since learned that she is no threat and they act as if she is not there. The squirrels often check her out though. They climb on the table and peer in at her. She just looks back at them, rarely does she rush at them. She knows she can’t get them, but I don’t think they are always so sure.
On this video you can hear the birds making their little chitter noise. I imagine them saying, “What is it doing? What is it? Can it eat us?”
Posted in Birds | Tagged: animals are entertaining, Baby blue jays, baby hummingbirds, bird bath, blue jays, cat houses, dog houses, hummingber chitter, hummingbird noise, hummingbird noises, Hummingbirds, indoor cats, indoor-outdoor cats, Nia, Nia routine, Nia workout, outdoor cats, squirrels, threat level, threat level assessment, traveling crates, Working Out, yard animals | 12 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 9, 2011
It is difficult for me to do Nia at home. In Nia we actually move our head. “Huh?” You say. Well next time you are in a cardio workout out class or an exercise class you might notice that you don’t often (or at all) move your head around purposefully. In Nia we look up, we look around, we look down, we out. We could just be moving our head to sense the sensation of it, or we could be doing it to allow action to follow intention or . . . well, whatever idea we are using at the moment to move our head, we move our head. ALL AROUND. Which, makes it difficult for me to workout at home. When I look up I see spider webs. When I look around I see dust. When I look down I see Spot. When I look out I see squirrels.
We have cathedral ceilings, so there is never a time when we don’t have spider webs or something way up there. When I see it I start thinking, “I need to get the duster and the ladder and get that.” Then there is the dust. The dust never seems to NOT be there even right as I am dusting. Then there is the cat. She either wants to go out, or be pet, or she just chooses to lay right in the middle of my workout floor. And I have learned that I absolutely have to keep my curtains closed. I don’t care what the weather is, I don’t care what the temperature is, I have to keep my curtains closed because I get REALLY distracted when I don’t. Here are two examples of what I see.
First he comes to the door. Tentative. Then he will stand that like that for a long time. I have tried to just keep on going and just let him watch me dance, but after a while I feel bad. He will just stand there with his paws at his chest and look at me. He has stood like that for at least an entire song. I always end up stopping and giving him or, more accurately, them nuts. When one gets peanuts the others come along.
Then this is what they do. This was taken on a very hot day. The mat was in the shade and had been for a while so he just plopped down. I think he was enjoying the shade. A little snack in the shade. He just looked at me while he ate his snack.
They have come up to the doors and windows and put both paws on the glass and looked inside. I imagine I hear, “Hey, you in there! Where are the peanuts?” It is rather funny. I am not certain, but I think it is one in particular that does that. My hubby named him Brutus. When he comes up to the door, he will stay there and take a peanut from me. Sometimes he barely lets me put the peanut out the door.
Yes, one of the things we do in Nia is to not think about things like spider webs, dust, the grocery list, the things we need to do after class and when I am outside of my home I can do that much better. In my house I get distracted. There are so many distractions. So one way I eliminate at least one is I keep the curtains shut. On the days that I took these pictures I had obviously not done so.
Posted in Just stuff, Nia | Tagged: cardio dance, cardio workout, dance class, entertaining squirrels, exercise class, exercise distractions, Nia, Nia at home, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia exercises, Nia workout, peanuts, squirrel pictures, squirrels, workout class | 5 Comments »
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