Terre Pruitt's Blog

In the realm of health, wellness, fitness, and the like, or whatever inspires me.

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Posts Tagged ‘yard animals’

Fascinated

Posted by terrepruitt on October 19, 2018

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.

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Posted in Cats, Friday Photo | Tagged: , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Spot And Her Boyfriend By J

Posted by terrepruitt on August 23, 2017

Last week my husband says to me out of the blue, “Do you know who I have been missing lately?”

I said, “No, who?”

He answered, “J. I’ve been missing J. I have been thinking about her and I think I need to get together with her.”

And I said, “Well, I miss her too, the last time we had plans with them they had to cancel. So I would like to see her, too.”

Ha. I believe this was his plan all along. Well, maybe not ALL ALONG, but I bet from the finish of the project. You see, my husband commissioned “J” to do a piece of artwork as a gift for me. So he made plans for us to go to lunch today. And he had me open my gift at lunch.

This is our cat, Spot. We used to say that she had a squirrel boyfriend. There probably was more than one, but I can’t always tell them apart. There was one that used to come up to the sliders and visit with Spot. That is how it seemed. He – and I can’t swear by that either – used to come up close and just chatter at her. And she would sit there with big eyes just looking intently. Sometimes she would glance at us as if to say, “Do you believe that? Do you hear what he is saying?” Sometimes he would just stay on the fence and chatter at her. His chittering going along with his butt. He had a butt dance going on.

She had many yard animal friends.

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The print is super cute and it is framed and matted very nicely, but I am not a photographer.  I didn’t want a reflection of myself taking the picture so I took it at an odd angle and didn’t get the entire thing (frame and matting).  The colors are not showing up as nicely in the photo as they are in the actual print.

J is quiet the artist. In fact you may have seen her work . . . it makes its rounds on Facebook ALL the time. Those of us that love her come together to make sure that she gets credit for it. Many know her by J although her website is Judy Clement Wall. While I have purchased and sent many of her cards, now I am the proud owner of a one-of-a-kind commissioned art piece by JClementWall. Made that much more sweeter because my hubby commissioned it for me AND it is a reminder of our sweet angel.  And what, but a totally personal doodle would have my cat, her boyfriend, and a hummingbird in it, with a blue background (which could be coincidence).

Pretty cool, huh?

Thanks, Honey. Thanks, J.

Posted in Cats, Misc, Spot | Tagged: , , , , , | 4 Comments »

No Fast Food In Our Yard!

Posted by terrepruitt on July 10, 2017

Dance Exercise, Nia, Nia in the City of San Jose, Nia classes in the South Bay, Nia Teacher, Nia Class, San Jose Nia, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, Nia, Gentle Yoga, Group Ex classes, YMCA, Zumba, Nia Technique, SJ City Fit, SJCityFitWe have yard animals. I like to feed the animals that come in the yard. I like to feed them because I feel bad that all of the land that is around our house and neighborhood that was once orchards and fields is now developed. I feel bad that the animals have no home and no place to forage for food. So I feed them. Also, it is great entertainment for our cats. I feel bad keeping cats as “indoor only” even if I believe it is for their own good. I wish they could go out and play and chase animals . . . but I really don’t want them to catch them. Anyway . . . I like to have yard animals to help entertain the girls. I love having hummingbirds. And, if you have ever read any of my yard animal post you know I LOVE (LOVE , LOVE , LOVE ) when birds bathe in the bird bath. I like to think of our yard as an animal oasis. So when I saw the hawk in the yard, I was so happy. It was exciting to me that a hawk would visit the yard. I didn’t notice the squirrel right away. When I did I thought, “Oh how sweet!” (Eyes rolling!) Then is dawned on me! AAAAAACCCCCKKKKK! This hawk is thinking our yard is like a fast food joint where he could grab a quick meal. Then I really thought about it, and although I could be wrong . . . I figured this hawk couldn’t get the squirrel. And either the squirrel was totally oblivious, totally dumb, or figured the same thing that I did.

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This was quite a long time ago. In 2008. I hadn’t thought about it in a long time. But I was going through some stuff on my computer and I found the pictures. They make me laugh because I really did think, at first, that our yard was an oasis where animals could be together in peace. Yeah, as soon as my mind completed the thought I got it.

I think this is Cooper’s Hawk. We used to have a lot of them around. I think they used to nest in the trees near by. But as I said, there is no land around us any longer. There are no hunting grounds for birds of prey so they have gone. Now we just have a lot of people, housing, cars, traffic, and all that goes with it.

At least I have my pictures. And since I am sharing them . . . you do, too!

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Posted in Birds, Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Re-visiting Our Yard

Posted by terrepruitt on June 13, 2015

I love our yard.  It is very small, but often very full of activity.  This year we have new visitors to our yard.  I know that we have had one once or twice, that I have seen, in the past.  But this year they are regular visitors.  They might have been regular visitors for some years now, but they are very shy so perhaps we just didn’t see them before.  I’ve only seen them twice in years past, as I said.  Since they are shy I don’t have any good pictures of them.  The second we approach any window they are gone.  But our hummingbirds are very brave this year.  I can walk right up to the window where the feeder hangs about six inches away and the birds will just sit there.  They seem fearless.  And we have one that is the largest one I have ever seen visit our yard.  This past week we had a little bit of rain. First it started off here as a mist, then the drops came, but it was a very gentle rain.  Oh my, you should have heard and seen the yard.  There were so many birds it in.  They seemed so happy.  They were just jumping around from place to place.  It was a nice sight to see.  I love that we have so much entertainment in our yard.

The new visitors are orioles.  There seems to be at least four.  There are two brightly colored ones and to “dingy” ones.  They barely look yellow.  One of the dingy ones has a bad leg.  I say that because as she perches on anything there is something that hangs down.  And she doesn’t perch well.  She rocks on the feeders unless she is situated just right.  When she is on one of our towers she hunkers down on it.

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I think the new birds might be affecting our hummingbird population in regards to how many we get visiting the feeders in our yard.  But that is ok.  They need to eat too.

This is why I recently posted Outside Yoga – Easier Said Than Done  because we have so much bird activity.  I get distracted.  Birds are fascinating.  The blue jays rarely just pick a nut.  They will land and pick up a nut, then put it down.  Then pick up another nut, then put it down.  It looks sometimes as if they are shaking it, but I am not sure.  Then they will pick up another one and put it down.  I’ve seen one bird do that a dozen times.  I am so curious as to why.  I have my ideas as to why, but I would love so much for them to be able to tell me.

The collage with the orioles makes me squint because of the out of focus, faded pictures where the oriole has his back to the camera.  They are that way because I was taking it far from a way and through a dirty window and through a screen.  The orioles are very skittish.  The blurry photo where his coloring is bright was from very far away and as soon as he noticed me he was gone.  The one of the oriole in the tree, that is the less-than-brightly-colored female.

The mourning dove has been trying to get to that feeder for days now.  And I say “trying to get” because I have never seen it IN the feeder.  It flies up to the top of it and that is as far as we have seen it get.  But perhaps when we are not looking it actually makes it to the bottom to get the seed.  Tonight my husband and I watched its progress.  The mourning doves are skittish, too, but I think her having won such a hard battle she was not going to just fly away.

Our yard is small, but we are blessed with visiting birds.  What’s in your yard?  Do you have a flower garden?  Do you have a vegetable garden?  Do you have birds that visit?

Posted in Birds, Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Assessing The Threat Level – Can It Eat Us?

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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments »

Squirrel Barking

Posted by terrepruitt on July 14, 2011

I am working on learning a new Nia routine.  After getting coffee this morning I sat down to listen to the music and bar it.  I had done some work on some of the songs already, so I was continuing.  I had opened up a slider because the morning was cool and I wanted to let some cool air in and let the cat enjoy the outside.  As I was sitting there I started to hear a squirrel barking.  I got up to look and I couldn’t see him, but I could hear him well enough I knew he was somewhere along the edge of the yard.  I spotted him on our roof.  I asked him why he was barking, but I was unable to understand his answer.  He kept barking as he ran from one level to the next.  Since he sounded so upset I was curious as to why.  He sounded as if he was near so I looked again.  He was on our roof where I couldn’t see him from the slider.  He barked non-stop.

Being the well-trained squirrel sap that I am, I went outside to give them some peanuts and I cleaned the bird bath and filled it with water.  I thought maybe he wanted peanuts and water.  But he kept barking.  I think he actually moved to a place where he could see me and he knew I could see him.  He was barking for so long that I decided to video him.

This is him.  He is on our neighbor’s roof.

After this he stopped.  Maybe he just wanted me to put him on YouTube.  Maybe he is not happy that the blue jays are eating the nuts.  They usually share pretty well, but the only thing I can think of is that maybe the blue jays are a bit more aggressive than normal because yesterday I noticed they brought babies with them.  I don’t know if you have ever experienced baby blue jays.  At this point they are flying fine and have their balance so they are a few months old, but they still have that baby cry.  They are so round and fluffy and look bigger than the adults.  Yesterday one just stood on the table and cried for food.  But the adult with him wanted him to fend for himself.  But MAYBE this is what the squirrel was barking about today, but I dont’ know.

After he stopped barking he sat in the tree like this.  Giving me some kind of “eye”; evil or squirrely you decide.

Nia workout disctraction - squirrel

So, yeah, this is part of what I mean when I posted the post about workout distractions.  I could ignore them, but often times they are making a ruckus for a reason and if they are doing it in our yard I like to try to figure out why.  Eventually, I shut the door and closed the curtain so I could bar some more of the Nia music and get a Nia workout in.  I wanted to show you more of the “distractions” from our yard.  Silly squirrel.

Posted in Misc | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments »