The Irvington Democratic Society Will Come to Order

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Our cat Emma and our bird bath

I do my best to educate the pets on affairs both present and past. After one of our study lessons covered Cleisthenes, a father of Athenian democracy, the little ones were inspired to found the Irvington Democractic Society. They meet weekly to air grievances and propose resolutions.

Here, Emma takes the podium in support of one of her proposals, “All pets should only eat the food given to them and not push others out of the way and steal their food.” Emma and Scout voted in favor, Sam and Ellie against. Oh no! What do we do in the event of a tie?

This is the reason democracies always fail.

The Requirements of a Cat Cave

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Our cat Sam under some daisies in our backyard

Requirement #1: It should be well-hidden with a secret entrance that only you can fit into.

Our cat Sam under some daisies in our backyard

Requirement #2: It should provide good viewing of your nemesis, Mr. Squirrel.

Our cats Sam and Emma under some daisies in our backyard

Requirement #3: It should have enough room for entertaining friends, but not so much that they will stay too long and impinge on your personal freedoms.

Happiness is a Hidey-hole

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Our cat Sam sleeping under some daisies in our backyard

We have a patch of daisies in the backyard that don’t quite get as much sun as they should, but I leave them where they are as they make a good location for taking insect pictures. I tie the daisies up after they bloom as otherwise they fall over searching for more sunlight, but an unusually heavy downpour this summer knocked them over despite my efforts.

Since we didn’t get many insects on the daisies this year, after they fell I was going to cut them down until I realized another creature had taken up residence underneath their canopy.

Hello? American Bison Photographers Anonymous? I Think I Have a Problem

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A close-up view of the face of an American bison in Grand Teton National Park

An attempt to combine the tight portraits of the face from the previous pictures, but also show the varying shades of brown in this bull’s fur. It’s a touch too tight in my opinion but not only did I not have time to take the teleconverter off the big lens, but it was extremely dusty and not the best place to be exposing the innards of the camera.

This is why I think the built-in teleconverter in Canon’s announced 200-400mm lens is so brilliant. Oh what a joy it would be if my 500mm had one! It would solve one of the biggest and most frustrating challenges I face, regardless of whether I’m in the Tetons or Ridgefield.