September 11, 2005

• Sunspots and Kittens

  I found a great shot of giant sunspot 798 at SpaceWeather.com,
  and decided to share it.  I thought this would give me a chance to
  test Xanga’s new photo upload software.  Marc said it was faster
  now, and I do agree — but for a while I wasn’t sure it was going to
  work at all.  I got a series of runtime errors and had about half
  an hour between my first try and the one that finally succeeded.

  The sunspot has been causing auroras visible at relatively low
  latitudes but our cloudy skies have kept me from noticing any
  here.  This spot is moving across the face of the sun now, and
  should be increasing in its effect on radio communications and auroral
  displays for a few days.  Cell phone signals between Greyfox at
  the lower end of the valley and me up here have been really bad, with
  lots of noise and frequent disconnects.

  

  I also have a cute pic I took a few days ago of Hilary’s three kittens,
  Alice, Borborygmi, and Chattanooga.  Those last two names are
  probably temporary, just whimsical replacements for the original
  designations, A, B, and C.  We think Alice’s name will stick,
  though. 

  The only girl (center, above) in that litter is adorable, fluffy, and
  intrepid, with the longest fur of the bunch.  She’s the one who
  romps and charges all over the house, following me and climbing my pantleg as I walk down the
  hall, chasing Auntie Orange (Nemo) into the back room, climbing and
  knocking stuff down.  Alice was first to venture out of Doug’s
  bedroom on her own, and first to find her way through the secret
  passage in the pantry to bypass the gate that keeps the dog out of Cat
  Territory in the back of the house.

  Her brother Bobo, the one with his leg over Alice in the pic, is the
  one I think is prettiest, with markings similar to Greyfox’s enormous
  tomcat Hohner (AKA Bubba, below), but he’s a timid fraidy-cat. 
  ChaCha-Cooter-Cecil, on the left up there, hasn’t shown enough
  personality yet to give us any idea what his name should be.

  

  Hilary has been fussing a lot.  A couple of days ago, the kittens
  had scattered and were zipping around in three different parts of the
  house.  Hilary was bustling back and forth, calling to them and
  complaining at us because the kids wouldn’t cooperate with her efforts
  to round them up.  She seems to be getting used to it now, and has
  been spending more time outdoors on her own.  This morning when
  Alice had found the way into the kitchen, Koji was very interested in
  the kitten, but Hilary chased him off into a corner of the front room.

  Orange Nemo still refuses to go outside.  She prefers being an
  indoor cat, and she loves the kittens.   I see them sleeping
  snuggled against her as often as I see them with their mother.

  

  • 1:59 pm
  • 11 Comments