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| go out in the midday sun |
May-Z is a lot better today, whilst Jazz seems weary.
May-Z seemed to recover a little overnight, appearing on my pillow some time during the night, much more like her usual self. Today, although a little wary of going outside on her own, she seems less psychologically fragile, and physically fairly normal.
Anna tells me that the poo in the lounge was in fact a furball, vomited up by one of the cats...this was most likely a stress response from May-Z, following the attack. So that potentially explains that aspect of it, and maybe why May-Z has been reluctant to eat today...her throat may be sore.
Still doesn't quite tell the story though...the neighbours tell us that a big, black, feral cat has been passing by regularly...in which case, is the fur Loz's? She didn't look as though she'd lost fur, and she didn't seem as though she'd been in a serious fight - she was very relaxed, and still is. Given that she's generally a fairly stressy cat, as far as intruding cats go, this doesn't seem quite likely either.
So yeah, hmm, I'm still not settled with any theory...
Anyway, I was working from home today, so had the opportunity to spend a few minutes sitting out in the midday sun...Jazz slumped in the doorway, soaking up the heat quickly, being black...mad dogs and Englishmen, and all that.
Black dogs are really cool, in my estimation, unless the sun's out, in which case they're really hot!
But their black fur must be tiresome in the summer sun...literally within seconds of being out in the sun, Jazz is hot to the touch...he just soaks it up!
It also makes photographing him problematic, for exactly the same reason - those rays of sunlight that he's absorbing aren't bouncing off him to be picked up by the camera's sensor...so the camera finds it impossible to set an appropriate white balance, as it struggles to "see" the dog. It just sees darkness, and consequently ramps up the light sensitivity, with the effect of utterly over-exposing everything in the shot that isn't the dog, whilst still under-exposing Jazz - the worst of all worlds.
There are some hints and tips relating to photographing black (or white) animals, but I can't remember what they are...must look them up...
As it happens though, sheep turn out alright.
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| not as white as advertised |
As do blackbirds - when they're brown anyway (due to being female and whatnot):
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| not as black a advertised |
This one has an odd feather protruding from behind her wing on her left flank...it's been there for a few days, and is starting to intrigue me now. If it's so loose, why hasn't it detached? I wonder if it bothers her? It's not like blackbirds have to fly huge distances...they mostly just flit around in the hedgerow and trees within 10 or 20m of where they live.
Curious.
Finally, here's the big ol' Dobermann that lives next door, Diesel.
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| diesel the dobermann dog |
He's as old as Jazz, and absolutely covered in humongous tumours, although they all seem to be benign and don't seem to bother him much, if at all. His owners insist he's at deaths door, although he seems reasonably well to me...
Saying that, I have to acknowledge that they could quite reasonably say the same thing about me and Jazz!
Yeah, yeah, I know...
:-p
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