Virginia Arthur's Blog
October 1, 2025
Robert Redford and Jane Goodall. Something Has Gone Out of the World.
I have been crying a lot lately. There is no shortage of despair as the worst of the human primate is on full display not only around the world, but in America. The worst of the human primate is running our country--into the ground--with apparent glee.
If I became a biologist. a botanist, it was because of a movie called "Jane", I watched it when I was ten. The rural farm I thought we moved to was being destroyed on a daily basis by bulldozers and terrifyingly giant earthmovers. Nobody told the kids in the neighborhood then that ours was the first street of what would be bulldozed into creation--essentially an entire new city. I grew up watching that beautiful thousand acre farm get destroyed. Then I spent my days in a Walden's bookstore in the mall where my mother would get a job after the farm had been destroyed--in part for the mall. She would drop me off there and go to work. I would spend hours on the floor looking at books, some with pictures of beautiful old farms and woods and apple orchards. Pictures, all that were left of these things in my life. When the manager would glance over at me, piles of brand-new books on either side, I would put the books back and wander the mall. Once I wandered the farm, the wood, and the apple orchards. Now I wandered the mall.
Part of why I started wandering in the first place was because of this beautiful courageous fascinating young woman named Jane. I was transfixed. It seemed like everyone was then. It was the talk of my school. I donned binoculars and hat. Notepad and pencil. Maybe a Ginger Ale for later. I put it all in a bag because we didn't have backpacks then. I carried my field gear in a paper bag. Soon I was documenting dead animals, ravens and crows among the bulldozers and earth movers where once I documented fairy slipper orchids. My expeditions were a failure compared to Jane's. Maybe one day...One thing I did know. I wanted to be like Jane Goodall.
Something solid and good and strong and important has gone out of our world with the loss of two outstanding souls, both beautiful. Robert Redford was also my first boyfriend, though he didn't know it. A photo of Jane Goodall was pinned next to Robert Redford's in my pink ten year old's bedroom. He would also influence my life-long struggle to try and protect my own species from destroying its own planet. The human primate is an absurd creation. Truly. Then came Carl Sagan and Rachel Carson and Barry Commoner and Ed Abbey...
That they had to die at a time like this. Then again...
Something has gone out of our world. Something fine and precious. Extraordinary and necessary. And I grieve. I grieve we may never see the likes of the two of them again. Rest in peace our dear stewards of earth. We hope you walk among the wildest of flowers. We will miss you. The earth will miss you. Two of her finest advocates are gone. That we can fill your hiking boots...we can only hope. RIP.
If I became a biologist. a botanist, it was because of a movie called "Jane", I watched it when I was ten. The rural farm I thought we moved to was being destroyed on a daily basis by bulldozers and terrifyingly giant earthmovers. Nobody told the kids in the neighborhood then that ours was the first street of what would be bulldozed into creation--essentially an entire new city. I grew up watching that beautiful thousand acre farm get destroyed. Then I spent my days in a Walden's bookstore in the mall where my mother would get a job after the farm had been destroyed--in part for the mall. She would drop me off there and go to work. I would spend hours on the floor looking at books, some with pictures of beautiful old farms and woods and apple orchards. Pictures, all that were left of these things in my life. When the manager would glance over at me, piles of brand-new books on either side, I would put the books back and wander the mall. Once I wandered the farm, the wood, and the apple orchards. Now I wandered the mall.
Part of why I started wandering in the first place was because of this beautiful courageous fascinating young woman named Jane. I was transfixed. It seemed like everyone was then. It was the talk of my school. I donned binoculars and hat. Notepad and pencil. Maybe a Ginger Ale for later. I put it all in a bag because we didn't have backpacks then. I carried my field gear in a paper bag. Soon I was documenting dead animals, ravens and crows among the bulldozers and earth movers where once I documented fairy slipper orchids. My expeditions were a failure compared to Jane's. Maybe one day...One thing I did know. I wanted to be like Jane Goodall.
Something solid and good and strong and important has gone out of our world with the loss of two outstanding souls, both beautiful. Robert Redford was also my first boyfriend, though he didn't know it. A photo of Jane Goodall was pinned next to Robert Redford's in my pink ten year old's bedroom. He would also influence my life-long struggle to try and protect my own species from destroying its own planet. The human primate is an absurd creation. Truly. Then came Carl Sagan and Rachel Carson and Barry Commoner and Ed Abbey...
That they had to die at a time like this. Then again...
Something has gone out of our world. Something fine and precious. Extraordinary and necessary. And I grieve. I grieve we may never see the likes of the two of them again. Rest in peace our dear stewards of earth. We hope you walk among the wildest of flowers. We will miss you. The earth will miss you. Two of her finest advocates are gone. That we can fill your hiking boots...we can only hope. RIP.
August 7, 2025
The 350 Year Old Valley Oak Tree on the Cover of My Novel Treed Is Now Dead. It Has Been Killed By My County and Pacific Gas and Electric for Absolutely No Reason AT ALL But To Kill It.
Update. Well, they finally did it. They killed it.
https://virginiaarthurauthor.com/info...
Welcome to California where the only good tree is a dead tree. (Sound familiar?). This is how it is now in this state. They wiped the Native Americans, and now they wipe out their plants. There was no reason for it but to just kill it. It was not a threat to electric lines, access. It was next to a rural road and most importantly, the community wanted it saved. Well FUCK OFF Community. Nevada County, CA also has a Landmark Oak Protection Ordinance. Yes, a Landmark Oak Protection Ordinance. Not joking.
In one of the reviews for Treed, the reader put something like they thought CA liked trees. Well, CA does not like trees. In CA, the only good tree now is a dead tree, starting 20 years ago when a CA legislator created legislation that blamed trees for the very same fire that burned down my WOOD home despite taxpayer supported "fire clearing" of what was native pristine chaparral. NOTHING was said or done about our PLYWOOD HOUSES with ASPHALT COMPOSITE ROOFS on them. Asphalt composite roofing is made FROM OIL (though now they are made with more of a glass component). So you have PLYWOOD HOUSES with OIL ASPHALT roofs on them but blame the fires on basically--the entire natural environment--and proceed with killing everything in the natural environment for "fire safety". Insert the raised eyebrows of the timber industry that suddenly see a fantastic opportunity to call logging, "fire safety" and other Orwellian names.
Our houses were little matchboxes waiting to go up but did this ever come up in "fire safety" discussions. Never. It unleashed where we are now--the unbelievable arrogance and hypocrisy that in order to prevent fires in CA, we have to kill nature, the environment, and especially trees, over a BILLION $ in taxpayer money for "fire safety" projects over the past 20 years, but ignore the 250,000+ PLYWOOD homes that have still burned down that are MADE OF PLYWOOD. Yes, most homes in CA are made out of PLYWOOD.
Nothing has changed. Despite the "fire safety" clearing in my once beautiful little neighborhood, our houses went down because THEY SET ONE ANOTHER ON FIRE. THEY WERE MADE FROM TREES. There is still no discussion of protecting HOUSES THEMSELVES with advances like Fire Foils, Fire Protective Gels, FIRE-RESISTANT ROOFING (most homes go down because the houses set one another on fire via flying embers), what is called "Home Hardening". REALLY 'hard' to get info about this and nothing is provided from the State of CA. Because the timber industry has found its propaganda, as long as no one tallies the number of WOOD houses that still go down in spite of the now billion dollars spent on "fire safety" clearing/logging/thinning, "Resilience" projects, "Forest Health", whatever bogus name they put on it. The effect of all these "fire safety" projects is it is KILLING the forests under Climate Change. They cannot recover.
Two decades ago, when I took the photo of that magnificent valley oak that ended up on the cover of Treed, 300+ years old, endemic to CA, I had a sickening feeling the day would come when it would get cut down. I found out when a neighbor called me--crying. And let us not forget that while I was writing Treed, we were trying to save ANOTHER grove of old-growth oaks in the neighborhood--FROM THE COUNTY! OUR OWN SUPERVISOR! (His buddy wanted a Dollar General store there really, really badly). So far, still there...
Money moves CA. Don't be fooled. The environmental ethic, passion for public lands protection, acquisition, pride in the State's biodiversity, that once made CA infamous--is gone.
What you see on the cover of Treed is what she looked like once, still wild, unmolested. But we can't leave anything alone, can we? The human primate. And the battle goes on. Nearly every week I hear of another slaughter. But don't worry, it's all for your safety.
https://virginiaarthurauthor.com/info...
Welcome to California where the only good tree is a dead tree. (Sound familiar?). This is how it is now in this state. They wiped the Native Americans, and now they wipe out their plants. There was no reason for it but to just kill it. It was not a threat to electric lines, access. It was next to a rural road and most importantly, the community wanted it saved. Well FUCK OFF Community. Nevada County, CA also has a Landmark Oak Protection Ordinance. Yes, a Landmark Oak Protection Ordinance. Not joking.
In one of the reviews for Treed, the reader put something like they thought CA liked trees. Well, CA does not like trees. In CA, the only good tree now is a dead tree, starting 20 years ago when a CA legislator created legislation that blamed trees for the very same fire that burned down my WOOD home despite taxpayer supported "fire clearing" of what was native pristine chaparral. NOTHING was said or done about our PLYWOOD HOUSES with ASPHALT COMPOSITE ROOFS on them. Asphalt composite roofing is made FROM OIL (though now they are made with more of a glass component). So you have PLYWOOD HOUSES with OIL ASPHALT roofs on them but blame the fires on basically--the entire natural environment--and proceed with killing everything in the natural environment for "fire safety". Insert the raised eyebrows of the timber industry that suddenly see a fantastic opportunity to call logging, "fire safety" and other Orwellian names.
Our houses were little matchboxes waiting to go up but did this ever come up in "fire safety" discussions. Never. It unleashed where we are now--the unbelievable arrogance and hypocrisy that in order to prevent fires in CA, we have to kill nature, the environment, and especially trees, over a BILLION $ in taxpayer money for "fire safety" projects over the past 20 years, but ignore the 250,000+ PLYWOOD homes that have still burned down that are MADE OF PLYWOOD. Yes, most homes in CA are made out of PLYWOOD.
Nothing has changed. Despite the "fire safety" clearing in my once beautiful little neighborhood, our houses went down because THEY SET ONE ANOTHER ON FIRE. THEY WERE MADE FROM TREES. There is still no discussion of protecting HOUSES THEMSELVES with advances like Fire Foils, Fire Protective Gels, FIRE-RESISTANT ROOFING (most homes go down because the houses set one another on fire via flying embers), what is called "Home Hardening". REALLY 'hard' to get info about this and nothing is provided from the State of CA. Because the timber industry has found its propaganda, as long as no one tallies the number of WOOD houses that still go down in spite of the now billion dollars spent on "fire safety" clearing/logging/thinning, "Resilience" projects, "Forest Health", whatever bogus name they put on it. The effect of all these "fire safety" projects is it is KILLING the forests under Climate Change. They cannot recover.
Two decades ago, when I took the photo of that magnificent valley oak that ended up on the cover of Treed, 300+ years old, endemic to CA, I had a sickening feeling the day would come when it would get cut down. I found out when a neighbor called me--crying. And let us not forget that while I was writing Treed, we were trying to save ANOTHER grove of old-growth oaks in the neighborhood--FROM THE COUNTY! OUR OWN SUPERVISOR! (His buddy wanted a Dollar General store there really, really badly). So far, still there...
Money moves CA. Don't be fooled. The environmental ethic, passion for public lands protection, acquisition, pride in the State's biodiversity, that once made CA infamous--is gone.
What you see on the cover of Treed is what she looked like once, still wild, unmolested. But we can't leave anything alone, can we? The human primate. And the battle goes on. Nearly every week I hear of another slaughter. But don't worry, it's all for your safety.
July 1, 2025
A Smashing Great Summer Sale on Smashwords! Get Smashing NOW! Thank you!
Virginia Arthur's Book of Eco-fiction Short Stories Is On Sale This Summer!
Hello Fellow Earth Citizens!
What is Eco-fiction? (Eco-friction?). Read this book of Eco-fiction Short Stories and find out! (Reviews, hopefully positive, welcome!).
I’m excited to announce that Stem and Leaf Plots, Ten Eco-fiction Short Stories, will be available as part of a promotion on Smashwords for the month of July as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! This is a chance to get my book, along with books from many other great authors, at a discount so you can get right to reading.
You will find the promo here starting on July 1, so save the link:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Feel free to share with all the 'ologists, scientists, conservationists you know (you can gift!), nature-respecting/nature-loving friends, and family, and thank you for supporting a local Author (and Arthur!).
Thank you for your support!
Happy reading and have a wonderful summer!
Hello Fellow Earth Citizens!
What is Eco-fiction? (Eco-friction?). Read this book of Eco-fiction Short Stories and find out! (Reviews, hopefully positive, welcome!).
I’m excited to announce that Stem and Leaf Plots, Ten Eco-fiction Short Stories, will be available as part of a promotion on Smashwords for the month of July as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! This is a chance to get my book, along with books from many other great authors, at a discount so you can get right to reading.
You will find the promo here starting on July 1, so save the link:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view...
Feel free to share with all the 'ologists, scientists, conservationists you know (you can gift!), nature-respecting/nature-loving friends, and family, and thank you for supporting a local Author (and Arthur!).
Thank you for your support!
Happy reading and have a wonderful summer!
November 23, 2024
Gosh! It Turned Into a Series! The Next One in the Series Scott Never Thought He Would Have to Write.
Donald Trump Replicates Himself. The ultimate in psychological projection. The new American (?) Maladministration will be composed of pedophiles, tax cheats, pathological liars, sexual predators, misogynists, bigots, the profoundly stupid, ignorant, and greedy. Stayed tuned for the exciting sequel!
Signed,
Ashamed and embarrassed to be an American, again.
(Where in the hell is my passport?)
God Save America because this is all we have left.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
Signed,
Ashamed and embarrassed to be an American, again.
(Where in the hell is my passport?)
God Save America because this is all we have left.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...
August 14, 2024
FYI-Literary (or Not) Driveway Suprises.
https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...
Consider joining if you have one around the corner and if not, start one!
Consider joining if you have one around the corner and if not, start one!
June 7, 2024
The Wild Woman in the Old Subaru With the Two Dogs.
I didn't want to move here, where I live in Northern California. I was in shock, homeless after losing everything in a Sandy Ego firestorm. (Months later, my fiancée would drop dead). A SD field assistant I had hired a year before had moved to NorCal, where I live now. She offered me her rental. She was headed to Mexico to teach for a yoga retreat. I took her up on her offer. Then I never left this place because disasters wear you out, and I was worn out. This was like the 5th place in so many months, with two dogs. The hardest part about losing your house in a fire is not the fire itself. That's the easy part. The hardest part is the aftermath, particularly the insurance company that dearly wants you to settle and this company, now long gone from California, wanted me to settle. The deal was buy a house or rebuild on the burned-out land. So I bought a kind of tattered place here in NorCal with the idea I would just fix it up, repair it...and move on to, like, Montana, where all the other Californians were moving to at the time. (Please don't, said Montana. Oh well. Anyone seen Bozeman lately?).
I remember the first time I saw her. It was a hot summer day. I was walking down the road in the then undeveloped valley. She blew past me in an old white Subaru, two pit bull heads hanging out the windows, tongues flapping. She stopped at the creek where I was headed, that day without my own dogs. After stopping, she flung the back door open and her dogs, obviously used to the routine, came flying out, bounding down to the creek where they splashed into the cool, clean water. She was a robust woman in a worn white flowered sundress wearing an equally worn straw hat. The brim of the hat was rimmed by curls from her brown hair. I adored her immediately. (One of my characters in Stem and Leaf Plots is modeled after her). She looked at me and somewhat grudgingly said, "hi there". Her name was Holly. She had lived in the still wild valley for 20 years, but now the valley was full of for-sale signs. I was only a sign of things to come. She wasn't happy about it. Her dogs were rescues. There weren't many places to let two pit bulls out of a car to just be free. Great dogs. Loving dogs, but we all know, this doesn't matter with pit bulls.
We didn't become friends because she wasn't interested. A few years ago, I stopped seeing her. I imagine the development on this once wild rural road got to be too much or did something else happen? I'll never know because she never told me her last name or where exactly she lived. Our interactions were random and kept short--by her. I miss her and I wonder about her. Where did she go? How are her dogs?
A few weeks ago, a well-dressed woman I have never seen before was walking down the road through the now far more developed valley. I passed her on my way to the same spot on the creek, my two rescue dog's heads hanging out of my old Subaru; my old pink sundress and my straw hat that I sat on years before. I still wore it. This new woman stopped when I got out and let my dogs out, as if afraid of us. I didn't feel like chatting. I just headed down to the creek. I realized as I drove home after, now I'm the wild woman in the old Subaru with the two dogs. Wonder where I will go?
I remember the first time I saw her. It was a hot summer day. I was walking down the road in the then undeveloped valley. She blew past me in an old white Subaru, two pit bull heads hanging out the windows, tongues flapping. She stopped at the creek where I was headed, that day without my own dogs. After stopping, she flung the back door open and her dogs, obviously used to the routine, came flying out, bounding down to the creek where they splashed into the cool, clean water. She was a robust woman in a worn white flowered sundress wearing an equally worn straw hat. The brim of the hat was rimmed by curls from her brown hair. I adored her immediately. (One of my characters in Stem and Leaf Plots is modeled after her). She looked at me and somewhat grudgingly said, "hi there". Her name was Holly. She had lived in the still wild valley for 20 years, but now the valley was full of for-sale signs. I was only a sign of things to come. She wasn't happy about it. Her dogs were rescues. There weren't many places to let two pit bulls out of a car to just be free. Great dogs. Loving dogs, but we all know, this doesn't matter with pit bulls.
We didn't become friends because she wasn't interested. A few years ago, I stopped seeing her. I imagine the development on this once wild rural road got to be too much or did something else happen? I'll never know because she never told me her last name or where exactly she lived. Our interactions were random and kept short--by her. I miss her and I wonder about her. Where did she go? How are her dogs?
A few weeks ago, a well-dressed woman I have never seen before was walking down the road through the now far more developed valley. I passed her on my way to the same spot on the creek, my two rescue dog's heads hanging out of my old Subaru; my old pink sundress and my straw hat that I sat on years before. I still wore it. This new woman stopped when I got out and let my dogs out, as if afraid of us. I didn't feel like chatting. I just headed down to the creek. I realized as I drove home after, now I'm the wild woman in the old Subaru with the two dogs. Wonder where I will go?
July 22, 2023
Authors and Readers-Don't Download Books From This Malware-Virus-Laden Piracy Book Site
https://www.thebookseller.com/news/pi...
Authors, notify them immediately of copyright violations and that you will take legal action if they don't remove them immediately. No, it is not "free reviews" or exposure. It is illegal piracy of your work and phishing/distribution of viruses. Report to cyber crimes units wherever you live. You help all of us with this vigilance and thank you.
VA
Authors, notify them immediately of copyright violations and that you will take legal action if they don't remove them immediately. No, it is not "free reviews" or exposure. It is illegal piracy of your work and phishing/distribution of viruses. Report to cyber crimes units wherever you live. You help all of us with this vigilance and thank you.
VA
November 29, 2022
June 20, 2021
Fill It And They Will Come-Because They Have To. A Story of Climate Change Refugees.
Note: I wish I could post the photos but they are posted on my website.
https://virginiaarthurauthor.com/fill...
A few years ago, I taught as needed in a nearby county juvenile detention center. One winter, the one with the record blessed rain (2018 was it?), one end of the detention hall gymnasium was hopping with Pacific tree frogs. They were everywhere. Despite that the wetland they once lived in had been filled, buildings constructed, they still came to what was now only a wet spot in the sod, suburbia's carpet. Of course, it attracted the kids, some of which I worried might take their frustrations out on these little guys, so I stood watch whenever I was assigned to the gym. There was one young woman who was incarcerated because of her tendency toward violence. I will call her Erica. This is not her real name. She and I stood side by side. I stooped over to scoot a few of the tiny frogs through the bottom of the door, thankfully a crack just big enough they could escape through.
"What are you doing?" she sneered at me.
"Helping them escape," I said.
"Can you help me escape? Fit me through there?"
"You are the queen of your own destiny. You can "escape" any time you decide you want to," I answered.
She scoffed. I told her I would be right back and returned with my thermal lunch box with a zipper top. I asked her to help me gather a few of the frogs because I was going to take some of them home, get them out of there, give them a garden, a place to live. To my surprise, she bent down and we started putting frogs in my lunch box. She was very gentle with them. When she caught a particularly big one, she closed her fist around it. I winced. She was going to squeeze it to death, I just knew it. But she didn't. She opened her fist and it stayed in the palm of her hand, sitting, looking at her. She stared back.
"Well, that one wants to go, obviously, and it's name is now Erica. Hurry up," I said, unzipping the top. "Get him in here." As if saying goodbye, she took another second with "her frog". There they were, looking at one another. Fighting back tears because it was just one of those moments that proves to be a kind of gift, I pivoted the lunch box toward her. She slipped it into the lunch box while I tried very hard to keep the others in. She actually let out a small laugh. Something I had not seen her do in my time there, laugh or smile.
When I got home with them, all fine, I counted ten, I let them go in the front of the house, by the geraniums. Years later, there is a population of frogs that have lived on my front stoop, front yard, ever since including one that is bigger than the others I am convinced is Erica (the frog; I hope the real Erica has worked things out and is thriving somewhere). I can't say these are all "Detention Center" frogs but I can say, before this, no frogs ever took up residence like these frogs have but now things have gotten worrisome. They are showing up in anything wet, anything that holds water, such as the intentionally deep bowls under the geraniums (and the three tomatoes) and quite accidentally, an old plastic pitcher I use for watering. I fill it and leave it out overnight so the chlorine can evaporate from it. I never remember seeing a clump of frogs in it in the morning. But we are California in denial. We are in a drought. Fire is just one breeze away started in one clump of nonnative grasses. My frogs are not in denial, and they need me more than ever now. So I added a bucket, vegetation. I add water nearly every day to their little ecosystem of one old pitcher and one bucket. By 8 a.m. every morning, they are all gone, off feeding or whatever frogs do during the day. By 6 p.m., they are all back, now counting five, hanging out by their life-saving little pools, usually close together. This is the first summer this has happened. I am very dedicated to getting them through this next hellish summer and in turn, they will get me through it as well.
https://virginiaarthurauthor.com/fill...
A few years ago, I taught as needed in a nearby county juvenile detention center. One winter, the one with the record blessed rain (2018 was it?), one end of the detention hall gymnasium was hopping with Pacific tree frogs. They were everywhere. Despite that the wetland they once lived in had been filled, buildings constructed, they still came to what was now only a wet spot in the sod, suburbia's carpet. Of course, it attracted the kids, some of which I worried might take their frustrations out on these little guys, so I stood watch whenever I was assigned to the gym. There was one young woman who was incarcerated because of her tendency toward violence. I will call her Erica. This is not her real name. She and I stood side by side. I stooped over to scoot a few of the tiny frogs through the bottom of the door, thankfully a crack just big enough they could escape through.
"What are you doing?" she sneered at me.
"Helping them escape," I said.
"Can you help me escape? Fit me through there?"
"You are the queen of your own destiny. You can "escape" any time you decide you want to," I answered.
She scoffed. I told her I would be right back and returned with my thermal lunch box with a zipper top. I asked her to help me gather a few of the frogs because I was going to take some of them home, get them out of there, give them a garden, a place to live. To my surprise, she bent down and we started putting frogs in my lunch box. She was very gentle with them. When she caught a particularly big one, she closed her fist around it. I winced. She was going to squeeze it to death, I just knew it. But she didn't. She opened her fist and it stayed in the palm of her hand, sitting, looking at her. She stared back.
"Well, that one wants to go, obviously, and it's name is now Erica. Hurry up," I said, unzipping the top. "Get him in here." As if saying goodbye, she took another second with "her frog". There they were, looking at one another. Fighting back tears because it was just one of those moments that proves to be a kind of gift, I pivoted the lunch box toward her. She slipped it into the lunch box while I tried very hard to keep the others in. She actually let out a small laugh. Something I had not seen her do in my time there, laugh or smile.
When I got home with them, all fine, I counted ten, I let them go in the front of the house, by the geraniums. Years later, there is a population of frogs that have lived on my front stoop, front yard, ever since including one that is bigger than the others I am convinced is Erica (the frog; I hope the real Erica has worked things out and is thriving somewhere). I can't say these are all "Detention Center" frogs but I can say, before this, no frogs ever took up residence like these frogs have but now things have gotten worrisome. They are showing up in anything wet, anything that holds water, such as the intentionally deep bowls under the geraniums (and the three tomatoes) and quite accidentally, an old plastic pitcher I use for watering. I fill it and leave it out overnight so the chlorine can evaporate from it. I never remember seeing a clump of frogs in it in the morning. But we are California in denial. We are in a drought. Fire is just one breeze away started in one clump of nonnative grasses. My frogs are not in denial, and they need me more than ever now. So I added a bucket, vegetation. I add water nearly every day to their little ecosystem of one old pitcher and one bucket. By 8 a.m. every morning, they are all gone, off feeding or whatever frogs do during the day. By 6 p.m., they are all back, now counting five, hanging out by their life-saving little pools, usually close together. This is the first summer this has happened. I am very dedicated to getting them through this next hellish summer and in turn, they will get me through it as well.
June 6, 2021
Dead Cat Poetry Contest Winners
https://www.deadcatpoems.com/p/2021-w...
I really really want to post this link to our neighborhood social media page 80% of which is people posting about their missing cats they let run in a quasi-rural subdivision full of coyotes, bobcats, bear, the occasional mountain lion not to mention the cars that go a zillion mph on the manufactured quasi-rural roads (sorry non-American readers, Americans still use the length of the king's foot, etc, to measure things re: miles).
"Hi, we're Mike and Trudy. We're missing Bunkie. He's a cute gray Siamese/Tabby mix with an adventurous personality and we're so worried. We let him out just a couple days ago and haven't seen him since."
"MILO IS MISSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We live on the canyon and he got out a few days ago and we haven't seen him since!" (Review definition of "canyon").
"FLUFF IS GONE, GONE, GONE! We let him out five days ago now. He always comes back when we call him. If you see a black cat..." (Black cat. This narrows it down).
"GEORGE IS A BIG LONG-HAIRED TABBY AND HE'S LOST! HAVE YOU SEEN HIM? We let him out just a few days ago and haven't seen him since. We love him so much. If you see..." (You love him so much. Possibly rethink this concept).
It goes 'ON AND ON AND ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
I keep watch on my birdbaths because nobody messes with my birds.
https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-ind...
(Do you know where your cat is? It better not be at my birdbaths).
I know it's crazy but could just keep them in, build an outdoor cat enclosure? Consider it an act of love for your cat--and every living thing?
VA
I really really want to post this link to our neighborhood social media page 80% of which is people posting about their missing cats they let run in a quasi-rural subdivision full of coyotes, bobcats, bear, the occasional mountain lion not to mention the cars that go a zillion mph on the manufactured quasi-rural roads (sorry non-American readers, Americans still use the length of the king's foot, etc, to measure things re: miles).
"Hi, we're Mike and Trudy. We're missing Bunkie. He's a cute gray Siamese/Tabby mix with an adventurous personality and we're so worried. We let him out just a couple days ago and haven't seen him since."
"MILO IS MISSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We live on the canyon and he got out a few days ago and we haven't seen him since!" (Review definition of "canyon").
"FLUFF IS GONE, GONE, GONE! We let him out five days ago now. He always comes back when we call him. If you see a black cat..." (Black cat. This narrows it down).
"GEORGE IS A BIG LONG-HAIRED TABBY AND HE'S LOST! HAVE YOU SEEN HIM? We let him out just a few days ago and haven't seen him since. We love him so much. If you see..." (You love him so much. Possibly rethink this concept).
It goes 'ON AND ON AND ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'
I keep watch on my birdbaths because nobody messes with my birds.
https://abcbirds.org/program/cats-ind...
(Do you know where your cat is? It better not be at my birdbaths).
I know it's crazy but could just keep them in, build an outdoor cat enclosure? Consider it an act of love for your cat--and every living thing?
VA
