Bison, Yellowstone

An old photo of a herd of bison blithely walking down the middle of the road, somewhere in Yellowstone National Park. We were driving along and came around a corner, and suddenly there were bison everywhere. We, and the other vehicles on the road, stopped to stay out of their way and let them pass. So we sat there as they walked by, some just inches away from our car, while we tried to be quiet and not make any sudden moves or do anything that might annoy the beasties. I should point out that we were in a tiny MG at the time, so we were actually looking up at the bison, with just a thin leather convertible top between us and them. That was actually kind of cool, although I admit to being a bit nervous at the time. I later realized that an adult male bison can weigh over 2000 lbs., which is somewhat more than an MG and two adult humans combined.

Taz vs. Cat Tree

Taz vs. Kitchen Sink

playtime for taz

I've never promised you a daily dose of kitteh, O Gentle Reader(s), but I do think this is a little overdue. Plus this humble blog has been a bit heavy with vacation photos and incomprehensible modern art of late, so I figured I ought to change things up a bit. Also, the audience for cat photos is much wider than the audience for photos of the latest stainless steel whatzit on the bus mall. (I'm not actually convinced the latter audience is nonzero, but that's never stopped me before.)

And of course there's the fact that Taz is the world's awesomest cat ever, an inarguable fact agreed upon by all right-thinking people, and sharing photos of him is my way of improving the Internet and generally making the world a better place and whatnot.

A cat and his laser

Kitten Attack!

Sea Otters, Oregon Coast Aquarium

elephants, oregon zoo

A few photos of elephants at the Oregon Zoo. I really wasn't trying for a melancholy effect here, but it's hard to see bars and not anthropomorphize a little.



I'm also going to spare you my handwringing about elephants in zoos, although longtime readers might remember I reluctantly voted against the zoo's most recent bond measure for that reason. I'll just pass along articles at Scientific American and Time, and the 2008 study they're reporting on, "Compromised Survivorship in Zoo Elephants", originally published in Science.

De Brazza's Monkey, Oregon Zoo

A few photos of a De Brazza's Monkey at the Oregon Zoo. Is he thinking the deep bittersweet thoughts of a zoo macaque? Or is he just waiting for a bus that never arrives?

squirrel, august 2010

As seen near Lovejoy Fountain Plaza. I haven't taken many photos of squirrels lately, but this one was glaring at me as I walked past its tree. It didn't run away and squawk at me, it just sat there glaring. This clearly went against the natural order of things, so I figured I'd show it who's the boss by taking its picture and putting it up on the interwebs. Take that, squirrel. Neener, neener, neener.

iridescent wings

Tiny iridescent wings, trapped in a spider's web, deep in a moss-draped forest. McDowell Creek County Park, Lebanon OR.

vegas jellyfish

At the aquarium at Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas.

jellyfish, oregon coast aquarium