Happy Juniversary!

 Today, July 31st, 2026, marks the one-year anniversary of formally feral kitten Junimoon (AKA, Juni)  coming into this house to stay. She was born wild on or about April 9th, 2025, and was carried from my lap to inside the house at 6:44 p.m., July 31st, 2025. It was a process. I had tried about a week earlier, and that experience was a little traumatic for both of us. I will point out that I had some emotional, logistical, and general moral support for this process over the phone, and for that, I will always be grateful.

Currently, Juni is curled up, sleeping in my lap. Which means typing is somewhat compromised. She's a big girl now. She last weighed in at 11.8 lbs, nine days ago. By comparison, 20 year old Lucy the cat is 9.2 lbs. 

 Here's some of the evolution of Juni finally coming indoors to stay.

 A feral mother cat typically stays with and cares for her kittens until they are about 10 to 12 weeks old. I could probably pin down a very accurate date when I started to see Juni's mom letting Juni know she was on her own but that's not the point of this post, this post is a celebration. However, I will note that feral male tomcat Vit, started playing a very important role as Juni's protector as Juni was just moving into her 9th week. Vit was immensely affectionate with Juni's mother, Kalika. He was and still is the dominant male in the neighborhood and is the most likely candidate for being Juni’s dad. Vit taking on this role as protector, that’s unusual, a feral male taking care for one of his offspring. In typical feral dynamics, tomcats rarely pay mind to individual kittens, let alone actively guard and play with them. For Vit to display that kind of steady, protective presence over Juni—especially as Kalika was beginning to step back—says a lot about his temperament. Whether it was paternal instinct or just a unique bond forged on the patio, he gave her a safe buffer when she was at her most vulnerable.

Here is Vit tolerating Juni playing with his tail on July 9th, 2025. That's 8 weeks and 5 days for Junimoon, and her mother was no where around. Juni and Kalika did cross paths on occasion but Kalika’s indifference was beginning to show. Vit was actively following Juni, keeping an eye on her and this went on into evenings. Vit didn't ever hang out here that much before Juni was around. 
 

Here's Vit from this morning after he had breakfast.

 Yes, he was alerted to my moving closer with my phone but I kept talking to him and he relaxed. 

 
I've only barely touched him a couple of times. He is reasonably trusting of me. I've even done yard work with him nearby and he's okay with it. Power tools and all. He does appear to be hard of hearing but this is not linked to the genetic condition that causes deafness in white cats with blue eyes--congenital sensorineural deafness. That high rate of deafness applies almost exclusively to completely, solid white cats with two blue eyes. Perhaps, he just likes to ignore me.

Back to Juni's story about coming inside...

June 27th, 2025. I was starting to figure out how it might work out. Juni was also becoming very attached to me. If she had a choice to play with me or to hang with Vit, she chose me.

July 29th, 2025. I had started leaving the patio door open for her. She was encouraged to come inside with toys and food. She had accepted my petting her and coming into my lap out on the patio, the goal was to get her to become comfortable enough to start nodding off in my lap indoors. 

Here you can see her feather toy just hanging over the edge of Lucy's cat tree. Hauling that cat tree near the door was also an enticement to come inside, 

Another catalyst for my convictions about getting Juni inside and soon. One, there was the hooting from a great horned owl almost every evening and two, there were these guys. I would do a camera check with the GardePro trail camera before daylight.

 
June 30th, 2025. This was the day Juni felt most comfortable about casually going from outside back inside the house. The patio door was open for most of the day. Surprisingly, there weren't a bunch of flies coming inside.

 

Ping pong balls were the best trick to get her to explore more of the house with Juni chasing them down the hall to the bedrooms.

 Once she started going down the halls, she was hooked on exploring. Note, the ping pong ball is near the Target bag. 

 Spring toys too. Anything I could throw that would bounce was a wonderful new indoor adventure for Junimoon.

 

I couldn't follow her. I didn't want her to get spooked over my movement. When she was close, I still had the fishing pole and feather toy.

July 31st. I really wanted this to be the day I was going to feel comfortable closing the patio door with Juni inside. This was 6:51 a.m., something else she loved to play with outside.

 I followed the same program I had followed out on the patio. I encouraged her to climb up my pants legs into my lap. Again, the goal was to get her to feel comfortable in my lap inside the house. 

 7:52 a.m., a decision was made to close the patio door partway and see how Juni reacted. She was fine with it. She was staring at a bug here.

 Meanwhile, when Juni would go outside, I would go check on the unsuspecting Lucy in our bedroom. Lucy had already taken a path to rarely leave the bedroom. The bedroom was her comfort zone. Lucy remains the Queen of the castle. 

 This happened about an hour earlier. She stayed in my lap for several minutes, but mostly because I was petting her. This happened more than once, but it wasn't until we were back on the patio, approaching evening, that Juni was in my lap and seemed very content; I didn't want her outside for another evening. The decision was made, and I simply picked her up, walked inside, and gently closed the door.

 And so she remains, content and safe.

 
May 12, 2026.
 

July 30th (yesterday).

Lucy too, content and safe. Lap time with Lucy just started up again a couple of nights ago. She simply hasn’t been inclined to go there but would rather sleep along side me, or sleep in her fort. This was last night during the Dodgers game. Lucy and Juni get exposure time but it has to be strictly supervised. I don't think there would be an altercation but Juni's age and size difference is intimidating to Lucy. Lucy has earned her peace and quiet. 

 Lucy splits most of her time with me on the bed or inside her custom nightstand fort. 

Yes, everybody wants to be a cat 
Because a cat's the only cat who knows where it's at

Today's walk report: The Early Bird

 After three days of moving my daily constitutional indoors and on the recumbent bike, last night I told myself to make an effort to walk, get out the door by 7:00 AM and beat the heat. I was in the car at 7:03, drove 1/2 mile, and started my walk at 7:07. That's 43 minutes ahead of last week's walk. It was 71º F with relative humidity at 72%. I walked two miles and was out roaming around for 50-something minutes before I was back in my air-conditioned vehicle. It was then about 75º with a RH of 65%. I'm a total lightweight with the weather these days; I was dripping with perspiration. Unlike last week, this time I was wearing a 100% cotton, raglan baseball t-shirt. It was soaked about 1/3 of the way down by the time I got home. Clearly, my Scandinavian roots are getting the better of me in SoCal, Valley weather. 

I took only a few photos; all the shrubbery is browning, and flowers are virtually nonexistent. Also, a lot of shrubbery looked seriously neglected on the watering front. So much so that I wondered if the campus powers that be levied a restriction mandate on the curators for the local college campus botanical garden. I’ve been going to this garden since 2010. I’ve never seen it look so bad.  

In cooler climes, I'm more inclined to find spots to wait out a photo op or two; today was another, “keep it moving and get this over with” kind of day. Here are a few shots I managed to get off along the way. Lighting was also, once again, less than desirable. I saw several hummingbirds but they were mostly chasing each other, vying for territory. 

Saturday, July 25

Another fabulous, guess the bird by the feather contest, where you can win a wonderful no-prize to be delivered at no-time and at no-place if you can correctly determine what bird dropped this feather. And remember, please, no-wagering. I ticked off that little ant in the first image by turning it over. How many of you out there remember your parents telling you not to pick up feathers because you'd get lice? A show of hands would be fine. 

 Last week I mentioned orioles and look at this. I was barely able to get a shot off before he took off. This is a hooded oriole (Icterus cucullatus). 

 And did you look closely? Yep, he's the early bird that caught a worm.

 Eucalyptus lunata 'Moon-Lagoon,' hummingbirds don't seem interested, only bees. I didn't see a lot of bees today either. 

 Even the Brachychiton acerifolius, flame bottletree, is flaming out.

 Mourning dove (Zenaida macroura).

 Female Allen's hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin).

 A young mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos). I'm seeing lots of young mockingbirds.

 That's it! I walked a large loop around campus central, kept an eye out but nada más. 

So far on the indoor cycling, I have been slowly increasing my mileage on the Spirit XBR25 recumbent bike. Yesterday, I was up 36% from day one. Basically, I set the resistance between 6 and 7 and go. Hard to explain, but I'm literally hardwired for high-cadence time trials. Yeah, I'm old, but I'm pretty hardcore. No coasting, no taking it easy, just flat-out pace from the second I get on. That's how I walk too. On fitness bikes like the Spirit XBR series, speed is directly tied to pedal cadence by a fixed internal gear ratio. On these recumbents, 10 mph corresponds to roughly 50 RPM (or 1 mph approx. 5 RPM). Estimated Cadence on my third day, approximately 16.74 mph times 5, approximately 83 to 85 RPM. I'm going to work on that math a little bit. The bike doesn't have a readout for RPMs. It hurts my head... math. 

EDIT: Sunday, July 26th. I trusted Google’s Gemini on some of the above data, specifically the internal gear ratio stuff. I counted knee rises on a single leg over 15 seconds today, two samples. My actual leg cadence is around 150-155 RPM. I’ve decided it’s a pointless discussion. It’s a completely different experience than riding a road bike outdoors. 

Meanwhile, yesterday, I found this photo from November of 2009, back when I was out racing the RB-1 in my Windsor Square, Hancock Park 'hood in Los Angeles. The second photo was taken yesterday. Getting close to 17 years ago. It's a little snug, but it fits! Still looking for the cycling shades. I'm about the same weight, it's just "redistributed" a little. Not to brag… oh wait… yes, to brag... from about 2008 to 2009, I lost around 80 lbs. I counted calories and I worked my ass (most of me, really) off. More on the RB-1 later. It's going to be a long, hot summer. Current temperature, 104° F. 

 

 

  

Rethinking the Route: Beating the Summer Heat

 I had every intention of walking on Saturday, taking pictures, and hopefully having enough stuff for a walk report. The walk took place; it was only 1.9 miles, but I was on foot for an hour. It was an hour because I was waiting for a photo opportunity. My first "vantage point" (in part because there's a nice bench in the shade) is 0.47 miles into the path I was taking. I see a blur of yellow in the trees ahead of me, and my first thought is, a Hooded Oriole. Sure enough, there's a female mostly obscured by branches and inside dense shadows. Male Hooded Orioles arrive in SoCal late February to early March; they establish a territory and feeding grounds. Females arrive shortly after and frequently establish nests into the fronds of fan palm trees. We have plenty of those. Too many. High rise condos for rats, I tell ya. Nesting and mating is from April to May. From June to August, they often raise a second clutch. So, they're around for about seven months, but I only see a few each year. Photos have been rare, and I only got a couple of horrible images off on Saturday before she vanished. 

Now, there's a catch, and quite honestly, I really went on Google's image search to tell me what's up. It isn't always correct. Bullock's Orioles are also common in Southern California during the spring and summer, following a very similar migration timeline to the Hooded Oriole. You can easily tell the males apart by looking at their faces and wings, while the trickier females can be distinguished by their belly color and throat markings. 

Here are two shots of a male Bullock's Oriole. The first is from July 20th, 2016 (10 years ago today), and the second is from May 28th, 2016.

 

And this is a female Bullock's Oriole from June 18th, 2016 

 The photos I'm not showing you from Saturday, Google insists is a Hooded Oriole. I was convinced. So, a long way to go just to say I'm not posting a crappy photo. 

This image of a female Allen's hummingbird is from Saturday. It could be an immature male but I'm going with female. The shrub is a Caesalpinia gilliesii. I thought that branch was interesting.

 I'm 1.07 miles in on the walk at this point. I started walking at 7:50, it was 71º F at 7:50 AM and relative humidity was 67%. Now, part of the issue I was starting to have had to do with my attire. I was wearing a long sleeved polyester shirt--highly non-absorbent and lacking breathability, making it feel like a greenhouse in hot or humid conditions. I also walk fast. I know, it's only pushing 73º at this point but I found it quite uncomfortable. I remember around 2011-2012 I would try to wait for the temperature to drop below 90º before going for a walk (much longer walks too) and there were days that it simply was not possible to wait. I had certain responsibilities at home that didn't allow for me to wait until perhaps 8-9 PM to go for a walk and early AM was simply not practical. I remember going out and it was close to 95º. It wasn't comfortable but I could handle it. Last year I started making it a goal to get out in the AM before it hit 80º but now I'm finding 80º and hustling a walk difficult. 

A few days ago, I decided I need to augment my exercise protocol to accommodate summer heat, household responsibilities, etc., and I began reinstituting an old standby, inside, no dress code, no need to shower and with the aid of air conditioning, it could be done just about any time of day. Here's the set-up.

 
The Spirit XRB25 recumbent bike has 20 levels of electronically controlled magnetic resistance paired with a heavy-duty 20 lb steel flywheel for smooth, quiet pedaling. It still sells for around $1,449. This was my mother's bike. I also wrote about it here. I just read that again the other day. That's been mostly the point of this blog to begin with. It's a diary. Reflecting back on 13 years ago and putting in both 11-13 miles on the bike but also walking over five miles was a sobering moment. 

I typically set the resistance between 6 and 7 and ride flat out. "P" is for pulse and it almost never works. Elapsed time, distance and calories burned. You can add personal data and set up custom programs.

The Bridgestone RB-1, I bought that at Beverly Hills Bike Shop in 1992. The owner, Steve (my understanding is he still owns it, moved from Robertson Blvd. to W. Pico Blvd.), called me one day, knowing I was looking for something reasonably affordable with a tall frame. He had the bike shipped from a shop in New York. The owner there couldn't find a customer for a 25" frame. A 25" (63.5 cm) bike frame is considered very tall. It is typically designed for riders who are 6'4" or taller and have an inseam of 36 inches or more. That would be me. That white trainer the bike is propped up on was also purchased from BH Bike Shop. I always liked Steve, he was knowledgeable and extremely helpful. Apparently the RB-1 is now a "cult classic" among some cycling enthusiasts, selling for upwards of $1,400.

I used to take the RB-1 out after work when living adjacent to Beverly Hills, near Robertson Blvd., north of Pico, and ride into Beverly Hills proper, up and down between Santa Monica Blvd. and Sunset Blvd. (hey, I'm having fun picturing this) over to N. Linden Drive. I took N. Linden up to Sunset and then I raced cars on Sunset Blvd., usually to N. Doheny Drive. This was during rush hour. N. Doheny had a nice steep downhill to start me heading back home. Okay, yeah, it was nuts, but I was wearing a helmet ;-). I was also hyper-focused. Parked cars. Scary. For the most part, I would almost always catch up to traffic at each stoplight and then sail past cars up to the next traffic light. It was impeccably timed. 

Here's a map, probably a little difficult to figure out. I had to piece together three screenshots. The word, “Start," is in the bottom right corner, that would, of course, also be the finish. I don't recall the mileage; it wasn't that long, it was just intense.

 

The two bikes are very different experiences riding stationary. I'm sure I'll have more to say about it. I still need to do some housekeeping on the bikes and the arrangement. 

Back to Saturday's walk... 

Sour grapes.

I just wanna ride 
Get on my bike and ride
 

Today's walk report: Butt what?!

 I debated this for quite a while and concluded it would be poor journalistic practice and substandard reporting  if I didn't include it in my report. I have to say it is probably the weirdest item I have ever encountered during one of my walks. To make matters worse, I even did a Google image search to make sure it couldn't be something else, only to find that some models include functional features like vibrations or LED lighting. And that's all I have to say.

 Moving along to the General Audiences portion of my walk... 

Female, Allen's hummingbird (Selasphorus sasin). 

 Cabbage White Butterfly (Pieris rapae), considered a major agricultural and garden pest but they are one of my favorite butterflies.

A favorite of mine because in March of 2014, National Geographic had an online community called Your Shot, and there was an assignment requesting images for a story on Biodiversity. I entered a 5-image focus stack of a cabbage white for the assignment. Not only was my image selected, I found out a short while later that National Geographic wanted to use the picture for an upcoming book titled, "Getting Your Shot: Stunning Photos, How-to Tips, and Endless Inspiration From the Pros." My photo ended up spanning the two inside title pages.

 In classically typical National Geographic style, they over saturated my image. Your Shot later moved to Instagram and that's when I bowed out of participating. 

The southwestern fence lizard (Sceloporus cowlesi).

 
Once again, Brachychiton acerifolius (Flame Tree), but I wanted to point out the larger of the two flying

insects in the upper left. That is Cotinis mutabilis, also known as the figeater beetle (also green fruit beetle or fig beetle). It is a member of the scarab beetle family, and they were swarming everywhere today. I looked in usual places and tried to find one close up but wasn't able to. The other insect is a dragonfly. Also known as mosquito hawks in Louisiana. 

Here's a picture I took of a pair of green fruit beetles back in 2013. The fruit is Catalina Cherry (Prunus ilicifolia).

 Callistemon, this was a hand-held five image focus stack. Just to see if I could keep it steady.

 

 
Grevillea.

 One more shot of the Brachychiton acerifolius but this time for the plane. Turns out that's a China Southern Airlines aircraft, specifically a Boeing 777-300ER. Maybe Elaine Chao was on board, returning to her residence in Washington, D.C. to check on the home remodeling efforts. 

 This structure is apparently a vertical architectural sundial, designed to cast a shadow onto the building's surface to indicate the time based on the sun's position. The image was taken at 9:13 AM. I must be missing something.

 The star subject of the day. This is a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and I believe it's a female. I'm pretty sure this is one of my regulars over at least the past few years. I would take a picture and then move up 10-15 yards at a time. Around the third image down she was very aware of my movement.

 These shots are of her mate. Red-tailed hawks are strictly monogamous and typically mate for life.

The common raven or northern raven (Corvus corax), also a couple that generally mates for life. 

 Northern mockingbird. There's always a mockingbird.

This is a Pepsis mildei, the tarantula hawk wasp. I took pictures of one back in September in this same location. These wasps are known for having one of the most painful stings of any insect, however, they are generally docile and primarily feed on nectar from flowers like milkweed. This appears to be a female. I chose to keep my distance this time.

 

 Knocking at Your Back Door (Deep Purple)