Biology
Yard Berries are Fruiting
The urban blackberries and raspberries are starting to fruit.
Kandahar
KAF would be very nice base, quite photogenic. Aircraft take off night and day, the fighters taking off on afterburner are like a free fireworks show every night. The A10s are some of the coolest planes ever and there aren’t that many places to see them any more.
The downside to the base is the Poo Pond. It is, perhaps the most famous feature of the base. It was built by the Russians, a gigantic open cesspool.
The smell… the smell is truly incredible. Imagine being locked in an overfull outhouse on a hot, windless day, but spreading downwind for miles and inescapable. It is one of those things that is better experienced vicariously.
But at sunset, aside from the retching stink, it is quite photogenic – the black, viscous liquid is mirror like, still and reflects the sunset just beyond the bio hazard signs.
Inner-city Wildlife
A very loud cat came in to eat cat fud. It turned out to be a big raccoon.
After scampering to the cat door (in the floor) and trying to pass itself off as basement raccoon watching us, it ran out.
I went out to take a picture of it and as I was turning to go in, I noticed the Great Sky Possum was perched on the roof keeping a wary eye on Basement Raccoon.
Time to get an automated feeder.
Nom Nom Leg
I came home to find that Tortuga, one of the stray cats that’s adopted us, had developed a nice open wound on her forelimb. When I left two weeks ago it was a bit swollen, presumably abscessed, and then drained. I’m sure it was really gross. Anyway, the cat just couldn’t get enough licking that yummy puss and had turned the wound into a nice open sore.
The vet gave me some antibiotics and antiseptic cleaning solution and this lovely and stylish Elizabethan collar that Tortuga clearly just loves to wear. Her thought bubble probably reads something like “once this collar comes off and I can get my teeth around your neck, you better sleep lightly.”
