Category Archives: Larenti Videos

Protective parenting

With all the recent talk—and even some photos—of the northern mockingbird parents in the tree outside my patio, I wanted to share something far less depressing than has been the story of their offspring.  Too many losses, I say, and too many tears.

So let us then turn our attention to the more entertaining side of mockingbirds.

You know Larenti visits often.  She now spends a great deal of time on my patio.

Surprisingly, I’ve discovered al-Zill also finds the veranda a great place to rest and relax, not to mention to grab a bite to eat.

A few days ago when I stepped outside, I found this most recent feline discovery enjoying a midday meal as Larenti lounged in the intermittent sunshine that dappled the concrete floor each time the clouds broke.

I snapped a few photos of the pair (to be shown later).  As I stood there, however, someone else came into the picture.

It was one of the mockingbird parents.

Don’t get me wrong.  It’s not surprising to have one or both birds launch an assault on any feline visitor.  For that matter, they yell at me and threaten me with their aerial acrobatics, so a cat certainly should expect a challenge.

The moment the bird instigated the encounter with al-Zill, the cat stepped away from the food, walked to a position near the fence, and lay down in such an uncaring manner as to insult the winged parent with complete disregard.

That’s when I switched the camera to video mode, aimed, and began shooting.

Keep in mind I was on the opposite side of the patio and didn’t have enough time to really zoom in.  I didn’t want to miss any of the verbal abuse being heralded at the felines—especially al-Zill.

Nevertheless, you can see how brave the mockingbirds are.  Remember they hit me in the head several times while making runs at Vazra before I rescued him, and he was sitting on the fence when that happened.  A cat on the ground is a safer bet when you keep your distance and throw nothing more damaging than avian insults.

Oh, and the cats weren’t one bit impressed.


Show us what you got, honey!

I was so tickled by this that it was an absolute must-share.  First, the photo:

Larenti lying on her back (155_5571)

That’s Larenti.  She’s quite fond of lying on her back.  It actually goes further than just lying on her back though, as she gets in that position and wallows and rolls about with much enthusiasm before she finally comes to rest with her belly to the sun and paws in whatever position they took during all the commotion.  It’s quite entertaining.

Unfortunately, that video ran too long and cut off before she rolled back over, stretched out her legs, and found that oh-so-right position for some nice sunshine-blanketed rest.  But you get the point.

Will somebody please talk to me!

Vazra loves to talk.  He’s very responsive when I talk to him, and he’s equally fond of starting conversations on his own.  In addition, he talks to anything moving about outside.  Whether it’s a wild animal or another cat, he’ll talk to it and will follow it around the windows so he can keep talking to it.

One day as I sat at the desk, I could hear him talking to something outside.  He rushed out of the bedroom long before I was able to go investigate.  Before I knew it, he was in the window next to me chattering away to Larenti who had decided to lie down right outside.

Although I missed most of the conversation while scrambling to get the camera, replace the dead battery with a charged one, and get myself situated to grab some photos and video, here’s a snippet of him after he got situated right next to her.  You can see her head through the window as she looks about while Vazra tries to communicate first with her, and then with me (after he noticed I was standing above him).

[do I have to bash the WMV file again?; yes, I do; it made Vazra’s voice sound so tinny and artificial; it also added all manner of conversion artifacts to both the audio and video; and the MOV file is so much smaller yet offers much better quality; I don’t know how to make the MS files better given I’m using the highest setting for the output; piece of shit…]