May | 2014 | Steve Tilford

I think maybe you might be able to judge a country on whether it is 1st World or not on how they treat their pets and animals. When people, or the general population of a country, have the luxury to be able to worry about whether the stray dogs and cats have enough food and are healthy, then they have enough food and are healthy.

I was sickened by the reports that they were just shooting/killing big dogs prior to last year’s Winter Olympics in Russia. I was thinking about how cruel it was that humans could care so little to let the situation get that bad to start with. But, those people didn’t have the luxury to be able to deal with the situation. People look after themselves first, then the animals 2nd, if at all.

When I first heard Bob Barker do the spiel about getting your pets neutered or spayed, I thought the guy was a nut. Now thinking back upon it, I am embarrassed about my first impression. I didn’t really think about it, I just judged. He was really doing our society a service. We don’t want or need more cats and dogs running around, or not running around, here. We have enough.

Monday, before 6 am, when I was returning from driving Trudi to the airport, I came upon a fox walking down the street in our neighborhood. Then Monday night, when I was walking Bromont late, I saw another, or the same, fox just standing in a yard. Bromont ran right by him, which should have been mildly embarrassing to him. Then last night, some sirens went off when I was just a couple blocks from the park and a whole pack of coyotes started howling. Like lots that were maybe just 50 meters from me, across a creek. I would have bet you a million dollars that there weren’t 10 coyotes within 100 meters of me right then.

I think it is amazing how wild animals can live in a city with people. Bromont regularly will be out with me running and next thing I know he’s chasing a few deer through the yards. It’s not like I live close to the country, I’m pretty much in the middle of the city. There is a big city park close by, that is left pretty natural, with a creek running through it, so that is where most of the wild animals hang I suppose.

Bromont got an ear infection last weekend. His ear looked pretty gross a couple days ago, but is much better now. I’m not much into cleaning out smelly ear infection stuff, but I’ve been doing it twice a day for him. He knows his ear is bad, so he tolerates it pretty well. I think Bromont gets the ear infections and skin problem every Spring with allergies. He and I seem to mimic each other in that regard.

We’re having all sorts of cat situations. Our long haired cat, Fran, seemed to forget how to clean herself. When I came back from being gone a month, she was completely matted. Trudi took her to our Vet to have her groomed. She came back looking so silly. Sort of like a lion, with a bob on her tail. I think she is embarrassed.

Plus, our cats are rearranging themselves. Wink, the one eyed cat has been pretty much been living in the basement the last three years with the bike stuff. But, a few months ago, during the winter, a feral cat took refuge in the basement and that drove Wink into making a decision. She moved upstairs and now even goes outside. She seems happier.

The feral cat is getting more used to us. It will eat food within 5 feet of me, but there is no way I can touch it. We had this happen once before with Willow, and she became super friendly eventually. This cat is older, so I’m not sure it will be the same. I probably should trap the feral cat and take it to the vet to get fixed, but I don’t want to scare it away. Evenutally.

Okay, just a few things floating around in my brain. There is lots more.

Feral cat living in the basement.

Fran shaved, in the sink.

Wink lounging in the living room.

The fox in the morning.

Bromont checking out a stuffed racoon at the National Guard recruitment place.

And Bromont’s icky ear.

Yesterday, Brian Jensen was planning on going over to Emporia and ride some parts of the Dirty Kanza 200 race, that is about a month away. He wanted to know if Bill and I wanted to go. I bailed pretty quickly.

I would have liked to go, but had sort of fallen apart, riding in the heat to Lawrence on gravel on Tuesday, plus he wanted to meet in Emporia, which is an hour away, at 7 ish in the morning. I’d not slept enough for 4 nights straight, so I wanted to try to catch up some. But the real reason was that it was going to be in the 90’s and the wind was going to be blowing over 30 mph all day. It was hot on Tuesday and I noticed that if my Garmin read over 93 or so, I felt pretty crummy, but when I was riding home, and a front moved in, the temperature dropped into the low 80’s and I felt much, much better. Anyway, I didn’t go. But, I asked Brian to take some pictures, because I knew that riding through the Flint Hills, in May, would be very scenic.

When I got some old photos from Jim Safford, a couple days ago, it got me thinking about how much taking pictures has changed in the last couple decades. Or maybe during my lifetime.

My family didn’t really have cameras around. My grandfather, my mom’s mother, used to do photography as a hobby and I have trays of slides, from all over North America. Plus, a ton of old cameras, a Rolleflex and such. But, I guess my parents didn’t continue the traditon. There aren’t too many pictures around of Kris and I growing up. Hardly any.

I got Trudi a Cannon A-1 camera when we first met. It was that or a Nikon. Eventually she got a motor drive and would blow through a roll of film in nothing flat. Anyway, there are tons and tons of old bike racing pictures and slides that I haven’t looked at forever somewhere. I don’t even know if there is a slide projector around to look at the slides.

My friend Stacie, from Louisville, called me yesterday and was seeing if she could get ahold of some old photos. We got talking about how strange it seems to think back upon the days when you used to take a roll of film to the camera store and then go back a few days later and get your prints. I remember when Walmart first did the return the photos the next day thing. We could take the film into any Walmart in the town we were racing on Saturday, and get the photos back by Sunday. Eventually it became an hour.

Digital cameras were the game changer. I think the first digital camera I had was an Olympus something. Maybe a megapixel and it probably cost $400. That is really when I started taking pictures, when it became convenient and instant. Unlimited pictures for nearly free, after getting the camera.

Now, my phone is my camera. It is a better camera than I’ve ever owned and it just comes with the phone. The majority of the time I have my phone with me, I’d rank the importance of the functions of the phone as follows-camera, internet access, then 3rd, phone. It is great having a camera accessible at all times.

So, I’ve been thinking about digging into the old photos, and slides, and digitally downloading them, even though I haven’t looked at them forever. Vincent knows a place that turns, slides into a digital format for.22 a slide. It would cost alot, but they would be in a way more usable state. Sounds like a big project.

Anyway, taking pictures and recording memories has really changed recently. To the better. Sometimes I wonder if I worry more about recording the experience than experience the experience, but I’ll probably never have a concrete answer to that question.