Much went on in the backyard today, but trying to record it now would be a waste. After I have sorted pictures, I’ll get to that.

Meanwhile, in other news…

I may have given the impression that I go hunting for wild animals on my own.

I do not.

Over the past six months, BlackCat has been on nearly every excursion. She even ventured to enter the canoe twice but decided she wasn’t ready for that just yet.

She has been companion, bodyguard, and a listening ear.

She does not approve of everything I do and is not shy about telling me so. But she absolutely endorses my endeavors outdoors, and insists on us going out – even when it rains. Well, when it drizzles. She cannot endure thunderstorms or heavy down pours, and is either indoors or in misery at such times.

When she was younger we called her a cat-dog because she used to go on walks in the evening. Her sister, WhiteCat, who sadly died last year, would go to some boundary from the house, but BlackCat would walk with us as far as we would walk.

This neighborhood is not as conducive to that, so I think she must have been missing those walks – though she is an indoor-outdoor cat here, too.

She is extremely pleasant to be around and is a hugely intelligent animal. She comes to the sliding door and asks me to go for walks whenever she thinks I’ve been inside too long.

She comes to the door and knocks or just looks in, pleadingly. I open it. She does not come in.

I say, “I can’t go out right now. Do you want to come in?” She pleads. BlackCat, like every cat I imagine, has different cries and asking to go on the hunt is a different cry. She’ll then

turn around and sit on the mat, but only after vocalizing her disappointment with whatever the strength of her feeling.

She’s the first cat I’ve come to know so well, and marvelously, she knows me well too. I didn’t used to understand cat people because cats always seem so inscrutable and independent – unless they want something.

She’s not inscrutable, and though always determined to get her own way, will respond to my voice when sufficiently stern.

She’s also excellent around the wildlife. I have no idea why she doesn’t chase birds – WhiteCat often did.

On occasion, she half-heartedly sinks into the grass to try to sneak up on a bird, but she never chases them. She does hunt and catch frogs and lizards in the spring and summer. I truly dislike this. She brings them to the door as gifts, I suppose, and I turn her away in disgust.

This long treatise is simply to acknowledge my partner during this month long challenge. A reflection on the experience comes tomorrow.

• Aperture: ƒ/8
• Camera: Canon PowerShot SX510 HS
• Taken: 1 February, 2016
• Flash fired: no
• Focal length: 23.587mm
• ISO: 80
• Shutter speed: 1/25s