Several years ago, he moved to Miami.  It was a logical move.  Unless you have an advanced degree or some other special qualification,  Gainesville can be a tough place to find work.  Plus, Sandi was in Miami.

About that time, Jeff got involved in a business that is far more necessary and profitable in South Florida than it is here: animal removal.  In Miami, if somebody has an alligator or large snake in his backyard, or an opossum or raccoon in his attic, he calls a company to get rid of it.  Jeff worked for a business that did just that.  Still, it was working for someone else, and the boss was getting wealthy while Jeff did the work.

So, Jeff started his own business called Miami Animal Removal, and last week he was on TV.  Wednesday night, on a Discovery Channel show called Verminators, Jeff was shown capturing peacocks that were creating a disturbance in a residential area.  Even on TV, he seemed just like the Jeff I’ve known for years.  Sure, he fell down in slow motion, and a peacock defecated on him, but he was on TV, and he’s doing it for himself.

In the meanwhile, while Elke is away, I am caring for her animals.  The menagerie includes two cats (her adorable kittens have another home for the summer), four rabbits and a chicken.  The cats require little care.  They’re sassy, but I don’t have to touch them.  The same goes for the bunnies.  They have their own large cage, and all I have to do is fill their food dispensers and make sure their water jug–which sends water to several nipples in the cage–is always full.  They don’t seem to like being molested.

The chicken, on the other hand, is the most demanding of all.  She doesn’t really like her oats as much as she likes the rabbit food.  That’s fine; I’ll give her what she wants.  But she’s always getting under my feet, and if she thinks I am holding something she can eat, she’ll jump up.  I am a six-foot-tall, 190 pound man, but it still makes me a little uncomfortable having a chicken lunge at me.  After school every day, I let her out of her cage, and she pecks around the yard for a few hours until I come by later to put her back.  Once it’s dark out, she goes to sleep near the back door, and I have to pick her up and carry her to her cage.  She doesn’t fight me, but she does lift her wings up when she knows I am about to grab her.  More troublesome is the way she knocks over her water bowls.  She tries to climb up on them, and ends up dumping the water out.  I make sure to check on her several times day because of this.

I also check for eggs every day.  I never really gave it much thought before, but eggs are completely bizarre.

There is a nightly visitor to the garden here, and the cats do not seem to mind.  I do wonder what Bela is thinking.  Does she understand that this other animal is a bird, and that cats are supposed to want to eat birds?  Does she think it is perhaps another large and very ugly cat?  Does she know it is a chicken, but realize that even if she did attack it, it could easily fend her off?  Or does she think she could defeat it, but has no interest, since she receives her meals everyday with no effort on her part?  Some time ago we had an armadillo in the back yard and she seems to look on it with pity.  We had a raccoon as well, but never witnessed their interaction.

Did I mention I live in a city, and not on a farm?

The trip here, in a rented Hyundai Sonata, was surprisingly comfortable.  That’s a good little car.  It has every luxury, and appears to get incredibly good mileage.  We made a brief stop in Savannah for lunch, then arrived in South Carolina around 4:30.  This area differs from coastal Florida in a number of ways, though the most immediately obvious is the presence of trees, which is striking, considering how many hurricanes come through here.  Every shopping center and parking lot is wooded, and, in fact, the shopping areas are set back from the road, so you see unobtrusive signs along the street, in front of a wall of pine and oak.

The hotel is nice, if sprawling.  The hallways are long and the pool area covers a giant swath of land in the middle of the complex.  The balcony of our room looks over a pond with a fountain, and at night the frogs are very active.  The lobby is handsome, with elaborate wood paneling and millwork, and as I write people are enjoying complimentary lemonade and some other drink with whole strawberries in it.  This morning I attempted to get started reading Robinson Crusoe, but the splashing and cavorting of the guests at the pool, and the sound of the waves was too distracting for me.  I have been watching the swimming events from the Olympics on television.

Last night we went for a lovely walk along the beach, and it took us quite a distance north from our hotel.  The shore in front of the hotel had a goodly number of bathers, but a short distance up the coast it was practically deserted, and there were all manner of birds and bivalves and crabs.

The weather today is surprisingly cool, in the mid 70s, I’d say. It feels like Florida in the winter, since it’s also a bit overcast at the moment.  In a few minutes we’re going into town to have lunch and look at some old antebellum houses.

I foolishly forgot the power supply to my laptop, so I can only use this computer for as long as I have charge.  If  I don’t write again until Wednesday that is why.  The most unfortunate aspect of my absent-mindedness is that I won’t get to edit the photographs from the wedding I shot in St. Augustine last month.  That will be my top priority when I return to Gainesville.

If Big Brown wins today he’ll be the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to win the Triple Crown. “Affirmed”? What kind of name is that for an animal? “Big Brown” at least makes some sense, but “Funny Cide”, “Casino Drive”, “Touch Gold”, “Empire Maker”? Those aren’t names. They’re just words strung together, some vaguely related to gambling. When they’re brushing these animals in the stable do they actually use these absurd monikers? I hope not.

Maybe I’ll call my cat “Window Dressing” or “Furball Dancer”.

UPDATE: Big Brown loses.

UPDATE: Moments ago the same chicken chased after a blue-jay that landed on the lawn briefly.  Blue-jays are typically tough birds, but I guess the lesson here is that chickens have an undeserved reputation for cowardice.

I went to a carwash staffed by cats. They were all black, and several of them had headsets with built-in microphones which they used to communicate with the others. They dipped their paws in buckets of sudsy water and washed the cars, and when they were finished they used their tails to guide the cars out of their parking spaces. Those cats did good work.

I love spring because it means the cold days are almost over, and cold has become my enemy. Alas, it also means the windy days are here, but it’s a fair trade. Still, the days are getting longer, and that, coupled with the early introduction of daylight saving time, makes me happy.

Most of my appreciation of the outdoors comes from my time on campus these days, and it is actually quite pleasant. The azaleas are just about finished, and leaves are replacing flowers on dogwoods and Japanese magnolias. But the orange trees are still blooming like mad, and before too long the confederate jasmine will flower. Those are two magnificent aromas.

On the Reitz Union lawn this morning I was walking my bicycle (the seat was wet from a rain last night), and as I passed a sweet gum tree I heard a squirrel barking. I looked all around the branches but couldn’t see the critter. Finally I found him; his little head was poking through a hole in the bark where a limb had been. It was adorable. Of course, it only happened because I left my camera at home, and awesome things always happen when I don’t have my camera, like the time this one girl riding a bike was wearing ass-less pants.

Above you can see a series of photos I took of the Shumard Oaks on the Reitz Lawn as they got their leaves.

My favorite smell remains almond, but orange blossoms are a not too distant second.  Even if I forget about the tree, it is impossible to miss, since the breeze sends it’s fragrance across the lawn.  Yesterday I was so taken by it, that I decided to brave the bees and steal a bud for myself, and I put it in my shirt pocket.  For the rest of the afternoon at work I could smell the flower in my pocket.  It was a delight.

I must not be the only one who loves the Reitz Lawn: there are always students laying about on sunny days, and it is common for organizations to set up tables and displays along the sidewalks there.  Earlier this week as I was crossing from Weimer Hall I saw a flock of large white birds hopping across the grass.  They were scared off by a bicyclist and flew to a nearby pine tree.  They attracted a great deal of attention as they moved, and as I pulled out my camera to snap some photographs I was asked by a passer-by if they were frequent visitors.  I see mockingbirds and cardinals everyday, and red-tailed hawks are not uncommon, as are robins during winter.  But I hadn’t seen these birds before, and there were dozens and dozens of them.

As I was taking a picture a girl called to me and asked what kind of camera I was using.  She came over and took a closer look, seeing I use a D70.  She said she had a D80 that had just been stolen, and was distraught.  I’d be, too.  I take pictures ever single day, and occasionally professionally.  If I lost my camera it would be a great hardship.  And, really, hardships are the worst kind of ships.

We found easy parking along the west wall of the garden, and made our way inside where people were enjoying hot cider and cookies, and dancing to holiday songs sung live to a piano accompaniment. Almost immediately I saw people from my work whom I had no idea would be there. We chatted a while, then Miriam and I went upstairs and browsed the gallery of local art, and took particular interest in the historic photos of Gainesville. This history of this fair city is a special interest of mine.

Then, after some time, we made our way outside where we enjoyed still more refreshment, in the form of hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies. All of the above was completely free. We paid $7 to take a ride in a horse-drawn carriage around the Duckpond, where the streets were lined with luminaries. It was wonderful, and everyone was so nice, though we covet their historic mansions. Then I got to pet horses.

Finally, it was dinner at Big Lou’s before heading home full of food and Christmas cheer. Gainesville really is great.