David Taylor

For past 14 years -- through Sandy and the days of blackout, through covid lockdown, through everything -- he was always just 100% love and joy. I could not have asked for a better friend.

Any furniture assembly or appliance repair — just cleaning the dryer filter — and he’d be right there insisting on sniffing and inspecting every screw or tab as it was installed. Jigsaw puzzles required 1000 individual inspections. No box was *ever* opened and unpacked without his participation.

For past 14 years -- through Sandy and the days of blackout, through covid lockdown, through everything -- he was always just 100% love and joy. I could not have asked for a better friend.

Any furniture assembly or appliance repair — just cleaning the dryer filter — and he’d be right there insisting on sniffing and inspecting every screw or tab as it was installed. Jigsaw puzzles required 1000 individual inspections. No box was *ever* opened and unpacked without his participation.

Any time I returned home, from work or even just running trash out, he’d meet me at the door to lead me to a specific chair where he could stand tall enough to do ritual nose boops and licks. He’d hop up to ride on my shoulders to supervise wherever I was cooking or doing chores (except vacuuming).

A senior tabby cat batting at a toy in the air while curled in a man’s arm

Said goodbye to my absolute best friend and constant companion yesterday. He was by my side through everything over the past decade —literally. He’d wait at the shower curtain every morning to welcome me back when the scary water turned off. The most loyal steadfast little buddy. So long my friend 💖

Bond had our cat on blood pressure meds since he always read high during office exams (+it's common in elderly&CKD cats). Monitoring during hospital stay last year found normal BP/suggested at-home check, which is how we found VH did home visits (and indeed, his BP was normal measured at home).

They bring some equipment, like scale or heart monitor but imagine but imaging I'm sure would still be a clinic visit. It's been great for routine care, but not a substitute for emergency visits.

Separate clinic: Vinegar Hill Vet Group; their offices are bk heights and dumbo but they do visits around downtown bk. Switched from Bond to them last year and been very happy. Also, their vets follow-up with labs/next steps/etc over text unless you ask to schedule a call, which is a plus for me.

Bond is indeed great – went there for years – but recently discovered Vinegar Hill offers *home visits* in/around downtown BK. At least for our cat the safety/comfort of staying in familiar environment makes experience so much less stressful. Could be worth trying if Squiggles hates office visits.

listen, I didn't stop listening to Nirvana when they started selling the smiley face shirts at Urban Outfitters; I'm not gonna stop using em-dashes just because chatGPT uses them

Yeah, Boerum hill too. Dip was long enough of fully reboot router and reset my ACs. Back up to a nice, stable 122v now though.

Was idly clicking around the website of a new condo bldg that went up in my neighborhood and noticed list an in-building pottery studio -- "curated by BKLYN Clay" -- among the building's amenities bergenbrooklyn.com/amenities

Ship to shore cranes at the port of new jersey

ship to shore cranes with the sun setting behind them

The Nord Vanquish tanker being escorted by two tugboats into the sunset

The Statue of Liberty backlit be the sun behind her head

Incredible OHNY boat tour of the Port of NJ last night led by PANYNJ's Director of Ports, Beth Rooney plus an obligatory stop by some local statue. "48m consumers live within four hours of this port, while four hours from the Port of Long Beach doesn't even get you out of LA's traffic" 😂

Fledgling season 🪶

@agounardes.bsky.social given S4091 will likely result in bk constituents like me, who rely on our late night G trains, to see worse service and longer commutes, why support it? Is there any data to suggest that ending OPTO won’t cause an uptick in crew-availability dispatch delays?

Assume that has something to do with early voting ballots being just-in-time printed to order for your specific council / assembly / etc dist, whereas day-of sites use preprinted ballots to keep up with the rush and it is easier to have one common page and then one per-district page?

A geeen eyed tabby cat standing upright in a chair with front paws on the back of the chair and looking at the camera.

Requesting pick up.

I wanted to say mourning dove at first as well but tail looks pretty triangular rather than diamond?

Hm, think I somehow disconnected from the #birds feed so I might need to #addbirder again

common yellow throat warbler on a branch

black and white warbler running up the trunk of a tree

black throated blue warbler singing

black throated blue warbler on a log

A few warblers from WBF walk in Central Park last week 🪶

Incredible!

iirc you’ve mentioned rocking the z8 before right? Is that paired with the 600 f/6.3? or the f/4? Or something longer?

A chestnut sided chickadee on a branch

Chestnut sided chickadee perched on the fingertips of an open extended palm

Friendly chickadee says hi 🪶

Seeing a California towhee side by side with a golden crowned sparrow makes the fact the towhee is a (large) sparrow pretty apparent — or at least more so than with, say, the easter towhee 🪶

Black Phoebe perched on a post in the rain mid-call

Black Phoebe perched on a pipe in the rain

Black Phoebe in the rain 🪶

Orange crowned warbler in leaves

Orange crowned warbler in leaves

Townsend’s warbler on a branch

As a New Yorker it is always a treat when traveling to warmer places in winter to spot birds that we’d usually only get to see briefly as they pass through on migrations. These bright little warblers are so cheerful 🪶

Wren in the leaves and grass

Bewick’s Wren under a leaf looking at the camera

Bewick’s Wren is hunting for bugs 🪶

Anna’s hummingbird in flight facing directly towards the camera

“Whatta you lookin at?” 🪶

Anna’s hummingbird mid-flight visiting a flower

A hummingbird lands on a wet leaf

A hummingbird is in flight above flowers

A hummingbird is perched on a bench with raindrops falling in the foreground blur

Anna’s Hummingbirds in the morning rain 🪶

Pied-billed grebe in the sun

Common golden eyes and buffleheads

Harbor seal floating with its eyes closed in the sun

Pied-billed grebes, golden eyes and buffleheads and one very content looking a seal in Tomales bay 🪶