Stroll Two's a crowd, three's a spectable. Apparently.

So earlier today I took Keesha out to let her sit in the sun for a bit to warm up her arthritic joints.

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We also went for a quick walk around the neighbourhood to give her a bit of exercise. Jadey decided to come along as usual.

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It's also an opportunity for Keesha to catch up with the latest scents and 'marks' left behind by the neighbourhood dogs and foxes, she often lags behind a bit because she's got a lot of smelling to do, stopping at almost every bush and tree along the way.

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At one point I got down on my knees to take my usual photos, but when I finished and stood up there was a guy in his driveway across the road taking photos of Keesha and Jadey with his iPhone. He must've come out of his house in the 30 seconds or so.

I held up my camera and yelled across: "TAKING PHOTOS OF THEM TOO?"

He misheard me, he thought I said "taking photos of them two" instead "too". He pointed at each of us in turn while yelling back with a big grin: "NO! ONE, TWO, and THREE!!", pointing at me also. We must've been a spectacle.

I laughed back and we had a brief yelling-chat about Keesha and Jadey.

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Other encounters we've had:

- a man loading his truck outside his home sees us. He drops everything and hurries to his front door and yells into house, something about 'QUICK, IT'S THEM AGAIN'. His wife rushes out apron 'n all, and they both lean back on their gate and watch all three of us with huge grins on their faces. I wave at them, they wave back. On another occasion he comes up to talk with me to ask about Jadey coming for a walk with us, he said at first he thought it was his neighbour's cat because they look similar.

- another time a family comes home in their large family car as the three of us were walking past their house. They drove very very slowly into their driveway, they were all pressed against the windows looking at us, parents and kids. A bit further down the street, I turned around to make sure Jadey was keeping up, I saw the mother holding her young son in her arms, they were peeking around their hedge to look at Jadey walking with us.

- sometimes Jadey likes to sniff around in people's front yards and sometimes she takes so long I have to sneak on to the front yard to pick her up. One time I was halfway up somebody's driveway to catch Jadey when the guy came out of his house and saw me on his property. I looked apologetic and pointed at Jadey. He broke into a smile and said: "oh I've seen you and your cat before, she's always walking with you and your dog isn't she?" I've never seen this guy before, I can only imagine him and his family can see us from inside their house on previous occasions maybe.

- a collection of other random individuals / groups / families / other people with their dogs we meet along the way who, at first sees Jadey, and then you see the moment they realise she's with us, they almost always say something to me or to each other, kids and parents.

- of course there was this moment too which I've posted here before, when a girl and her brother (who is just outside the frame) attempted to make friends with Jadey:​


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The girl's brother looked a year or two older than the girl. He always waves and says hello when he sees me now. Their mum gives me a smile too when she happens to be out with them.

Of course, it's much, much, less eventful, and a whole lot more quiet when we got out for a walk at 3am.
 
Nice stories James. In my neighborhood everybody knows Cookie by name, but not my or Mary Lou's name. A while back I was driving in a neighboring city and stopped at a red light in a major, multi-lane intersection with The Cook in the front seat looking out. A car pulled up next to me on the passenger side, rolled down her window and yelled "Is that Cookie?". I said yes and she replied something about Cookie being a great dog and then made her right-hand turn. I just laughed, even in a different city more people know The Cook than me.

Gary
 
Nice stories James. In my neighborhood everybody knows Cookie by name, but not my or Mary Lou's name. A while back I was driving in a neighboring city and stopped at a red light in a major, multi-lane intersection with The Cook in the front seat looking out. A car pulled up next to me on the passenger side, rolled down her window and yelled "Is that Cookie?". I said yes and she replied something about Cookie being a great dog and then made her right-hand turn. I just laughed, even in a different city more people know The Cook than me.

Gary

How do they know Cookie...??
 
Going for a walk with a cat through the suburbs, I've also come to learn about the birds in the neighbourhood.

When we walk through certain territorial zones, the birds who own that zone will hover above sqawking and screeching, warning other birds in the area that they've sighted a cat in their zone.

A whole bunch of them will follow us, flying for tree to tree, power line to power line keeping up with us and screeching all the way. Sometimes the brave ones will swoop down at Jadey but never low enough to reach her. Jadey will skulk onwards looking a bit uncomfortable. She knows they're screeching for her. She has never caught a bird as far as I know, although I've seen her talk with them with a sort of a stuttering meow.

When we reach the border of a zone, the birds will pass the warning duties to the next bunch of birds who live in the next zone and they will follow us screeching all the way until we reach the end of their zone. And so on.

The boundaries of these zones are clear and never change, they always start at a specific point and end at a specific point.

The good side of this is, if I ever lose sight Jadey while she's sniffing around in somebody's front yard, all I need to do is follow the screeching birds to find her.

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How do they know Cookie...??

I dunno ... I suspect that it was from waiting in front of a Verizon shop (cell phone company) a week or so earlier. Mary Lou was inside taking care of her business while The Cook and I waited outside. Cook is a very calm dog, in public she just stands around taking everything in. When people come up and make a fuss, she'll acknowledge them and she may even wag what's left of her tail. She doesn't get all jumpy and nervous, and she has never barked at a person. She's a bit aloof, kinda like royalty, but under that aloofness she is the most benign creature on Earth. If another dog comes by she'll get up on all fours, wag and goes into a let's play scenario, but with people she is aloof. Back to your question, I suspect it was someone who meet Cook in front of the Verizon store as the store is in La Habra, the same city we were driving.

Gary
 
What a great extra-species couple you got there. I really love looking at the walking shots of Jadey and Keesha.

Interesting birds. I remember a study which followed a domesticated cat around NYC for a month. This little innocent Tabby of a cat turned into a maniacal serial killer when it left the apartment. The study lined up all the birds the cat killed in the month and the line seemed to extend nearly to infinity. I think 'Princess' killed a couple of birds a day. It was an interesting study fingering cats as the No. 1 enemy of birds. So maybe your birds also read the same study as I. Probably a bad rap for Jadey, but the birds ain't taking any chances.

Gary
 
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