Ferdinand the Bull

Many of those with young (or formerly young) children will remember the delightful children's tale of Ferdinand the Bull, who looked fierce but was useless for bullfighting because he just wanted to lie around sniffing the flowers. I was reminded of him by Shadow, our senior cat, when we were out at the country this weekend.

Even when the weather was nice, Ursula was hiding and evidently in no mood to go outside. Buddy was desperate to get out there, but couldn't be trusted safely other than with a harness and very long leash, so he wouldn't dash off and disappear for a couple of days, as he has done before.

Then there was Shadow. At age 17, he is slow-moving and requires only very loose supervision. This picture should convey the essence of his time outside although I didn't get one of him literally sniffing the flowers like Ferdinand (which at some length he did).

In sunlight, the dark fur is very efficient at rapid heat absorption.