Wednesday, May 27, 1987

Hobbes Gets Curious



Hobbes’ owners weren’t around during the day and they put him out on their porch at night.  I wondered why they bothered getting a cat in the first place.  So too, evidently, did Hobbes.  After seeing me take pictures of him he started hanging around in the yard in front of my unit.  Since the front door was usually open, he then began to visit inside.

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The dating of these pictures is somewhat conjectural but is based on three pieces of connecting evidence, together with evident “changes of scene.”

Receipts show that my first cat food purchase was on August 29th, which would be about the time the neighbors moved and asked me if I wanted to keep Hobbes.  But I'm sure he had been hanging around in my apartment before then. 

Foto #17 shows a box of computer track-feed paper, with a “Sale” sticker on it.  Extant receipts show:
                6/19/87    Dalton Disks, disk box, paper (track feed)
                                #5150035     6.95 p  5.99  <— indicates “sale”? 
                7/20/87    #5150034    6.95 <—probably paper.
                8/24/87    #5150027    5.95       (paper?)
                12/7/87    #5150035    6.95 <—probably paper

From this it would seem that #17  was somewhat after June 19th. By the same token, fotos 1-16 were probably taken in early June or late May.

Foto #22 shows a clipboard with a paper which has “Great American” on it.  The Great American checking account was opened on July 27, 1987; so, that foto et post are late July or early August.

Based on the above, I date nos 1-5 as “06/01” although these fotos could have been taken in May or June.

Nos 6-12 are all generally one week later (06/07) but I dated  6 & 7 as 06/05 since there is a shift of scene from porch to yard.  This group is in an early June ball park.  

I date 13-14 os “06/14” because the change of scene (yard to street) indicates a later date.

I date 15-19 as “06/19” because of the tractor feed paper, the presence of the rowing machine
and the lighting all point to a same shooting occasion.

I date 20-24 as “06/27” because of the Great American paper and, again, the similarity of scene (messy stuff around house) and lighting. 

Notwithstanding the above, I have placed Nos. 6 & 7 first, with an arbitrary date of 5//27.  My memory/sense is that the porch fotos were taken first in this series and  it is possible that the negatives got scanned in the wrong order. It makes sense that Hobbes would be curious about me before coming down and poking into my place.    In any event I am putting them first in line