Critter Photos

Chinese dog with puppy and tiger kitten

Great crested grebe with chicks on back

Kitten headlock

Nyalas - mother and fawn

Innsbruck (Austria) cows

Almabtrieb

The Almabtrieb (in the German language, literally: drive from the mountain pasture) is an annual event in the alpine regions in Europe, referring to a train of cows in autumn. During summer, all over the alpine areas bovine herds feed on alpine pastures high up in the mountains. In numbers, these amount to about 500,000 cows in Austria, and 50,000 in Germany. In autumn, these herds are led to their stables down in the valley, in the Almabtrieb cow train. If there were no accidents during the summer, in many areas the cows are decorated elaborately, and the cow train is celebrated with music and dance events in the towns and villages. In many places this alpine custom of Almabtrieb has nowadays evolved into a major tourist attraction, focusing on the marketing of local products and alcoholic beverages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

39 Degrees and Drizzle

It's grey and damp.  The temperature is 39 and the humidity is 87%.  The apartment complex has yet to turn the boiler on so that we can have heat - but it's not that bad...  I have the window cracked open a couple of inches and the patio door has been open (about 14 inches) for the past hour, and it's still 65 degrees in here.  ....  I ate something that didn't agree with me, and spent the night running in and out of the bathroom.  After my third trip, the kits (both Lyra and Dhisana) stopped getting up with me, and I don't blame them.  Once I get back to their house, I plan on making meat sauce for spaghetti, and then watching the Gators.  I'll probably nap a lot after the game.  Lovey and Nedi keep going out and then coming back in to complain about the weather to me - wet feet and damp fur make quite a statement.  Mocha looked outside, then went back to bed.

The Mountain View Fire Department got an unusual call yesterday - a pregnant cow stepped backwards into an open well, fell in and was wedged about 8-feet deep inside the well.  Using a neighbor's crane, and their fire hoses as strapping, the firemen were able to rescue the bovine.  Other than a few grazes, she was unharmed.  ....  Black Caviar, the unbeaten Australian mare, has won another race.  She won her 14th straight race by 4 lengths.  (Phar Lap, the Aussie super horse, had 14 wins, and one second in his racing career.)  ....  A yearling filly sired by Galileo, was purchased for 1.7 million guineas ($2,770,000) at the Tattersall's October Sale.  She was the last horse sold in the catalog and is a striking chestnut.  She was purchased by the Kazakstani owner of Hesmond's Stud, Nurlan Bizakov.  ....    Famous trainer, owner and breeder John Nerud purchased a yearling colt at Keeneland this fall.  The reason to  make note of the purchase is that Nerud is four months shy of his 99th birthday.  ....  And the thoroughbred world lost D'Accord earlier this month.  D'Accord was the 32-year-old son of Secretariat. He couldn't get to his feet after laying down to sleep; after he failed to stand after two hours of trying, he was put down "due to the infirmities of old age."

Warm... But Windy

We have a wonderful Chinook blowing from the west. Or, rather, it would be wonderful if we had snow on the ground. Since we are dry, dry, dry, it is a problem. The Crystal Fire is only 15% contained, and we have a Red Flag warning through noon tomorrow, warning of winds with gusts up to 70 mph. Hoooo, boy.... Lovey and Nedi cuddled with me all night long as the wind blew, even though it was pretty warm outside - it was 50 degrees at 7 this morning. They are now having fun chasing blowing leaves in the back yard. Rosie and Remy were very excited to see me, and we had an excellent walk. Then I took Lucy out, and had a discussion about cutting back her walk days to just the two T-days with her owner. Since her Mom was at home, Lucy was happy to go out for a walk, but she didn't want a long one. ... The SWAT team got the young man at Boulder Community Hospital to surrender to them yesterday, and he gave them his .357 Magnum without a struggle. And the young man in the suitcase has been identified as a 17-year-old foster child - police are continuing their investigation. ... Clive Cussler, the best selling author, and his group (NUMA) helped discover an 1830s ship-wreck in the southern part of Lake Michigan. They were searching for the remains of Northwest Air Flight 2501, which crashed into the great lake in 1950. Photos and more information may be found at: http://news.discovery.com/history/shipwreck-lake-michigan-110331.html#mkcpgn=rssnws1 .... And, in Germany, a young lady named Regina Mayer has captured my heart. Two years ago her parents said, "No" to purchasing a horse or pony for her to ride. Regina then made her own plans. She began working with a new-born calf named Luna. Now 15, Regina may be seen daily riding Luna around the large family farm near the Austrian border. Luna has also been trained to jump obstacles. I salute Regina for coming up with a unique way to be able to ride!

Hygiene, CO

It could only happen somewhere in or near Boulder... in the nice little community of Hygiene, CO, to the north-northeast of Boulder, a cow... oh, heck, just look a the story and photos at: http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/aug/18/cow-chases-bear-her-apple-tree-near-boulder/