Assorted Photos

Farmscapes and Critters

Cute Young Critters

 

 

 

 

Endangered Scottish Wild Cat/Kitten

 

 

 

 

Playing With a Puppy; Lincoln

OK, I have climbed down from my maternal pedestal (the last blog) and feel like I'm pretty much back on an even keel. (I love mixing metaphors!) The temperature didn't drop that much last night, so it was above freezing when I wandered over to the local bakery and purchased an apple danish (without any icing). We are totally socked in with clouds, and there are clouds wreathed around the Flatirons and the tops of the Front Range hills and mountains. I just had a squirrel come inside via the patio door, so I went out and replaced the piles of unsalted peanuts and blueberry shredded wheat - and there are a few snowflakes drifting down. Cashew and the older squirrels know that the interior door mat is "neutral" territory -the kits aren't allowed to chase them, and they can eat inside in peace when it's snowing outside... Late yesterday afternoon, Nedi and Lovey were acting a little odder than usual; they'd go outside, run back in, look at one another (as if they were asking, "What was that?"), peek out the window, and run back out. I finally had to see what they were up to. My next door neighbor, Chris, was on the patio with his new lady, Sherri. Sherri had brought her 10-week old miniature Chihuahua with her. Wearing a minuscule red and green knitted sweater, this little dog weighed about 8 ounces. It was so excited to see the cats, and it wanted to play with them - it would bow down as an invitation, and then dart around. My cats wanted to chase her, but weren't quite sure what she was.... With me standing out on the patio, both Lovey and Nedi let the puppy approach them, sniff their noses, and lick their faces. Both kits even played a little bit of chase with the puppy. It was sooo cute!

  Remy has an acupuncture appointment this morning, so I'll be walking the Rs a little later than usual, and then taking miss Lucy out, too. Tomorrow morning, I'm due at the Thore residence between 6:30 and 7; I'll be at that house through the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I'll be coming home for a few hours each day, but will generally be over there. I'm also pulling some extra duty with Rosie and Remy, and I'll also be feeding and medicating Sasquatch, Tugger, and Ooch during that time. I guess that I'll be making a fruit platter, corn pudding, and one small pan of brownies for the family Thanksgiving - this year, we'll be meeting at the Niwot Grange,not at some one's house.... I don't know yet about our Christmas-New Years family get-together. I'll be house-sitting at a large house, but it's Rosie and Remy's - and they are table and counter surfers - stealing and eating anything within reach; plus Remy barks at all strangers.... We'd have plenty of room, but I'd have to place the dogs in the garage, and then deal with their barking, so I can't host this year, as I did last year. (Mainly because it isn't fair to the Rs.)

  I am looking forward to two movies that are to be released between now and Christmas - Lincoln and The Hobbit. One of my friends asked me the other day about the possibility that Lincoln had suffered from Marfan's Disease. I did some research and was amazed when I came upon a web-page that detailed all of Lincoln's medical history. I had no idea that he had been kicked in the head by a mule when he was a child; I had no idea that he had apparently drowned and was left floating face-down in a creek for 15 minutes as a child; I had no idea that Mary Todd Lincoln was a spouse abuser - she gave her husband black eyes and beat him with broomsticks and fire tongs.... It was amazing! I wonder if any of these things will be shown in Spielberg's movie?

  And, finally, the young man who has been arrested and charged with the mass shooting at the Aurora movie theater is definitely disturbed. We know he has been under psychiatric care for some time, and I'm sure his defense team will use an insanity plea. I was surprised to hear the young man had been hospitalized a few days ago, and that a major hearing had been postponed. A rumor was out and about that the young man was suffering from a severe migraine headache - then it became known that he had been ramming his head into the concrete walls of his cell. (Maybe he needs to be kept in a padded cell, or rubber room?) That, to me, seems to be an indication that he is sane and that he is trying to harm himself in order to prove he is insane. I have no idea if this is true, but having read a lot of mystery books, and police procedurals, I just have this sneaking suspicion....

Young Critters

A silvery gibbon baby, born 19 August 2012

 

Tonka, a baby red river hog

 

In Shangqiu, China a painted puppy is for sale on a street corner

No Schweddy Balls at Local Stores!

Yesterday afternoon I stopped by 5 different grocery stores that carry Ben & Jerry's ice cream here in Boulder.  Not a one had any Schweddy Balls; they were carrying Red Velvet Cake and several other new flavors, but no Schweddy Balls.  I was disappointed.  But then I stopped by the Ben & Jerry's Store on the Pearl Street Mall - and had a wonderful, delicious scoop of Schweddy Balls...  I enjoyed it very much.

In reading the news on-line today, I couldn't help but laugh...  A headline reads: "Loveland Man Bitten by Rapid Bat."  I am very sorry that the man was bitten by a bat - and by a rabid bat, at that - but, the typo made it hysterically funny to me.  The man was in his yard Tuesday night, and thought he heard or sensed a big moth nearby; a little later he thought he was bitten on the neck, behind his ear, by a mosquito.  The next day, his dog was tossing a dead bat around in the yard.  He took the bat in to be tested, and found out it was rabid, and found that his "mosquito bite" exactly matched the bats' teeth.  He is now undergoing that nasty, painful series of rabies shots.

Zenyatta is doing well at Lanes End Farm in Versailles, Kentucky.  She is turned out with another maiden mare, Tasty Temptations - and her sides are beginning to show her pregnancy.  Yippee!!  ....  The Albuquerque Zoo has a new pair of twin boy snow leopard cubs; the mother is Kachina, and the boys are Kiran and Kalmala.  ....  And I fell in love with a poor little pit bull puppy in Florida this morning.  Her name is Harper and she is 11 weeks old.  She was born with swimmer puppy syndrome (or disorder) - her chest wall was flattened and had no muscle mass, so she could not hold her head up or even move - she was like a splayed frog.  Her breeder had put her in a trash bag and placed her in a dumpster.  A good Samaritan picked up the puppy and had it evaluated at a local Humane Society.  She was told the best thing to do was put the puppy to sleep.  She wanted the puppy to experience some love and caring before it died, so she took it home for the night.  She spent most of her time massaging the puppies' legs, neck and chest, and she was rewarded by the puppy holding it's head up to follow her with it's eyes.  It was the first time the puppy had done so in her short (8 week) life.  The good Samaritan then took the puppy to the UF Veterinary School in Gainesville the next day, instead of taking her to be killed.  The prognosis was not good - but Harper, the puppy, has surprised everyone.  She goes to hydrotherapy to swim and gets massaged each and every day - and she is now walking on her own, at the age of 11 weeks.  Three weeks ago she could not make any movement.  This little puppy, Harper, is a true scrapper - If I didn't have my cats and my pet-sitting business, I'd adopt her in a heartbeat!