Category: Animals



On Linda’s Page (prompter of What Day Is It Anyway?) she talked about not getting to sleep until the third hour. In comments, I mentioned how it isn’t fair that the senior hour for shopping is early mornings. That isn’t really fair and is assumptive of the rule-makers. (I do understand that the cleaning and shelving of products happen at night. Thank you shop-owners for being so kind. This is a life-long issue for me! A night owl by nature.) Though there must be seniors that are early birds, I would guess a lot of us fall into the tossing and turning and seeing holes in the ceiling and stars above, or mountains or monsters that are just clothes or bedding tossed on the corner chair or table–and those are the creative moments. Most of the tossing and turning is pain enhanced by what-ifs, worst-case scenarios, or guilts of what didn’t get done the day before, or that never-ending list of things that must be done tomorrow–which never get done. And we of the senior variety or high-riskers have the most to worry about.

And that leads me to the wake-up with a back story. It is a non-COVID19 story. <shock-face> One night a month or so ago I was rolling over in my sleep. I grabbed the blanket to cozy in. My hand felt crusty-gooeyness. Yuck! I was so sleepy I wanted to ignore it. But YUCK! I’m sure it was upchuck! So I got up and removed said blanket, washed my hands and donned another blanket with a note to myself to keep the cats off my bed. Yeah. That’s gonna happen!

Solution: I found an old pink blanket to put on top of my regular covers. My day starts with me waking because two cats are lying on my up facing side (I sleep on my side) while Kali is curled up near my tummy. I wake because I know that this cozyish moment could turn into World War III including teeth and claws if I don’t get ahead of the situation.

I get up. I yell, “Everyone out of the pool, now!” I do the fastest bedmaking because Teddy is impatient to get the special blanket. Which comes next. It is an old pink blanket. Though thin, it should protect a little against possible crusties. Teddy seems to smile at me and steps right on it and curls up with a sigh that says, ‘Finally!’

As the morning moves on one becomes two as Rosey joins him. These two can be the worst of enemies but it is obvious they like to be together.

 

 

In other news:

I love it when my nails get this long.

There are things you can do with nails that you can’t without. Like a good back-scratching. And they make my fat fingers look nicer. But regardless of the science that says nails stay cleaner when they are short, I tend to disagree. See how clean these sweeties are? When I have short nails, the free-edge gets blackish with dirty, greasy, grimey, crud. I use the brush and have to scrub harder. Without nails, there are things I can’t do with nails, like rub my face. It’ll be nice not to scratch my eyeballs! Though we are advised to keep them short during the pandemic, this is the stage I have to cut anyway–rebel much?–because they break down below the quick. That hurts! So bye, bye nails!

Guess what. I know it is Thursday because last night was Chicago Med, Fire, PD or the Josh Gates shows which are on at the same time so we watch them on the weekends.Β  I love C. Med. I like C. Fire. I tolerate C. P. D. I love all the Josh Gates shows. I will share the trailers in a moment. I just wanted to finish my thought, it is Thursday and we already took out the trash for tomorrow! Now the trailers.

 

I think of Josh as another of my sons, in fact, he looks and has similar humor to my step-son, so I love him! And I think the shows are very exciting while being educational.

I know. I just noticed this is two trailers from the same show. He has other shows but I didn’t want to wear you out with YouTubes–no, more like, I didn’t want to wear me out looking them all up. Sorry. <–I wanted to say, ‘My bad’ but I hate that phrase!

And now, for no particular reason, a picture of Kali. I think she wanted equal time with the cats starring on this one. Sorry that you had to see the (cleanish except for the cats’ scratchpad cardboard flakes) piddle pad and her ‘hide the biscuits’ (really dog treats not the other) towel. But hey, there’s Pictionary!

Gotta love that face!

😍😘πŸ₯°πŸ€—

How is your day going? I hope you are all staying safe and well! Enjoy the close you can get or the internal reflections that can bring you peace, hope, and love. Whatcha cooking? Today we are having Lana Burritos.Β  Leftover beans and rice with smashed (pressure cooker) potatoes.

 

No W-A-L-K


Imagine this conversation.

Kali: Do we get to walk today?

Me: No, it’s too windy.

Kali: (insert cuss words here)

So I tried to show her how the shrubs were blown flat in places and stuff was flying and you couldn’t see but maybe ten miles for the dust.

Suddenly I hear ‘A wee mo whap, a wee mo whap, In the Jungle…’

In the sun but protected by the sagebrush, the owner of the property (here before we moved here). We think she is a female, just in case we ever get the chance to see for sure, she is either Jasmine or he is Jasper.

 

That’s the best picture of her so far. She looks like our indoor cat, Teddy.

Who has run away from home and found outside was a horrid place. Now he spends his days on my bed, purely serene in the warmth and comfort. He loves that I put on the old pink blanket to protect my bed as he thinks it is just his special place.


Pixabay.com

A beauty like this guy struts in my yard every day. He is not ours. Neither is his matching hen or a white hen. They wander our yard like they own the place. That’s okay with me as I think that cock-a-doodle-doo protects our three quieter hens.

Pixabay.com

Our three look like this one. We had four but a hawk got one of them. My brother had them all named. But I don’t know them that intimately. I do take care of one of their meals of the day. I have two peanut butter toasted sandwiches for breakfast. Kali gets one little corner and the chickens get the crusts. I am a vegetarian by nature. I am allergic to egg whites to the extent that I can’t get the flu shots or others that are based in albumin. But I love the sounds of the clucking and crowing all over my yard. They do their part to scratch out bugs and fertilize the soil. And my husband and brother enjoy the eggs. Me? I’m hoping for wee peep-peeps! But our girls attack the rooster if he comes near. Yay! Hens-lib! ??

Oh, that grass seen in the above pictures? That is truly greener on the other side of the fence. Our neighbor has managed to make and keep a beautiful lawn. We barely manage to keep the sagebrush away from our house.

Other animal sounds we hear around here lately are coyotes and their pups.Β  One poor girl here was followed to the bus stop by a coyote. She was smart and stood tall and yelled and it ran away. But they can be quite dangerous for people and pets. We have to keep our gate closed and watch carefully for those who might jump over into our yard. Kali and the chickens are in danger. As are the two stray cats that have been here even before we moved here. Rosey and Teddy are indoor felines. Meow!

Our other neighbor has turkeys. When we gave ours away he got some of his own so the gobbles are still a welcome sound.

What doesn’t make sound, that we can hear here are the alpacas that are across the way. They are cute. I wish I had one. Can you imagine the yarn I could get if I got good at alpaca husbandry?

We have seen bear droppings at the campground twelve miles away. That is a sound I don’t want to hear! GRRRowl!

Oh, I just thought of the deer and antelope that play around this here range. Kind of like the baaing of lambs or goats that some neighbors have. There are a few horses. Neigh, not a lot. Ducks and geese quack their honks and especially at sunset as they settle down.

The most annoying, yet cute sound? Oh, my goodness. This mildish winter has brought in the mice. We have cute mice with shiny coats. The other day I was reaching in a cabinet for a can of beans and I heard a high pitch bunch of squeaks. It is no fun to live in the country when you find things like that.Β  My brother found them and the chickens ate them up. Yes, I have tears in my eyes as I think of it. Soon after he caught a few bigger mice in traps.

I thought you might enjoy what our outdoor friends do that I have seen happen.

I just remembered the wonderful sound of last summer. We had some frogs somewhere between our yard and the nearest neighbor. The co-roaking was so cool! I hope we get it again this year, By the way, the weather is getting warmer and my son and I have made plans to start walking a bit. We spell out the word W-A-L-K so Kali doesn’t get too crazy. Her whining can quickly turn into barking lectures of great magnitude!

Per Linda:

Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is β€œanimal sounds.” Write about the sounds animals make and how you experience them. Have fun!

 


I saw the above on FaceBook today and giggled.

Now at 10:52PM, I have three furry people sleeping.

Like this one:

Teddy meditates after licking the gravy from his wet food. We feed these monsters so late so that they will let us sleep all night.

It just happened. That nightly ritual. “Dad” gets the cats off his lap and I start giving the cheer to Kali about what is happening in the kitchen. Some would say these guys are spoiled. I don’t know. Yes, there is half a minute that each dish is warmed in the microwave. Then “Dad” brings the dishes in our room and puts down Rosey’s first. Kali waits patiently as hers is second, Then Prince Teddy must be found and picked up and placed in front of his food.

Then the chewing and chomping and slurping begins. To the observer, everyone is in their places. Until they aren’t. Teddy finished with gravy jumps up on my bed and takes a quick bath and stares off into space. Rosey and Kali exchange bowls. Then Rosey finishes Teddy’s and Kali makes sure they are all empty. Sometimes I find the bowls in the bathroom or under the bed, they are so thorough in their nightly gnashings.

Kali then settles near me and Rosey gets back to “Dad’s” lap. The rest of the night they are quiet.

If you didn’t know, Chew/choo was the prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Thank you Linda G. Hill for this fun challenge.

Chicken and Coyote


I am trying to make sure I write a little more each day. I liked to write nearly two thousand words a day. But suddenly I don’t know what to write. Maybe I should write about the abduction of Clucky (All five chickens look the same and have no idea who is who). By the way, I wrote this yesterday.

It was early morning. Master David came out just after the sun to feed us. I thought it a bit early and I squawked it, but he doesn’t understand squat! We assumed he knew that it was okay to go outside. I thought it shivery. But around here it is hard to tell. So I decided to go out to the dust bowl of the front yard. I love to take my bath out there. It is easy to get caught up in the bath making the dust fly every which way.

Suddenly, something has me by the throat. At first, I thought it was too much dust. But no. I couldn’t breathe or even let the others know I was out there. I was dragged across the street. I know we aren’t supposed to go there but I was being dragged, no choice. It was just too much.

Finally, that chicken quit wiggling! Can I help it that my pups are hungry? I saw the open driveway and the dust flying about. No one saw this sweet chubby hen out there. She looked like breakfast to me. My pups won’t go hungry today. Can I help it that the Master didn’t shut the gate? Can I help it that the chicken lost feathers along the way? Not my problem. Pups gotta eat.

***
So a semi-true story in that I really don’t know what the coyote and chicken were saying, but I’d swear it if I needed to. The photos are from Pixaby. But the chicken looks like our chickens and the brush looks like our area. I didn’t see the coyote. I have seen them walking down the street. But didn’t witness this. It is all my imagination. Unfortunately, a chicken was killed. 😦


50 Loom Knitted Stuffed Animal Pattern Collection50 Loom Knitted Stuffed Animal Pattern Collection by Scarlett Royale
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book is kept for its reference capabilities. I have not made every animal in the book. But I have made enough to know that I am happy to have the book.

One of the problems I have with the book is that sometimes the patterns can be confusing and there are a few errors. But the best part of this book is the links to the tutorials. They take you right to the YouTube teaching how to make what you want to make. My latest is the snowman, that looks so cute! And it had very little sewing.

I would like to someday get the paper version so I don’t have to be on the computer while making these little cuties. But in the meantime, this will do!

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Elephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War IIElephant Company: The Inspiring Story of an Unlikely Hero and the Animals Who Helped Him Save Lives in World War II by Vicki Constantine Croke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I love elephants. Such smart sensitive beings. And this book is by a woman so it sort of fit my requirements of reading diet. The guy was a human being who cared, so I dismissed my final mission of female main character. Besides, it is about WWII so the chances of the main character being female was diminished as women were back then.

The writing was dry, historic. I wish there was a way to get into it all more deeply. It seemed to be a his-story. Bits about elephants were interesting but I wanted more. I wanted to know more about his wife who seemed very much of kindred spirit.

Still, had I not read the book, I wouldn’t have known about how the elephants helped in the second world war.

Many people have given this book high ratings. Maybe you will, too.

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I forgot there was a prompt for today. In fact, I have a few of them. One from Linda G. Hill for Stream of ConsciousnessΒ Saturday and the other two from a friend on a writing group on FaceBook. In that order: In other words, Rabbit, Rabbit, and Errant. (Thanks, M)

Well, this nearly writes itself, doesn’t it? Except rather out of order.

Rabbit, Rabbit = Bunnies! In other words, these two rabbits get together as adult rabbits do and, possibly they leave the party rather errant in theirΒ mission. Must I spell it out? The horse would have died? They used to use rabbit urine or something to prove pregnancy. Oh, heck, I need to look this up.

Okay, didn’t want to lose the stream in that–quick look up a pregnant woman’s urine would cause the rabbit to ovulate. Didn’t get far into the horse part as I felt an unfairness going on. What? To prove the human woman is pregnant the poor bunny had to endure the horniness of ovulation? How fair was that to the poor bun-bun? I fear my stream is spilling over the edges of propriety here. I will be considered errant if I follow almost any thought patterns beyond this point.

On the other hand, this sent me on a stream of research then into stream of horses for menopause. Oh, how errant can this stream go? I think I should have quit. In other words, never mind!


Animal Books: Hummingbirds: All About Hummingbirds, A Kids Introduction - Fun Facts & Pictures About the Smallest Birds: Children's Picture Book,Perfect for Bedtime & Young Readers, 6-12 Years OldAnimal Books: Hummingbirds: All About Hummingbirds, A Kids Introduction – Fun Facts & Pictures About the Smallest Birds: Children’s Picture Book,Perfect for Bedtime & Young Readers, 6-12 Years Old by Susan G. Charles

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a fun little book. I have to admit to not reading it word for word but rather a intense skimming. I think I wanted more photos of the little beauties. I had a hard time with the labels of each bird, not sure they lined up right. I think the label belonged to the previous picture. That is the problem of reading on Kindle. This might be a nice tree book for kids.

As for it being a bedtime read aloud–no. Much better for daytime when you can go out and look for your own hummers.

Once again, the pictures made it worth all those many words! I’d recommend it for middle grade readers. Homeschooled and younger readers or non-readers will still enjoy the book.

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One GorillaOne Gorilla by Anthony Browne

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This was another I picked up at the library to beef up my lagging reading goal. So glad I did!

The artwork grabbed me even before I lifted it off the shelf. It reminds me of Eric Carle’s illustrations. Maybe a little more detailed?

I had to laugh out loud as I was selecting the tags for this book. You see I read the pictures, the names of the animals and oooo the pictures. In tagging I realized: THIS IS A COUNTING BOOK!

A teacher or parent could have loads of fun presenting new information each time this book is read aloud. Even beyond young children the science presented about primates could launch several discussions about the different classifications. Field trip to the zoo! An art class using water colors. Oh… and we can learn our numbers. I suppose that would be the place to start. But again–The pictures!!! They inspire me to get out my brushes and paints. I need to learn how someday. I must grow beyond drawing!

Check it out, read it aloud to a small child. Smuggle it into your room and enjoy the illustration!

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