Carnival of the Animals I
Guest post by Blogmom and the Mods.
In celebration of the First Anniversary of Robin’s forum and the Second Anniversary (Observed) of the blog, we thought we’d get together and put up something about some of our many critters and also incidentally give Robin some time off after the mutter mutter of Pega-mutter.
What started as a modest undertaking quickly escalated, so our critters will be spread out over three posts over the next week. Almost all photos click through to larger sizes.
Enjoy!
Wagging tail is a blur.
Lola in her raincoat
Name: Lola Louise
Naming rationale: Lola was her Humane Society name and nothing else seemed right. Also she’s got a really good song named after her. Louise is for Louisiana, her native state.
Occupation: Southern belle
Distinguishing features: Prodigious ears, uncanine warbling vocalizations
Breed: Scottie or Cairn + ??????
Brief bio: Former stray, brought to Humane Society at 3 years of age along with her heartworms. Two years later she’s 100% healthy; enjoys basking (or baking) in the sun and lying on soft things.
Favorite food: Last corner of my waffle or pancake on weekend mornings.
Most endearing bad habit: Trying to catch lizard shadows on the drapes, with her paws.
Last seen: In a snit because I made her go outside in the rain.
Maren
16 hands plus and still growing. The fence in the background is six feet tall.
One of many yeehaw moments
Real Name: Temprano
Naming rationale: Born early.
Stable Name: Baba Looey
Naming rationale: Looked like a little red donkey when he was born so we named him after Quickdraw McGraw’s sidekick.
Occupation: 3-year-old layabout and pasture ornament
Distinguishing features: never the same color twice
Breed: Half Andalusian
Brief bio: Third-generation homebred. Channels his grandmother.
Favorite food: bluegrass
Most endearing bad habit: picking up running hoses and waving them around
Last seen: playing kickball with a 50-pound salt block
Blogmom
Big and Orange
Mean Cat
NAMES: Big Cat. Mean Cat. Orange Cat.
NAMING RATIONALE: Er… duh.
DO THEY HAVE REAL NAMES? Of course they have real names.
ARE YOU GOING TO TELL US WHAT THEY ARE? No.
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Together they produce more shed hair than $#^@% Cousin Itt.
HOBBIES: Eating. Clawing. Sleeping. Shedding. Trying to murder one another.
NICKNAMES: Buddy-Bud. Sweetheart. Orange-stuff. Doofus-butt.
FAVORITE TOYS: Claude the Catnip Mouse, Sid the Squeaking Squid, and the approximately 200 little real-fur mice currently wedged under the couch.
BIG CAT’s FAVORITE FOOD: Barf-inducing grass.
MEAN CAT’s FAVORITE FOOD: Extruded plastic bags pulled out of the recycle bin.
ORANGE CAT’s FAVORITE FOOD: Whatever I’m having.
OTHER INTERESTING TRIVIA: Big Cat is just starting his second year of full remission from his diabetes thanks to a new type of insulin. Huzzah.
Black Bear
Sax on glass
NAMES: Norman and Saxon
SPECIES: Dendrobates leucomelas
HUH? Poison dart frogs-this kind are sometimes called Bumblebee frogs.
AREN’T THEY…YOU KNOW, POISONOUS? Not in captivity, no.
ARE YOU SURE? Yes.
REALLY SURE? BECAUSE THIS SEEMS LIKE A BAD IDEA. Trust me.
DISTINGUISHING FEATURES: Norman has a slightly asymmetrical black spot on his head. Saxon’s is perfectly symmetrical.
SIZE: about an inch, nose to rear.
FAVORITE FOOD: Fruitflies.
NICKNAMES: Little dudes.
HOBBIES: Climbing around, eating stuff, looking cool.
FAVORITE TOYS: Fruitflies.
ARE THEY YELLOW WITH BLACK STRIPES, OR BLACK WITH YELLOW STRIPES? Black with yellow. Their bellies are completely black, as are their tongues and the bottoms of their feet.
ARE YOU SURE THEY AREN’T DEADLY? I’m 99.97% sure…
Black Bear
Tabitha of the Fields
aka Tabbs
Use Name: Tabbs
Naming rationale: she’s a totally tabby cat
Official Name: Tabitha of the Fields
Occupation: ruling the household
Distinguishing features: a tail that sometimes flops forward over her back, and the fastest paw in town
Breed: distinguished scion of farmcats
Brief bio: a Millenium cat, chose us when she was about a year old (before which time she’d already had a kitten) and has remained small, picky, loving, and with a will of iron
Favorite food: Tandoori (curried) chicken
Endearing habits: climbing into bed and curling up under one’s chin, purring very loudly; reaching up from a lap and patting one’s face gently with a forepaw
Non-endearing habits: bringing carefully selected live mice into the bedroom so we can make progress in our hunting skills
AJLR
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