Tammy: Feelin' Fine

Have had some scary time lately with Tammy, my miniature dachshund.  Two weeks ago she hurt her back around her hind quarters area.  I took her to the vet and sure enough, she probably injured herself jumping onto and off from the sofa and bed all this time.  The vet gave her three medications and I've been sleeping in the living room since then, close to where she's made a nest of her blankets on the floor.  Just making her take it easy.

Fourteen days later and Tammy is much better!  She's still not allowed to try to jump onto furniture, so I've been carefully picking her up and putting her on the sofa so she can be near me while I work.  She seems to be satisfied with the arrangement.  Here she is from this afternoon:

A very dear friend is in the process of making Tammy a set of ramps that she can use to get on the bed and sofa without risk of injury.  Which maybe I should have done a long time ago already.

But for the time being, she is recovered and spunky as ever.  She's happy, and that makes me happy too :-)

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Tammy the Pup: Caught in the act

I really should post more pics of Tammy, my miniature dachshund.  She's just so cute and comical... and sometimes too smart for her own good.  She has also literally saved my life and sanity.  I would be a far different person - and maybe not here at all - were it not for Tammy.

So last night we were getting ready for our Saturday evening ritual of tuning in to Svengoolie, on the MeTV network.  I was finishing up a few things at my desk before the show, and Tammy had peeked her head out from under her blanket.  And she just looked so cute, reclining back on the sofa.  It was such a good pose that I picked up my iPhone to snap her picture.

And it so happened that I caught her about to yawn.  I quickly hit the button.  And got this pic:

Maybe I'll get lucky one day and be able to snag some video of her yawning, because she sounds really sweet when she does that.

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Something I made a while back...

That's my little girl Tammy, in a photo made by my friend Tim Talley.

Just one of many things I have learned in the past few years.  And anyone who claims that a dog or cat doesn't have a soul, has obviously never owned one.

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When animals attack: cows and snakes

A man in Brazil has died after a cow on top of his roof crashed through the ceiling of his house and crushed him in his bed.

From the story at The Telegraph...

The cow is believed to have escaped from a nearby farm and climbed onto the roof of the couple's house, which backs onto a steep hill on Wednesday night.

The corrugated roof immediately gave way and the one-and-a-half-ton animal fell eight feet onto Mr de Souza's side of the bed.

His wife, and the cow, both reportedly escaped unharmed.

Rescuers took Mr de Souza to hospital with a fractured left leg but no other obvious injuries, reporting that he was conscious and talking normally.

Hours later however he died from internal bleeding while still waiting to be seen by doctors, according to his family.

Mr de Souza's brother-in-law Carlos Correa told Brazil's Hoje em Dia newspaper: "Being crushed by a cow in your bed is the last way you expect to leave this earth.

"But in my view it wasn't the cow that killed our Joao, it was the unacceptable time he spent waiting to be examined."

His grieving mother, Maria de Souza, told Brazil's SuperCanal TV channel: "I didn't bring my son up to be killed by a falling cow."

 Meanwhile over in Israel, another man is recovering after he went to a restroom to "drain the main vein" and a snake leaped out of the toilet and bit him on his penis.

Fortunately it was small (the snake, not the... nevermind).  And it was also determined at the hospital to be non-poisonous (again, the snake).

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Name these two dogs!

These two sweet little chihuahuas need help.  Your help!

They have a home.  They have love.  They just need names.

My girlfriend brought them home this past weekend from an animal adoption agency.  Right now their names are Lou and Blue.  Lou is toward the top of the photo and Blue is in the bottom half.  They are a mother-and-son pair and Kristen took both of them into her heart and home.  And they are absolutely cute and sweet and loaded with personality.

But Kristen is thinking that they need some real names.  I mean, "Lou" and "Blue" are what they came up with at the agency, after these two were rescued from a really horrible situation.  They each deserve a proper christening.

So I'm putting it to this blog's readers: what would y'all suggest we name them?  Remember, they're a mother-and-son pair, and Kristen would like that to be borne in mind.  Name ideas don't have to be of fictional or nonfictional mothers and sons, but please nothing intimating errr... "improper" relationships!  Blue is a good son and is very protective of his mommy.

(No, I don't want to hear him being called "Norman" either...)

And if you are thinking about bringing a new pet into your life, I really can't ask enough that you consider getting one from an animal adoption outfit.  These are dogs and cats that deserve a good loving home and will definitely show their appreciation for it (Lou and Blue already have to Kristen).  For just a small fee you can start providing a good life for a pet which otherwise would never have one.  Lou and Blue came from Planned Pethood Clinic & Adoption Center in Rocky Mount, Virginia.  But if you don't live in the area around Franklin County or Roanoke, there are many reputable agencies throughout the country which you can contact.

So, you think you can help these little guys with some shiny new monickers?  Let's hear 'em!

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This week's Tammy Tuesday is a case of equine envy!

Poor Tammy.  Ever since I brought her home last year, she has often sat alongside the horse pasture next to our land and watched the horses.  I can't help but think that deep down, she believes she's going to grow up to be that big someday, too!

I always tell her that she doesn't need to be a horse and I wouldn't want her to be one either! I mean, a horse can't snuggle up next to you on a sofa while you read a book. It can't play with you indoors. It can't sit patiently at the dinner table with those irresistibly cute eyes waiting for a tasty morsel of steak or barbecue chicken.  It can't lay against your bedroom door as you sleep at night, guarding you against monsters and the bogey-man.

And for my money, I think a miniature dachshund can outrun a horse any day!  For short distances anyway :-)

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Man's $150 "toy poodles" really ferrets on steroids

A retiree in Argentina bought two toy poodles for about $150 (American) each.  When he brought them home it was discovered that the "dogs" were in reality two ferrets pumped-up with steroids and then had their fur styled to make them look like poodles!

From Mail Online's article about this very bizarre con...

"Beware of rodent"

Gullible bargain hunters at Argentina's largest bazaar are forking out hundreds of dollars for what they think are gorgeous toy poodles, only to discover that their cute pooch is in fact a ferret pumped up on steroids.

One retired man from Catamarca, duped by the knock-down price for a pedigree dog, became suspicious he had bought what Argentinians call a 'Brazilian rat' and when he returned home took the 'dogs' to a vet for their vaccinations.

Imagine his surprise when his suspicious were confirmed - he had in fact purchased two ferrets that had been given steroids at birth to increase their size and then had some extra grooming to make their coats resemble a fluffy toy poodle.

Previously considered an urban legend of the giant La Salada market, local television news in the capital, Buenos Aires, discovered that the unidentified man was not alone - another woman had been told that she was buying a Chiuhuahua, but ended up with a ferret.

It's still not as weird as that surgery which turned a goat into a unicorn for the circus, but pretty crazy all the same.

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Les Misérables: Women steal 75 deodorant sticks, as pet cemeteries ordered to stop burying humans

In the state of New York a government agency is ordering pet cemeteries to cease and desist with interring the cremated remains of human pet owners with their beloved dogs and cats.

Meanwhile in Fort Pierce, Florida (I happen to have lots of family there) two women were taped by video surveillance at a Winn Dixie supermarket stealing seventy-five sticks of deodorant. Police figure the ladies will try to sell the deodorant to convenience stores.

Not the craziest stories that I've heard lately, but certainly worth passing along for your mirth and merriment :-P

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Out-Of-Season Bear Alert

I don't know if this warrants a 9-1-1 call or what, but to this blog's readers here in Rockingham County, North Carolina:

Be advised that a large black bear was spotted by Yours Truly on Vernon Road not far from Rockingham Community College earlier this evening.

Yeah, I'm certain it was a bear. At first I wondered if it might be a large black dog instead. Until I saw its face and muzzle. It's a bear all right.

It was acting a bit lethargic. Walking on all fours with its head going from side to side. Maybe he (or she) had just woken up from hibernation and was looking for a mid-winter snack?

Anyway, now y'all know. There's a bear somewhere around Vernon Road.

Ummm... don't tease it?

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Why are fish and birds mass-perishing all over the world?

Awright, so at this point we've got...

...Thousands of dead fish and birds in Arkansas

...Thousands of dead fish in a river in Florida

...Bunches of dead birds in Kentucky

...More dead birds in Louisiana

...Thousands of dead fish in the Chesapeake Bay area

...Dead fish in New Zealand

...Countless birds found dead in Sweden

...Tons of dead fish washing ashore in Brazil

...Thousands of dead birds found in eastern Texas

So, what's going on here? This kind of thing worldwide, I'm rather reminded of what Goldfinger told James Bond: that first is happenstance, a second time is coincidence, a third time or more is... something else?

No, don't go calling me a "conspiracy theorist" or anything like that. But any person would be hard-pressed not to admit: that is a rather peculiar (and disturbing) pattern going on lately.

EDIT 4:29 p.m. EST: Add 40,000 dead crabs washed ashore in Great Britain to the list of weird animal deaths over the past several days.

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First animals discovered that live without oxygen

Meet Loricifera, a group of tiny aquatic multi-cellular animals. And they are now the first form of animal found to be completely absent of the need for oxygen for its metabolism.

Quite exotic and interesting, yes? Perhaps this means that other, maybe even more complex, organisms might be found in other environments that do no require oxygen.

More info at the link.

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All creatures great and gluttonous

Outside my window is a wooden bird feeder. All this winter I've kept it well stocked with sunflower seeds and whatnot, and it's proven especially popular with our local feathered friends during the recent spate of harsh weather. 'Tis been quite good fun watching the cardinals and blue jays flutter in and get their fill.

Well a short while ago a new customer flew into the joint. It was a woodpecker...

...and he's pecking away furiously on the wooden sides of the feeder!

Hey Woody: it's a bird feeder, not bird food!

But I guess I have no choice but to let him have at it. My feeder enjoys too great a reputation as an "all you can eat" establishment and the woodpecker is determined to take me at my word.

Maybe next year I should change it to a metal feeder and leave out some strips of bark for the cellulose-loving clientele...

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Tricky the Coyote hits car at 75 mph, is trapped between grill and radiator and gets taken on 600 mile ride... and SURVIVES

Sometimes, the headlines simply demand to write themselves.

Crash here for the tale of Daniel East, his sister Tevyn, and how they inadvertently brought Tricky through a harrowing eight-hour scenic tour of the desert wasteland of Utah and Nevada.

Tricky not only lived, but he suffered just a few minor scrapes on his paws.

(And methinks Tricky should sign an endorsement deal with ACME while that iron is still hot.)

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English schoolkids vote Marcus the lamb to the slaughterhouse

(Not Marcus after slaughter and sectioning, but an incredible simulation)

Elementary students in Kent, Great Britain have elected to send a lamb they reared as a school project off to be slaughtered and rendered into succulent ribs and chops.

The decision to dispatch the lamb, which the students had named Marcus, has met with outcry from "grown-ups"...

Marcus the six-month-old lamb has now been culled, the head teacher of the primary school in Kent confirmed on Monday, after the school's council -- a 14-member group of children aged 6 to 11 -- voted 13-1 to have him killed.

The decision has provoked fury among animal-loving celebrities, animal and human rights campaigners and the parents of some of the children, and led to threats against Lydd primary school and its teachers, according to a member of staff.

Around 250 children at the school take part in a program designed to teach them about rearing and breeding animals.

The educational farm was started this year, with Marcus being hand-fed by the children. The children also look after ducks, chickens, rabbits and guinea pigs.

The intention had been to buy pigs with the money raised from slaughtering Marcus, but those plans have been put on hold following the furor created by the lamb's culling. The school said the program may now have to be stopped.

"It's all up in the air," said a member of staff. "There's been so much pressure on us as a result of all this."

Despite that, the school said there had been overwhelming support among the children, the staff and most of the parents to have Marcus -- a castrated male who could not have been used for breeding -- sent to the slaughterhouse.

But opponents branded it heartless and cruel, with animal rights campaigners asking why Marcus could not have been used to teach the children about wool, and human rights campaigners worried about the emotional impact of Marcus's death on the children.

A popular talkshow host offered to buy the lamb and give it sanctuary and Facebook groups sprung up to rally support to keep Marcus alive. But the children had the final say. The school defended the children's decision, calling it educational.

The kids are showing more wisdom and business sense than the adults here. Great Britain is becoming notoriously crazy about animal rights, often into the realm of the ridiculous.

(And that's the opinion of a guy who just got huge grief from someone about his shooting three groundhogs to death in his vegetable garden.)

But hey, I wouldn't dream of letting a story like this pass without an obligatory cameo appearance from one Dr. Hannibal Lecter...

"They were slaughtering the spring lambs? And you ran away? Where were you going, Clarice? What became of your lamb, Clarice? You still wake up sometimes, don't you? You wake up in the dark and hear the screaming of the lambs. And you think if you save poor Catherine, you could make them stop, don't you? You think if Catherine lives, you won't wake up in the dark ever again to that awful screaming of the lambs."

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Scientists levitate mouse with magnets

Sounds like a Marvel Comic character in the making, doesn't it?

Scientists working for NASA have created a device which uses magnetic fields to levitate small animals (in this case, a three-week old mouse) in an effort to simulate and study various amounts of gravity.

Click here for more about Magneto-Mouse.

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Elon dorms plagued by bats!

I just had to post about this 'cuz I'm an Elon alum and have friends from there who read this blog: Virginia, West and Sloan dormitories at Elon University have been invaded by bats.

Fourteen students already moved in but had to evacuate for two days while the bats (mostly in Virginia) were removed. Elon's fine maintenance crew (you know, the ones who have to paint the grass green whenever the school's honchos come to visit) installed a gadget that emitted sonic frequencies which drove the chiropterae to flee the premises. Then various holes in the dorms were patched up with caulking so that the bats couldn't get back in.

If Virginia has problems with bats, then Lord only knows what is lurking inside Smith...

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Radioactive wasp nests plague dump site

Sounds like a Fifties B-movie, or maybe the genesis of a new Spider-Man villain: the country's most contaminated nuclear waste site has provided building material for swarms of wasps building their nests and now the nests themselves are loaded with radioactive isotopes of cesium and cobalt. The Hanford nuclear reservation near Yakima, Washington is currently being cleaned up and workers are having to deal with the nests, which fortunately have already been abandoned by the wasps.

I must admit: 'twould have been a pretty awesome sight to see the skies of Yakima filled with giant glowing wasps :-P

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Tale of the Zombie Sea-Monkeys

A little over a month ago I was in Greensboro on some afternoon's business. While there I went into that new Target store on the north side of town, more or less to oggle the Star Wars toys (and if need be to straighten them up and make them look neat and tidy, 'cuz that's what all his friends do now that Darth Larry is on the other side of the country... but that's a story for another day).

Anyway, it was in the toy section that I spotted a package of Sea-Monkeys: those "adorable" brine shrimp that have been a classic gimmick for over a half-century now. I'd had 'em before, most recently as of about six years ago. So pretty much out of whimsy I bought a set of them for nine bucks. For that you get the aquarium tank, the "water purifier" package, the envelope containing the Sea-Monkey eggs, and the food which can last about a year if you use the included measuring spoon. I also got a sealed jug of distilled water, because when it comes to Sea-Monkeys the higher the quality of water, the better.

I started that night on the process of bringing my new charges to glorious life. First I poured the water into the aquarium, mixed in the purifier and per the instructions waited for 24 hours. The following night I opened the packet of eggs, dropped them in and gave the whole primordial soup some vigorous "wake up" action with a spoon.

You could barely see them come the next day, but with the right lighting some very tiny specks could be observed flitting through the water. Within another three or four days they were far more visible. Five days after hatching I gave them their first bit of food.

And then the weather turned unseasonably cold, and the Sea-Monkeys were in a part of my home that doesn't get that much warmth when the heat is turned on.

Long story short: my Sea-Monkeys apparently died. Frozen to death, barely a week after tasting life beyond the state of suspended animation in their egg state.

I did some research and it looks like brine shrimp can be very temperature sensitive once they have been "vitalized". I spent the next several days watching often for any evidence that there had been survivors. Alas! There were none to be found. So I sadly wrote them off as casualties of my own gross neglect, and contemplated what to do next. Perhaps give them a dignified burial at sea courtesy of the bathroom toilet?

For whatever reason, I didn't do that right off. Got busy with other things. And then a week and a half later, I happened to catch something moving in the aquarium.

The Sea-Monkeys... had come back from the dead.

They are still swimming around as of this writing, active and supposedly content. But curiously, they are also now much bigger than I have ever personally seen Sea-Monkeys before. There are four or five of them in particular that are of positively monstrous size.

So as if my life didn't have enough craziness in it, I've now somehow cultivated undead Sea-Monkeys. Whatever it is that's going on in that tank is a phenomenon that I've never seen before, after having three or four batches of these critters over the years.

So... anyone else had any experience with "zombie" Sea-Monkeys? Feel free to leave a comment if you have! :-)

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The Google Goats

In an effort to encourage "a more carbon-friendly, less polluting alternative to lawn mowers", Google has turned to employing goats to chew down the excessive vegetation on its sprawling California campus.

Here are the Google Goats hard at work...

The idea isn't entirely without precedent. During the World War I years First Lady Edith Wilson kept the White House lawn "mowed" by letting her family's sheep graze freely on the grounds. Maybe Obama could follow Google and the Wilsons' example and demonstrate some real environmentalism at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? :-)

Well anyway, I think it's a pretty neat story. Having grown up on a farm with a number of goats I can attest that they can eat anything, and will faithfully keep the grass and weeds at bay. Who knows: maybe with some good PR, goats and sheep can become the next "cool" pets to own.

(And as an added bonus, they can provide goats milk and lambchops!)

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Study sez: Lobsters and crabs feel pain

Next time you go to Red Lobster and order a succulent, mouth-watering lobster or some crab legs, it may or may not interest you to know that according to a new study lobsters and crabs and other crustaceans are now said to register the sensation of pain throughout their neurobiology.

And incidentally, there is already talk about legislation that would protect crustaceans from "cruelty" like cultivating them so they can be thrown into cooking pots, etc.

That makes no sense. I mean, for the longest time we've been raising cattle on farms and ranches, for the explicit purpose of eventually slaughtering them so they can be turned into steaks and hamburgers. Same thing with pigs destined to become a plate of barbecue or a slab of ribs. What next: a study showing that bananas scream in agony when they're plucked from the stalk?

'Course, there's always this compelling evidence from a 1988 episode of Garfield and Friends demonstrating that lobsters not only have sensation, but they can feel lonely too. Here is "Maine Course"...

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