Category Archives: wild kingdom

Kittens love Liam Neeson

kittenneeson
I made the mistake of letting the kittens watch Taken last night. Kittens, it turns out, love Liam Neeson movies. They spent the duration of the movie alternately stalking the TV and napping on the airbed so I thought we’d at least dodged the nightly 2 hour KittenCrazyFest.

I was mistaken.

Just as I got into bed, they got the signal from the Mothership. A few minutes of attacking the bed. And each other). A frantic episode of racing around the house. A few minutes of attacking the sheets. And my feet. And each other.

Rinse. Repeat.

They were so cute I hauled myself out of bed, grabbed the camera and sent Husband a video of the fun he was missing.

Then I grabbed the water pistol and put an end to the game and we all went to sleep.

I love the attack and flip maneuver (seen at 1:55), which never stops being adorable.

who gave those wild animals the silly idea that they were entitled to live in their habitat?

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I was drinking coffee and watching sandhill cranes by the lake this morning when a woman, who obviously lives in the neighborhood, let her yaptastic dog scare them off.

Well, you don’t scare a 4 foot tall bird away so much as you annoy it into leaving. I rather jealously wished I could fly away with the cranes.

Now, I enjoy incessant barking and owners who don’t clean up after their dogs as much as the next person, but I decided to make a little small-talk to let this woman know that by not controlling her dog she was harassing protected birds in a designated habitat, not to mention that walking her dog like that was going to result in tragedy sooner rather than later.

Admittedly, I was a little short with her as I watched her tiny terror run around.

Me: “That’s a bad idea.”

Her: (sneering) “You don’t believe the rumors about an alligator in the lake, do you?”

Me: “I did count 8 in there this morning.”

Woman: (condescension in full bloom) “HOW did you count them?”

(What kind of question is that?)

Me, pointing at the alligator her dog was barking at (who would have been about a foot outside the frame of this photo of the gator in question): “One…”

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click to view larger image

It amazes me how willfully ignorant people can be about their own environment. You aren’t in the city anymore and there are wild animals here. There’s ample, reputable information about alligators that’s easily obtainable (including in the neighborhood newsletter).

People make me tired.

Caturday

Some youtube videos of cats. Just because.


[embedded video: Sad Cat Diary]


[embedded video: The Pattycake Cats (original)]

I also love this version, which is in French with English subtitles and contains different, but equally amusing, dialogue.


[embedded video: Dansons la capucine]

Here’s a gratuitous link to the Finch and the Pea’s Science Caturday posts to add value and give the impression that this post was totally worth your time.

Smoking vulture brains: what could possibly go wrong? (hint: everything)

It’s hard to convince people to read stories about vultures, even stories about the endangered status of 7 out of 9 South African species due to the fact that people are smoking vulture brains to try to make themselves clairvoyant, so I’ll give you the whole final paragraph as a pull-quote to entice you to go read the whole article to see how the author gets from the lottery to brains.

The vulture’s extraordinary looks and activities have resulted in an undeservedly bad reputation. But by cleaning up dead bodies, they perform an essential role in the ecosystem. One I do not wish to live without. If only the South African government could have predicted that introducing the Lotto would have led to a dramatic increase in the death of these animals. But then, nothing can help you see the future. Least of all, smoking vulture brains.