5095 Disappearing varmints

Monday, February 13, 2017

Girl Scouts is a brand-name cookie company
that gets away with child labor.

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Remember when cable TV subscription meant no commercials on their proprietary channels?   Your monthly subscription payments were supposed to eliminate the need for commercials.  That's what they told us, anyway.  

I got Sirius radio on my car seven years ago, and back then there were no commercials.  Now not only has the subscription fee doubled, but I'm hearing loads of commercials.

I don't understand....

Well, actually I do, I just don't want to.

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My neighborhood varmints have disappeared!

When I first moved in here, every evening there were bunnies in the front yard.  Almost every evening an opossum would wander onto the porch, and a family of raccoons would raid the neighbor's garbage cans.  (According to neighbor George, the raccoons had been living in the buried truck in my back bank for decades.)

We had at least two regular skunk visitors.  I know there were at least two because one of them had only half a tail, so he was easy to identify.   They were totally unafraid; one walked across my foot one evening.  

Twice deer cut through my yard while I was standing there, and one evening two does sauntered down the middle of the street, heading toward the bay. 

And we had loads of squirrels.

In short, my tiny yard was full of varmints. 

I'm seeing a lot fewer seagulls and terns, too.  There used to be for years a pair of year-round resident swans on the lake out back, and I don't recall seeing them in at least the past year.

I slowly became aware over the past two years that they all seem to have disappeared.  All gone.  All the beasties.  All but the squirrels, and there are a lot fewer of them.  

What happened to them?  Nothing has changed, not that I know of, anyway.  Poison isn't likely, given the diversity.  Coyotes or foxes are unlikely, because they don't usually get squirrels.  Dogs don't run loose here, but cats do, and I hear outdoor cats are disappearing, too.

I don't understand.  It worries me.
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1513 Ashes to Ashes

Wednesday, October 18, 2007

I don't trust animal crematoriums at all, even the regulated and inspected ones. You send a 90 lb. dog, and you get back a cup of ashes. You send a 30 lb. dog, and you get back a cup of ashes. You send a 10 lb. cat, and you get back a half a cup of ashes. You send a 30 lb. big-boned Maine Coon cat, and you get back a half a cup of ashes.

Seems like there's a formula: dog = 1 cup, cat = 1/2 cup. I half suspect they cremate several animals at once, and then just apportion out the mixed ashes.

Not that it really matters that much. When you disperse the ashes in a loved place, it's really the idea that counts.

Speaking of cremation, there's something that has been bothering me for years. Humans don't burn down to powder. No matter what the temperature or time, there will be very brittle pieces of bone that kind of hold together and continue to look like bone. So the crematorium crushes the remains before they return them. When I scattered Jay's ashes on my mountain, there were many hard bits of obvious bone, the size of the pink part of my pinky fingernail.

Now here's what bothers me: there were no bits of metal. The man was full of metal. He had a Greenfield filter, and lots of clips and plates holding his skull together, and some other stuff. I expected to see melted pellets of metal. I didn't. Why not?

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Joke I heard recently:

A scientist goes to God, and says, "Lord, we don't need you anymore. Scientific advances have allowed us to now make the shape of a man from dirt, treat the dirt, and breathe life into the form. Now that we can do everything you can do, you can retire."

God answers, "You can create life? Show me."

So the scientist kneels down and starts scraping dirt into a pile.

God stops him, wagging His finger. "Uh uh. Use your own dirt."
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1195 Animal Games

Thursday, April 5, 2007
[4/6 Edit - fixed the date.]

A friend sent me a description and observation from her friend, who had seen three young rabbits playing leapfrog, almost exactly the way children play it. They lined up, and the end rabbit jumped over each of the other two, then the end rabbit jumped over two, and the line of bunnies progressed across the lawn that way. She had seen squirrels "playing" before, but was surprised that rabbits play, too.

I'm not. I have several times seen two rabbits playing leapfrog, taking turns leaping over each other. Almost all young animals have games of some kind, games that can only be described as games because they don't seem to have any survival purpose, and the animals are so obviously enjoying them.

I've seen the calves down the road play something that looks a lot like tag. They have another game where they form a circle, all facing in, and they stand very still for a moment, and then suddenly one calf will break out and run away, and all the others try to catch her. Year after year the calves play the same games, and you have to wonder where they learn them.

In mammals, play usually seems to disappear at puberty, but not always.

I've watched adult crows play. One favorite game is where everybody forms a line in the sky, then the line loops around to form a horizontal figure 8, and the crows go 'round and 'round the figure 8, interweaving at the crossing. As each crow interleaves, alternates, through the crossing, they caw loudly. The enjoyment is obvious.

If joy is an emotion, how can people say animals don't experience emotions?

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The day was spent on catching up on emails, and on the telephone. FirstWoman called in the morning, and we talked for quite a while. The Man called on his way into work at noon, and we talked for quite a while. The lady from the volunteer program called to ask if I could man a table at a charity fair. We didn't talk long, because I wasn't available that day. I called Piper to find out how his lady is doing, and we talked for maybe a half hour (she's fine). Roman called this evening, and we talked for quite a while.

For someone who hates the telephone, I sure am appreciating calls these days. Maybe I've finally just found people I like talking to on the phone.
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