Friday, January 26, 2024

All things go

I've got to be honest, I have had recurring thoughts lately of shutting down this blorg. I'm not sure why, aside from a general feeling that the internets have become something I want to use only in a very methodical, efficient way and then turn my attention away from entirely. And if I come here and post a rabbit each month, methodically? Well, that's pretty boring, number one. I was going to say number two, I'm running out of locations for my monthly rabbit photo shoot, but that's ridiculous. THE WORLD IS MY RABBIT RABBIT OYSTER.

Maybe I'll start a newsletter? is a thought I've had on and off for three or four years. I have actually signed up for and then deleted several different newslettering platforms over the years. 

Maybe Google will eliminate Blogger is a thought I've had on and off for at least 15 years. Also, Why on earth hasn't Google eliminated Blogger, no one but me uses it anymore.

I realized today that I started this thing almost 19 years ago, and so I decided I should keep going at least until my big 20th anniversary, assuming Google doesn't pull the plug in the next 16 months. To wit:


This month in animals:

CROWS. Holly and I made a pledge to become old ladies who are friends with crows, and to that end I am continuing to foster my relationship with the crows in my yard and on my regular dog walking routes. Yesterday in the grocery store parking lot I stuck my hand in my pocket and pulled out peanuts, a penny (lucky: found on the ground), and a couple of rocks. I am a 12-year-old pretending to have a bank account and a driver's license and two grown children.

BEARS.

BEARS. Langlais Sculpture Preserve. 

CLOVER. Clover in boots, Clover in a jacket. Clover in Mark's arms, because we didn't put her boots on and her paws hurt from the salted sidewalks.

I'm Virginia, adoring and worrying over you (you're Pinka, her beloved spaniel).


Wednesday, October 18, 2023

The roly-poly pudding

Why have I never heard about Pushinka, the adorable offspring of Soviet space dog Strelka? She was a gift to JFK from Khrushchev and had to be poked and prodded by the CIA before she could move into the White House, poor thing. It's no wonder she became "a little nippy" at some point in her life. Supposedly her descendants are still living today, which...mixed feelings.

Samuel Whiskers, drawn by Beatrix Potter

Also, I have to tell you a disturbing story, but please don't let it stop you from coming to visit me. This summer, I saw a vole in our yard (cute!). I'd see it frequently, scurrying. Then one day I saw beneath the bird feeder this Disneyesque scene: some birds, a squirrel, the vole, and another little creature that...might be...a rat. I would see the maybe rat here and there, out of the corner of my eye scampering into the garden after that, and convince myself probably it wasn't a rat (it was kind of sweet looking, and brown). Yesterday I looked out the window whilst working and saw this horrifying tableaux: SIX FUCKING RATS IN MY YARD. Possibly a mama and five adolescent offspring. One of them shimmied up the birdfeeder pole before being stymied by the squirrel rat baffle. This story is To Be Continued, because the ending is Unclear at the Moment.