Did you know that this is the earliest spring in our lives. That’s right, thanks to a leap year weirdness the equinox is 2 days earlier (March 19 or 20 depending on your timezone) than it used to be. According to The Old Farmer’s Almanac equinoxes and solstices are happening earlier and earlier every year because of how leap year is calculated. When I was little it was always March 21st, this year it was on March 19. That means this was the earliest spring since 1896.
I will let The Almanac explain Why Spring Begins Early This Year
It all happens because the number of days in a year isn’t even. A year lasts 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds. Call it 365.2422 days. If only the year were 11 minutes longer, or 365.25000 days, we could simply add one day every fourth year and take care of the fraction forever.
But because Earth spins a hair less than 365 ¼ times per year, we must sometimes omit that extra once‑every‑four‑year day, and that’s what creates all this fussing. Skip three leap years every four centuries and you’re accurate to one day in about 3300 years. (We even deal with THAT little glitch by skipping February 29 in the year 4000.)
A calendar that doesn’t accurately divide days into the year starts going weirdly out of sync. Seasons start happening at odd times. In the previous Julian calendar (where all century years were leap years) the annual 11‑minute error accumulated to where equinoxes were happening around March 11. The Easter Bunny was hopping around in the snow!
The present calendar takes care of everything. This leap year will make 2016 have the earliest seasons of our lives (thus far!).
But Louise and Sofie don’t know that spring was early. They just want to chase the ducks. Have a great day!
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, Cat, cats, DogDaz, equinoz, fish, Leap year, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday, Spring
Setting the scene: (1) All the cats at the DogDaz Zoo live in the house. We just don’t want to worry about gathering them all up at night and what could happen with the cars, foxes, osprey, etc. (2) Mom had her eye surgery a few Thursday’s ago. The next day was spring warm and sunny, so we had the windows open and the doors screened. Mom was recuperating and mostly sleeping. (Do you sense where this is going?) (3) When Mom is traveling or laid up, the doggies go to Sonya the pet sitter. They were not home.
The scene: V was in the garage in the afternoon and in walked Mini Cooper from the backyard. Mini apparently managed to slide the sliding screen open and V put her back in the house, and that was that.
The panic: But it wasn’t just Mini. Later that day, when Mom went to feed the Zoo, Nine was nowhere to be found!!!! Flash lights, calling, walking the neighborhood. No Nine anywhere. Mom emailed the community and the county website and let them know he was missing (sadly another neighbor’s cat had gone missing the day before).
Saturday: Mom is not allowed to bend down or lift things because they worry about the pressure to her eyes, so she can’t go looking under things for Nine. Though the dogs were supposed to come home Sunday, Mom had Sonya bring them early so that they, especially Sofie, could help her look. Mom talked to all the neighbors and put them on alert. When the dogs got home she started a nose search of neighbors’ yards. Still no Nine.
Everyone was worried as the weather had turned cold and it was raining. Mom did not feel his energy in the yard but knew, with her ‘spidey’ sense, that he was not far. She kept sending Sofie and Louise out to search the yard and call to him in their doggy way.
9 PM Saturday night V hears meowing from the pool area. At first Nine wanted to run, but a nice can of Friskies made him realize he was more hungry than scared and it was time to come home.
Sofie was so happy he returned. Mini wouldn’t let him out of her sight (or the cat bed). He was tired and hungry but no worse for the adventure. He sure knew how to get Mom up and moving before she wanted to be.
– As reported by Noel, the stay at home, I would not leave if you paid me, Christmas Cat
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, Cat, cats, dog, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday
Mini Cooper loves to chase the fish. We have 3 tanks and she could spend all day looking at them. She loves to watch the fish so much that she ripped the backing off of the kitchen tank to get both a front and back view of her friends. I worry sometimes that the fish will have heart attacks because this giant creature keeps coming at them from every angle. (Can fish have strokes?**) I have even seen her stick her paw into the little slit on the top of the tank that we feed the fish through.
The picture above is how I see Mini Cooper looking through the tank.
The picture below is how I perceive the fish she her.
Ahhhhhhh! Get me out of here!!!!!
** Things I learn on the internet: I asked Google “Can Fish Have Strokes?” What I learned was that anything that has blood flow is able to have a stroke because a stroke is simply a blockage leading to a lack of oxygenated blood reaching any given area of the brain causing necrosis of brain tissue. Fish only have a 2 chambered heart. Stroke is usually seen in creatures with more chambers in the heart due to increased pressure that comes with each chamber. Mammals and birds have 4 chambered hearts, frogs have 3 chambers, and then fish have 2. Sadly, though a simple heart structure, it does appear that fish can have a stroke. I just hope not from Mini Cooper.
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, Cat, cats, DogDaz, fish, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday
To jump, or not to jump, that is the question: 
“Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, ’tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life;
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor’s wrong, the proud man’s contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscover’d country from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.–Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d.” – Hamlet by William Shakespeare
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Alas, I guess I better not. My Mom would kill me. – Sofie Bear
What mischief did you get in today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, hamlet, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday, William Shakespeare
2 PM Friday 8 AM Saturday 8 AM Sunday 29.2 inches of snow Lost the fence.
This record breaking blizzard was not fun. The dogs want the grass back!!!! Finally, Louise taught Sofie how to make a path to the pine trees where the snow was a little less deep. Happily spring is only 47 days, 3 hours, 7 minutes, and 24 seconds away (time now 23:22 EST).
What mischief did you get into today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, blizzard, blog hop, dog, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, funny dogs, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday, Snow
Louise does not really like any one (except maybe Mom) touching her. But Sofie, ever since she was a puppy, has made it her mission in life to cuddle up to Louise. Secretly maybe Louise likes it, but I don’t really think so. BOL (Bark Out Loud)
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, dog, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, funny dogs, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday
Nine appears to be having a conversation with the ghost that keeps the birds from hitting the big picture window. Does he see the ghost or is he looking right through him? Maybe their is a bird in the tree that he is staring at? All the cats like to sit and watch the birds. The whole reason we bought this house is because we feel like we are in a tree house in the living room with this big window. The big maple tree is right there and it gives the cats so much to watch (and us too). The wood peckers, juncos, sparrows, cardinals, titmice, yellow and house finch, and especially our little wrens, all love to amuse the cats. So many fun things to see out of a picture window.
What mischief did you get into today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, Cat, cat blog, Cat People, cats, DogDaz, domestic short hair, gray cat, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday
Mom was trying to get a picture with us (which is really hard since she’s always the one taking it). So she tried to take a selfie. I knew how to do it, but Louise clearly did not get the idea. – Sofie Bear
What mischief did you get in today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, dog, DogDaz, Dogs, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday
Who could complain about a winter’s day when it is so mild and sunny, surely not us! This time last year we could ice skate on the river, today we are chasing geese in the grass. Notice many of the boats with their winter coats on. They look like giant plastic wrap thingies. We had so much fun running on the dock with no humans around. We like winter for that reason. Mom lets us off leash so we can explore and sniff sniff sniff.
What mischief did you sniff out today?
Have a wonderful Monday!
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, blog hop, dog, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, funny dogs, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday
We were walking in the neighborhood and noticed that some people are really clear about where their property ends and their neighbor’s starts. Mom said that trees don’t care about boundary lines. The leaves fall freely where they may and don’t get all caught up in what side they are on. We like that idea. Animals don’t care about property lines either. That is why humans define our space with fences and such, because we would be like the leaves and go everywhere. If there is a squirrel in your yard, we are going to chase it no matter what! That only seems right.
What Mischief did you get into today?
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This is a blog hop. I hopped it from MYBrownNewfies. Check them out for more mischief.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Tags: Animal, animals, Autumn, blog hop, dog, DogBlog, DogDaz, Dogs, Fall, funny dogs, lorian lipton, Mischief Monday, Pet, pets, postaday
DogDaz Zoo 