Northern Gannets (by Fab Forns)
Tag Archives: nature
9.5.12 Buddliea and Butterflies
I can not help myself. Right now, there are so many beautiful butterflies in the garden that they are overwhelming me. Yellow Swallowtail, 2 kinds of black, some orange Monarchs, and a new one today – a Variegated Fritillary. We have lots of brown skippers and white cabbage moths too. They come right up and land on everything. They dance in groups and in pairs. It is like an amazing choreography of life – just for us. So, I had to take a short video with my silly smartphone to share with you, so that you might catch a glimpse of the incredible dance along with me. The butterflies entertain us for hours. We have planted for many years to maximize the butterflies and birds in the garden. The pool is surrounded by Buddleia, also known as ‘Butterfly Bush.’ We have a red, white, pink, light purple, and black night purple.
Our grove blooms all summer, so it is nonstop color and show. These deciduous shrubs are so easy to grow and always have a wonderful fragrance and a swarm of butterflies around them. The elongated flowers grow in clusters on arching branches that can get maybe 10 or 12 feet high (unless you cut them back – which is a good idea or they get leggy). I like the willow-like foliage that is a grayish green color and is pretty dense. The white Buddleia was here when we moved in (she must be at least 15 years old telling by her main stalk) and we have added 5 colors around her.
A new visitor today, just for you – Variegated Fritillary.
Make sure to tap this picture once with your pointer, so that you can get a close up and see his incredible colors. This is one of our Black Swallowtails.
Do you bring any interesting insects or creatures to your garden? Do you plant for anyone special (besides yourself and dogs and cats of course)? Yes, I do grow catnip.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤ 
9.2.12 Bad Mommy – But Sofie’s Ok
I am lacking inspiration and yes, I know why, but still it is hard to get moving on anything. It doesn’t help that the heat has returned and it is really unpleasant to be outside. So the dogs and I took a trip to PetSmart to return 2 big bags of kitten food that the kittens no longer need and to buy some new cat food and of course to get them treats. I was actually very excited about taking them on an adventure because we have not done that much the last few weeks. When we got to the store, I figured that I would be safe and I backed the truck up to the curb, so that when I let the dogs out, there would be less of a chance of them running into traffic. Well, you know how in parking lots that have those cement bumps on the ground for cars to park against, I think they have some special name like… “curb stops,” or something. 
When I opened the back door of the truck, the dogs were good and stayed until I told them to come out, but when Sofie jumped down she landed right on that cement bump and then proceeded to careen into the real curb, which was only 6″ or so away, and landed chin first. I was initially worried that she lost a tooth, but she appeared just dazed and did not whine or cry. So, being the ‘let’s just keep going no matter what,’ kind of person, I went into the store with them. It was about 5 minutes later, as we were admiring the guinea pigs (Note: please go to animal rescue (even guinea pigs), do not buy live animals from pet stores unless they are from an animal charity), that I realized she was bleeding all over the place. She had really scraped her chin bad. Thank goodness she did not loss any teeth. I swapped her down with a tissue but then went to the in store vet and asked them for some wet guise to clean her up. She did not like me touching it, but otherwise was ok and wanted to sniff and explore. We had a great exploration of the store, got 2 new eggcrate beds for their kennels, and a new rope toy. Did you notice how you always spend more money if your kids are with you in the grocery store (really, they have scientifically proven this to be true), well I absolutely spent more money because the dogs were with me in the pet store (or was it because I was suffering from Mommy guilt because one of my furries got hurt.) Good thing the cats weren’t with us or I would be broke.
“Lulu, I got a boo boo, can you make it feel better?” – Sofie Bear
Post Script: Sofie does not want me to touch the boo boo, but I have been trying to put antibiotic cream on it. She has been licking her paws a lot and I think that is because she is trying to rub it. She also won’t let me take a picture for you to see. But she is fine.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
“No Mommy – I do not want you to touch the boo boo and I really do not want you to take any pictures of it!”
8.31.12 PJ & Titan
Parker & Titan
While in New York taking Peanut to school, I had the opportunity to visit with my 14 month old grand nephew, Parker Jaxon, and my grand nephew cat, Titan. Titan is a very big guy and has been around many rotations of the earth before P.J. came along. He is a very tolerant cat and seemed to take the baby’s ‘little to hard’ pats, in stride. A few weeks ago I wrote about Madelyn Dawn, my 17 month old grand niece (from my other nephew), and the special relationship she appeared to be having with a nanny goat. Teaching children to be kind to animals is a pattern you set up for their whole life. There is still so much animal (and human) abuse on the planet. We teach by example. We teach others, especially children, by how we live. Taking care of your animals and having the children help feed and walk them can teach respect and compassion. Stopping violence against animals also is being recognized as an essential part of childhood education through a program called, humane education, in the schools. I believe that if you live the life you want your children to emulate and start teaching from the minute they are in your care; then there is a good chance they will grow up to be animal conscious humans – kind and caring. As the saying goes…. “All you need is love… and a cat.”
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
Thursday’s Nap
animals-animals-animals: Fossa (by A. Jaszlics)
A relative of the mongoose, the Fossa is unique to the forests of Madagascar, an African island in the Indian Ocean. Growing up to 6 feet (1.8 meters) long from nose to tail tip, and weighing up to 26 pounds (12 kilograms), the fossa is a slender-bodied catlike creature with little resemblance to its mongoose cousins. It is the largest carnivore and top predator native to Madagascar and is known to feed on lemurs and most other creatures it can get its claws on, from wild pigs to mice. Unlike mongooses, and more like felines, the fossa has retractable claws and fearsome catlike teeth. Its coat is reddish brown and its muzzle resembles that of a dog. The fossa is also equipped with a long tail that comes in handy while hunting and maneuvering amongst the tree branches. It can wield its tail like a tightrope walker’s pole and moves so swiftly through the trees that scientists have had trouble observing and researching it. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-for-Wildlife-and-Nature/279792438707552
8.30.12 He Tricked Me!
Source: http://images.fanpop.com/images/image_upl
Squirrels are definitely funny things. I am not a big fan of rodents, though I did learn to love guinea pigs and considered them more, well, like cats, but squirrels…. well the dog in me just thinks they are stupid.
We toss peanuts out back for the silly squirrels and they are usually gone within an hour. They like to steal the peanut holder along with the peanuts and hide things all over the place. Because of the dogs, our squirrels have learned to stay up in the trees, in the fenced pool area, or high on-top of the fence. The minute the dogs come into the yard the first thing they do is rodent/duck/fox patrol. “Where are they? Let’s run to the big tree and see if they are there? Maybe they’re by the pool where the birdies feed?” We used to have many more squirrels before the neighbor across the street deforested their property, cutting down like 30 old growth pine trees (to build a second driveway and an out building for the business he is not suppose to be running out of his home) and also before the red foxes moved into the area (due to fragmentation (read as: over building and destroying of natural habit) all around the peninsula I live on). There used to be dozens of bunny rabbits on our property too, but, sadly, they have been gone now for several years, since the foxes and raccoons came to town. There are still a few surviving squirrel however, though not in the numbers there used to be. So we feed them. We feel sad for them, and also, maybe we feed them so they leave the bird feeders alone (good luck with that one).
Squirrels can be found in almost every habitat throughout the world, except the coldest places. They generally live about six year, but “most urban squirrels do not reach their first birthday. This is due not to predators, but rather to automobiles. Compare this to its rural counterpart, which often perishes from lack of food.” (Squirrel History, squirrels.org)
When I was little (probably about 7 or 8), I befriended a Squirrel in my parent’s backyard. I named him ‘Sunday,’ because every Sunday I would take my Mother’s expensive nut mix (Brazil nuts, hazelnuts, cashews, etc.) and feed them to ‘Sunday.’ (She was not happy about that.) He would take them right out of my hand (freaking out my parents) and then proceed to hide them throughout the yard. Now all these years I believed he hid the nuts to come back to. I would go back weeks later and check and the nuts would be gone, so I felt that he had food for the winter. But in doing research for this blog I discovered that I have been under a misconception my whole life. ‘Sunday’ tricked me. “Squirrels have been known to pretend to bury the object if they feel that they are being watched. They do this by preparing the spot as usual, for instance digging a hole or widening a crack, miming the placement of the food while actually concealing it in their mouth, and then covering up the “cache” as if they had deposited the object.(Steve Grant, “The Squirrel’s Bag Of Tricks: They Can’t Get Out Of The Way Of Cars, But Other Behaviors Demonstrate Advanced Thinking (for A Rodent)“, The Hartford Courant, October 21, 2004.)
No matter what the experts say, I think I will keep the romantic idea of him burying my gifts and then coming back to feed his family, instead of my new found knowledge that he was just a tricksters.
Like I said, I think they are stupid; but cute.
Just another DogDaz morning at the zoo ❤
