animals – every day's just like starting over

Today’s Philip

February 28, 2023 goingroundandround

I bought this shepherd’s hook and suet cage at an estate sale awhile back, and the birds have been enjoying the suet blocks I put out for a few weeks now. Unfortunately the squirrels have finally found it, and this is the result:

Hummingbird silhouette conveniently located.

The squirrels have knocked the suet cage off the hook a few times so the birds can’t get to it very well, and I don’t like that much. I did get this cute photo of two squirrels sitting close together though. I hadn’t seen them do that before. I’m not sure if these are the ones getting into the suet block, there were two others around the fence as well. I think they are happy with the sunny weather we are having for a couple of days!

Animals, Pets, Philip

Shadows

December 15, 2022 goingroundandround

Philip is suddenly obsessed with shadows, he has been chasing them all over the house for about a week now. His favorite is the shadow I make as I’m leaving my office. He can jump about four feet in the air to try to get my wiggling shadow fingers! It’s so funny how pets can obsess about things just like people do, ha.

Animals, Family, Life, Pets, Philip, Wordless Wednesday

The Hubs and His Cat Baby

November 2, 2022November 2, 2022 goingroundandround

Animals, Pets

The (House) Lion and the Lamb

August 31, 2022August 31, 2022 goingroundandround

This is Philip:

This is Lamby, Philip’s favorite toy:

This is Baby Philip biting on Lamby, instead of his Mama’s arms.

This is current Philip biting on Lamby instead of Daddy’s arms.

Philip enjoys biting Lamby and doing bunny-kicks. Lamby keeps our arms free from bites and scratches. Lamby is a good sport!

Animals, Guest Post, Pets, Tuffy

Hi, I’m Tuffy — Guest Blog Post

May 4, 2020October 28, 2020 goingroundandround

Hi, I’m Tuffy, and I am a big senior cat, age 12. I asked Mama if I could do a guest post on her blog to practice for my own blog and she said yes, I could. I am not so great at the spelling and stuff so she is helping me.

I will tell you some things about me. These are some things I like:

My family, especially Mama.
Wet foods, fish flavor.
Crunchy foods, fish flavor.
Snackers, fish flavor and actual fishies. Mama says the fishies are “freeze-dried minnows”.
My special water drinking fountain.
Being in my comfortable and safe home.
Napping in various places.
Rubs from Dad.
Pets from my family.
Laptime with Mama.
My catio.
Helping Mama in her office.
Scratching on my big carpet roll.
Playing with my birdie, mousie, and springie thingie.
Napping some more.
More laptime.
Sunbeams.
Doing zoomies after I potty, MOL!

Here are some things I don’t like:

Philip, our kitten. He is too wiggly and he jumps out at me a lot.
New people.
A human hand approaching me from the front of my face.
Wet foods, beef flavor.
Fleas.
When Mama is gone.
When my claws are too long.
Going to the doctor.
Itchy ears.

To learn more about me, head on over to my blog www.tuffyshome.wordpress.com !

Animals, Pets

Which Pet Is Best?

May 3, 2020May 4, 2020 goingroundandround

(From an essay I wrote for my English 101 class in college last week.)

Bears are some of the most adorable creatures in the animal kingdom. They are roly-poly, have cute faces, and look terribly cuddly. For these reasons they should make wonderful pets. In my opinion, however, cats make much better pets than bears. In this writing, we will examine the topics of each pet’s size, cost, and temperament.

First, cats are smaller and more portable. A cat can, in theory, be picked up and moved to wherever you want it to be. In order to move a bear, you might actually have to hire a team of movers, (or have donuts). In this same vein, a cat can fit on your lap for snuggles. A nice large bear could weigh a thousand pounds and would therefore not fit on a regulation-sized human lap, much as it might want to. A bear this size would likely squash your sofa, so sitting together watching television would not be very feasible. A cat-sized pet just works much better in your living room.

When you have a cat in the house he will easily find a place to sit or sleep, and will take short little naps throughout the day with bursts of speed or eating in between. Your bear would find it hard to get comfortable in most rooms of the house because of his size. You might have to remove your favorite coffee table to make space for him when you watch movies. He would undoubtedly insist on hibernating all winter long and would need his own room so he wouldn’t be woken by the washing machine or the coffeemaker. A new bear parent would likely fail to budget for an extra room for their pet, to say nothing of the amount of extra food the bear would want when he wakes up from his long winter’s nap.

As far as food goes, cats do not eat very much. One can of cat food plus three-quarters of a cup of crunchy food per day is enough for most cats, with a freeze-dried minnow or two at snacktime. Our large bear friend could eat up to 90 pounds of food per day just before hibernating, and that would need to be fresh-caught wild salmon at between fourteen and seventeen dollars per pound. This might be cost-prohibitive for most ordinary pet owners. The bear would also be very interested in all of your food and treats, especially donuts. While your cat might taste your donut, he wouldn’t really care much about it. Your bear would eat your donut off your plate and demand the other eleven donuts. It would be very hard to keep donuts in the house if your pet was a bear.

A bear is a wild animal, and is therefore unpredictable. While you might argue that domestic cats can also be unpredictable, the damage that could be done by a capricious cat is not the same as what could be done by a bear who, say, suddenly decides he doesn’t like the movie you’re watching and tries to eat your new T.V. While your cat might get testy for no reason and scratch or bite you, a little soap, water, and Neosporin will usually take care of the problem. You would have to be much more careful not to annoy your bear, because a scratch or bite from him would undoubtedly cause more extensive damage. An E.R. trip might be in order, with the added expense of an ambulance ride, and nobody wants that.

In conclusion, while bears are delightful animals (and could actually guard your house, which cats mostly refuse to do), I think most will agree that cats score higher on the list of pet pros than bears do. Cats eat less, take up less space, and while just as easily annoyed as bears, do not have the capacity to cause as much pandemonium. And since there are so many more cats than bears available, you can literally always find one (or more) to invite into your home. Your kitty will reward you with cuddles and purrs, as well as playtime and laptime – and there are not many things better than those!

Animals, Fun, Travel

Safari

July 20, 2011May 1, 2015 goingroundandround

My son, my parents, and I just returned from a trip to California to celebrate my Aunt S~’s 70th birthday. On the way home we decided to stop at Wildlife Safari in Winston, Oregon. You drive your car through the park, stopping where you like to watch the animals. The big cats – lions, tigers,and cheetahs – used to roam about like the the rest of the animals but are now all behind fences so I couldn’t get clear photos of them. Same with the elephants. But, my son got great photos of one non-vegetarian type – you’ll see them at the end of the post! Here are some of the critters we saw.

Rhinoceros derrieres. The sign said to keep “3 car-lengths away” from the rhinos. It wasn’t a problem, as they turned their pointy noses up at us and then ignored us completely.

The elands didn’t seem to mind our car…