Leo The Water Dog
Tag: Animals
I Want To Be Where The People Are
Petey the harbor seal is sad. He has slithered across shells and seaweed to watch the widow Stella once again fry up eggs for one. Ever since Galen went to be with the Lord, Stella has been very lonely. When she looks out the window, she sees Petey watching her.
So she decides to make a friend. But when she has eaten her breakfast, Petey is long gone. Determined, she ties a kerchief ’round her noggin and gallops into the cold Atlantic Ocean until she retrieves Petey.
“Catch of the day,” she yells into the salty air, and a shiver goes down Petey’s spine.
Stella is so, so lonely. Petey has second thoughts. Stella doesn’t understand personal space.
Petey decides he doesn’t want to be where the people are. He is totally cool being where the sharks are.
But Stella invites him to visit with her and her neighbor Bruce. Doesn’t Petey look happy?
Petey learns that hind flippers are of no use on a cheap throw rug. Still, he is determined. At dawn, he rolls himself onto the original hardwood floor and off the sun porch into the sand. A trio of nuns spots him as he enters the water.
But Petey doesn’t need their blessing now. He is home free. Godspeed, Petey. Godspeed.
Note: All images are from National Geographic. The seal is actually named Shag, and he was adopted by the Horstman family in Longport, New Jersey. Not that that makes it any less weird.
Do Not Touch. Okay, Maybe Just A Little.
Signs don’t matter when the on-duty service animal is too cute for words. In Louisburg, North Carolina, Tonto (a “seeing-eye” miniature horse) learns restaurant etiquette from his trainers.
Why use a horse instead of a dog? For one, horses have eyes on the sides of their heads, with a range of nearly 350 degrees. Horses can also see clearly in almost total darkness. According to The Guide Horse Foundation, the ideal Guide Horse owner includes:
- Horse lovers – Blind people who have grown up with horses and understand equine behavior and care are ideal candidates.
- Allergenic people – Many people who are severely allergic to traditional guide animals and find horses a non-allergenic alternative for mobility. Horses do not get fleas and only shed twice per year.
- Mature Individuals – Many people report difficulty dealing with the grief of losing their animals, and horses tend to live far longer than traditional guides, up to fifty years.
- Physically Disabled folks – Because of their docile nature, Guide Horses are easier to handle for individuals with physical disabilities. They are also strong enough to provide support, helping the handler to rise from their chair.
- Dog Phobia – Individuals who fear dogs are often comfortable working with a tiny horse.
- Outdoor Animal – Many individuals prefer a guide animal that does not have to live in the house when off duty
- Attention Horse: Horses are not addicted to human affection and will stand quietly when on duty.
Baby Mine
Polly, Want Two Crackers?
Two jovial Chicago ladies, arm in arm, become bird perches at Miami’s Parrot Jungle. I love their smiles, the hat, the earrings, the glasses, the lace pocket, the buttons–every bit of it! Carpe diem, ladies.
Plug-Ugly Pugs
I had no idea folks used the term “plug-ugly” back in days of yore. I would have loved to hear my grandparents tell me someone’s hair was plug-ugly. But there’s a good chance they’d heard it:
Per http://www.phrases.org.uk,
The Plug Uglies were a street gang operating out of Baltimore, Maryland in the 1850s…Gangs called the Rip Raps, the Know Nothings and the Plug Uglies fought pitched battles in the streets and these events were widely reported at the time…’Plug-ugly’ is an expression mostly found in the USA. In other parts of the English-speaking world you are just as likely to hear ‘pug-ugly’, which has the same meaning.
Not only are pugs hard on the eyes, they reign as the Chevy Nova of the canine world.
No matter how you slice it, pugs are defective. And plug-ugly.
Well, maybe not this one.
Extending The Olive Branch
Happy Stingrays
Spring Is Here: Let Us Feed Deer From Cups
Alice In Dairyland
That’s A Big Fat Nope
Hindu women in Shirala, India bow before a “Nalla Pambu” (good snake), a symbol of fertility. Call it what you will, but no snake is a good snake to me. I don’t care if it eats rats. I’ll take rats over venomous snakes any day. Per wikipedia,
The Indian cobra’s venom mainly contains a powerful post-synaptic neurotoxin and cardiotoxin. The venom acts on the synaptic gaps of the nerves, thereby paralyzing muscles, and in severe bites leading to respiratory failure or cardiac arrest.
Good snake, my butt. That snake doesn’t give life; it takes it.
Look, ladies, I feel you on the infertility front. I’ve jabbed needles of Ovidrel in my belly, popped Clomid, and spent hours at the fertility clinic while they spin out the wonky husband samples to find the best and brightest swimmers. More than once. It was expensive and unsuccessful, and it can destroy a marriage. I’ve tried nearly everything under the sun. But never never would I get on my knees, prostrate and in striking range of a cobra.
Swimmers Of All Sizes
Elephants enjoy the sea at Sanary on the French Riviera. Visible in the upper right-hand corner is the big top of a traveling circus, which visited the port each summer.
I Don't Get It 