Buttermilk

This goat is awesome --- but also kind of a dick.

Exotic Animal Tragedy

"A total of 49 wild animals were gunned down by police with pistols and high-powered rifles after escaping from a private preserve in Zanesville, Ohio Tuesday. The animals were moving into nearby neighborhoods, forcing residents of the town of 25,000 to stay indoors." - ABC news.

They didn't really escape, the man who ran the private zoo released them then took his own life. I feel sick from this story and felt the need to tell others about it. There is no blame to be put on the officers who shot the animals, they had no other options. The majority of the 56 animals released from the zoo were very dangerous --- literally lions, tigers and bears. The blame is to be put on the government that has some of the most lax laws in the country regarding exotic animals. I do not believe it should be legal for a private person or organization to own exotic animals. Sometimes I even have issues with small to medium sizezd zoos where the exhibits do not seem large, interesting or authentic enough.

Below is the ABC news clip that I watched as soon as I got to the internet this morning (I heard about this story on The Bear on my drive into work).

Quotable Thursday #44

"Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a function." - Unknown.

Wookie Puppy

Found this guy on Cute Overload the other day and thought it was so adorably nerdy – I had to share it.

Stony Swamp

 

 

 

 

I went for a walk today along one of the Stony Swamp Trails called Lime Kiln. It was during this walk that I remember why I usually only go in the Spring and Fall – bugs. There were so many mosquitoes and deer/black flies buzzing around it was ridiculous. As a result, I am now covered in bug bites and am feeling very itchy. It is a very nice trail though.
“The Flood Lime Kiln is one of the few remaining examples of a 19th-century industrial lime kiln in Canada. Lime was an important building and household chemical used to make mortar, fertilizer, whitewash, plaster and many other products. Francis Flood built this kiln in the late 1800s on a miniature escarpment of exposed limestone bedrock known as the Hazeldean Fault. Most lime producers went out of business in the early 1900s as new larger industrial kilns  were constructed and Portland cement was introduced from Europe. The Flood ceased operations in 1906, and the site was abandoned and fell into disrepair. The ruins of the kiln were rediscovered and its significance realized in the 1970s. The site was restored in 1999.” From one of the plaques at the Lime Kiln Trail.
I had tried to get to the Lime Kiln last year but ended up at Chipmunk and/or Beaver trail every time I ventured out that way. You see as I drive down Moodie Drive to get to the parking lots, I always get excited and end up turning into one of the first ones and walking along that trail. Parking lot 10 is the entrance to the Lime Kiln trail and is situated a little bit down the road, past parking lots 8 and 9 where you gain access to Chipmunk/Beaver and Jack Pine trail, respectively. This time I worked very hard on driving past these lots and toward lot 10.
Despite the bugs, I managed to get some nice shots of the ruins and of a happy, little frog (okay, terrified, fairly large frog) that sat for me for quite some time.

RIKIKI

The above photo shows just how small my new portable external hard drive is. And, with the addition of the tiny monkey (I think it might be a spider monkey) it looks even more adorable than it does normally.
I got the 500GB version to hold my entire collection of photos and then some. I currently have backed up all the photos on my laptop as well as the music and intend on getting the new hard drive connected to the old one to get the rest of my photos from there as well.
You may be asking, if I had an external hard drive already, why did I need to buy this one? The answer to that is simple, ease of accessibility. The old hard drive needs to be plugged in to operate which means that I rarely use it. My laptop moves around the house on a regular basis and having to get close enough to a plug to allow the external to be plugged in is a huge hassle.

Extreme Sheep Herding

Dave found this one day at work and I was simply amazed. Yes it is technically an add at the end – but the abilities of the sheep herders (and their amazingly talented dogs) is amazing.

Evil Kitties

 

 

 

           

The above kitties are my brother and sister-in-law’s cats. They are adorable yes, but they’re evil. Evil Kitty #1 is Nibbles. He was the first kitten they got when they lived in Kingston. Evil Kitty #2 is Gizmo. They got him to keep Nibbles company because he was getting lonely during the day when Tyler and Lynn were at work.
Dave and I have been watching them for the last week while Tyler and Lynn were in Florida (Disney to be precise). Though I haven’t even really noticed going to their place to feed them every day, I have noticed the significant increase in cuts and scratches on my arms and legs (hence the name Evil Kitties).

Whack-A-Kitty Part II

A long while back I posted about a YouTube video called Whack-A-Kitty. So freaking cute the only 'words' that could describe it were O M G.
Now it seems there is a part II:

I love these kittens and this video makes me smile uncontrollably.

Myakka State Park

We arrived at Myakka State Park after a pretty long drive, but boy was it worth it. It was also worth the $6/car admission price. I was really looking forward to this place as it was supposed to be really beautiful, have a canopy walk and wild alligators (not like those zoo ones that were everywhere). This also turned out to be the nicest day in terms of weather.
The canopy trail was where we headed first. Turns out, it was pretty high and like, and in similar fashion to St. Paul’s Cathedral I got a little nervous climbing up (though this height was nothing when compared to the Cathedral). This time it was because the wooden structure moved with not only the wind, but the movement of the people walking around as well. To be honest, the walkway itself wasn’t too bad as long as the others on it were not being mean (like Dave was). What got me the most was the tower that was connected to the walkway. At 74’ tall, it was quite intimidating when it was so windy and younger children were jumping around. It was also a pretty tight space up there for five or six adults (The Konings, Dave, myself and two other tourists). I did however, manage to take a bunch of photos including a really nice panoramic of the view from on top of the tower.
We then walked back to the car and drove to the next parking area. We had lunch in a little eating area and then walked around that area of the park. We saw some wild alligators (we also saw some on the drive in) and also some turkey vultures. John walked down a culvert which was designated as not for public use (he was scolded by Pat upon returning to our group).Upon leaving we had one of the only treats of the trip (well, while we were with the Konings that is) – chocolate bars, so yummy.
(photo of Dave and I on walkway was taken by John Koning and the technical drawing of the canopy walkway and tower were obtained from the Myakka State Park website, linked at the beginning of this post).

Busch Gardens

When I went to Florida with my family 18 years ago, we spent a day in Busch Gardens. To be honest, it is one of the parts of the trip that I remember completely on my own (in other words, without the assistance of photos). This is because my Mom exposed the film to the sun when trying to swap it for a new one and all the photos were ruined- including the ones of the koalas that were there on a special exhibit (and no Chris, there were no koalas at Busch Gardens, unfortunately they just cost way too much in upkeep for most zoos).
Dave and I went to Busch Gardens during our recent trip to Florida as well and it was awesome. First things first, we got adults tickets at the price of children’s tickets because we got them through CAA/AAA. If you plan on going anywhere for vacation in Canada or the States you should definitely check out their website to see if they have discounted tickets.
Secondly, we went on a Wednesday and there were very few people there. School groups normally wait until Fridays and families wait until the weekends. The locals have to go on the weekends because they work during the day. It was an excellent idea, and the weather helped too. It was sunny and quite nice, but a little chilly and I think it rained in the area before we got there because some things looked like they were just finishing drying up when we arrived.
One of the first things we did was a ride – oh yes that is right people you heard right, I went on a few rides while in Florida. At Busch Gardens on went on the Gwazi Tiger (the lion which runs along with it, was closed). It was a wooden roller coaster and had no flips or anything like that, but I still didn’t like it.
Next we went into the bird enclosure (which I insist are obligatory in any Florida zoo park). Dave bought some nectar for 5 dollars and few the birds which was really neat. There was only one other person doing it, a small girl, and since Dave was so much larger than her, the majority of the birds went to him (they did go to the girl once Dave’s nectar was all gone, so don’t feel bad for her). We then walked around the park looking at all the animals. Every once in a while Dave would go on a ride that I was completely uninterested in. He went on some crazy ones that went upside-down or dropped you straight down into a cave.

My favourite thing about the park though are the animals. They are well looked after (well they seem that way). Unlike some parks, you can actually see the animals in their exhibit and the park has a rail system and a sky tram that move you about the park nicely and enable you to see the animals really well.
Speaking of the sky tram, Dave and I loved that thing. It went from the top of the park to the bottom and back. It was the easiest way to move about the park, there was never a line, it was quiet and provided a nice view of the park.

And of course there was the obligatory self-taken photo of Dave and I while we were on the sky tram. This was actually take on our last trip on the tram as we headed out of the park after we got off this time.

Homosassa State Park

Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park in Homosassa Springs, Florida. It is home to 6 female manatees who cannot be re-introduced to the wild but have become a large tourist attraction. It is also home to many other animals such as a hippo named Lu, alligators, a bobcat and several species of birds.
When we first arrived at the park we waited in line for a boat to take us across a bit of water. After watching the first boat fill up, we realized that it would likely be faster to drive around the water and park on the other side than wait for the next one. So that is exactly what we did. I am writing this so that if you visit yourself, you just drive to the second entrance.
The first thing we did was watch the manatee program. A woman told us about manatees and specifically the six in the park and then they fed them entire heads of lettuce. You could also view the manatees from under the water, though the longer they ate and swam around, the dirtier the water got and therefore the harder it was to view them.
Once the manatee program was done, we toured the park and viewed the other animals. It happened to be Lu the Hippo's 50th birthday and he received a cake to eat and a tire to play with. For that reason he spent most of the day on the bottom of his pond playing with and chewing on his new tire. He came up for air once in a while, but he really didn't care about the tourists that day, and he was therefore not very photogenic.
Alligators on the other hand are incredibly photogenic as they really just sit in one spot, rarely moving an inch. I learned later on in the trip that alligators are at every park in Florida as you can pretty much just open the gates and they will come in. The same can be said about most wild birds.This crane for example was not a resident of the park, just a daily visitor during feeding time. He did, however, still act like it was his territory and puffed up as the other birds got close to him and his food spot.We watched the bird get fed as well, though this was a far smellier event - and louder too. The typical Florida shorebirds were there: ibis, cranes, pelicans, flamingos, etc, all just waiting to have their photo taken. The only thing that hindered this trip was the weather. It didn't rain but it was fairly chilly and walking in the shady woods was a little uncomfortable. That being said, it was still a really nice park and another great example of the rehabilitation efforts going on in this state.

Clearwater Aquarium

As its name suggests, the Clearwater Aquarium is located in Clearwater, Florida. It is a home for rescued dolphins, sea turtles and otters. It is also home to various fish, stingray and nurse sharks. The most famous resident is Winter, who is a female dolphin who got tangled in a fishing net so badly that her tail eventually fell off. She learned how to swim without using a side-to-side motion similar to a shark rather than the up and down motion normal to dolphins, but as the muscle use was so different, a prosthetic tail was made for her. It is put on her a few hours a day but she uses the shark-motion otherwise.While we were there we saw the feeding of a sea turtle who had air in her shell and could therefore not dive under the water. There were also sea turtles at the aquarium who were missing fins mostly from motor boats, but also from sharks and other predators.We waited a little bit for the dolphin show which was really awesome. They told us about the four dolphins that live at the aquarium (for various reasons) and the methods in place to help return dolphins to the wild when they are injured or beached. They also had the dolphins perform for us which was really neat.The aquarium is about $13 to enter (for adults). I thought the entertainment alone was worth the money, let alone the rescue efforts they perform on a regular basis. I really like it despite its small size.
(Winter and her prosthetic tail image found through Google as she wasn't in a posing mode when we visited the aquarium.)

Groundhog Day

(the above Stephanie Beach photo was originally posted here.)

Happy Groundhog Day!!

According to folklore, if the groundhog leaves its burrow today after failing to see its shadow, it signifies that winter will soon end. On the other hand, if it sees its shadow, it will go back into his home and winter will continue for another 6 weeks. As much as I prefer the cold over the heat, I really hope he pops his head out, and keeps it out.

(bottom image from National Geographic.)

Another Photographic Creature

In similar fashion to the echidna with the Canon, these little creatures are true photography lovers. (image found by Dave on ActingLikeAnimals.com)

The Cutest AT AT

Though this is freaking adorable, I promise I will never (let Dave) dress our dog up as an AT AT. But look at how cute this little guy is - especially when his owner starts singing and talking to him and his little tail starts wagging.

One Minute Writer #42

If you were a professional photographer, what type of photography would you want to do?

My dream is to do wildlife photography. I am also interested in portrait photography but the gap between the two dreams is quite large.

Baby Sloth

Oh my, it's a baby sloth. If sloths weren't irresistible before, they sure are now!! Doesn't it look like he's smiling or something. It also looks like he wants to be picked up, someone should go pick him up.

Puppy Love

Another adorable post from Cute Overload. From what I have read, there was a dog, a Japanese (natch) Chihuahua, born with a marking shaped like a heart. His name is Heart-kun and it brought great luck to its owners. Well the tiny dog now has an even tinier brother named Love-kun with a similar heart marking. I just think they are tiny and adorable and I want to squish the little baby one. *squish*

Apparently this story is so news worthy that it appeared in the LA Times. The breeder has no intentions of selling either dog, and why would they?! *squish*

OMG (Little) Ponies!

Cute Overload had the post title right on this one!

They first posted this picture of a baby mini horse that was born dwarf:

They then countered that post posted this one:

Seriously, these things look like toys. In fact, they look just like the My Little Pony toys that I loved growing up - well if they were purple or blue with pink hair! I just want to cuddle them.