Four Years Later

I’m sorry that I haven’t written a blog post all week. I have had the time and as always, I have had ideas of things I wanted to write about. Maybe I just needed a little break. Late last night, I started a post and the laptop copped an attitude so I had to shut the whole computer down, losing what I had started. But not really a loss because it wasn’t much.

I rolled out of bed this morning, thinking I have to get something posted today. That’s when it dawned on me that I have been doing this for four years.

My first post, on February 28, 2010, was just a trial and I see now that I deleted it. I still need to count today as the day. What have I written about in those four years? Why tell you when I can show you.

My interview with Rat and Millie has got to be my favorite post. This post even has relevance with current events as the rat terrier was recognized at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show earlier this month. 

For some reason, my blog post which received the most views was "Are you a sea lion or a seal?"  I don't know what was so special about this particular post. I had Milwaukee Zoo as one of the labels, but I used that on other posts which didn't get nearly the traffic. One of those things I just don't understand. 

This would be one of my longer posts, but also one of the sadder ones. It always makes me cry. 

Lastly, I have been trying to find the best tribute post to my sister Pat. I have written so much about her, but I don't yet have the skill to tell her story the way it needs to be told. Someday. 

Here, Kitty, Kitty

How can you not love cats? 

They have such personalities. 

They have eyes that can see through you, around you and way beyond you.

They know the importance of a good nap.

And they love to just relax and get comfy. 

 And they will stalk anything.

Or nothing at all. 

(Pictures from Milwaukee Zoo and a few from my garden, where the most fierce felines of all may be found.)

Are you a sea lion or a seal?

"What have you got to say?"

"Hello, there."

"Everybody needs some lovin'."

"I can pose pretty too. Blubbery or not."

At the Milwaukee Zoo last week, we attended the sea lion and seal show. Who knew what little personalities they have. Just like our devoted dogs, these sea mammals wanted to please their trainers and show off for strangers.

To me, it is pretty obvious how to tell the seals from the sea lions, but the trainers shared these differences. The sea lion has earflaps, while the seal has earholes. Also the sea lion has long foreflippers, and their hindflippers rotate underneath them so that they can walk on land. The seal however has short foreflippers with long claws and hindflippers that stay straight out. They move on land by wiggling.

I don’t know. I would say that the sea lion is sleek and mobile, while the seal is – well - blubbery. Are the experts just trying not to hurt somebody’s feelings?

The Proud Peacock

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” 

Proverbs 16:18 New International Version 

 The saying goes “proud as a peacock”. Well, as pretty as this boy is, I can see why he would be proud. Even his backside isn’t too shabby. It kind of shows how he manages to get those feathers aloft.

The funny thing is that the dull little peahen he was trying to impress was just lying in the grass not even looking at him.
 

I’m sure that God had a good reason for creating the peacock this way. But God didn’t create us to show off for others. He wants us to be humble and quiet. Instead of trying to be the center of attention, we should quietly go about our day. If someone does notice us, let it be because of the good things we do and not because of the way we look or how we strut our stuff.
 

Birds of the Zoo

 Went to the Milwaukee Zoo yesterday. As usual, I took way too many pictures. I know that you probably don't want to see all of them, or even most of them.

 Since the bird pictures turned out the best, most likely because they were not behind bars or glass, I thought I would share them first.

 It is amazing what a wide range of birds we have on this Earth. How can they possibly stand on such thin legs?

 Or carry around such long tails?

 These three remind me of some cartoon characters. Only these are swans and the Disney characters were geese, I think.

I caught all of the birds I could.