Dog Noses

Purring Squirrel

A Mississippi couple's cat adopted a squirrel that now purrs like a kitten.

A True Duck Tale

Something really cute happened in downtown San Antonio. Michael R. is an accounting clerk at Frost Bank and works there in a second story office. Several weeks ago, he watched a mother duck choose the concrete awning outside his window as the unlikely place to build a nest above the sidewalk.

The mallard laid ten eggs in a nest in the corner of the planter that is perched over 10 feet in the air. She dutifully kept the eggs warm for weeks, and Monday afternoon all of her ten ducklings hatched.

Michael worried all night how the momma duck was going to get those babies safely off their perch in a busy, downtown,urban environment to take to water, which typically happens in the first 48 hours of a duck hatching.

Tuesday morning, Michael watched the mother duck encourage her babies to the edge of the perch with the intent to show them how to jump off. Office work came to a standstill as everyone gathered to watch

The mother flew down below and started quacking to her babies above. In disbelief Michael watched as the first fuzzy newborn trustingly toddled to the edge and astonishingly leaped into thin air, crashing onto the cement below. Michael couldn't stand to watch this risky effort nine more times! He dashed out of his office and ran down the stairs to the sidewalk where the first obedient duckling, near its mother, was resting in a stupor after the near-fatal fall.

As the second one took the plunge, Michael jumped forward and caught it with his bare hands before it hit the concrete. Safe and sound, he set it down it by its momma and the other stunned sibling, still recovering from that painful leap. (The momma must have sensed that Michael was trying to help her babies.) 

One by one the babies continued to jump. Each time, Michael hid under the awning just to reach out in the nick of time as the duckling made its free fall. At the scene the busy downtown traffic came to a standstill. Time after time, Michael was able to catch the remaining eight and set them by their approving mother. 

Michael realized the duck family had only made part of its dangerous journey. They had two full blocks to walk across traffic, crosswalks, curbs and past pedestrians to get to the closest open water, the San Antonio River, site of the famed "River Walk." The on-looking office secretaries and several San Antonio police officers joined in. An empty copy-paper box was brought to collect the babies. They carefully corralled them, with the mother's approval, and loaded them in the container. Michael held the box low enough for the mom to see her brood. He then slowly navigated through the downtown streets toward the San Antonio River. The mother waddled behind and kept her babies in sight, all the way. 

As they reached the river, the mother took over and passed him, jumping in the river and quacking loudly. At the water's edge, Michael tipped the box and helped shepherd the babies toward the water and to the waiting mother after their adventurous ride.

All ten darling ducklings safely made it into the water and paddled up snugly to momma. Michael said the mom swam in circles, looking back toward the beaming bank bookkeeper, and proudly quacking.

At last, all present and accounted for: "We're all together again. We're here! We're here!"

And here's a family portrait before they head outward to further adventures...

Like all of us, in the big times of our lives, we never could have made it without lots of helping hands. I think it gives the name of San Antonio 's famous "River Walk" a whole new meaning!

Happy Gentoo

A penguin is being pursued by several killer whales who are circling him for the kill. People on a small boat are filming this. Whatch what the penguin does!!

Now What?

The problem is not how they got in there,

it's how to get them out...

 

Reckless the Mare

This horse was a pack horse during the Korean war, and she carried recoilless rifles, ammunition, and supplies to Marines. Nothing too unusual about that, lots of animals got pressed into doing pack chores in many wars.

But this horse did something more. During the battle for a location called Outpost Vegas, this mare made 50 trips up and down the hill, on the way up she carried ammunition, and on the way down she carried wounded soldiers.

What was so amazing? Well she made every one of those trips without anyone leading her.

I can imagine a horse carrying a wounded soldier, being smacked on the rump at the top of the hill, and heading back to the “safety" of the rear. But to imagine the same horse, loaded with ammunition, and trudging back to the battle where artillery is going off, without anyone leading her is unbelievable. To know that she would make 50 of those trips is unheard of. Hell, how many horses would even make it back to the barn once, let alone return to you in the field one single time.

So here is a clip of her story and photos to prove where she was and what she did.



She was retired at the Marine Corps Base in Camp Pendleton where a General issued the following order: She was never to carry any more weight on her back except her own blankets. She died in 1968 at the age of 20.

How bad was the battle for Outpost Vegas? Artillery rounds fell at the rate of 500 per hour, and only two men made it out alive without wounds. Just two. And a horse, and she was wounded twice.

Two Dogs Dining

Enjoy...

Lean On Me

NAIROBI ( AFP ) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, officials said. The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean , then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him. 

"It is incredible.. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP.

 

"After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunatel, it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added. "The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," he explained. 

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." 

This is a real story that shows that our differences don't matter much when we need the comfort of another. We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures of God, "Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together."

 

"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves."

Passport Please

Ferrets are being given their own passports and fitted with electronic chips in China as their popularity soars. Each ferret is given a passport which contains information to identify them, which can also be found by scanning the chips planted in their backs. Pet shops in Zhengzhou are selling more than 10 ferrets a day for prices up to $800 (USD).

Parenthood

On the riverbank...

In the Arctic...



In India...

In Africa...




In the ocean...

By the WalMart...

Oh, Rats!

Today is...

The 6th International World Rat Day

Rat lovers will be planning parties called Ratfests, and
surprising their rats with gifts and special treats...

I know that Ratatouille is a very cute rat, he
did win a few academy awards, and I
did enjoy his movie, but...


Many years ago, a rat ran across my bare feet at the movies
in Kahuku, Hawaii, and I have hated rats, and all their
cousins and distant relatives, ever since...
Celebrate if you must, just
don't tell me about it...