Nat Geo Wild

Posted on March 31, 2014March 31, 2014 by Dusty Roads

There’s a television station/ channel called Nat Geo Wild. I hate and love it at the same time. Does your cable provider supply it in your area? To me it’s the new Animal Planet. I remember when Animal Planet launched. It was the new kid on the block and everyone wanted it. If it wasn’t available in your area you lobbied your cable provider to carry it. Now it’s a staple in most cable lineups.

Nat Geo Wild is a joint venture of Fox Cable network and National Geographic. It first launched in Asia, Hong Kong actually in January of 2006. It slowly worked it’s way to toward the New World, United Kingdom, Turkey, Ireland, Romania, India, Vietnam, and Poland.

The channel finally launched in Latin America on November 1, 2009. It didn’t make it to the United States until 2010 when it arrived in High Definition Glory, a true member of the National Geographic Family, dedicated to animal related programming with National Geographic’s signature quality photography.

I love this channel. I love the animals, the stories and the amazing vistas from Canyonlands to Safaris in Africa.

So why do I hate the channel? I hate it because it is so real, especially in HD on a large screen TV. The locales and adventures call to my heart. I want to be in that sub at 500 ft. under the sea. I want to be on the boat off Maui watching the humpbacks breach in the azure water. I want to be scuba diving the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

I want to climb aboard an airboat in the Everglades and kayak under the glaciers of Alaska. Maybe I’ll skip Antarctica but I’m not adverse to searching for komodo dragons on Indonesian Islands or visiting Galapagos.

It’s very possible that I can do some, if not all of these adventures… if I win the lottery. National Geographic offers vacations with their guides and photographers but like all things National Geographic, done to the max and with the price tag to match. They even have a “mentor” series where you travel to a location for training with their award winning photographers. Again $$$$.

So I dream on and torture myself with wishes. I take my little vacations and scratch the surface of these amazing locations. I enjoy my vacations but there’s a slight feeling that there should be more.

I watch Nat Geo Wild to see what I’m missing and keep my wanderlust fueled for my next adventure, and I keep dreaming. 🙂

Horses

Posted on March 30, 2014March 30, 2014 by Dusty Roads

I reblogged the latest in the Connecticut Vicious Horse Case. I posted about it last fall after I heard talks about it at Equine Affaire.

Conn Court: Are Horses Vicious? is well written and I couldn’t have made the points any better. Please take a moment to read and share.

This is truly a case where man is trying to impose his standards on an animal. Common sense has fled. Whether an animal is inherently vicious or not, we need to respect their character and take precautions. Even big , cuddly creatures can inadvertently cause injury.

The case began in 2006 when a boy tried to pet a horse named Scuppy at a Milford farm. The animal stuck his neck out from behind a fence and bit the child on his right cheek, ‘‘removing a large chunk of it,’’ according to court papers.

What I find interesting is that no one is blaming the parents for letting the child approach the strange horse. There were signs saying “Do Not Pet” etc.

This litigious society that we live in today really upsets me. No one accepts responsibility for their own actions. It’s always someone else’s fault. Shame on us. 🙁

More Free Stuff in Vegas

Posted on March 28, 2014March 28, 2014 by Dusty Roads

More free stuff kept coming up as I roved the world wide web. The Sirens of TI, a Pyrotechnics extravaganza on a Pirate Ship sounded like an exciting if, borderline X rated show but the latest updates indicate that the show has been canceled, apparently quite suddenly.

M & M’s World is touted as Free and might be kind of cool to see . Looks like there’s be ton of places for photo ops still I got the impression it was really a huge M & M themed gift shop kind of like a Disney store for chocoholics.

But then a entry for wildlife caught my eye. Called Wildlife Habitat at the Flamingo it includes Flamingos of course.

Touted as one of the most unique and beloved attractions in Las Vegas, Flamingo’s Wildlife Habitat is a serene paradise. It is conveniently free of charge and open to the public daily. Nestled on the Flamingo hotel’s lush 15-acre grounds, the Habitat is stocked with exotic birds, fish and turtles.

A highlight is the Flamingo Island, home to a huge flock of Chilean flamingos. A colorful collection of other feathered friends such as Ring Tealed ducks and Sacred Ibis fascinate guests and populate the Habitat. In addition to our namesake, you’ll find swans, ducks, koi fish and turtles living at the Habitat. Two brown pelicans joined us from a pelican rescue in 2012.

All animals are carefully maintained. The species frolic on islands and streams surrounded by sparkling waterfalls and foliage. Spot hummingbirds zipping to their feeders, snap a few pictures of signature flamingos and watch the water animals at feeding time.

That sounds like my kind of experience.

Photo of the Week ~ 12

Posted on March 26, 2014March 26, 2014 by Dusty Roads

The week 12 tallies are in. The Photo of the Week with the most hits, likes, shares and/or comments is Smokey at 17 with a total of 31 points.

To order prints click here: http://dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com/p161572686/h14e80fb2#h14e80fb2

Health Check ~ Smokey

Posted on March 23, 2014March 23, 2014 by Dusty Roads

It’s hard to believe that my Mr. Cranky Pants aka Smokey is 17 years old. The average age for a house cat is 13. Of course as you get older things stop working like they did when you were a kitten.

And so it is with Mr. Smokeymon. I always said he was like a little laid back Jamaican “mon”. He was always so calm and purrfectly friendly but as we know, with age comes “Crankiness” and Smokey has shown himself to be a bit more short tempered than in his younger days. Hisses are more common toward his roomies but he still likes me, his human. In fact he has become very possessive of me.

He is the cat that has to be in the same room at all times. He has begun to get a little senile and when he finds himself separated loud yowls disturb the peace until I can either get to him or get his attention. Then they stop immediately and turn to loud , rumbling purrs.

His annual check-up rolled around this week. He’s lost weight. At one time he was a rolly poly 13.5 lbs. but over the last couple of years he’s steadily lost weight (Wish I could say the same for me) until he’s now down to 10 lbs. 10 oz. Even so he can still make the other 2 cats in the house “toe the line”.

Because of the weight loss and our past scare with possible renal failure we ran blood panels. On the renal side he’s stable, very little change there. The vet also checked his thyroid, all the numbers were within normal range. Finally they took his blood pressure and found that to be fine too. For a very senior cat he is doing well.